Daily News Analysis 23rd October 2018

Daily News Analysis (Prelims + Mains) – 23rd october 2018

General Study – I

Topic:

Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events,
personalities, issues.

Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award

Vice President addressed the gathering at the presentation ceremony of the 19th Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration to Shri. Fali S Nariman.
The Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of management established in Delhi in 1995 has instituted the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management.
Award started in 1999. It has cash prize of 500,000 rupees, citation and plaque.

About Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri was born in in Moghalsarai, then United Province on October 2, 1904. He was called Shastri because he was a scholar.
He became a life member of Servants of the people society initiated by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and became its president. Worked for the upliftment of the poor and downtrodden.
Joined Indian Independence Movement in 1920s and spent almost 9 years in jails on various occasions. His activities also included joining Non-Cooperation movement and Salt Satyagraha too. Lal Bahadur Shastri joined Quit India Movement and led the freedom fighters affectively.
After Independence, on 15th August 1947, Lal Bahadur Shastri was appointed the Minister of Police and Transport and served as the Railway Minister too. He was the one to initiate the inclusion of women as bus conductors.
In 1951, he was elected as the General Secretary of All India Congress Committee.
On 11th June, 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri was appointed as the second Prime Minister of India, after the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Shastri was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his thoughts were greatly influenced by him. He gave a slogan ’Jai Jawaan Jai Kisan’ and it became relatively popular and is remembered, especially by the agrarian community even nowadays.
Lal Bahadur Shastri led India in the Indo-Pak war of 1965, when Pakistani military infiltrated Indian territory of Kutch and Kashmir. When India took Pakistan to its crushing defeat, UN intervened and they both signed the Tashkent Declaration.
Next day on January 11, 1966 at Tashkent he died of heart attack.
He is the only Indian Prime Minister, to have died in office, overseas.
He was awarded India’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna posthumously.

General Study – II

Topic:

Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the
Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

#MeeToo and Defamation

What is defamation?

Introduction

The term “defamation”is an all-encompassing term that covers any statement that hurts someone’s reputation.
In India, defamation can both be a civil wrong or a criminal offence.
The difference between the two lies in the objects they seek to achieve. While a civil wrong tends to provide for a redressal of wrongs by awarding compensation, a criminal law seeks to punish a wrongdoer and send a message to others not to commit such acts.
In Indian laws, criminal defamation has been specifically defined as an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) whereas the civil defamation is based on tort law – an area of law which does not rely on statutes to define wrongs but takes from ever-increasing body of case laws to define what would constitute a wrong.
Moreover, in a criminal case, defamation has to be established beyond reasonable doubt but in a civil defamation suit, damages can be awarded based on probabilities.
Section 499 of the IPC defines what amounts to criminal defamation and few subsequent provisions specify what the punishment for having committed defamation would be.
Section 499 states defamation could be through words – spoken or intended to be read, through signs, and also through visible representations. These can either be published or spoken about a person with the intention of damaging reputation of that person, or with the knowledge or reason to believe that the imputation will harm his reputation.
Section 500 stipulates an imprisonment of up to two years, with or without fine, for someone held guilty of criminal defamation. However, criminal defamation is a compoundable offence and parties can seek a closure of the case by reaching a compromise.

Impinging on freedom

It is trite to say that there must exist a balance between the freedom of expression and the right to reputation.
No legal system can allow false and slanderous statements to be made publicly, with impunity.
Defamation law is the tool that is used to strike the balance. But it is the shape and the form of defamation law that often determines whether the balance has been struck appropriately, or whether, in the guise of protecting reputation, the freedom of speech and expression has been effectively stifled.

The movement

It is important to remember, however, that the challenge to criminal defamation was driven by politicians who at the best of times do not make for the most sympathetic of petitioners before a court.
the most significant change has been brought by the #MeToo movement
The movement is how it has compelled all of us to confront systematic male behaviour that may sometimes be difficult to define as a legal offence, but which is nonetheless sexually predatory and abusive.
Issues involving hierarchies in the workplace, differences in age and influence, the power exercised by men who are highly regarded in their professions and the abuse of that influence — issues that were long suppressed and simply not talked about — have, at last, found public utterance.
It is a time of upheaval, when old pieties have been exposed as morally and ethically bankrupt, and old codes of behaviour shown to be exploitative and unacceptable
The #MeToo movement has brought submerged experiences to the surface, and given individuals a fresh vocabulary with which to express what, for all these years, seemed simply inexpressible.

