Report on Status of Implementation of SCs & STs [Prevention of Atrocities] Act 1989 released

The report on the Status of Implementation of SCs and STs [Prevention of Atrocities] Act 1989 and Rules 1995 was released by the first Dalit Chief Justice of India, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan on 18 May 2012. The report was prepared The report was prepared by the National Coalition after collecting evidences by visiting the places of incidents and talking to victims  across India for Strengthening SCs & STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The report revealed substantial increase in cases of violence against SCs and STs. The re port also highlighted loopholes in the implementation of the SCs and STs [Prevention of Atrocities] Act and argued that it has not been able to check atrocities against Dalits and Adivasis in an effective manner. The report explained in details the trends and nature of discrimination and atrocities against SCs/STs over the years. According to the study, the cases of violence against SCs/STs are not registered and even if they are registered the conviction rate is  found to be quite low. At least one fourth  of the cases were observed to have been disposed of at  the investigation stage itself by the police and such complaints were referred to as mistake of fact. Crime rate against SCs increased from 2.6 per cent in 2007 to 2.8 per cent in 2010. In 2010, Uttar Pradesh accounted for  19.2 per cent of the total crimes against SCs (6,272 out of 32,712) in the country. Rajasthan in the same year reported the highest rate of  crimes (7.4 per cent) against SCs compared to the national average of 2.9 per cent. According to the re port, the number of crimes  against STs drastically increased in 2010 to 5,885 cases and murder cases of STs alone totalled 142. As per the report, police resort to various machinations to discourage SCs/STs from registering cases, to dilute the seriousness of the violence, and to shield the accused persons from arrest and prosecution. FIRs are often registered under the PCR Act and IPC provisions, which attract lesser punishment than PoA Act provisions for the same offence. Only 11,682 (34.2 per cent) out of 34,127 atrocity cases were registered under PoA Act in 2010 at the national level. In 2010 investigation was completed only for 37,558 cases of the total of 51,782 cases registered. Charge sheets were submitted only for 26480 cases (51 per cent) because of which even by the year end, around 14,092 cases remained pending for investigation. Of the 16,601 cases registered in 2010 across the country under PoA Act for atrocities against SCs, the police closed almost 2150 cases (13 per cent) in 2010. Meanwhile, of the 1,714 registered cases of atrocities against STs, 223 (13 per cent) were closed. The report recommended appointment of high-level committee to be appointed to review implementation of the Act and the Rules in all the States. It also recommended exclusive special courts with powers to take cognizance of the offences under the Act should be set up and special public prosecutors for speedy trials of cases registered under the Act should be appointed.

Indian Navy inducted Newly Built INS Teg Frigate in Its Fleet

The Indian navy inducted newly-built INS Teg in its fleet at the Yantar shipyard in Russia’s Kaliningrad on 27 April 2012. The warship was commissioned by the Southern Naval Command chief Vice Admiral K.N. Sushil at a ceremony in Kaliningrad. INS Teg is a modern and contemporary warship with advanced technologies incorporated in every facet of design to make her stable, stealthy, fast and formidable. The weapons suite of the 125-metre, 4,000-tonne warship includes the BrahMos surface-to-surface missile system, a surface-to-air missile system, 100 mm medium-range gun, close-in weapon system (CIWS), torpedo tubes, and anti-submarine rockets. The warship with its advanced weapons suite and sensors fully integrated with its combat management system, is equipped to augment the Navy’s net-centricity, and is well-suited to undertake a broad spectrum of maritime missions. It also embarks and operates an anti-submarine or an airborne early warning helicopter — a dominant force multiplier. Commanded by Captain Rakesh Kumar Dahiya, a communications and electronic warfare specialist, Teg has a complement of 250 personnel, including as many as 25 officers. While Teg is slated to reach Indian shores by the latter half of June, the Indian Navy is slated to take delivery of the remaining ships of the Teg-class — Tarkash and Trikand — by September 2012 and mid-2013 respectively. INS Teg is the first of the second batch of Talwar-Class warships to have completed. Teg was laid down on 27 July 2007, launched on 27 November 2009, and following post-construction work its sea trials began in the Baltic Sea on 1 September 2011.

