Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 26th April

Politics of identity and location

Author talks about harassment people from the North East have to face in other parts of country. Article is trying to bring forth similar kind of situation in North East India where non-tribal people are discriminated.

• According to the author every second case of discrimination is against a person from Manipur since most of the North Eastern population working in regions like Delhi are from Manipur. This can be attributed to protracted militancy and complete failure of the Manipur government to create meaningful employment for its youth.
• People of the eight north-eastern States are themselves ethnically divided. There are major tribes and minor tribes. The so-called major tribes such as the Nyishis of Arunachal Pradesh or the Ao and Angami tribes of Nagaland lord it over the smaller tribes who live on the peripheries of development because even development is skewed and happens along these ethno-centric fault-lines. 
• It would be erroneous to assume that the people of the eight States are socially homogenous and that they coexist happily with each other. Within the States there are ferments for greater autonomy. For instance, Meghalaya has three major tribes — the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo. The first two are of Mon-Khmer origin and the last a part of the Tibeto-Burman race. The Garos have always felt neglected and have now demanded a separate State. These demands for greater autonomy are not always peaceful.
• And in this horrifyingly complex situation we have the non-tribals who have lived in the region for three to four generations and have contributed their mite to the local economy. In Meghalaya, in the late 1970s, the Khasi Students Union launched an insidious attack on the Bengalis living in Shillong. Their reason for doing so is simplistic — the non-tribals are responsible for all the ills that afflict Khasi society. The next phase of communal violence saw a new set of victims — the Nepali settlers who have also lived in the State since it was a part of Assam, and the Biharis who kept cows and supplied milk to the residents.
• In the latest round of violence when several pressure groups demanded the imposition of an Inner Line Permit (ILP) to enter Meghalaya, along the lines of Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, at least two non-tribals were burnt to death. The police have arrested some pro-ILP activists but the case seems weak and the suspects are out on bail. Non-tribals have lost the right to speak up and dissent. They live like third class citizens. Those who survive to do business do so by paying protection money to these different pressure groups. Non-tribals are debarred form buying land in tribal areas after the Land Transfer Act was passed in 1978.

Dealing with ‘wolves’ and ‘beasts’

Article is about the death sentence given to 3 in Shakti Mills gang rape case. Author is against the death penalty and some points raised for his argument are:

• Murder and rape cannot and should not be equated. It would — as women’s activists fear and repeatedly stressed — have a bearing on the further safety of the woman who has been raped. Moreover, this is based on the presumption that rape is indeed the end of life.
• Verma Commission:

“In our considered view…seeking of death penalty would be a regressive step in the field of sentencing and reformation,” the commission said.

“Undoubtedly, rape deserves serious punishment…Rape is very often accompanied by physical injury to the victim and can also inflict mental and psychological damage…However, we believe that such offences need to be graded. There are instances where the victim/survivor…can…overcome the trauma and lead a normal life,” the Commission said.

• Retributive theories of punishment work on the assumption that the crime is a disruption of social harmony, and that this harmony will be restored and justice will be served by visiting an equally strong punishment on the offender. In restoring status quo ante , however, we forget that such status quo is not necessarily harmonious or just.

Where should the judiciary draw the line?

Article is in favour of judicial activism and to analyse where the Court has to draw its Lakshman rekha keeping in view the main aim of judicial activism.

• Indian judiciary has come under the media scanner over the past few months — interventions/ decisions in the imprisoning of Subrata Roy in the SEBI-Sahara dispute; the IPL betting case; the challenge to Section 377 of the IPC; and the most recent diktat on the status of transgenders have evoked a mixed response. What the critics of judicial intervention have, however, missed is the fact that in each of these cases, judicial intervention would have been unnecessary but for legislative/ executive inaction and inefficiency — PRS Legislative Research’s data reveals that 51 per cent and 42 per cent of the available time in the Budget and Monsoon Sessions for the year 2013 was wasted due to disruptions.
• The most common argument against excessive judicial intervention is that judicial activism results in upsetting the balance of power between the executive, legislature and the judiciary. However, such an argument firstly assumes that the legislature and executive are performing their functions efficiently and secondly that the judiciary is incapable of intervening in a manner which helps further the ideals of democracy.
• It is possible for courts to monitor actions of the other limbs of democracy without actually stepping into their shoes. This gets theoretical support from the writings of Professor Roach who argues that the judiciary should not create policies to enforce rights but must require the government to draft its own policy and submit it along with a timetable for execution. The finalization of this plan must be only after the judiciary has heard objections from other interested parties. Once such a policy is framed by a legislature/ executive, it is to be interfered with by the judiciary in a very restrictive manner, using the principle of deference. According to this principle, the judiciary, while evaluating executive/ legislative action (or inaction), should modify the policy framed only when the reasons provided are not reasonable. A court should merely see whether the reasons provided by the executive justify its decision, not whether the court would have reached the same decision. This standard should be applied not only when a policy is tested before the courts but also by courts to see if inaction is justified.
• Mere risk of judicial over-activism cannot be an argument against judicial activism. Judicial activism, keeping in view the ideals of democracy, is, in fact, necessary to ensure that unheard voices are not buried by more influential and vocal voices. Indeed, on most occasions, timely interventions of the judiciary in India — the home of judicial activism — has helped democracy flourish in our country despite repeated failures of the other organs.

