Daily Prelims Notes 24 January 2022
- January 24, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
24 January 2022
Table Of Contents
- Ballistic Missiles
- Force Majeure
- Fiscal Consolidation
- Community Transmission
- K-shaped Recovery
- Subhash Chandra Bose Awards For Disaster Management
- Subhas Chandra Bose’s relationship with Gandhi
- State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA)
- Statue of Equality
- Holograms
- Conjugal Rights
- Tokyo’s Renkoji Temple
- Gujarat’s Deep-Sea Pipeline Scheme
- Proposal for Indian Environmental Service
- Custody Laws in India
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – UAE shoots down 2 ballistic missiles fired by Houthis over Abu Dhabi
Concept –
- A ballistic missile follows a ballistic trajectory to deliver one or more warheads on a predetermined target.
- It is a rocket-propelled self-guided strategic-weapons system that follows a ballistic trajectory to deliver a payload from its launch site to a predetermined target.
- These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered.
- Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth’s atmosphere, while intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are launched on a sub-orbital trajectory.
- These weapons are in a distinct category from cruise missiles, which are aerodynamically guided in powered flight.
- They can be launched from aircraft, ships, and submarines in addition to land-based silos and mobile platforms.
- Ballistic missiles can carry conventional high explosives as well as chemical, biological, or nuclear munitions.
Ballistic Missile Classes and Range
Difference Between Ballistic Missiles and Cruise Missiles
- Unlike the long arcing trajectory of a ballistic missile, a cruise missile travels at lower altitudes and on far straighter trajectories.
- Cruise missiles don’t leave the atmosphere at any point during their flight, nor do they travel unpowered for any significant duration.
- Cruise missiles can be launched from land, sea or air for land attacks and anti-shipping purposes, and can travel at subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic speeds.
- A cruise missile either locates its target or has a preset target.
- Since they stay relatively close to the surface of the earth, they cannot be detected easily by anti-missile systems, and are designed to carry large payloads with high precision.
Subject – Economy
Context – Investigations must be carried out against former top officials at the Department of Space (DoS) who suppressed crucial information related to the Devas-Antrix deal which led the Cabinet to cancel the agreement in 2011 citing force majeure instead of fraud, a key official who was entrusted with the investigation of transaction has said
Concept –
- The term ‘force majeure’ has been defined in Black’s Law Dictionary, as ‘an event or effect that can be neither anticipated nor controlled.
- From a contractual perspective, a force majeure clause provides temporary reprieve to a party from performing its obligations under a contract upon occurrence of a force majeure event.
- While force majeure has neither been defined nor specifically dealt with, in Indian statutes, some reference can be found in Section 32 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (the “Contract Act”) envisages that if a contract is contingent on the happening of an event which event becomes impossible, then the contract becomes void.
- Force majeure clauses can usually be found in various contracts such as power purchase agreements, supply contracts, manufacturing contracts, distribution agreements, project finance agreements, agreements between real estate developers and home buyers, etc.
- FMC is a clause that is present in most commercial contracts and is a carefully drafted legal arrangement in the event of a crisis. When the clause is triggered, parties can decide to break from their obligations temporarily or permanently without necessarily breaching the contract. Companies in such situations use the clause as a safe exit route, sometimes in opportunistic ways, without having to incur the penalty of breaching the contract.
- Generally, an “Act of God” is understood to include only natural unforeseen circumstances, whereas force majeure is wider in its ambit and includes both naturally occurring events and events that occur due to human intervention. However, both concepts elicit the same consequences in law.
- War, riots, natural disasters or acts of God, strikes, introduction of new government policy imposing an embargo, boycotts, outbreak of epidemics and such situations are generally listed. If an event is not described, then it is interpreted in a way that it falls in the same category of events that are described.
- Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that a contract becomes void if it becomes impossible due to an event after the contract was signed that the party could not prevent.
Subject – Economy
Context – Two years of real growth in economic activities have been wiped out by COVID-19, which the Budget must take note of and support growth and fiscal consolidation.
Concept –
Fiscal consolidation implies reduction in debt accumulation and fiscal deficit. Governments undertake different policies to achieve fiscal consolidation.
- Better targeting of government subsidies and extending Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for more subsidies.
- Improving efficiency of tax administration by eliminating evasion of tax, increasing tax compliance, reducing tax avoidance, etc.
