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Section 497

Section 497 The Supreme Court recently unanimously nullified Section 497 of Indian Penal Code which made adultery punishable offence for men. The law itself a British era patriarchy which labelled women as property of her husband. The law was challenged by a Keralite NRI Joseph Shine and the court felt the law as an impediment to women empowerment and progressive approach. What is Adultery? Adultery is a punishable offence set by erstwhile British rulers, in 1860 section 497 was added to IPC which termed sexual intercourse with a married woman without the consent of her husband, not amount to rape but adultery itself and the offence was punishable to five years imprisonment or fine or both in case. Patriarchy involved Since this law heavily relied on male domination over his spouse and made women almost like a chattel of his husband. The law made was clear in its version that no woman can file a complaint under this law against her adulterous husband and husband himself can file

IPC 377

IPC 377 Context On September 6, 2018, Honorable Supreme Court partially repealed section 377 of Indian Penal Code, waving a new ray of hope for the LGBT community. The law for longed deemed to be a violation of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution. History The law dates back to 1860 when Lord Macaulay proclaimed a law which criminalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and anyone who violates it to be imprisoned for ten years and fined. The law was in resonance with Biblical reference and mostly religious orthodoxy than rational inference. Legal Battle For decades civil rights activists in India termed this law an inhuman unconstitutional and demanded its repulsion and the breakthrough came from Indian judiciary. In 2001, Naaz Foundation filed a petition before Delhi High Court against section 377. However, HC dismissed the case, terming it as a mere academic challenge to the constitutionality of a legislative provision but afte

Doklam & Politics Afterwards

Doklam & Politics Afterwards The two biggest south Asian giants namely India and China have been in loggerhead since their inception, but none were as tense as Doklam Standoff of 2017 after 1962 war ended. The 71-day Doklam standoff started on June 16, 2017, near trijunction of India, Bhutan and China ended without single bloodshed after both sides decided to step back. Background Doklam or Doko La, or Donglang in Chinese, is an area spread over less than a 100 sq km comprising a plateau and a valley at the trijunction between India, Bhutan and China. It is surrounded by the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, Bhutan’s Ha Valley and Sikkim. Which makes it an important strategic position in terms of India's security scenario. On June 16 last year China crossed the status quo in an attempt to build roads, which were initially contended by the Royal Bhutanese Army but they were outnumbered and pushed back, which made the call for Indian forces to step in. Indian Stand India has histor

Rohingya Plight

Rohingya Plight Context Rohingya’s are considered to be one of the most persecuted ethnic communities of the world. Estimated to be around 1.1 to 1.3 million, is resident of the state of Rakhine (also known as Arakan) from pre-colonial era. Mostly descendants of former Arab merchants and people from repatriation of Burmese independence and Bangladesh liberation war. The situation of these people was always at the mercy of the majority Burmese speaking Buddhist majorities. The current situation, however, took a drastic turn back on 10 June 2012 when a Rakhine woman was gang-raped and in return ten Rohingya Muslims were burnt. Rohingyas Identity Even before Myanmar's independence, Rohingyas were considered as intruders and with independence, the narrative took constitutional form. Although back in 1990 they were issued a certificate(white paper) which gave the right to vote, were recalled in 2015. Which led the Bengali dialect speaking ethnic people completely 'stateles

Aadhaar Judgement

Aadhaar Judgement The most awaited Aadhaar Judgement by the Supreme Court cleared all the confusions that have been there for years since Parliament passed the Aadhaar Act, 2016. The judgement itself upheld the act, although nullifying some key features and ruling that Aadhaar doesn't violate Right to Privacy as it ruled in a previous judgement as a fundamental right. Aadhaar Legacy Originally it was Kargil Review Committee that recommended National ID for multipurpose use later UPA government renamed it as 'Aadhaar'. It was initially formed by executive order, but later the NDA government passed Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016. The passage of the bill and the ways that were followed by the government cast a shadow over the legitimacy of the act. The government later made it mandatory for almost all government services including PDS, PAN, SIM Card purchase, Banking etc., that irked a large part of the soci