Supreme Court upheld Election Commission’s Poll Symbol Rules

Supreme Court of India upheld Election commission’s poll symbol rules, which entitled a political party the status of state party and common symbol for its candidates only if it secures not less than 6 percent of the total votes polled in a state and returns at least two members to the assembly. The court dismissed the petitions, which challenged the poll symbols order as discriminatory. The petitions had challenged the constitutional validity of Clause 6 B of Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order on the basis that although smaller political parties secured less than 6 percent votes, they were able to get two candidates elected to assembly. Election commission of India amended the Election Symbols Order, 1968 in December 2000(inserting clause 6 B) to set the benchmarks for a political party to get Election Commission’s recognition as political party.

Farmers entitled to the Highest Market Value as Compensation

The Supreme Court of India on 27 April 2012 held that Farmers whose land is acquired for a public purpose are entitled to the highest market value as compensation. The Supreme Court’s ruling came following a case of land acquisition in Punjab’s Faridkot district where the land owner was awarded a compensation of 1 lakh rupees per acre despite the land was located in commercially important area. The Supreme Court bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and J. Chelameswar held that in the case When the land is being compulsorily acquired, the owner is entitled to the highest value which similar land in the locality is shown to have fetched in a bona fide transaction entered into between a willing purchaser and a willing seller near about the time of the acquisition. Land acquisition has always been an issue of contention between the governments and the land owners. With the dawn of industrial economy in the countr y post economic reforms, the problem has got even worsened as the farmers in most of the cases were forced to sacrifice their land at lower price. Recent years have witnessed a string of cases when farmers have raised their voice against the forced acquisition of their land. The land acquisition muddle of present India has its origin in an old bill, the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 where prices per-acre of land has been fairly low. The law was made by british colonial rulers to facilitate the land acquisition from the farmers at the cheapest price. Post independence, the political par ties in the country enjoyed a wider control over the land acquisition process in India. The bill is under the consideration of the parliament to bring out required amendments into it.

Petition against Army Chief- Designate Lieutenant General Bikram Singh dismissed

The Supreme Court of India on 23 April 2012 dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Lieutenant General Bikram Singh as the next Army Chief. Lt. Gen. Bikram Singh is slated to succeed General V.K. Singh as the army chief after the latter completes his tenure in the office on 31 May 2012. The apex court bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice H.L. Gokhale, while dismissing the petition by Admiral Ramdas and six others, said: “We don’t find any justifiable cause to invoke Article 32 of the Constitution. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed.” In a petition filed on 4 April 2012, the army chief designate Singh was accused of being indulged in a fake encounter in the Kashmir Valley during a counterinsurgency operation. The PIL also accused Singh of inaction in the charges related to sexual harassment against Indian officers when he was heading a peacekeeping force in Congo.

7.6 Billion Dollar TAPI Gas Pipeline Project approved

The Union Cabinet approved the 7.6 billion dollar TAPI gas pipeline project on 17 May 2012. The TAPI gas pipeline project which originates from the central Asian nation Turkmenistan and reaches to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan is also refer red to as the “peace pipeline” as some of the countries that it passes through don’t enjoy good relationship with each other. The TAPI gas project will have a total length of 1680 km. Of the total length 144km will be in Turkmenistan, 735km in Afghanistan, and 800km in Pakistan, bringing it to the India border. The pipeline, will be entirely functional in 2018 and supply gas over the next thirty years. The pipeline would produce 90 million standard cubic metres of gas per day (mscmd). Of the total gas pumped through it, India and Pakistan will get 38 mscmd each and Afghanistan the remaining 14 mscmd. At present India requires 176 mscmd of gas , of which a little more than one-sixth is imported. The country’s need of the gas might reach the level of about 400 mscmd by 2020. The Indian government was pursuing a similar project with the Iran which was put on hold by the Indian government given the pressure from the USA. The TAPI gas project also involves Asian Development Bank which has bestowed financial assistance to the project. The TAPI pipeline, was proposed in the early 1990s, but was delayed due to the political and economic hurdles involved into the project. Security of the pipeline has been the major issue of concern which passes through some of the most unstabled regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the project may face the risk of sabotage. India joined the project in April 2008.