- Enhancing tax GDP ratio by widening the tax base and minimizing tax concessions and exemptions also improves tax revenues.
- Higher economic growth rate will help the government to get higher tax revenues as well. Augmentation of tax revenue is necessary to bring fiscal consolidation as there are limitations for reducing government expenditure in India.
Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act
- It was enacted in August 2003.
- It aims to make the Central government responsible for ensuring inter-generational equity in fiscal management and long-term macro-economic stability.
- The Act envisages the setting of limits on the Central government’s debt and deficits.
- It aims to limit the fiscal deficit to 3% of the GDP.
- To ensure that the States too are financially prudent, the 12th Finance Commission’s recommendations in 2004 linked debt relief to States with their enactment of similar laws.
- The States have since enacted their own respective Financial Responsibility Legislation, which sets the same 3% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) cap on their annual budget deficits.
- It also mandates greater transparency in fiscal operations of the Central government and the conduct of fiscal policy in a medium-term framework.
- The Budget of the Union government includes a Medium-Term Fiscal Policy Statement that specifies the annual revenue and fiscal deficit goals over a three-year horizon.
- The rules for implementing the Act were notified in July 2004. The rules were amended in 2018, and most recently to the setting of a target of 3.1% for March 2023.
- The NK Singh committee (set up in 2016) recommended that the government should target a fiscal deficit of 3% of the GDP in years up to March 31, 2020 cut it to 2.8% in 2020-21 and to 2.5% by 2023.
Escape Clause:
Under Section 4(2) of the Act, the Centre can exceed the annual fiscal deficit target citing certain grounds. They are,
- National security, war
- National calamity
- Collapse of agriculture
- Structural reforms
- Decline in real output growth of a quarter by at least three percentage points below the average of the previous four quarters.
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Omicron is now in “community transmission” in India and has become the dominant variant in multiple metros, where new cases have been rising exponentially, an INSACOG bulletin released on Sunday said.
Concept –
4 Stages of COVID-19 transmission according to ICMR
- Stage 1:When the disease is just introduced to a population. In India’s case that is with imported cases – only those with travel history to affected countries tested positive for the infection.
- Stage 2: This is when there is local transmission of the disease – some of those in contact with persons with travel history in turn get infected.
- Stage 3: In this stage, there is community transmission i.e. even those who have had no known contact with an affected person, and haven’t travelled to an affected country start contracting the coronavirus disease.
- According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), community spread is when “people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.”
- This stage makes it difficult to break the chain of transmission, thereby making the disease harder to contain.
- Stage 4: The fourth stage is when there is a widespread outbreak, leading it to become an epidemic within the population and difficult to contain.
Stages of transmission according to WHO
- The first stage is one where there are no cases.
- The second stage is when there are sporadic cases – one or more, imported or locally detected.
- The third stage is when clusters of cases emerge in a time, geographical location and/or through common exposure.
- And the fourth stage is community transmission, which is defined as “larger outbreaks of local transmission”.
Subject – Economy
Context – Income of poorest fifth plunged 53% in 5 years; those at top surged. This stark K-shaped recovery emerges in the latest round of ICE360 Survey 2021, conducted by People’s Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE), a Mumbai- based think-tank.
Concept –
- A K-shaped recovery occurs when an economy recuperates unevenly, and there’s a separate trajectory for two segments of the society.
- While the financial markets recover and grow, the real economy, or the flow of goods and services, gets worse.
- That’s worrying, because 84% of the stock market is owned by 10% of households. While the market continued to rise even amid a global pandemic, GDP and employment rates fell.
- These different paths follow the direction of the two spokes that poke out from the
- The two prongs can also represent: people with high and low wage levels, those that have the ability to work from home and those who don’t, and those who have liquid wealth assets to survive during the recession and those who don’t. It’s very much a split of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.
To know about Different types of Economic Recoveries, please refer September 2021 DPN.
6. Subhash Chandra Bose Awards For Disaster Management
Subject – Disaster Management
Context – PM Confers Subhash Chandra Bose Awards for Disaster Management for 2019-22
Concept –
- The Centre instituted the annual award to recognise and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management in India.
- It will be announced every year on 23rd January, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
- The Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM) and Professor Vinod Sharma, the founder co-ordinator of the National Centre of Disaster Management, have been selected for this year’s Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar.
- While GIDM was selected under the institutional category, Professor Sharma was chosen in the individual category.