Organisation in Indian National Movement

Organisation in Indian National Movement 1. Landholders Society (1838) : Dwarkanath Tagore, Calcutta ( 1 st Political Organisation ) 2. British India Society (1839) : William Adams, London ( 1 st Association Outside India ) 3. East India Association (1866) : Dadabhai Naoroji, London 4. Poona Sarvojonik Sabha (1867) : M.G. Ranade, G.V. Joshi, S.H. Chiplunkar, Poona 5. Indian Association (1876) : Ananda Mohan Bose, S.N. Banerjee, Calcutta 6. India League (1875) : Sisir Kumar Ghosh, Calcutta 7. Bombay Presidency Association (1885) : Firoj Shah Mehta, K.T. Telang, Badaruddin Tayebji, Bombay 8. Brahma Samaj (1828) : Rammohan Roy, Calcutta ( Formerly, Atmiya Sabha(1815) ) 9. Arya Samaj (1875) : Dayananda Saraswati, Bombay 10. Prarthana Samaj (1867) : Source of Inspiration- Keshab Chandra Sen, Main Architect- M. G. Ranade, Founder- Dr. Aatmaram Panduranga, Maharashtra 11. Theosophical Society (1875) : Mada

Seventh Pay Commission

Seventh Pay Commission Photo Credit : ibtimes.co.in #SSC-CGL2018 #SSC-CHSL2018 #IB #SBI-PO (250 words)Important Topics for SSC, IB, BANK The idea of Pay Commission mooted as early as the formation of interim-government in 1946 to address the issue of salaries of government employees and pay hike in resonance with rising price index. Seventh Pay Commission constituted to address the same issue in 2013, with a 10 years after each commission submits its report. Pay Commission always gives the due respect to employees who work hard to run the government functionaries. This time it brought a salary increase with some additional benefits like increase in housing allowances to 25 lakh from 7.5 lakh presently, hike in Dearness Allowance, minimum salary capped at 18000 from 7000 and maximum salary at 2.5 lakh from 90000 at present. Although that didn't pacify all central employees as many of their demands remained out of this commission's recommendat

Namami Gange: What are the possible challenges to this?

Namami Gange: What are the possible challenges to this? Photo Credit: nmcg.nic.in #SSC-CGL2018 #SSC-CHSL2018 #IB #SBI-PO (250 words)Important Topics for SSC, IB, BANK Namami Gange is an ambitious flagship programme of Union Government aimed at integrating all existing and new efforts for Ganga rejuvenation through a comprehensive policy. Original action plan 'National Mission for Clean Ganga' was drafted in Union budget 2015, which set a budgetary outlay of 20000 cr to accomplish this. This is a tribute to river Ganga, which has sustained our civilisation for thousands of years and the project is a conglomeration of eight states, forty-seven towns besides several ministries. But the cleanliness of Ganga basin isn't an easy task as it includes a huge area and population. Improving sewerage infrastructure and checking existing domestic and industrial build-up to accommodate forestation, building wildlife sanctuary is a complex job keeping in

Digital India: How to make it a success in the Indian context?

Digital India: How to make it a success in the Indian context? #SSC-CGL2018 #SSC-CHSL2018 #IB #SBI-PO (250 words)Important Topics for SSC, IB, BANK On July 1, 2015, in an inaugural speech PM of India along with some key dignitaries from a range of sectors like Information Technology, Telecom Industry etc. emphasised on 'Digitally Empowered India' and 'India Tomorrow'. The outcome of that summit focused on digital infrastructure, digital connectivity and digital awareness. Although such an initiative backed by budgetary support is laudable, implementation is the key huddle considering the complexity of technological awareness and seamless connectivity in remote areas. Indians are always adaptable to new technologies but to address complexities a complete roadmap is necessary. Homegrown reliable technologies can be best suited for infrastructure development where data protection and privacy is given key importance. To a