14 Aug 2020: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

B. GS 2 Related

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Arunachal groups push for 6th Schedule status

Context:

Political parties and community-based groups are demanding for Arunachal Pradesh to be brought under the ambit of the Sixth Schedule or Article 371 (A) of the Constitution.

Details:

• There is a revival of the demand for two autonomous councils in Arunachal Pradesh.
  • The renewed demand is for Mon Autonomous Council (MAC) comprising Tawang, West Kameng and parts of East Kameng districts, and
  • Patkai Autonomous Council (PAC) comprising Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts.
• Political parties have been seeking the inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh in the Sixth Schedule for making the State’s indigenous communities owners of all the natural resources instead of being protectors only.

Why is inclusion in the 6^th Schedule being demanded?

• Arunachal Pradesh is under the Fifth Schedule that does not provide special rights for the indigenous communities, unlike the Sixth Schedule.
• While executive powers of the union extend in scheduled areas with respect to their administration in the 5th Schedule; the 6th Schedule areas remain within the executive authority of the state.
• While the 5th schedule envisages the creation of Tribal Advisory Council, the 6th Schedule provides for District Councils and Regional Councils with certain legislative and judicial powers.

E. Editorials

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Right by birth

Context:

• Supreme Court observations regarding the provisions of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005.

Background:

Mitakshara law:

• Mitakshara is one of the schools belonging to Hindu law dealing with property rights and succession. Mitakshara law is still in practice across most of India except for West Bengal and Assam where the Dayabhaga system is practised.
  • The Mitakshara is a legal treatise on inheritance, written by Vijnaneshwara, a scholar in the Western Chalukya court in the 12th century.
• Mitakshara law provides the principle of division of ancestral property held by the Hindu joint family. Partition of such landholding among offsprings is possible even with the father still living, unlike the Dayabhaga system.
• As per the law, the right to Hindu joint family property is by birth. So, a son immediately after birth gets a right to the property. The Mitakshara School of coparcenary recognizes the birthright of a son, son’s son, son’s son’s son.
• The system of devolution of property is by survivorship. The share of coparceners in the joint family property is not definite or ascertainable, as their shares are fluctuating with births and deaths of the coparceners.

Hindu Succession Act, 1956:

• The Mitakshara School of Hindu Law was codified as the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
• The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 only recognised males as legal heirs.

Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005:

• The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 is an amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
• The amended Hindu Succession Act gives daughters equal rights to ancestral property.
• The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 aimed to remove gender discriminatory provisions regarding property rights in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 by balancing the property rights of male and female siblings.
• The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 had a retrospective effect with the provision that partitions or testamentary disposition that had taken place prior to December 20, 2004, would remain valid and unaffected by the change. This led to the interpretation that the daughters’ coparcenary rights, being prospective, would not come into effect unless both the coparcener father and his daughter were alive on September 9, 2005- the date the law came into effect. This interpretation was upheld by the Supreme Court in its 2015 judgment in the Prakash and Others vs. Phulavati case.

Details:

• The Supreme Court has recently held that a Hindu woman’s right to be a joint heir to the ancestral property is by birth and does not depend on whether her father was alive or not when the law was enacted in 2005.
• The court has recognised that the 2005 amendment conferred equal status as a coparcener on daughters in Hindu families governed by Mitakshara law, and this right accrued by birth.

For more details on this, refer to:

CNA dated August 12, 2020

Significance of the verdict:

Upholding the spirit of the 2005 amendment:

• The decision of the Supreme Court corrects an anomaly in the interpretation of the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Though the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 took reformatory steps towards ending gender discrimination with respect to property inheritance, the wrong interpretations of its provisions had disabled many Hindu women to claim ancestral property.
• By locating the origin of the coparcenary right in one’s birth, the SC’s decision has allowed the application of this prospective legislation to be retroactive.
• The SC judgment has sought to give full effect to the reformatory intent of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 by setting at rest doubts arising from varying interpretations.

Gender equality:

• SC’s decision on the coparcenary rights of women is in line with the aim of ending gender discrimination. The judgment helps uphold the daughter’s rights as being equal to that of a son and endorses gender equality.
• This is in consonance with the right of equality as enshrined under Article 14, 15, & 21 of the Constitution of India.