7. Subhas Chandra Bose’s relationship with Gandhi
Subject – History
Context – 125th birth anniversary of SC Bose
Concept –
- In 1915, soon after his return from South Africa Gandhiji became the unquestioned leader of India’s freedom movement and Indian National Congress.
- Subhas Chandra Bose, ‘the stormy petrel of Indian Renaissance’ younger to Gandhi by 28 years who had resigned his brilliant career in the much coveted heaven-born Indian Civil Service with the resolute aim and determination to devote himself entirely to the fight for India’s freedom.
Bose’s views about Gandhi
- To Subhas Bose, Gandhi always remained ‘India’s greatest man’. He recognised and admitted Gandhi as the undisputable, unrivalled leader of the masses.
Gandhi’s views about Bose
- To Gandhi, Bose was like a son whose ‘self sacrifice and suffering, drive, integrity and commitment to the national cause and the capacity to bind all Indians into one people were unsurpassed.
Similarities between them
- Both Gandhi and Bose were totally honest men. They were internationalists and humanists.
- They were secular in approach and anti-racial in outlook.
- The whole life of both the leaders was an epic struggle for India’s independence.
- In fact, the life long “Tapasya” of both, ended with the ultimate sacrifice of their very lives.
Differences between Gandhi and Subhas
- Young Netaji was a firebrand nationalist who believed in the tradition of Tilak and Aurobindo.
- Gandhiji, on the contrary, was a reluctant nationalist who belonged to the tradition of his mentor Gokhale and Tagore.
- Bose’s strong revolutionary urge for the emancipation of his motherland made him critical of many of Gandhiji’s techniques.
- In 1920, at the age of 23, Subhas joined the Non-cooperation Movement which was going on with all its fury in Bengal under the leadership of Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das. He took prominent part in the agitation against the Prince of Wales’s visit.
- In protest against the decision of Gandhi in calling off the Non-cooperation Movement as a sequence to the ChauriChaura incident in 1922, Bose felt highly dejected.
- For Subhas, the demand of Dominion Status appeared to be too short of his dream of full freedom when Simon Commission was appointed.
- The year 1927 brought Subhas closer to Jawaharlal Nehru at the annual session of the Indian National Congress, which was held at Madras. They formed the Independence of Indian League and under their joint effort, resolution for ‘Complete Independence’ was passed. In the next year due to the opposition of Gandhi the resolution to reiterate the demand for Complete Independence could not be approved. Thus Bose’s proposal was defeated.
- Despite opposition both from Nehru and Gandhi declared 1929 to be the year of preparation for a massive civil disobedience movement.
- Subhas praised Gandhiji for Dandi March and Salt Satyagraha (1930).He particularly admired Gandhiji success in involving women into the freedom movement. At the same time Subhas severely criticized Gandhiji’s participation in the Second Round Table Conference in London.
- In the 51st session of the Congress held at Haripura in 1938, Subhas was unanimously elected as the President. Subhas not only condemned Gandhi’s favourite Charakha but gave a call to modernise India. He called upon the people to get united for an armed struggle against the Britishers.
- At the presidential election in January 1939, Subhas was vigorously opposed both by Gandhi and Nehru. Nevertheless, he has achieved a decisive victory over his opponent Dr.PattabhiSittaramayya, Gandhi’s nominee. Gandhiji openly declared that Sitaramayya’s defeat was his defeat.
- At the Tripuri Congress, Bose as the president made a clear proposal that the Indian National Congress should immediately send an ultimatum to the British Government demanding independence within six months. It was opposed by the Gandhian wing and Nehru.
- In the midst of the hostile situation Subhas resigned the Presidentship of the Congress on 29th April, 1939, and immediately proceeded to form a radical party bringing the entire left wing under one banner.
- Bose’s innate devotion and respect for Gandhiji remained as firm even though his path was diverging.
- Subhas had his ‘last long and hearty talk with the Mahatma on 20th June, 1940.’ He had pressed Gandhi to launch the struggle taking advantage of the critical position of the British in the Second World War.
- The whole nation was aroused when Subhas Bose made his spectacular escape on 17th January, 1941 (it was the day fixed for his trial for sedition) while under house detention at Calcutta and finally reached Germany in order to lead struggle for freedom from outside. Gandhi, on his part, could never endorse Subhas Bose joining with the Axis powers.
- Even outside India, Bose remained unshaken in his deep allegiance to Gandhiji.
