UPSC 2017: Comprehensive News Analysis - July 29

A. GS1 Related

Context

• Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by a person claiming to be the daughter of the late Sanjay Gandhi to set aside the certificate granted to Indu Sarkar, a film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar

Freedom of expression

• Supreme Court observation: freedom of expression cannot be curtailed without a valid reason.
• Film is nothing but artistic expression within the parameters of law and that there is no warrant or justification to curtail it.

CBFC and its censorship role

• Recent experience suggests that the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) does not always see itself as a certifying authority, but rather plays the censor quite merrily. In the case of Udta Punjab last year, it was seeking to be the guardian of Punjab’s honour against the depiction of the high prevalence of drug addiction in the State.
• The Bombay High Court had to remind the CBFC that certification, and not censorship is its primary role and that its power to order changes and cuts must be exercised in accordance with constitutional principles.
• More recently, the CBFC sought to play the moral censor with regard to Lipstick Under My Burkha, a film it thought was too “lady-oriented” to be given a certificate, presumably because it depicts their fantasies.
• The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal had to intervene to secure the release of the film, with an ‘A’ certificate.
• These instances demonstrate that challenges to freedom come from both within the systemic framework and outside.

Role of court in protecting freedom of expression

• Courts prefer to protect the right to free expression rather than entertain excuses such as maintenance of law and order and public tranquility, or someone’s sense of hurt or the fear of someone being portrayed in a bad light.

B. GS2 Related

Context 

• On July 24, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar had directed doctors from P.G.I., Chandigarh, to medically examine the 10-year-old rape victim and file a report in court on whether the “health of the girl child concerned, who is stated to be of the age of 10 years, and also that of the foetus, would be adversely affected, if the pregnancy is continued for the full term”.

Termination is not possible

• Medical opinion: abortion will endanger both the girl and her 32-week-old foetus.
• Supreme Court: denied the permission to grant abortion of the foetus.

State-level MTP boards

• Supreme Court urged the government to consider setting up permanent medical boards across the States so that women, especially child rape victims, could receive expedient access to medical care.
• Why such boards? To expedite the process.
• Presently, women are forced to undertake the cumbersome process of approaching different courts, from district courts to high courts and finally the Supreme Court, for permission to medically terminate their pregnancies which are over 20 weeks.
• The frequent number of such cases which have come to the Supreme Court range from child rape victims to destitute women to women with substantial foetus abnormalities.

In news:

• Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office over undeclared assets and ordered registration of corruption cases against him and his children, plunging the country into a political turmoil.
• Attorney-General said the disqualification is for life, ending any hope for the three-time Prime Minister to return to active politics.

C. GS3 Related

Highlights of “A performance audit of India’s private hospitals” by CAG

• Majority of the institutions is evading tax.
• Data on ‘non-filers’ of income tax was available only in three states — West Bengal, Assam and Gujarat.
• Delhi, Kerala, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu had no process of identifying hospitals that were evading tax.
• Most private hospitals and practitioners did not submit valid Permanent Account Numbers (PAN).

Key Fact: The private sector accounts for 80% of outpatient care and 60% of inpatient care in the country.

In news

• Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant opinion: India’s financial sector regulators should stop hindering ideas in the financial technology sector and instead opt for a regulatory sandbox approach to nurture innovative financial technology applications.

What is a regulatory sandbox?

• A regulatory sandbox is an experimental oversight mechanism for innovative products and services that do not fall into an existing regulatory regime or cut across traditional regulators’ domains.
• For example when you make payment transfers or remittances, assess your personal finance or insurance needs, compare financial products that you are considering buying or to track the performance of your investments.
• Such innovations are permitted to operate for a limited period of time at a limited scale to understand its efficacy and implications, so that the best alternatives for regulation can be evolved based on concerns that emerge.
• The (sandbox) option can be a great way to unlock innovations for mass public adoption, because a regulatory sandbox balances the twin objectives of nurturing financial innovation and safeguarding consumer interests.