Union Cabinet approved Bill seeking Amendment in the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969

The Union Cabinet on 12 April 2012 gave its approval to the introduction of a Bill seeking an amendment in the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to include registration of marriages as well, so that the existing administrative mechanisms will be able to carry out such registration of marriages in accordance with the specified procedures and be able to maintain necessary records and statistics for registration of marriages also. The Cabinet also approved introducing a Bill in Parliament to further amend the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 to provide for re gistra tion of marriages under the Act. The proposed Bill is set to benefit the women from unnecessary harassment in matrimonial and maintenance cases. It also seeks to provide evidentiary value in the matters of custody of childr en, right of children born from the wedlock of the two persons whose marriage is registered and the age of the parties to the marriage.

CVC Reconstituted the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on 29 March 2012, reconstituted the advisory board on bank, commercial and financial frauds. The board, with former Deputy Governor of RBI Shyamala Gopinath as its chairman, will help CBI in investigating cases of bank, commercial and financial frauds. The six-member board, which is the part of the organizational set up of CBI, will have a tenure of two years. The board will be provided with the operational funding by the RBI. The other members on the reconstituted board include retired Indian Administra tive Service officer Vivek Mehrotra, retired Indian Police Ser vice off icer Balwinder Singh, former Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Maharashtra, A S Bhattacharya, ex Executive Director of Corporation Bank, Asit Pal and Chartered Accountant, T N Manoharan.

Government cleared Rs 8500-crore Project to promote connectivity in Naxalite-affected Districts

The Union government cleared a Rs 8500-crore project under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) with an objective to connect 6000 habitations in the 78 naxaliteaffected districts of nine states. Under the project money will be utilised for new connectivity and upgradation of habitations, which will be an addition to the core network, approved in 2002 by the Union Ministry of Rural Development. Norms of PMGSY were relaxed for the first time to provide road connectivity to these habitations, in view of the naxalite problem. Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa will be the biggest beneficiary of this package. There are some 1000 unconnected habitations in nine Naxal-hit districts of Bihar and another 2500 in 17 districts of Jharkhand. The remaining habitations are spread over 18 districts in Orissa, 16 in Chhattisgarh, eight each in MP and AP, three each in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and two in Maharashtra. PMGSY is the singlemost important rural development intervention that is believed to significantly transform the groundlevel situation in Maoist-hit areas. Roads are the prime targets of the Naxals, the reason why PMGSY works are severely lagging in Maoist-hit areas. The problem is most acute in 20 districts, and has the worst record in implementation in Bijapur and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh, Rohtas, Hazaribagh and Gaya in Bihar and Deogarh in Orissa are among them. Major relaxations in norms have been made in the rural roads programme to improve connectivity in Maoist-hit districts. The population norm for a habitation to be connected has been reduced from 500 to 250 in these districts. The tender package for road construction was kept at Rs 50 lakh, as against Rs 1 crore earlier , to stimulate local contractors.The move to boost road connectivity is aimed at preventing tribals and backwards from falling for the Naxal campaign revolving around government neglect and underdevelopment. The roads will also increase government interaction with these villages thereby providing better security besides being a key indicator of development. Cementconcrete roads have been pushed in Naxal areas because of the plea of security agencies that they were better insurance against Naxal landmines. The Centre bears 90% of the cost of these roads.

