GS PAPER I
Child Marriage Prosecutions in India
Why in News
According to the new study, legal proceedings against child marriages are commonly undertaken against elopements whereas forced child marriages often go unpunished.
Key Points
- The report, “Child Marriage Prosecutions in India”, brought out by Partners for Law in Development (PLD), analysed 83 high court and district court verdicts in cases relating to child marriage from 2008 and 2017.
- It selected for analysis judgments and orders in which child marriage was specifically mentioned.
- These included cases filed under the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006, as well as legal action initiated under other laws in relation to child marriage such as Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
- The study found that legal prosecution of child marriages was twice as much against elopement or self-arranged marriages by girls with such cases accounting for 65% (54 out of a total 83 cases) of the total cases studied.
- Only 30% of the cases were those of arranged child marriages, and a mere 5% were forced child marriages.
Seeking custody
- An analysis of who initiated the legal proceedings shows that it was primarily the parents of girls who approached the legal system with a complaint.
- A total of 56 of the 83 cases, or 67.4%, were initiated by parents or relatives. These included cases where parents sought custody of their daughter who had eloped or to prosecute the husband.
- Only 7% of the cases were initiated by a child marriage prohibition officer, the State functionary designated for implementing the law.
- Another 7% of the cases were filed by a third party, including an NGO, or suo moto action by the court.
- Girls accessed the law on their own the least, with only 3.5% of the cases filed to seek the nullification of their arranged marriage or to initiate criminal legal action against their parents for arranging an underage marriage.
- Further, the punishment for elopement versus forced and arranged child marriages were hugely disproportionate.
- The former could invite a punishment of 10 years to life imprisonment if convicted for rape under the IPC or a jail of 20 years to a maximum punishment of death under the POCSO Act, whereas the latter under the PCMA comes with no minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of imprisonment for two years and/or a fine. The study terms this “weaponisation of the law to settle family dishonour”.
- In 2019, 525 cases were registered under the PCMA, compared with 6,590 children who were “deemed” to have been kidnapped on account of an elopement or love relationship and 12,724 cases of children who were kidnapped for the purpose of marriage.
GS PAPER II
Smart Health Cards
Why in News
Recently, Government of Odisha launched ‘Smart Health Cards’ under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana for 3.5 crore people.
Key Points
- The Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) cards will cover 3.5 crore people of the state out of a total population of 4.3 crores.
- The initiative aims to transform the health service delivery system of not only the state but also create history in the health sector of the Country.
- In the first phase, the cards will be distributed in Malkangiri, Balangir, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Gajapati districts before covering the remaining 26 districts by November.
Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana Health Cards
- Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana is designed to provide Smart Health Cards to people. It is a new version of the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Scheme that was first launched in August 2018 to lessen the out of pocket (OOP) expenses which were expensive as per the national health accounts estimate for 2016-17.
- Under Smart Health Cards, people will get hassle-free quality treatment at the best available health care facilities.
- It will work like debit cards for a certain amount.
- Odisha became the first state in the country to provide such Smart Health Cards to the people.
- The initiative is expected to benefit about 3.5 crore people and 96 lakh families in a phased manner.
- It will be benefited to those who are the beneficiary of National and State Food Security Schemes and Annapurna and Antodaya Schemes.
Benefit of Smart Health Card
- The smart health cards will enable each family to avail treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per annum.
- The women members of the family will be able to avail the benefit up to Rs 10 lakh every year.
- The beneficiaries will be able to avail health services in more than 200 hospital chains of the country including Odisha.
GS PAPER II
India Sars Cov2 Genome Consortium (INSACOG)
Why in News
According to the ‘India Sars Cov2 Genome Consortium (INSACOG)’, the Delta variant remains most responsible for the continuing spread of infections in India.
Key Points
- According to the report by the consortium, of the 49,867 coronavirus samples analysed for their genetic composition, about two-thirds, 30,230, were among the internationally classified variants of concern or variants of interest (VoC/VoI).
- Of these, nearly 20,000 were the Delta variant (AY.2) and about 5,000 its associated lineages (AY.1 and AY.3).
- The Delta variant is the major variants of concern or variants of interest (VoC) in India at this time. Vaccination continues to be very effective in reducing severe disease and death.
- Continuing outbreaks are attributable to Delta, a susceptible population, reduced vaccine effectiveness and opportunities for transmission. Public health measures to reduce transmission and vaccination remain critical.
Highlights of the report
- Globally, there are believed to be 13 sub-lineages of Delta with characteristic genetic mutations.
- AY.1, AY.2 and AY.3 are the pre-dominant ones and also found in India.
- AY.3.1 is a recently classified sub-lineage of AY.3 in the United States.
- AY.12 is a sub-lineage of delta recently classified from Israel.
- India is currently adding about 35,000 new cases a day, with about 75% coming from only two States: Kerala and Maharashtra.
- Vaccination breakthroughs are common during Delta outbreaks and are expected in India as well.
- Concern regarding appearance of new variants should be calibrated in the context of such data.
- As of now sequencing of vaccination breakthroughs in India is also showing a very high proportion of Delta variant.
India Sars Cov2 Genome Consortium (INSACOG)
- The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) is the joint initiative of Union Health Ministry of Health, and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- It is a consortium of 28 National Laboratories to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2.
- INSACOG is a multi-laboratory, multi-agency, Pan-India network to monitor genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 by a sentinel sequencing effort.
- The network carries out whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 virus across the nation, aiding the understanding of how the virus spreads and evolves, and provide information to aid public health response.
