UPSC 2017: Comprehensive News Analysis - Aug 26

A. GS1 Related

B. GS2 Related

Context:

• right to reproductive choice
• right to active euthanasia

In news:

• Justice J. Chelameswar observations in his judgement on privacy:
  • The realm of the fundamental right to privacy span from women’s reproductive choice and choice of food or faith to euthanasia
  • Neither the State nor private persons have any business to intrude.
• Present scenario:
  1. Right to reproductive choice :
     • Women and girl children, including victims of rape, are fighting a battle for the right to abort their foetuses.
     • Abortion is legally barred if the pregnancy has crossed 20 weeks.
  2. Right to active euthanasia
     • It is a crime under attempt to suicide.
     • A person who helps a terminally ill person to take his own life is booked under abetment to suicide.

Context:

• Same-gender sex remains a crime in the country due to a flagrant judicial mistake committed by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Section 377. Unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.

List of Cases and their verdict:

• Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi- is a landmark Indian case decided by a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court, which held that treating consensual homosexual sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India’s Constitution. The verdict resulted in the decriminalization of homosexual acts involving consenting adults, in the jurisdiction of the Delhi High court. This was later challenged in the Supreme Court of India.
• Suresh Kumar Koushal (2013) Case Observations:
  • Supreme Court has upheld the validity of Section 377 of Indian Penal Code.
  • LGBT “minuscule minority”: no need to challenge Section 377 because the LGBT community constitutes only a minuscule minority.
• National Legal Services Authority (2014) Case observations:
  • Transgenders, even though insignificant in numbers, are entitled to human rights.
  • Section 377 had been an instrument of harassment and abuse.
  • Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity must end. Sexual orientation is not only a freedom flowing from the right to privacy, but also a demanding of non-discriminatory treatment
  • Adoption of the Yogyakarta Principles — norms on gender identity and sexual orientation adopted by human rights experts in 2006 in Indonesia.
• Latest: In the Aadhaar case the Supreme Court Observations are as follows:
  • It has upheld the right to privacy as a fundamental right and an inherent component of human liberty and dignity.
  • The nine-judge Bench has observed that the rationale behind the Koushal judgment is flawed and unsustainable.
  • Rights of LGBT persons are real rights founded on sound constitutional doctrine and not “so-called rights” as the earlier Bench had described.
  • Sexual orientation is an aspect of the right to privacy and an inalienable part of human dignity, freedom, and personal liberty.

Context:

• Right to privacy a fundamental right.

In news:

• Supreme Court observation: The landmark judgment declaring right to privacy a fundamental right would have “some bearing” in matters relating to slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks in Maharashtra.
• Background:
  • The Bombay High Court had struck down Sections 5(D) and 9(B) of the Maharashtra Animals Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995.
    • Section 5(D) criminalises possession of flesh of cows, bulls or bullocks, slaughtered outside Maharashtra
    • Section 9(B) imposed burden on the accused to prove that meat or flesh possessed by him/her does not belong to these animals.
  • A batch of appeals was filed before Supreme Court, against the HC verdict decriminalising the possession of beef in case of animals slaughtered outside the state.
• Senior advocate observation after the privacy verdict: the right to eat food of one’s choice was now protected under privacy.
• The Supreme Courts observations while deciding Right to privacy issue:  “nobody would like to be told what to eat or how to dress”, these activities come under the realm of right to privacy.

In news:

• Background: On the last day of the Budget session on July 19, the DMK MLAs produced sachets of gutkha in the Assembly to substantiate their charge that the banned tobacco products were being illegally sold in Chennai.
• The Committee of Privileges of Tamil Nadu Assembly will meet on August 28 to discuss whether some DMK MLAs committed a breach of privilege by bringing banned gutkha sachets into the House.

In News:

• Tamil Nadu: Leader of the Opposition has urged Tamil Nadu Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao to immediately direct Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to prove his majority in the Assembly.

In news:

• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce:
• Questions:
  • The government for suggesting that the country’s increasing trade deficit with ASEAN nations is due to imports of essential commodities.
  • Imposition of safe guard and tariff barriers on Indian goods.
• Recommendation: India should seek better market access for its products and services like leather goods and pharmaceuticals, with the 10-nation bloc.
• Key fact:
  • Examination of the Indo-ASEAN trade dynamics assumed significance given that this year marks 25 years of the formal partnership.
  • ASEAN is India’s fourth largest trading partner with total trade in 2016-17 at $71.69 billion.
  • Exports of agricultural products from India faced high import tariffs and barriers
• Trade deficit: the amount by which the cost of a country’s imports exceeds the value of its exports.
  • India has suffered a trade deficit in respect of five ASEAN members — Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Lao PDR — over 2015-16 and 2016-17, with the biggest deficit emerging in trade with Indonesia
• Essential commodities imported from ASEAN: coal, petroleum and edible oils.
• India’s food processing sectors objection: Near absence of quality norms for import of cheap processed food products from ASEAN countries.

C. GS3 Related

• Developed: composite plastics that are up to 36% lighter than those being used
• Who? Researchers from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, and the New York University, U.S.
• Technical details:
  • Incorporated hollow microspheres into high density polyethylene (HDPE) which is the most commonly moulded plastic product.
  • Density of the material was brought down from by nearly half. The end material was found to have a significantly greater ability to absorb energy.
• Application:
  • Production of more light-weight material and the reduced use of plastics.
  • In cars and planes, for instance, the reduction in weight significantly improves fuel efficiency.

Highlights of report released by Standing Committee on Science and Technology (Parliamentary panel) headed by Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury

• Bt Cotton production: Government agencies have portrayed “a rosy picture” on Bt Cotton which is far removed from the truth.
• Main highlight: “India’s cotton yields increased by 69% in the five years (2000-2005) when Bt Cotton was less than 6% of total cotton area, but by only 10% in the 10 years from 2005-2015 when Bt Cotton grew to 94% of the total cotton area,”
• Key Fact: The committee noted that 20 years after introduction of GM crops in 1996, only six countries continue to account for over 90 % of all GM crop area globally including U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Canada, China and India.
• Contamination of nearby crops:
  • The herbicide-tolerant gene may escape through pollen into nearby farm and fields, to another GM or non-GM crop.
  • So if we allow GM crops in the midst of our indigenous crops there is possibility of contamination.
  • No GM crop should be introduced, unless bio-safety and socio-economic desirability studies are done through a participatory, independent and transparent process.news:

D. GS4 Related

E. PRELIMS FACT

F. Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam

Question 1. Choose the correct statement  with reference to Committee of Privileges

Question 2. Consider the following statement:

Question 3. Critically endangered Markhor is native to ______.

Question 4. White-bellied heron is a ______.

Question 5. The Government enacted the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas(PESA ) 
Act in 1996 . Which one of the following is not identified as its objective?

Question 6. According to the Constitution of India, which of the following are fundamental 
for the governance of the country?

Question 7. A President’s rule can be imposed in a state under the provisions of ______.

GS Paper II

GS Paper III

GS Paper IV

Also, check previous Daily News Analysis