Two Boats Capsized in Brahmputra River in Assam

Two boats car rying nearly 350 people capsized in the Brahmaputra river in Assam’s Dhubri and Jaleswar district on 30 April 2012. More than 100 people were killed in the deadly incident. The bodies of 103 victims, including women and children, were recovered by the BSF and the NDRF personnel near Jaleswar. As many as 120 people are missing and believed to have drowned while around 150 passenger s swam to safety or were rescued by villagers living nearby The incident is considered to be the worst boat tragedy in the recent history of the region. In other similar major boat tragedy in October 2010, a t least 79 pilgrims were drowned when an overcrowded boat carrying 150 people sank in West Bengal . In March 2012 some 138 people died in neighbouring Bangladesh when an overloaded ferry carrying 200 people sank in the Meghna river , southeast of Dhaka.

Rajya Sabha Passed Amendments to the Central Educational Institutions Act

The Rajya Sabha passed amendments to the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006, exempting some central institutions from implementing the other backward castes (OBC) quota. The institutions where implementation of the Act exceeds the 50 percent reservation limit fixed by the Supreme Court will fall under the amendment. The move aims to balance state and central reservation policies. The amendment says that if seats reserved for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes in a central educational institution exceed 50 percent of the annual strength permitted, the institution need not make any reservation for OBCs. The institutions located in states like Arunachal Pr adesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Assam’s tribal areas need not to reduce the percentage of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates from the level obtaining on the date immediately preceding the date of the Act’s commencement. If the institution is in any other area, the percentage of seats reserved for SC/ST candidates will be reduced to 50.

India Recorded the Highest Number of Deaths Due to Premature Births

A new report by Save the Children, titled Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Pre-term Birth revealed, India has the highest number of deaths due to premature births, and ranks 36th in the list of pre-term births globally. The ranking included 199 countries. As per the report of the 27 million babies born in India annually (2010 figure), 3.6 million are born prematurely, of which 303600 don’t survive due to complications. The deaths due to pre-term births are second only to pneumonia, the report noted. In terms of deaths due to pre-term birth, India is at the top (indicating it fares the worst), while in terms of the rate of pre-term births, it is ranked 36th, after Malawi (ranked first), Pakistan (ranked eighth), Nepal (20th), and Bangladesh (24th). More than 100 experts from almost 40 U.N. agencies, universities, and organisations contributed to the report,. The countries with the greatest numbers of preterm births are India – 3519100; China – 1172300; Nigeria – 773600; Pakistan – 748100; Indonesia – 675,700; United States – 517400; Bangladesh – 424100; Philippines – 348900; Democratic Republic of the Congo – 341400; and Brazil – 279300. More than 60 per cent of preterm births occur in Africa and South Asia. The 10 countries with the highest numbers include Brazil, the United States, India and Nigeria, demonstrating that pre-term birth is truly a global problem. Of the 11 countries with pre-term birth rates of more than 15 per cent, all but two are in sub-Saharan Africa. In the poorest countries, on average, 12 per cent of babies are born too soon, compared with 9 per cent in higher-income countries. Many factors, according to Save the Children - India CEO Thomas Chandy, contributed to the problem such as early marriage and pregnancy, inadequate nutritional intake by pregnant women, and want of adequate health interventions were among the reasons that contributed to such a high rate of pre-term pregnancy, exposing both the mother and the baby to risk. The report defined preterm as 37 weeks of completed gestation or less, which is the standard WHO definition

Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 Passed by Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament, passed the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 on 22 May 2012. The bill seeks to provide royalty to the lyricists and remove operational difficulties. The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 was approved by the Union Cabinet on 24 December 2009, and introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 19 April, 2010. The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 17 May 2012. Major provisions of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 are as follows:

• The amendment bill provides lyricists and artists a level playing field with the music companies and producers to negotiate the terms of royalty for their artistic creations.

