Weekly Current Affairs (1st to 7th May 2023) Part - 2 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

SC Allows Divorce on Irretrievable Breakdown

Context: Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that under its power to do ‘complete justice’ granted via Article 142, it can dissolve a marriage on the ground that it had broken down irretrievably, without referring the parties to a family court where they must wait 6-18 months for a decree of divorce by mutual consent.

What is SC’s Ruling?

Ruling:

• In the case of Shilpa Sailesh vs. Varun Sreenivasan (2023), the SC has ruled that it has the power to dissolve a marriage if it is irretrievably broken down.
• The court can waive the mandatory six-month waiting period for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), 1955, and allow the dissolution of the marriage on grounds of an irretrievable breakdown even if one of the parties was not willing.

Conditions:

 Significance of the Ruling:

• The process of obtaining a decree of divorce is often time-consuming and lengthy owing to a large number of similar cases pending before family courts.
  • The ruling allows parties to bypass the waiting period and approach the Supreme Court directly for a divorce on grounds of irretrievable breakdown.
• As per SC, if there is no possibility of reconciliation, it would be meaningless to prolong the agony of the parties to the marriage.
  • Dissolving such a marriage, even if one of the parties agree, would provide a speedy solution for parties who are unable to live together and have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved.
• The judgment is significant as irretrievable breakdown of marriage is not yet a ground for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) 1955.
  • Till date, there is still no codified law for irretrievable breakdown of marriage. Though, the HMA 1955 recognizes a few grounds for dissolution of marriage in Section 13.

Implication of the Judgement:

• The recent SC judgement does not imply that people can rush straight to the SC for a quick divorce.
  • The grant of divorce by the SC on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage is “not a matter of right, rather a discretion which needs to be exercised with great care and caution”.
• The SC also clarified that a party cannot file a writ petition under Article 32 (or Article 226) of the Constitution of India and seek relief of dissolution of marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage directly from it.

Need to Shift away from Fault Theory:

• The 5-judge bench highlighted the need of the SC to move away from “fault theory” and “accusatorial principle of divorce” under Section 13 (1) of HMA 1955, which prescribes divorce on grounds where one of the spouses can be held guilty of certain misdeeds such as cruelty, adultery or desertion.
• The HMA 1955 and the Special Marriage Act 1954 are premised on the ‘fault’ or ‘matrimonial offence’ theory for the purpose of divorce.
  • It allows the innocent party to obtain a divorce if the other party has committed a matrimonial offense.
• Under HMA 1955, there are 7 fault grounds for divorce: adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion, insanity, leprosy, venereal disease, and sanyasa.
  • There are 4 grounds on which the wife can sue alone: rape, sodomy, bestiality, non-resumption of cohabitation after maintenance order, and decree for maintenance.
• The innocent party must prove that they are blameless for the divorce to be granted under this theory.

Note:

• The Law Commission of India, in its reports in 1978 and 2009 recommended adding irretrievable breakdown as an additional ground of divorce.
• The Law Commission in its 71st report (1978), dealt with the concept of irretrievable breakdown of marriage.
• The Report also mentions that as far back as 1920, New Zealand was the first of the Commonwealth countries to introduce the provision that a three-year or more separation agreement was grounds for filing a petition in the courts for divorce.
• It has become a classic enunciation of the breakdown principle in matrimonial law.

What is HMA 1955?

About:

• The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 (HMA) is an act of the Parliament of India that codifies and amends the law relating to marriage among Hindus and others.
• It applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and anyone who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi, or Jew by religion.

Current Procedure for Divorce under the HMA:

• Section 13B of the HMA provides for “divorce by mutual consent” under which both parties to the marriage must together file a petition to the district court.
  • This will be done on the grounds that they have been living separately for a period of one year or more, that they have not been able to live together and have mutually agreed that the marriage should be dissolved.
• The parties must move a second motion before the court at least 6 months after the date of the presentation of the first petition and not later than 18 months after the said date (provided, the petition is not withdrawn in the meantime).
  • The mandatory six-month wait is intended to give the parties time to withdraw their plea.
• A petition for divorce by mutual consent can be moved only after a year of the marriage.
  • However, section 14 of the HMA allows a divorce petition sooner in case of “exceptional hardship to the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent”.
  • A waiver of the six-month waiting period under Section 13 B (2) can be sought in an exemption application filed before the family court.