- Even Gandhiji, while differing from the extreme methods of Subhas Bose, had utmost admiration for his unique effort for India’s freedom.
- On the eve of launching the Quit India Movement, Gandhiji defended Bose as ‘a patriot of patriots’.
- While addressing the INA prisoners he paid unreserved tributes in hailing Bose as ‘Netaji’. He also paid unqualified tribute to the INA.
8. State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA)
Subject – Environment
Context – A move by the Union Environment Ministry to implement a ‘star-rating system’ has sparked controversy
Concept –
- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Environmental Protection Act 1986, central Government constituted State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
- The Notification provides for constitution of a SEIAA empowered to grant Environmental Clearance to mitigate pollution and protect environment.
- To assist SEIAA, a State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) is constituted.
- Under the notification, it is mandatory of getting for prior Environmental Clearance for certain new projects, expansion or modernization of existing projects based on their potential on environmental impact.
- Projects falling under Category ‘A’ in the Schedule to the Notification require Environmental Clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF& CC), GoI and for matters falling under Category ‘B’, depending upon the thresholds of the activities requires Clearance at State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).
Subject – History
Context –Sri Ramanuja’s statue to be unveiled by Prime Minister Modi on Feb 5.
Concept –
- The Statue of Equality is a monument in India dedicated to the 11th-century Vaishnavaite Saint Bhagavad Ramanuja, commemorating 1000 years since his birth.
- It will be inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5th February, 2022.
- The statue is constructed on an estimated 34 acres in Hyderabad, India.
- It consists of a 216 foot tall statue of Ramanuja and is surrounded by 108 Divyadesams (model temples) and includes an educational gallery.
- The monument will be surrounded by 108 “DivyaDesams” of Sri Vaishnavite tradition (model temples) like Tirumala, Srirangam, Kanchi, Ahobhilam, Badrinath, Muktinath, Ayodhya, Brindavan, Kumbakonam and others.
- The idols of deities and structures were constructed in the shape at the existing temples.
- The statue was built by Aerosun Corporation in China before being shipped to India.
- It is made of panchaloha, a combination of gold, silver, copper, brass and titanium.
- The statue relies on donations to fund its construction.
- It is the second largest in the world in sitting position of the saint.
- The base building, which is 16.5 metres tall, has a meditation hall where a 54-inch statue of Sri Ramanuja made of 120 kg gold, representing the years he lived, will be inaugurated by President Ramnath Kovind. The deity at the inner sanctorum is meant for daily worship by people.
Ramanuja
- Ramanuja or Ramanujacharya was an Indian philosopher, Hindu theologian, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism.
- He was born in 1017 CE in Tamil Nadu. He was also referred to as Ilaya Perumal which means the radiant one.
- His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.
- Ramanuja’s guru was YādavaPrakāśa, a scholar who was a part of the more ancient AdvaitaVedānta monastic tradition.
- Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Ramanuja disagreed with his guru and the non-dualistic AdvaitaVedānta, and instead followed in the footsteps of Tamil Alvārs tradition, the scholars Nāthamuni and Yamunāchārya.
- Ramanuja is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita sub school of Vedānta,and his disciples were likely authors of texts such as the Shatyayaniya Upanishad.
- Ramanuja himself wrote influential texts, such as bhāsya on the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, all in Sanskrit.
- His Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism) philosophy has competed with the Dvaita (theistic dualism) philosophy of Madhvāchārya, and Advaita (non-dualism) philosophy of ĀdiShankara, together the three most influential Vedantic philosophies of the 2nd millennium.
- Ramanuja’s philosophical foundation was qualified monism, and is called Vishishtadvaita in the Hindu tradition.
- His theories assert that there exists a plurality and distinction between Ātman (soul) and Brahman (metaphysical, ultimate reality), while he also affirmed that there is unity of all souls and that the individual soul has the potential to realize identity with the Brahman.
- After a long pilgrimage, Ramanuja settled in Shrirangam, where he organized temple worship and founded centres to disseminate his doctrine of devotion to the god Vishnu and his consort Shri (Lakshmi).
Writings
The Sri Vaisnava tradition attributes Sanskrit texts to Ramanuja –
- Vedārthasangraha(literally, “Summary” of the “Vedas meaning”),
- Sri Bhāshya (a review and commentary on the Brahma Sutras),
- Bhagavad Gita Bhāshya (a review and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita),
- minor works titled Vedāntadipa, Vedāntasāra, GadyaTrayam (which is a compilation of three texts called the Saranāgati Gadyam, Sriranga Gadyam and the Srivaikunta Gadyam), and Nitya Grantham.