- Initially, ten Regional Genome Sequencing Laboratories (RGSLs) spread across the country were identified to carry out genome sequencing of positive samples from different states which is facilitated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi involving the Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).
- INSACOG also aims to focus on sequencing of clinical samples to understand the disease dynamics and severity.
GS PAPER III
Foreign Direct Investment
Why in News
Applications for foreign direct investment in an insurance company promoted by a private bank would be cleared by the RBI and IRDAI to ensure that the 74% limit of overseas investment is not breached.
Key Points
- As per the gazette notification issued by the Finance Ministry, the changes took effect following amendments to the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019.
- These rules may be called the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021.
- In March, Parliament passed a bill to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector from 49% to 74%.
- The Insurance Act, 1938 was last amended in 2015, raising the limit to 49%, resulting in foreign capital inflow of ₹26,000 crore over 5 years.
- Applications for foreign direct investment in private banks having joint venture in insurance may be addressed to the Reserve Bank for consideration in consultation with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), to ensure that the foreign investment limit is not breached.
Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021
- The Central Government through notification dated the 19th August, 2021 the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021.
- The amendment provides that applications for foreign direct investment in private banks having joint venture or subsidiary in insurance sector may be addressed to the Reserve Bank for consideration in consultation with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, in order to ensure that the limit of foreign investment applicable for the insurance sector is not breached.
- It is also providing the Indian Insurance Company having foreign investment, –
- a majority of its directors;
- a majority of its Key Management Persons; and
- at least one among the Chairperson of its Board, its Managing Director and its Chief Executive Officer; shall be Resident Indian Citizens.
- It is further clarified that an Indian Insurance company having foreign investment shall comply with the provisions under the Indian Insurance Companies (Foreign Investment) Rules, 2015.
GS PAPER III
Net-zero emissions
Why in news
The idea of net zero emissions has got a lot of traction among global climate negotiators over 2020 and some agreement on it is expected at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November.
Net Zero
- Net-zero is primarily carbon neutrality. It means the aggregate carbon emissions of a country should be zero on a particular date.
- If a country emits a certain amount of carbon every year, it will have to offset it through forest absorption or carbon capturing or buying carbon credits.
- In a way, a country can achieve negative emissions, if removal and absorption exceed the actual emissions.
- Bhutan and Suriname are the only two countries in the world whose net emissions are less than carbon absorption capability because of their green cover and very little population.
Difference between Net-zero and Emission Reduction
- Earlier, the discussions focussed on emission-reduction targets by 2050 or 2070 for rich countries, whose unregulated emissions over several decades are responsible for global warming and consequent climate crisis.
- In recent years, there has been a realisation that emission reduction will not work, and countries will have to work towards carbon neutrality.
- The net zero formulation does not assign any emission reduction targets to any country.
- It aims at aggregate zero emission levels. From the perspective of the developed world, it is a big relief because now the burden of climate change mitigation is shared by every country.
Net zero campaign
- An aggressive campaign has been going on for the past two years for every country to assign a net zero target year.
- The argument is that net zero is mandatory to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement target of not allowing the planet’s temperature to rise beyond two degrees Celsius by the turn of the century.
- To date, 137 of 192 countries that are part of the UN Climate Convention and representing 80% of global emissions have committed to net zero emissions targets.
- They include the world’s two largest emitters, the US and China.
- The third biggest emitter, India, is yet to announce a net zero target year.
- China has a net zero target of 2060.
- Germany and Sweden have opted for 2045; Iceland and Austria 2040; Finland 2035; and Uruguay 2030.
- Most countries including the US have opted for 2050. Six countries have brought laws to achieve the target while the rest have pronounced so through policy documents.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in net zero
- The IPCC in its Physical Science Basis report stated that reaching net zero for greenhouse gas emissions is a requirement to stabilise human-induced global temperature at any level.
- This was for the first time that net zero got scientific backing with IPCC projecting the impact of net zero in different scenarios.
- The report outlined the impact of net zero on global warming. It said the temperature rise can be restricted to 1.5 degree if net zero concept is enforced in the next five to 10 years.
- The report said the planet can achieve net zero to stop global warming despite certain modelling limitations such as permafrost thaw.
- The IPCC report went beyond net zero saying the world needs to aim for negative carbon emissions by the turn of the century to overcome the adverse impact of global warming.
India in net-zero
- India believes that agreeing to net zero would slow down its economic growth and hamper its poverty alleviation programmes.
- It also believes that net zero negates the concept of common but differentiated responsibility of the UN Climate Convention to deal with the climate crisis.
- For India, rich countries have to share the burden for historical emissions and not the developing world which is not responsible for climate crisis.
- In net zero, every country has an equal responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is not equitable.
- Net zero will impact India’s use of coal for electricity. As of now, thermal power contributes 60% of India’s needs. It is a reason why India is able to provide affordable electricity to most.
- India has said that net zero is not possible without the transfer of clean technology patents to the developing and underdeveloped world to help them faster transition to a cleaner economy.
- It also claims the Green Climate Fund set up in 2016 with a promise to share green technologies with the developing world has not been able to do much as the rich countries have not provided the promised US$ 100 billion by 2020.
- India has acknowledged that it would not be able to avoid net zero for long.
- Prime Minister has announced Indian railways will achieve net zero by 2050, the country’s first carbon-neutral declaration.
Way Forward
- After net zero, the world will look at negative carbon emissions.
- The IPCC has presented a scenario for the same in its recent report.