What are the Other Judgements Related to Divorce?

• Amit Kumar vs Suman Beniwal (2021): The SC said, “Where there is a chance of reconciliation, however slight, the cooling period of six months from the date of filing of the divorce petition should be enforced. However, if there is no possibility of reconciliation, it would be meaningless to prolong the agony of the parties to the marriage.”
• Bhagwat Pitambar Borse vs. Anusayabai Bhagwat Borse (2018): The Bombay HC held that desertion by the wife for more than seven years without any reasonable cause and without any intention to return is a valid ground for divorce.
• In June 2016, a two-judge bench referred to the larger bench of 5 judges the matter regarding the court’s exercise of powers under Article 142 to grant a divorce without sending the parties to a family court.
  • Citing conflicting views taken by different benches of the top court, it also sought clarity on the broad parameters for the exercise of powers under Article 142 to dissolve a marriage between the consenting parties.
  • The smaller bench had in 2016 appointed senior advocates Indira Jaising, Dushyant Dave, V Giri, and Meenakshi Arora as amici curiae (friends of court)to assist the Constitution bench.

What is Article 142 (1) of the Constitution?

• Subsection 1 of Article 142 confers sweeping power on the Supreme Court to pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing ‘complete justice’ in any cause or matter.
• The decision to exercise the power under Article 142(1) must be “based on considerations of fundamental general and specific public policy”.
  • The fundamental general conditions of public policy refer to the fundamental rights, secularism, federalism, and other basic features of the Constitution; specific public policy was defined by the court to mean “some express pre-eminent prohibition in any substantive law, and not stipulations and requirements to a particular statutory scheme”.

What is the Status of Marriage Equality in India?

• Divorce Rate and Trends in India: A 2018 survey of 160,000 households revealed that 93% married Indians had ‘an arranged marriage’, as against the global average of about 55%. India has a low annual divorce rate of 1.1 per 1,000 people, with only 13 out of every 1,000 marriages resulting in divorce, and men are usually the initiators. Prevailing social norms discourage women from seeking a divorce, and when they do, they face legal hassles and socio-economic isolation, especially if they are financially dependent on their spouses.
• Women’s Economic Dependency: Indian women’s low labor-force participation rate translates to high levels of financial dependency, forcing them to ‘adjust’ to bad marriages.
• Women’s Socio-Economic Challenges after Divorce: The dissolution of a marital union disproportionately affects women, who suffer from chronic strains of divorce, including disproportionate losses in household income, higher risk of losing homeownership, lower chances of re-partnering, and greater responsibilities of single parenting.

Central Counterparties

Context: The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union's financial markets regulator, has derecognized six Indian Central Counterparties (CCPs) from April 30, 2023, in accordance with the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

• These six CCPs are the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), Indian Clearing Corporation Ltd (ICCL), NSE Clearing Ltd (NSCCL), Multi Commodity Exchange Clearing (MCXCCL), India International Clearing Corporation (IFSC) Ltd (IICC) and NSE IFSC Clearing Corporation Ltd (NICCL).

What is CCP?

About:

• CCP is a financial institution that acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers in various derivatives and equities markets. CCPs are structures that help facilitate the clearing and settlement process in financial markets.
• The primary goal of CCPs is to increase efficiency and stability in financial markets.
• CCPs reduce risks associated with counterparty, operational, settlement, market, legal, and default issues
• CCPs act as a counterparty to both buyers and sellers in a trade, collecting money from each party involved and guaranteeing the terms of the trade

Functions:

• Clearing and settlement are the two main functions of a CCP.
• Clearing involves validating the details of the trade and ensuring that both parties have sufficient funds to complete the transaction.
• Settlement involves the transfer of ownership of the asset or security being traded from the seller to the buyer.