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Netaji 3D Hologram statue at India Gate
Concept –
- 3D Hologram technology is not commonly used in India and this statue of Netaji, the Azad Hind Fauj founder, will be one of its kind in the country.
- This technology uses projectors to create a virtual three dimensional image. In simple terms, a hologram is just a projection that seems realistic.
- Unlike a conventional film on a standard screen, a 3D hologram can be viewed from all sides. This means that the observer can walk around the projected image, providing a realistic experience.
- What differentiates a 3D hologram from virtual reality or a 3D video is that it can be seen by everyone without wearing 3D glasses.
- These holograms are formed by interference of light beams that reflect real physical objects.
- To illuminate a realistic 3D hologram, it first has to be specially designed or it should be recorded professionally using lasers.
- Apart from the projectors, a transparent holographic screen is also needed to project 3D holograms. The holographic screen is a key element on which the quality of the hologram depends.
- Holography is done using laser beams, the properties of interference and diffraction, light intensity recording, and illumination of the recording.
- The Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971 “for his invention and development of the holographic method”.
To know more about Holograms, please refer September 2021 DPN.
How do holograms work?
Subject – Governance
Context – Petition on conjugal rights pending for months in SC
Concept –
- Conjugal rights are rights created by marriage, i.e. right of the husband or the wife to the society of the other spouse.
- A petition questioning a law that forces a woman to return to her husband and denies her sexual autonomy has been pending in the Supreme Court for months without a hearing.
- Restitution of conjugal rights, considered a medieval ecclesiastical law from England codified in several statutes, including the Hindu Marriage Act and Special Marriage Act, owes its survival largely to the fact that marital rape is not recognised as crime.
- The furious debate to criminalise marital rape compels a thought on how restitution of conjugal rights, though gender-neutral, places an additional burden on women by forcing her to stay with her husband and threatens their bodily autonomy, privacy and individual dignity. If a woman does not comply to return to her husband, the court could even attach her property.
- Provisions of restitution of conjugal rights empower a husband or a wife to move the local district court, complaining that the other partner has “withdrawn” from the marriage without a “reasonable cause”.
- The provisions violate a woman’s freedoms of association, to reside anywhere in the country and practice a profession.
- That is, if a woman stays away from her husband for her job, would it mean that she has “withdrawn” from the marriage. Besides, “reasonable cause” is subjective.
- The courts have dealt with conjugal rights in a chequered manner.
- The Punjab and Haryana High Court in Tirath Kaur case, held that “a wife’s first duty to her husband is to submit herself obediently to his authority and to remain under his roof and protection”.
- The Supreme Court, in Saroja Rani case, held that the “right of the husband or wife to one another’s society is inherent in the very institution of marriage”.
- The fight against marital rape and restitution of conjugal rights has gained a new lease of life with the Supreme Court’s nine-judge Bench upholding privacy as a “constitutionally protected right”.
- The top court, in its recent Joseph Shine judgment, concluded that the State cannot interfere in a person’s private affairs and “privacy is an inalienable right, closely associated with the innate dignity of an individual, and the right to autonomy and self- determination to take decisions”.
Subject – History
Context – ‘Govt. ignored Tokyo’s Renkoji temple offer’
Concept –
- Renkō-ji is a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Japan.
- It is assumed to be the purported location of the ashes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian freedom-fighter, which have been preserved since September 18, 1945.
- The small, well-preserved temple was established in 1594 inspired by the God of Wealth and Happiness.
- It belongs to the Nichiren sect of Buddhism that believes that human salvation lies only in the Lotus Sutra.
Ashes of Subhash Chandra Bose
- A memorial to Subhas Chandra Bose in the compound of the Renkōji Temple
- According to the findings of the D. Khosla Commission, appointed by the Government of India in 1970, Subhash Chandra Bose’s ashes were placed in the box at Taipei following the cremation of his remains.
- Bose had died at Taihoku Army Hospital on August 18, 1945.
- It is customary for Indian officials arriving in Japan to travel to Renkoji, to offer prayers and pay respect to Bose at the pagoda that protects his remains.
- The ashes of Bose are placed in a small golden pagoda.