Practice elsewhere

• Globally, regulatory sandboxes have been introduced in the U.K., Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and UAE. Each country has a certain “target group” for which sandboxing is done.
• All these countries have so far created a sandboxed environment to support financial institutions (FIs) and fintech firms

Allowing the start-ups

• There are over 600 start-ups in the country in the financial technology (fintech) space
• Letting them operate in a ‘live, but controlled environment with some regulations relaxed, will provide a solid evidence base’ on their strengths and weaknesses.
• More than 30 of those start-ups are focused on the peer-to-peer lending space alone and their market potential is expected to reach $5 billion by 2020.
• Several start-ups are working in areas such as virtual currencies like Bitcoins, Blockchain-based settlements and so on.
• The total fintech market in India is estimated to be worth $8 billion and is expected to grow to about $14 billion by 2020. India is ranked amongst the top ten FinTech markets globally

Highlights of the report tabled by CAG in Parliament:

• Deficient in quality – The strategic missile system, a medium range supersonic surface to air missile system to counter aerial threats were “deficient in quality,”
• Over 70 % of the under vehicle scanners (UVS) installed at Indian Air Force (IAF) bases were non-functional
• The IL series of aircraft, which provide vital transport support to IAF during contingencies, “has not been upgraded, and continue to fly with 1985 vintage avionics.” Air to air refuelling is a crucial capability both during combat as well as peace time operations. IL-78 aircraft are dedicated for this purpose. However, due to inadequate infrastructure and support facilities the air to air refuelling capability was hampered.

Importance of Strategic missile system:

• Strategic missile system is vital for the country’s air defence and deterrence capability.
• Audit found that the system delivered by Bharat Electricals Limited (BEL) was deficient in quality.
• Out of 80 missiles received up to November 2014, 20 were test fired during April-November 2014. Six of these missiles i.e., 30 % failed the test.
• Preliminary failure analysis report revealed that the missiles fell short of the target, had lower than the required velocity, and also there was malfunctioning of critical units like Servo Control Unit and Connector.
• Two missiles had failed to take off because the booster nozzle had failed. These deficiencies posed an operational risk during hostilities.

In news

• An important building block of life has been discovered in the hazy upper atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
• Using data from the Cassini mission, scientists identified negatively charged molecules called ‘carbon chain anions’ in the atmosphere of Titan.

Inference: These linear molecules are understood to be building blocks towards more complex molecules, and may have acted as the basis for the earliest forms of life on Earth.

D. GS4 Related

E. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn

F. Bills/Acts/Schemes/Orgs in News

Question 2. Which of the following regions in India represents lowest altitude?

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Question 3. Mundaka Upanishad, the Mandukya Upanishad and the Prashna Upanishad
are associated with which of the following Vedas?

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Question 4. Bank Rate is defined as the rate at which:

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Question 5. Consider the following statements about National Bureau of Animal Genetic 
Resources (NBAGR):

See

GS Paper I

1. Should there be censorship of films? Critically discuss in the light of recent moves by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to ban or cut scenes in movies.

GS Paper II

1. The Union Health Ministry’s and NITI Aayog’s recent proposal to allow the private sector to run district hospitals has its risks. Examine?

GS Paper IV

1. You are a young, aspiring and sincere employee in a Government office working as an assistant, to the director of your deportment. Since you’ve joined recently, you need tolearn and progress. Luckily your superior is very kind and ready to train you for your job. He is a very intelligent and well-informed person having knowledge of various departments. In short, you respect your book and are looking forward to learn a lot from him.

Since you’ve good tuning with the boss, he started depending on you. One day due to ill health he invited you at his place for finishing some urgent work. You reached his house and you heard shouting noises before you could ring the bell. You waited for a while. After entering, boss greeted you and explained the work. But you were constantly disturbed by the crying of a woman. At last, you inquired with the boss but his answer did not satisfy you. Next day, you were compelled to inquire further in the office and found out that his behavior is very had at home with his wife. He also heath up his wife.

His wife is not well educated and is a simple woman in comparison to her husband. You see that though your boss is a nice person in the office, he is engaged in domestic violence at home. In such a situation, you are left with the following options. Analyse each option with its consequences.

   I. Just ignore thinking about it because it is their personal matter.

  II. Report the case to the appropriate authority.

III. Your own innovative approach towards the situation. (250 words)

Also, check previous Daily News Analysis.

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