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Historic ratification

Context:

• Ratification of Convention no.182 of the International Labour Organization by Tonga.

Background:

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182):

• The Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, known in short as the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1999 as ILO Convention No 182.
• It is one of eight ILO fundamental conventions.

• Under Convention No 182, a country commits itself to take immediate action to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
• Convention 182 prohibits the sexual exploitation of children, trafficking, deployment in armed conflict and other conditions that compromise their overall well-being.

Details:

• Recently, Tonga formally deposited the ratification instruments for the ILO Convention No 182.
• This marks a historic event as it is the first time for an International Labour Convention to be ratified by all member states. This marks the first universal ratification of a global labour standard.
• India ratified Convention 182 and the instrument prescribing the minimum age of work for children in 2017. This signals India’s commitment to eliminate child labour.

For more information on this issue, refer to:

CNA dated June 14, 2017

Significance:

• The Convention no 182 complements the ILO’s efforts under the 1973 Minimum Age Convention to prevent the employment of children below a lower age threshold.
  • The ILO Convention no 138, concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, requires the ratifying states to pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment or work.
• Under the influence of Convention no 182 and no 138, millions of young boys and girls have been rescued from hazardous conditions of work. Subsequently, there has been a significant increase in enrolments in primary education.
• The ILO conventions in general provide the necessary framework to counteract the predominance of informality in the conditions of work.

Challenges:

• Despite the impressive progress being made in the elimination of child labour, significant challenges remain.
  • An estimated 152 million are trapped in child labour and 72 million of them are engaged in hazardous work. This would entail significant ground to be covered to achieve the ambitious goal of total abolition of child labour by 2025.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undo the recent gains. COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread job losses, deterioration in conditions of work, decline in household incomes and temporary school closures. These could lead to an increase in child labour.

Additional information:

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has unanimously adopted a resolution declaring 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour and has asked the International Labour Organization to take the lead in its implementation.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. Independent but not alone

Context:

• The article authored by Ben Wallace, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Defence discusses the historic as well as contemporary defence relations between India and the United Kingdom.

Details:

Historic ties:

• India played a big role in the Second World War. Indian soldiers were involved in British operations in Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean as well as the Pacific region.
• Indians formed the largest all-volunteer force in the world, with over 2.5 million fighting in Europe, North Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and, Burma. India also provided material resources for the war effort in the form of coal, iron ore and steel. Indian non-combatants secured the supply lines for the British war efforts.

Contemporary ties:

• India and the U.K. Armed Forces exercise together biannually.
  • The joint army Ajeya Warrior biennial exercises have been held since 2005 at battalion-level strength.
  • The joint navy Konkan annual exercises being held since 2004, include destroyers/frigates in ship-to-ship passage exercises.
  • The joint air Indradhanush exercises, run since 2006 and include modern combat aircraft.
• There is Defence and International Security Partnership in the form of collaboration in jet engine technology and cyber technology.

For more information on this topic, refer to:

CNA dated Jan 18, 2020

• Seven Royal Navy vessels operate in the Western Indian Ocean.

For more information on this topic, refer to:

CNA dated Jan 20, 2020

• The Atmanirbhar Bharat vision of India can be supplemented by the Global Britain vision to ensure collaboration in the area of defence modernization and maritime technology.
• Contemporary shared challenges include the current COVID-19 pandemic, piracy, extremism and sub-conventional warfare.

Conclusion:

• Given the shared values and commitments to justice, stability and free markets, there is immense potential for India-U.K. partnership to grow.

Q1. ‘Island of Crete’ is located in:

Q2. Consider the following statements with respect to African Swine Fever:

Q3. Nyishi tribes belong to which state?

Q4. 6th Schedule of Indian Constitution consists of provisions for the administration 
of tribal areas in which of the following states?

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

1. The recent Supreme Court decision on the coparcenary rights of women with respect to inheritance is in line with the spirit of gender equality as espoused in the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005. Comment. (10 marks, 150 words)(GS paper 2/Polity and Governance)
2. Discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to undo the recent gains made in reducing child labour in India. Also suggest necessary measures to address this threat. (10 marks, 150 words)(GS paper2/ Social issues)