Some history of Judicial Activism mentioned:

After playing a largely “interpretative” role in the 1950s and 1960s, the Supreme Court, starting from the 1970s has been the major force standing up against legislative and executive excesses and inactions. Starting from inventing the ‘basic structure’ doctrine to bring constitutional amendments under the judicial scanner to widening the scope of the right to life and liberty, the 1970s and 1980s saw the judiciary play a highly proactive role in ensuring that India develops into a thriving democracy.

The decision in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India , where it was held a person could be deprived of his right to life only by a law which was just, fair and reasonable; and in Bandhua Mukhti Morcha v. Union of India , where the concept of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was introduced and the locus standi requirement was diluted, were key game changers which ensured that India did not slide down the slippery slope towards dictatorship.

Preparing for a poor monsoon

One more article on El Nino. New points mentioned are:

• not every El Niño leads to a drought over India. Indeed, an analysis found that the monsoon became deficient in only 43 per cent of the El Niño events that took place between 1880 and 2005. 
• which part of the Pacific warms also influences its impact on the monsoon. El Niño events where the surface waters of the central Pacific heat up have been found to retard the monsoon more than ones where the eastern Pacific warms.
•  favourable conditions in the Indian Ocean can counter any adverse influence from the Pacific. That famously happened in 1997 when, despite an exceptionally strong El Niño, the country enjoyed slightly above average rains. 

Putin’s comments could pose challenge to the Internet

Vladimir Putin gave his clearest signal yet that he aims to break up the global nature of the internet when he branded the network a “CIA project” on Thursday.

The Russian President told a media conference in St. Petersburg that America’s overseas espionage agency had originally set up the internet and was continuing to develop it.

Mr. Putin has long hinted that he wants a Russian-run alternative. The idea of breaking up the internet has gained ground in Germany, Brazil and elsewhere round the world in the light of the revelations by whistle-blower Edward Snowden about the extent to which the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has infiltrated Facebook, Skype and other social media.

Appointments and propriety

Article is about the propriety in  appointments to the Lokpal, Naval and Army chief.

Lokpal issue:

Centre informing the Supreme Court that it will not take an immediate decision on the appointment of a chairperson and members of the Lok Pal has brought to an end an unnecessary controversy which began with its calling for a meeting of the selection committee on April 27 and 28.

The meeting was questioned on the following two premises:

1. attempt to make an appointment while the Court is seized of the matter 

2. propriety of an outgoing government doing it

It is only proper that the first Lok Pal of independent India does not start his or her tenure under a cloud of procedural controversies. There are practical issues too. With Chief Justice P. Sathasivam’s retirement and the constitution of a new government, a new-look selection committee will take charge. It should be the task of the new committee to deal with the issues.

Army and Naval Chief:

On the other hand, just as a new Chief of the Naval Staff was appointed after the electoral process had begun, after referring the matter to the Election Commission, the process of appointment of the Chief of the Army Staff has been cleared by the Commission. In the case of the Navy, there had been a vacancy at the top for some weeks, but the Army chief would be retiring in June. It has been a longstanding practice to appoint a successor two months before a chief lays down office. A former Army chief and the BJP have reservations about a likely candidate, that need to be considered. Here the main issue is suitability, not timing, and unless there are concerns over conduct and professional responsibility — which the government would be in the best position to judge in this case — the normal criteria combining seniority and merit must be applied

China pledges support for Sri Lanka

Amid growing concern in New Delhi over the increasing presence of China in Sri Lanka, visiting Vice Foreign Minister of China Liu Zhenmin on Thursday said: “Sri Lanka will always find a friend in China.”

At a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Mr. Liu said: “We will continue to support Sri Lanka in the [United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)] and the [United Nations Security Council (UNSC)].”

China, in the last decade, has invested heavily in Sri Lanka’s infrastructure. In August 2013, a massive Chinese-built port, at a cost of $ 500 million, opened in Colombo, about a year after another deep-sea port in Hambantota, funded and built by the Chinese became operational.

India, China to deepen naval ties after landmark exercise

As the Indian Navy’s INS Shivalik prepared to leave Qingdao port on Friday after a six-day stay in China, both countries declared that the missile frigate’s visit had gone a long way in deepening strategic trust between two navies that are increasingly coming into contact on the high seas.

Officials on both sides said the Shivalik’s visit and participation at the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) 65th anniversary celebrations – marked by first-ever maritime exercises involving 7

nations in China – had sent a strong signal of India’s keenness to deepen navy-to-navy links with China.

Rajiv case: seven questions for the Constitution Bench

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will decide the fate of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, while referring the matter to a larger bench, took into consideration the submissions of the Centre that the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to remit the sentence of the seven convicts was “illegal and without jurisdiction.”

“The State government is not the appropriate government in the present case and it has no role to play in it at any stage,” the Centre said. The State, however, maintained that the authority to exercise the power of remission in such special cases vested with the “appropriate government” even after the court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. The order did not bar any further exercise of commutation/remission power by the executive under the Constitution or under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).