PERIYAIR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 9.12.2017
GS Paper 1:
Topic: Role
of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty
and developmental issues.
Adultery
law
Context:
Supreme
court has issued a notice to the Centre on a public interest litigation
challenging the constitutionality of IPC section 497 dealing with adultery,
saying it appeared to be “archaic” and did not appear to be gender-neutral.
The
court will examine two aspects of the penal provision:
§
One, why does Section 497 treat the man as
the adulterer and the married woman as a victim?
§
Two, the offence of adultery ceases the
moment it is established that the husband connived or consented to the
adulterous act. So, is a married woman the “property” of her husband, a passive
object without a mind of her own?
Background:
The
court is hearing a petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 497
IPC read with Section 198(2) of the CrPC. The petition says, Section 497 IPC is
unconstitutional as it discriminates against men and violates Article 14, 15
and 21.
Section
497 IPC says, “Whoever
has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to
believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of
that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is
guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or
with both. In such case the wife shall not be punishable as an abettor.”
Section
198(2) CrPC says that “…
no person other than the husband of the woman shall be deemed to be aggrieved
by any offence punishable under Section 497 or Section 498 of the said Code:
Provided that in the absence of the husband, some person who had care of the
woman on his behalf at the time when such offence was committed may, with the
leave of the Court, make a complaint on his behalf.”
Way ahead:
Adultery
is at best a violation of the terms of agreement between a married couple. The
IPC version of criminalising adultery with five years imprisonment is just a
more moderate version of the Islamic versions which see it as a grave offence
that deserves barbaric punishments like stoning and lashing. Such laws serve as
encouragement to peep into people’s bedrooms though only the husband can make a
complaint. It is possible that common law jurists conceived an adultery law to
prevent duels between the wronged husband and the lover or to give the husband
a legal device to hit back at the wife and her lover. Most countries in
the West have decriminalized adultery. India should follow their example rather
than split hairs over making it gender just.
Sources:
the hindu.
GS Paper
2:
Topic: Issues
relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to
Health.
Trachoma
Context:
The
National Trachoma Survey Report (2014-17) has been released. India is
now declared free from ‘infective trachoma’.
Highlights
of the survey:
The
survey findings indicate that the active trachoma infection has been eliminated
among children in all the survey districts with overall prevalence of only
0.7%. This is much below the elimination criteria of infective trachoma as
defined by the WHO- active trachoma is considered eliminated if the prevalence
of active infection among children below 10 years is less than 5%.
The
Survey results indicate that active trachoma is no longer a public health
problem in India. India has now met the goal of trachoma elimination as
specified by the WHO under its GET2020 program. This has been possible due to
decades of inter-sectoral interventions and efforts that included provision of
antibiotic eye drops, personal hygiene, availability of safe water, improved
environmental sanitation, availability of surgical facilities for chronic
trachoma, and a general improvement in the socio economic status in the
country.
About
Trachoma:
What is
it? Trachoma is a chronic infective disease of the eye and is the leading cause
of infective blindness globally. Trachoma is a disease of poor environmental
and personal hygiene and inadequate access to water and sanitation.
It affects the
conjunctiva under the eyelids. Repeated infections cause scarring leading to
in-turning ofthe eyelashes and eyelids. This further causes damage to the
cornea and blindness.
Affected
states:
It is
found affecting the population in certain pockets of the States of North India
like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Nicobar Islands.
Trachoma infection of the eyes was the most important cause of blindness in
India in 1950s and over 50% population was affected in Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. It was the most important cause of corneal blindness
in India, affecting young children.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: e-governance-
applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential.
MSME
Sambandh
What is
it?
It is a
Public Procurement Portal launched recently by the government. The objective of
the portal is to monitor the implementation of the Public Procurement from MSEs
by Central Public Sector Enterprises.
With
this app, the Micro and Small Enterprises would be able to access the
information about the products being procured by CPSEs. Thus, it would help the
MSEs in participating in the procurement process.
Background:
The
Procurement Policy launched in 2012 mandates the Central Government Departments
/ CPSUs to procure necessarily from MSEs i.e. every Central Ministry /
Department / PSU shall set an annual goal for procurement from the MSE sector
at the beginning of the year, with the objective of achieving an overall
procurement goal of minimum of 20% of the total annual purchases of the
products or services produced or rendered by MSEs. By creating an online
portal, the Ministries and the CPSEs can assess their performance.
Significance
of MSME:
MSME
sector generates more employment next only to Agriculture sector. 80% of jobs
in industry is given by MSME with just 20% of investment.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: e-governance-
applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential.