• According to the new legislation it is mandatory for radio and television broadcasters to pay royalty to the owners of the copyright each time a work of art is broadcast.

• The bill exempts work, prepared for the physically challenged in special formats such as Braille, from copyright.

• It also permits compulsory licence to be granted for a certain number of copies in non-special formats to nonprofit organisations working to help disabled persons

• The bill provides exmptions to the students from the copyright laws who use artistic works for research purposes.

• It seeks to impose a fine and two years’ imprisonment on persons indulging in piracy.

• The bill seeks ban on bringing out cover versions of any literary, dramatic or musical work for five years from the first recording of the original creation.

Union Cabinet Gave its Approval to the Public Procurement Bill

Union Cabinet on 12 April 2012 gave its nod to the Public Procurement Bill. The bill is aimed at bringing transparency in the bidding process for public procurement. The bill will regulate the government purchases of above 50 lakh rupees through a transparent bidding process. At present there is no legislation exists governing public procurement by the central government and central public sector enterprises. The General Financial Rules, 2005, govern procurements made by the Centre. The present bill provides for a jail term ranging from six months to five years for public servants found guilty of demanding and accepting bribes from bidders of government contracts. The legislation is largely based on the suggestions made by Committee on Public Procurement headed by former bureaucrat Vinod Dhall which were accepted by a Group of Ministers to tackle corruption on 22 February 2012. The GoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had sent the bill for the approval of the Union Cabinet.

SC Refused to Pass Order on Clemency Petition of Balwant Singh Rajoana

The Supreme Court of India on 30 March 2012 refused to pass any order on a mercy petition in the death sentence to Balwant Singh Rajoana, awarded death sentence for assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. A Supreme Court Bench of Justices T S Thakur and Gyan Sudha Misra observed that since the convict has not filed any petition before the court and the petitioner Abhinav Ramakrishna has no locus standi to plead on his behalf, the court can not pass any order in the clemency petition . Petitioner Abhinav Ramakrishna, an advocate, was told by the court that since petition was filed under Article 32, it cannot be entertained as in no way, any fundamental right of the petitioner was violated. The bench ruled that the Article 32 of Indian Constitution could only be invoked by a person whose fundamental right is violated.

I&B Ministry Notified Cable Television Networks Rules, 2012

The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry of India on 28 April 2012 notified the much awaited Cable Television Networks Rules, 2012, which paves the way for digitalisation of the sector. The I&B ministry has set 30 June 2012 as the date for digitalisation of the cable sector in the four metros and these cable r ules would provide the framework on which the digitalised cable networks would provide services. As per the new rules, cable operators and multi-sector operators (MSOs) will now have to ensure that they have the capacity to carry minimum number of channels as specified by the Telecom Regulator y Authority of India (Trai). MSOs, under the new rules, will have to buy back set top boxes from subscribers in case they are leaving the area. A provision to surrender Set Top Box back has also been provided under the new rule.

Supreme Court Directed Union Government of India to do away with the Haj Subsidy

The Supreme Court of India on 8 May 2012 directed the Union Government to eliminate the Haj subsidy completely by reducing it gradually over the next ten years. The court further ruled that the amount of Haj subsidy should be used for the uplift of the community. A Supreme Court bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai observed that the Haj subsidy is provided by the government is continuously increasing given the rising air fare and pilgrims. Though agree to the fact that subsidy is constitutionally valid, the court did not find any rationalization in charging the pilgrims a much lesser price.The Apex Court also instructed the government to end the practice of sending a goodwill Haj delegation. The Haj subsidy is a subsidy provided to Indian Muslim Hajj pilgrims by the Union Government of India through a heavy concession in airfare. Pilgrims who apply through the Haj Committee of India are entitled to the reduced fare. The Government of India reimburses the subsidy to Air India.