Views of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court said that the right to free speech cannot be used to undermine an individual’s right to dignity and reputation cannot be sullied solely because another individual can have his freedom. Protection of reputation is a fundamental right. It is also a human right. Cumulatively, it serves the social interest…it is not a restriction that has an inevitable consequence which impairs circulation of thought and ideas.

The reputation of a person – a basic element under Article 21 – could not be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the other’s right of free speech. Right to freedom of speech and expression is not absolute. It is subject to imposition of reasonable restrictions.
Reasonable restriction “means that the limitation imposed on a person in enjoyment of the right should not be arbitrary or of an excessive nature beyond what is required in the interests of the public.” In other words, the restriction must be narrow and restrict only what is necessary and should not be arbitrary or excessive. If the restriction is too broad, it will have a “chilling effect on speech” which will make it unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court has maintained the constitutional validity of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, reading the right to reputation as a part of the right to life assured to citizens under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Way Forward:

The courts now have a fresh opportunity: this is no longer about an abstract challenging to the constitutionality of criminal defamation
Issue about the relationship between our legal system and a social movement aimed at publicly redressing long-standing injustices.

General Study – III

Topic:

Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth .

2nd Report on Cross Border Insolvency

The Insolvency Law Committee (ILC) constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to recommend amendments to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India, 2016, has submitted its 2nd Report to the Government, which deals with cross border insolvency.

The ILC has recommended the adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law of Cross Border Insolvency, 1997, as it provides for a comprehensive framework to deal with cross border insolvency issues.

The Committee has also recommended a few carve outs to ensure that there is no inconsistency between the domestic insolvency framework and the proposed Cross Border Insolvency Framework.

The UNCITRAL Model Law has been adopted in as many as 44 countries and, therefore, forms part of international best practices in dealing with cross border insolvency issues.

The advantages of the model law are the

Precedence given to domestic proceedings and protection of public interest.
Greater confidence generation among foreign investors.
Adequate flexibility for seamless integration with the domestic Insolvency Law
Robust mechanism for international cooperation.

Topics for Prelims

Vishwashanti Ahimsa Sammelan

The President inaugurated the First Vishwashanti Ahimsa Sammelan at Mangi Tungi, Nasik, Maharashtra.

The event is being organised by the Bhagwan Shri Rishabhdev 108 Feet Vishalkai Digambar Jain Murti Nirman Committee.

Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali

“Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali” campaign launched by Ministry of Environment.

Campaign was initiated in 2017-18 wherein large number of school children especially from eco-clubs participated and took pledge to minimize bursting of crackers and also discouraged the neighborhood and their friends from bursting of crackers.

During this intensive campaign, the children were advised to celebrate Diwali in an environment-friendly manner by gifting plant sapling to their relatives and friends along with sweets, undertake cleaning of houses, neighborhoods, schools, collect old books and unused notebooks gift to needy children, donate old warm clothing, blankets to night-shelters and other homeless people.

The “Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali” campaign is now merged with “Green Good Deed” movement that has been initiated as a social mobilization for conservation and protection of environment. The Ministry encourages all schools and colleges to be part of this campaign.

Direct Tax Statistics

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has released Direct Tax Statistics

The key highlights of these statistics are

There is a constant growth in direct tax-GDP ratio over last three years and the ratio of 5.98% in FY 2017-18 is the best DT-GDP ratio in last 10 years.
There is a growth of more than 80% in the number of returns filed in the last four financial years from 3.79 crore in FY 2013-14 (base year) to 6.85 crore in FY 2017-18.
The number of persons filing return of income has also increased by about 65% during this period from 3.31 crore in FY 2013-14 to 5.44 crore in FY 2017-18.

Women of India Organic Festival

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is organizing the 5th edition of the Women of India Organic Festival from 26th October to 4th November, 2018 at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi.

Festival aimed to boost organic culture and promote Women Organic Farmers and Entrepreneurs.

Being the country’s largest organic festival, it bears witness to the fact that women are the torchbearers of the nation’s organic movement.

With over 500 women entrepreneurs coming together from across the country with their organic products such as cereals, rice, pulses, skin-care products, fabric, jewellery, etc, this is the perfect example of how the festival is creating a revolution and making women self-reliant.