Regulators in India:

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for CCPs clearing money market instruments and foreign exchange derivatives.
• A CCP is authorized by the RBI to operate in India under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for CCPs clearing securities and commodity derivatives.

Why has ESMA Derecognized Indian CCPs?

Reason:

• The ESMA derecognized Indian CCPs due to their failure to meet all EMIR requirements.
• The decision came due to ‘no cooperation arrangements’ between ESMA and Indian regulators – the RBI, the SEBI and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
• While ESMA wants to supervise these six CCPs, Indian regulators are of the view that since these domestic CCPs operate in India and not in the EU, these entities cannot be subjected to the ESMA regulations. They feel that these six CCPs have robust risk management and there is no need for a foreign regulator to inspect them.

Impact:

• As of the date of application of the withdrawal decisions, these CCPs will no longer be able to provide services to clearing members and trading venues established in the EU.
• The decision will impact European banks in India as they will either need as much as 50 times higher capital to carry out trades involving the Indian central counterparties or will have to unwind positions with the central counterparties over the next 6 to 9 months.

What is ESMA?

• ESMA is an independent EU authority.
• ESMA enhances the protection of investors and promotes stable and orderly financial markets.
• ESMA is the direct supervisor of specific financial entities such as credit rating agencies, securitization repositories, and trade repositories

What is EMIR?

• EMIR is an EU regulation adopted in August 2012
• It aims to reduce systemic, counterparty, and operational risk in the OTC derivatives market
• It sets higher prudential standards for CCPs and trade repositories
• EMIR enhances risk mitigation techniques for non-cleared derivatives
• It establishes a framework for the recognition and supervision of third-country CCPs

India to Join International Climate Action in Civil Aviation

Context: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has announced has recently announced that India will start participating in the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and the Long-Term Aspirational Goals (LTAG) from 2027.

• CORSIA Scheme is envisaged in 3 phases: Pilot (2021-2023) and first phases (2024-2026) are voluntary phases whereas second phase (2027-2035) is mandatory for all the member States.
• India has decided not to participate in the voluntary phases of CORSIA.

What are CORSIA and LTAG?

Background:

• The ICAO has been tasked to reduce carbon emissions from international civil aviation as one of its focus areas.
• In order to mitigate carbon emissions from aviation and its impact on climate change, the global body has adopted several key aspirational goals. Among them are:
  • 2% annual fuel efficiency improvement through 2050
  • carbon neutral growth
  • net zero by 2050
• The ICAO has clubbed them under CORSIA and LTAG.

CORSIA:

• It is a global scheme established by the ICAO to address the growth in CO2 emissions from international aviation.
• CORSIA aims to stabilize net CO2 emissions at 2020 levels through a combination of measures, including carbon offsetting, carbon credits, and sustainable aviation fuel.
• It offers a harmonized way to reduce emissions from international aviation, minimizing market distortion, while respecting the special circumstances and respective capabilities of ICAO Member States.
• CORSIA complements the other measures by offsetting the amount of CO2 emissions that cannot be reduced through technological improvements, operational improvements, and sustainable aviation fuels with emissions units from the carbon market.
• CORSIA is applicable only to flights originating from one country to another.

LTAG:

• 41st ICAO Assembly adopted LTAG for international aviation of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in support of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement's temperature goal.
• The LTAG does not attribute specific obligations or commitments in the form of emissions reduction goals to individual States. Instead, it recognizes each State's special circumstances and respective capabilities e.g., the level of development, maturity of aviation markets.

What is the ICAO?

• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations that was created in 1944 to promote safe, secure, and efficient air transportation around the world.
• ICAO develops international standards and recommended practices for aviation, including regulations for air navigation, communication, and airport operations.
• It also works to address global aviation issues, such as air traffic management, aviation security, and environmental protection.
• It is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

What could be the Potential Advantages for Joining such Initiatives?

• Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Joining CORSIA and striving towards the LTAG will help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation. This is essential for combating climate change and protecting the environment.
  • India also has set an ambitious target of achieving Net Zero by 2070.
  • India also has committed to reduce its Carbon intensity of its economy by 45% by 2030.
• Increasing Sustainability: CORSIA and the LTAG encourage airlines to adopt more sustainable practices, such as using more efficient aircraft, reducing fuel consumption, and investing in renewable energy.

How does Aviation Sector Affect Climate?

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Aviation is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuels in aircraft engines produces carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrogen oxides, and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
• Contrails: Contrails are the white, streaky lines that airplanes leave in the sky. They are made up of ice crystals that form when water vapor in the aircraft's exhaust condenses in the cold, high-altitude atmosphere. Contrails can have a warming effect on the planet by trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
• Cirrus Clouds: Similar to contrails, cirrus clouds also form from aircraft emissions. These clouds can have a warming effect on the planet, as they trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere.

What are the Key Initiatives taken by the MoCA to Reduce Carbon Emissions?

• Green Airports: A green airport is an airport that has implemented sustainable practices to reduce its environmental impact and promote sustainable development. Green airports aim to minimize their carbon footprint, conserve energy & water resources, and reduce waste and emissions.
• National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2016: It includes a goal of developing a sustainable aviation framework that promotes the use of alternative fuels, energy-efficient aircraft, and infrastructure, among others.
• Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): Initiatives to encourage the use of SAF have been taken for sustainable development and the reduction of carbon emissions at airports.

Report on Currency and Finance 2022-23

Context: The cumulative total expenditure for India's adaptation to climate change could reach 85.6 lakh crore by 2030, according to an estimate made by Reserve Bank of India(RBI) in its Report on Currency and Finance 2022–23.

What is Report on Currency and Finance?

About:

• It is an annual publication of the RBI.
• The report covers various aspects of the Indian economy and financial system.

Theme:

• The theme of Report on Currency and Finance 2022–23 is 'Towards a Greener Cleaner India'.
• It focuses on the challenges and opportunities of climate change for India and the role of the financial sector in achieving a low-carbon and climate-resilient development path.

Aim:

• It aims to provide analytical insights into the macroeconomic and financial developments in India and their policy implications.

Dimensions:

• The report covers four major dimensions of climate change to assess future challenges to sustainable high growth in India, the unprecedented scale and pace of climate change; its macroeconomic effects; implications for financial stability; and policy options to mitigate climate risks.

What are the Key Highlights of the Report?

Renewable Energy Target:

• India needs to significantly increase its use of renewable energy to achieve its goal of net zero emissions by 2070. The report suggests that India should aim for renewables to account for 80% of its energy mix by 2070-71.
• This would require an accelerated reduction in the energy intensity of GDP by about 5% annually.

Green Financing Requirement:

• India’s green financing requirement is estimated to be at least 2.5% of GDP annually till 2030 to address the infrastructure gap caused by climate events.
• The financial system may need to mobilize adequate resources and reallocate current resources to contribute effectively to India’s net-zero target.

Policy Intervention:

• The report also highlights the need for a balanced policy intervention to ensure progress across all policy levers, which would enable India to achieve its green transition targets by 2030 and make the net-zero goal by 2070 attainable.

Financial Risks due to Climate Change:

• The public sector banks (PSBs) in India may be more vulnerable to climate-related financial risks than private sector banks.

Policy Instruments:

• Central banks have several policy instruments at their disposal to influence investment decisions and the allocation of resources and credit to achieve sustainability targets.
• This includes mandating banks and other financial institutions to consider climate and environmental risks through various regulations.

Regulating Artificial Intelligence

Context: The European Parliament has reached a preliminary agreement on a new draft of the Artificial Intelligence Act, which aims to regulate systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT.

• The legislation was drafted in 2021 with the aim of bringing transparency, trust, and accountability to Al and creating a framework to mitigate risks to the safety, health, Fundamental Rights, and democratic values of the EU.