TRAI issued Tariff Order for TV Channe

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its much-awaited tariff order issued on 30 April 2012, ordained the TV channels to carry a minimum of 100 free-to-air channels on their networks. As per the TRAI order, the basic service tier (BST) will comprise at least five channels of news and current affairs, infotainment, sports, kids, music, lifestyle, movies and general entertainment in Hindi, English and regional language of the concerned region. While multisystem operators (MSO) have to offer the BST, it is not mandatory to subscribe to it. The subscriber is free to subscribe to his own package of a maximum of 100 FTA channels, but in either case , the MSO can’t charge the subscriber more than 100 rupees a month. Besides having to carry a minimum of 500 channels from next year, TRAI has mandated that every MSO will have a minimum capacity to carry 200 channels from1 July, 2012. The TRAI’s order came following the I&B ministry’s Cable Television Networks Rules 2012 notification issued on 29 April 2012. Broadcasters shall not provide their channels to MSOs who have channel carrying capacity of less than 200 channels immediately and less than 500 channels from 2013. TRAI also gave the responsibility of fixing Carriage Fee to the MSO in a uniform and transparent manner. MSOs can fix the retail tariff, and package and price offerings. But, the sum of the a-lacarte rates of channels — part of a bouquet — shall not exceed 1.5 times the rate of the bouquet.

Changes in the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill 2010, Approved

The Union government of India approved the changes in the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010, introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 2 May 2012. The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 17 May 2012 approved the amendments seeking to give the wife and children a clearly-defined share in the husband’s immovable residential property in case of divorce. The Cabinet meeting, which was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also gave its consent to a provision that both husband and wife seeking divorce will have to file petitions together for waiver of the six-months cooling period. The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010 seeks amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The bill, which was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on 2 May 2012, had faced severe criticism of the opposition parties in the house and the civil society outside for some of its provisions.

Supreme Court upheld the Constitutional Validity of the RTE Act, 2009

The Supreme Court of India on 12 April 2012 upheld the constitutional validity of the Right to Education Act, 2009, which mandates 25 per cent free seats to the poor in government and private unaided schools uniformly across the country. The apex court clarif ied that its judgment will come into force from 12 April 2012. However, the act will apply uniformly to government and unaided private schools except unaided private minority schools. A three-judge bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swantanter Kumar gave the ruling. The bench had reserved its verdict on 3August 2012 on a batch of petitions by private unaided institutions which had contended that the section 12 (1)(c) of RTE Act violates the rights of private educational institutions under Article 19(1) (g)which provided autonomy to private managements to run their institutions without governmental interference. Right to Education Act (RTE) was passed by the Indian parliament on 4 August 2009.The act came into force on 1 April 2010. It has the provision of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child. Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE act says that every recognized school imparting elementary education is obliged to admit underprivileged children even if it is not aiaded by the government to meet its expenses.

India Accounted for 47 Per Cent of Measles Deaths in 2010

As per a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) study, Published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, on 23 April 2012, India accounted for about 47 percent of measles deaths in 2010, while Africa recorded 36 percent of deaths due to the same disease. The study revealed that the death rates from measles went down by 74 percent between 2000 and 2010, but it missed the WHO target of 90%. The shortfall was largely attributed to deaths in India and Africa where the virus kills thousands a year. Africa and India two key regions of the world where a large number of cases related to Measles come into light significantly underperformed which led the WHO to miss its target. The Americas and Europe accounted for less than 1 percent each of the Measles cases. The WHO study described that even with 74 percent drop in cases of measles, it killed an estima ted 139200 people across the world in 2010, down from just over 535000 in 2000. Measles is a viral disease and transmitted when an infected person breaths, coughs or sneezes. There is no specific treatment for it and a person’s natural immunity allows them to recover in 2-3 weeks. It can lead to severe complications in particulary indigent demographics like malnourished children and people with weak immunity and can cause serious complications including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infections and pneumonia. The disease can be prevented by immunisation and experts say increasing vaccination rates to above 95 percent worldwide and keeping them up is the only way to eradicate measles.