E-Courts
Project
Context:
The e
Committee, of the Supreme Court of India in association with the Department of
Justice (DoJ) of the Government of India recently held a National Conference on
e- courts project in New Delhi. The Conference focused on the progress, sharing
of best practices, experiences, important issues and emerging challenges under
the Project.
About the
e- courts project:
What is
it?
The
eCourts Mission Mode Project (Phase I 2010-15; Phase II 2015-19) is a national
eGovernance project for ICT enablement of district and subordinate courts of
the country.
Implementation: It
is being implemented by the Government of India with a total outlay of 1670
crores (Phase II).
The major
objectives of the Project are
to make whole judicial system ICT enabled by putting in place adequate and
modern hardware and connectivity; automation of workflow management in all
courts; electronic movement of records from taluka/trial to appeal courts;
installation of video conferencing (VC) facility and recording of witness
through Video Conferencing.
Specific
targets set under the Project include: computerization
of all the courts (around 20400) and DLSA and TLSC; WAN and cloud connectivity
in 3500 court complexes; full Installation and use of Video Conferencing
facility at 3000 Court Complexes and 1150 prisons; charting out key identified
citizen services like electronic filing, daily orders, delivery of decrees,
online case status in all the district courts etc.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: Bilateral,
regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting
India’s interests.
Ajeya
Warrior 2017
What is
it?
Ajeya
Warrior is a joint exercise between the Indian Army and Royal British Army. The
Exercise is held once in two years, alternatively in India and the UK. The 3rd edition
of this joint military exercise is being held in Rajasthan.
The aim of
the Exercise is
“to build and promote positive military relations between Indian and UK Army
and to enhance their ability and interoperability to undertake joint tactical
level operations in Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorism Environment under
United Nations Charter”. The exercise further focuses on enhancing and
exchanging skills and experience between the Indian Army and the Royal British
Army.
Sources:
the hindu.
GS Paper
3:
Topic: infrastructure.
Asian
Development Bank (ADB)
Context:
Asian
Development Bank (ADB) will fund highway upgradation
project in Karnataka for which it has approved a loan of USD 346 million. This
is ADB’s second funding to Karnakata, whose per capita income is higher than
the national average and has lower unemployment and poverty rates.
The
project will see construction of planned pedestrian, installation of
women-friendly elements including bus shelters, marked crossings, footpaths and
proper signage, among others. The project will also carry out a road safety
survey to identify critical accident spots across the state highways and carry
out measures to improve these.
About ADB:
What is
it?
It is a
regional development bank established on 22 August 1966 and is headquartered in
Philippines. It aims to facilitate economic development of countries in Asia.
It also aims for an Asia and Pacific free from poverty.
The
bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, formerly known as the United Nations
Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East) and non-regional developed
countries.
Voting:
ADB was
modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system
where votes are distributed in proportion with member’s capital subscriptions.
Board of
Governors:
§
It is the highest policy-making body of
the bank.
§
It is composed of one representative from
each member state.
§
The Board of Governors also elect the
bank’s President who is the chairperson of the Board of Directors and manages
ADB.
§
The Alternate Board of Governors are
nominated by Board of Governors of ADB’s 67 to represent them at the Annual
Meeting that meets formally once year to be held in a member country.
Loans:
It
offers both Hard Loans and Soft loans. The ADB offers “hard” loans from
ordinary capital resources (OCR) on commercial terms, and the Asian Development
Fund (ADF) affiliated with the ADB extends “soft” loans from special fund
resources with concessional conditions.
Sources:
the hindu.
Facts
for Prelims:
§
Burial urn, pots unearthed in Pallavaram:
A
six-foot-high burial urn, mudhumakkal thazhi, made of clay, and pieces of pots
have been unearthed at Old Pallavaram in Chennai. The artefacts are estimated
to be around 2,000 years old.
§
World’s oldest eye:
Researchers
have unearthed what they believe to be the “oldest eye” in a
530-million-year-old fossil of an extinct sea creature. The fossil of
Schmidtiellus reetae, which includes an early form of the eye seen in many of
modern animals, including crabs, bees and dragonflies, was discovered in
Estonia.
Schmidtiellus
reetae had a primitive form of compound eye
— an optical organ that consists of arrays of tiny visual cells, called
ommatidia, similar to those of present-day bees. Although the species had poor vision
compared with many modern animals, it could identify predators and obstacles in
its path. Its eye consisted of approximately 100 ommatidia, and did not have a
lens, like the modern compound eyes, probably because the primitive species
lacked parts of the shell needed for lens formation.
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