14 August 2020: The Hindu Editorial Analysis | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

1. RIGHT BY BIRTH: ON DAUGHTERS AND HINDU SUCCESSION ACT

GS 1- Salient aspects of Indian Society

Context
(i) The latest decision of the SC on the right of Hindu daughters to ancestral property corrects an obvious anomaly(oddity) in the interpretation of a crucial 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
(ii) The verdict settles the question whether the coparcenary(joint ownership) right of daughters comes into effect only if the father through whom they claim that right was alive on the day the amendment came into force.

Clearing the Air
(i) The apex court has now categorically ruled that the daughters’ right flows from their birth and not by any other factor such as the existence of their fathers.
(ii) In other words, it has rejected the common misinterpretation that only daughters of coparceners who were alive on that day could get an equal share in property.
(iii) The court has rightly recognised that the amendment conferred equal status as a coparcener on daughters in Hindu families governed by Mitakshara law, and this right accrued by birth.
(iv) The change came into effect from September 9, 2005, but with a provision that partitions or testamentary disposition that had taken place prior to December 20, 2004 will remain valid and unaffected by the change.
(v) This led to the interpretation that the daughters’ coparcenary rights, being prospective, would not come into effect unless both the coparcener father and his daughter were alive on September 9, 2005.
(vi) This position was crystallised(cleared) in a 2015 judgment of the Supreme Court in Prakash and Others vs. Phulavati. This judgment now stands overruled.

Linking to Birth
(i) The court’s reasoning is unexceptionable(not open to objection).
(ii) First, it locates the origin of the coparcenary right in one’s birth.
(iii) Second, it finds that there is no necessity for a predecessor coparcener to be alive for one to acquire that status, as what is relevant is birth within the degrees of succession to which it extends.
(iv) In that sense, the legislation, even though it comes into effect on a prescribed date, is retroactive(taking effect from past) in its application as it is linked to birth, an antecedent event.
(v) It also underscores that the legislation makes it clear that the daughter’s rights are the same “as that of a son,” and “as if she had been a son at the time of birth”.
(vi) The coparcenary status given to daughters has been a subject of reform in many States, particularly in south India, long before the UPA regime brought in the amendment for the whole country.
(vii) Kerala had introduced legislation in 1975, Andhra Pradesh in 1986, Tamil Nadu in 1989 and Maharashtra and Karnataka in 1994.
(viii) The legislative aim was that a flagrant discrimination between sons and daughters in entitlement to an equal share in coparcenary property, should be done away with.

Conclusion
(i) It is indeed welcome that the apex court has 1sought to give full effect to this intent by setting at rest doubts arising from varying interpretations.
(ii) SC decision on coparcenary rights of women is in line with the aim of ending discrimination.

2. HISTORIC RATIFICATION: ON UNIVERSAL RATIFICATION OF A LABOUR STANDARD

GS 2 - Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate

Context
(i) The welcome decision by the Kingdom of Tonga to outlaw the worst forms of child labour is the first time in the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s 101-year history that a labour standard has been universally ratified.
(ii) Convention 182, which was adopted in the 1999 annual international labour conference, prohibits the sexual exploitation of children, trafficking, deployment in armed conflict and other conditions that compromise their overall well-being.
Reversal of Gains
(i) The Convention complements the ILO’s efforts under the 1973 Minimum Age Convention to prevent the employment of children below a lower age threshold.
(ii) Under the influence of both these ILO standards, millions of young boys and girls have been rescued from hazardous conditions of work.
(iii) Concomitantly(simultaneously), these have resulted in significant increases in enrolments in primary education.
(iv) The landmark ratification, however, does not detract from the enormity of the challenge that remains.
(v) An estimated 152 million are trapped in child labour and 72 million of them are engaged in hazardous work.
(vi) If anything, current efforts would have to be stepped up significantly to achieve the ambitious goal of total abolition of the scourge(torture) of child labour by 2025.
(vii) But the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening a reversal of recent gains, with widespread job losses, deterioration in conditions of work, decline in household incomes and temporary school closures.