What is the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act?

About:

• It defines AI as software that generates outputs such as content, predictions, recommendations, or decisions.
• It prohibits the use of AI technologies in the highest risk category, including real-time facial and biometric identification systems in public spaces, social scoring of citizens, subliminal techniques to influence behavior, and technologies that exploit vulnerable people.

Focus:

• It focuses on AI systems that have the potential to harm people's health, safety, or fundamental rights.
• These include AI in healthcare, education, employment, law enforcement, and access to essential services.
• Before high-risk AI systems can be sold, they will undergo strict reviews to ensure they are transparent, explainable, and allow human oversight.
• AI systems with lower risks, like spam filters or video games, have fewer requirements.

Objective:

• It aims to address ethical questions and implementation challenges in various sectors ranging from healthcare and education to finance and energy.
• The legislation seeks to strike a balance between promoting “the uptake of AI while mitigating or preventing harms associated with certain uses of the technology”.
• Similar to how the EU’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) made it an industry leader in the global data protection regime, the AI law aims to “strengthen Europe’s position as a global hub of excellence in AI from the lab to the market” and ensure that AI in Europe respects the 27-country bloc’s values and rules.

What is the Need for Regulating Artificial Intelligence?

Uncertainty in Risks Involved:

• The use of artificial intelligence is increasing, and as technology becomes more advanced and capable of various tasks such as recommending music, driving cars, detecting cancer etc., there are also increased risks and uncertainties associated with it.

Black Box:

• Some AI tools are so complicated that they are like a "black box." This means that even the people who create them can't fully understand how they work and how they come up with certain answers or decisions.
• It's like a secret box that generates an output, but nobody knows exactly how it does it.

Inaccuracy and Biases:

• AI tools have already caused problems such as mistaken arrests due to Facial Recognition Software, unfair treatment due to biases built into AI systems, and more recently, with Chatbots based on large language models like GPT-3 and 4 creating content that may be inaccurate or use copyrighted material without permission.
• These chatbots are capable of producing high-quality content that is difficult to distinguish from content written by humans but may not always be accurate or legally permissible.

Unsure of Future Behavior:

• AI poses a unique challenge because, unlike in traditional engineering systems, designers cannot be sure how AI systems will behave. When a traditional automobile was shipped out of the factory, engineers knew exactly how it would function. But with self-driving cars, the engineers can never be sure how it will perform in novel situations.

How is Global AI currently Governed?

India:

• NITI Aayog, has issued some guiding documents on AI Issues such as the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence and the Responsible AI for All report.
• Emphasises social and economic inclusion, innovation, and trustworthiness.

United Kingdom:

• Outlined a light-touch approach, asking regulators in different sectors to apply existing regulations to AI.
• Published a white paper outlining five principles companies should follow: safety, security and robustness; transparency and explainability; fairness; accountability and governance; and contestability and redress.

US:

• The US released a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights (AIBoR), outlining the harms of AI to economic and civil rights and lays down five principles for mitigating these harms.
• The Blueprint, instead of a horizontal approach like the EU, endorses a sectorally specific approach to AI governance, with policy interventions for individual sectors such as health, labour, and education, leaving it to sectoral federal agencies to come out with their plans.

China:

• In 2022, China came out with some of the world’s first nationally binding regulations targeting specific types of algorithms and AI.
• It enacted a law to regulate recommendation algorithms with a focus on how they disseminate information.

Way Forward

• Regulating artificial intelligence involves the creation of a simple regulatory framework that defines the capabilities of AI and identifies those more susceptible to misuse.
• The government should prioritize data privacy, integrity, and security while ensuring businesses have access to data.
• Mandatory explainability should be enforced to eliminate the black-box approaches, which will bring transparency and help businesses understand the rationale behind every decision made.
• To formulate effective regulations, policymakers must try to strike a balance between the scope of the regulation and the vocabulary used, and they should seek input from a variety of stakeholders, including industry experts and businesses.