Controversy
- The Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry submitted its report to the Indian Government on November 8, 2005. The probe said in its report that as Bose did not die in the plane crash, the ashes at the Renkoji Temple are not his.
- However, the Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission.
13. Gujarat’s Deep-Sea Pipeline Scheme
Subject – Environment
Context – Gujarat’s deep-sea pipeline scheme remains non-starter
Concept –
- In 2020, the government came out with a mega plan to lay the pipeline network to carry industrial effluents directly into the deep sea to save the Sabarmati, Mahisagar, Vishwamitra and Bhadar, which have become critically polluted due to unbated discharge of industrial effluents into them.
- Under the project, treated effluent from 11 common effluent treatment plants (CETP) of Ahmedabad and one each from Kheda, Vadodara and Jetpur will be discharged into sea through pipelines that would be laid several kilometres in sub-sea.
- The ambitious project will be developed under a public private partnership (PPP) by the state government and beneficiaries.
- Of the total cost, around 70% will be borne by the government and the rest by industrial units through their respective associations.
14. Proposal for Indian Environmental Service
Subject – Environment
Context – The Supreme Court has asked the Government if it will create an Indian Environmental Service (IES) as recommended by a committee headed by former Cabinet secretary T.S.R Subramanian in 2014.
Concept –
- The Subramanian committee was set up in August 2014 to review the country’s green laws and the procedures followed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC). It suggested several amendments to align with the Government’s economic development agenda.
- The report proposed an ‘Environmental Laws (Management) Act’ (ELMA), that envisioned fulltime expert bodies—National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and State Environmental Management Authority (SEMA)—to be constituted at the Central and State levels respectively to evaluate project clearance.
- The report also recommends that an “environmental reconstruction cost” should be assessed for each project on the basis of the damage caused by it to the environment and this should be added into the cost of the project. This cost has to be recovered as a cess or duty from the project proponent during the life of the project.
- It proposed a National Environment Research institute “on the lines of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education” to bring in the application of high-end technology in environment governance and
- It also proposed, an Indian Environment Service to recruit qualified and skilled human resource in the environment sector.
Subject – Governance
Context – With access to courts in child custody matters getting tougher with the return on restrictions on court hearings during the pandemic, non-custodial parents and children are again at the receiving end
Concept –
- While the concept of shared parenting is a reality in countries such as the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, it is not an option in India.
Two laws determine the custody of children in India.
The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (HMGA) of 1956
- The first is The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (HMGA) of 1956, which states that the natural guardian of a Hindu minor boy or unmarried girl shall be the father and mother, provided that custody of a minor who has not completed five years of age shall ordinarily be with the mother.
- But the HMGA does not contain any independent, legal or procedural mechanism for deciding custody rights or declaring court-appointed guardians.
Guardian and Wards Act of 1890 (GWA)
- Second law, is colonial in nature, the Guardian and Wards Act of 1890 (GWA). This deals with the appointment of a person as a ‘guardian’ to a child, both with respect to the child and property.
- Child custody, guardianship and visitation issues between parents are determined under the GWA, if a natural parent wants to be declared as an exclusive guardian to his/her own child.
- Upon disputes between parents in a petition under the GWA, read with the HMGA, guardianship and custody can be vested with one parent with visitation rights to the other parent.
- In doing so, the welfare of the minor or “best interests of the child” shall be of paramount consideration.
What does “best interests of the child” mean?
- India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
- The definition of “best interests of the child” has been incorporated from the UNCRC in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
- The “best interests of the child” means “the basis for any decision taken regarding the child, to ensure fulfilment of his basic rights and needs, identity, social well-being and physical, emotional and intellectual development” and is paramount in any custody battle.
Recommendations made for joint parenting
- The Law Commission of India Report in 2015, on Reforms in Guardianship and Custody Laws in India, recommended joint custody and shared parenting.
- In 2016, a draft bill was recommended for protecting the “best interests of the child” titled The Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Attention) Bill.
- The report of the Justice Bindal Committee, submitted to the Government in 2018, also said that “best interests of the child” are of paramount importance in matters relating to child custody in view of the UNCRC.
- Against this backdrop, in 2017, in Vivek Singh v. Romani Singh, Justice A.K. Sikri of the Supreme Court highlighted the concept of Parental Alienation Syndrome, which refers to the unjustified disdain of a child towards his or her parents. The judgment underlined its “psychological destructive effects.”