Historic
(i) The historic first universal ratification of a global labour standard may be an occasion for celebration; it is nonetheless a moment for sober reflection.
(ii) The two instruments on child labour are among the eight core ILO Conventions regarded as embodying(containing) the spirit of the 1998 declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work.
(iii) Instruments relating to the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation are among the others.
(iv) These conventions provide the necessary framework to counteract the predominance of informality in the conditions of work and ought to be a priority for governments.

Conclusion
(i) Though belated, India has signalled its legal commitment to the elimination of child labour with its 2017 ratification of Convention 182 and the instrument prescribing the minimum age of work for children.
(ii) As the world prepares to designate 2021 as the year to abolish child labour, governments must seize the moment to instil hope in the future generations.
(iii) The universal ratification of a labour standard is cause for celebration and reflection.

3. INDEPENDENT BUT NOT ALONE

GS 2 - Bilateral agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests

Context
(i) For India, August 15 is first and foremost Independence Day.
(ii) But, the U.K. mark 75 years since peace was achieved in Asia. This is also U.K’s opportunity to thank India for their immense contributions and, in particular, the campaign in Burma.
(iii) From Asia to Africa, the Mediterranean to the Pacific, millions fought for freedom in the six-year long struggle to rid the world of the tyranny(oppression) and evil of Axis aggressors.

Largest All-Volunteer Force
(i) The statistics alone are astonishing. On land, at sea and in the air, Indians formed the largest all-volunteer force in the world, with over 2.5 million fighting in Europe, North Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and, Burma.
(ii) What is more, India provided almost 200 million tonnes of coal, six million tonnes of iron ore and more than one million tonnes of steel to the Pacific war effort, and countless Indian non-combatants secured supply lines.
(iii) Those numbers can’t possibly do justice to their bravery. At Imphal, Indian forces fought even after the siege was lifted.
(iv) Rao Abdul Hafiz Panwa became the youngest Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross — overrunning Japanese positions despite mortal wounds.
(v) At Kohima, an Indian-British force numbering 1,500 men held its own against 15,000 enemy troops for two weeks despite phosphorous bombardments and ferocious infantry attacks.
(vi) The celebrated “Black Cat” 17th Infantry Division of the Indian Army were in continuous combat during the three-year long Burma Campaign.
(vii) In total some 87,000 Indians paid the ultimate price. But their efforts also turned the tide of the war(face of war).
(viii) No wonder the commander of the 14th Army in Burma, Field Marshal Slim, described his Indian divisions as “among the best in the world”.

Challenges and Opportunity
(i) Today’s challenges are different and our relationship has also evolved. But we face shared dangers, whether from pandemics or piracy, extremism or enemies operating below the threshold of conventional conflict.
(ii) We hold shared values and commitments to justice, stability and free markets.
(iii) We are on the same side and have a mutual interest in standing together – it is our alliances that give us the ultimate edge.
(iv) And the India-U.K. partnership has plenty of room to grow.
(v) UK has already have seven Royal Navy vessels operating in the Western Indian Ocean.
(vi) UK and India’s Armed Forces exercise together biannually and our Defence and International Security Partnership is opening up collaborations in everything from jet engines to cyber technology.
(vii) And, as India pursues Atmanirbhar Bharat vision India will find Global Britain is eager to work together in a range of areas from defence modernisation to maritime technology.
(viii) We are determined to elevate our partnership to the next level.

Conclusion
(i) We are living through a new era of uncertainty but eight decades ago, our great forebears showed us the way ahead.
(ii) Seventy-five years on, India is a proud independent nation but you are emphatically not alone.
(iii) Our common history proves that we are stronger facing adversity together and now is the time to write our shared future in the interests of peace, purpose, and prosperity.