Polity & Governance: July 2022 Current Affairs - UPSC PDF Download

State Assembly Sittings

Why in News?

Recently, a report titled ''The Annual Review of State Laws, 2021'' was released by PRS Legislative Research.

• As per the report, Kerala got first place in 2021, with its House sitting for 61 days, the highest for any State.
• Kerala had also promulgated 144 ordinances, the highest in the country last year

What are the Highlights of the Report?

• Sittings:
  • States such as Manipur, Odisha, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have laid down a minimum number of sitting days through the Rules of Procedure, varying from 40 days in Punjab to 90 days in Uttar Pradesh.
  • In 2005, Karnataka even came out with a law — the Karnataka Conduct of Government Business in the State Legislature Act — with the stipulation of a minimum of 60 days
• Ordinance:
  • Andhra Pradesh with 20 ordinances and Maharashtra with 15 followed Kerala, wherein Bills replacing 33 ordinances became Acts.
  • Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh also promulgated ordinances to give effect to budget proposals.
• Passage of Bill:
  • 44% of the Bills adopted by 28 State Assemblies were passed within a day of their introduction.
  • Gujarat, West Bengal, Punjab and Bihar were among the eight States which passed all Bills on the day of introduction.
  • Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Odisha and Rajasthan took more than five days to pass a majority of their Bills.
    (i) In Kerala, 94% of the Bills were passed after at least five days of their introduction in the legislature.
    (ii) In respect of Meghalaya, it was 80% and in the case of Karnataka, 70%.
• Focus Areas of Sittings:
  • Education was the top priority with 21% of all laws passed in 2021 related to this subject.
  • After Education, Taxation and Urban Governance accounted for the largest share of state laws passed in 2021.
  • Several of the other sectors saw crucial legislations, including ones relating to online gaming, reservation of jobs for local candidates from the state, and the safety of women and children

How often should an Idle State Assembly Meet?

• National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution:
  • The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000-02), headed by former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachaliah, had prescribed that:
  • The Houses of State (/Union Territory) legislatures with:
    (i) Less than 70 members (Example: Puducherry) should meet for at least 50 days a year.
    (ii) Other Houses (Tamil Nadu), at least 90 days a year.
• The Presiding Officers Conference:
  • The Presiding Officers’ conference, held in Gandhinagar during January 2016, suggested:
    (i) State legislatures hold a minimum of 60 days of sittings in a year.
    (ii) Between 2016 and 2021, the PRS points out, 23 State Assemblies met for an average of 25 days.

What are the Benefits of Increased House Sittings?

• Healthy Discussion:
  • Increased sitting in Houses (State or Parliament) would provide more time to the members for discussion on the bills, have a healthy debate by providing facts and arguments which would eventually lead to healthy functioning of the house.
• Ease in Passing of Bills:
  • As the number of sitting in a house increases, more bills could be tabled as passed in a particular session.
  • Increased number of bills passed on various spheres would enable the government to bring out efficient and effective governance.
• Guillotine Closure:
  • It is one when the undiscussed clauses of a bill or a resolution are also put to vote along with the discussed ones due to wanting of time (as the time allotted for the discussion is over).
  • Increased sittings would provide more time for the discussion and reduce the cases of guillotine closure.
• Private Member Bills:
  • Only 14 private member bills out of thousands became laws since 1952.
  • Increased sittings would provide more time to the private members to not only prepare and present the bill in the house, but also have a detailed and healthy discussion for its passage.

Since state assembly sittings are a part of state legislature, here’s a document to clear your concepts on the same here:

• Laxmikanth: Summary of State Legislature

BAIL ACT

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court underlined that “there is a pressing need” for reform in the law related to bail and called on the government to consider framing a special legislation on the lines of the law in the United Kingdom.

What is the Ruling About?

• A two-judge Bench issued certain clarifications to an older judgment delivered in July 2021 on bail reform (Satender Kumar Antil vs CBI).
  • The ruling is essentially a reiteration of several crucial principles of criminal procedure.
• Referring to the state of jails in the country, where over two-thirds lodged are undertrials, the Supreme Court underlined that arrest is a draconian measure that needs to be used sparingly.
• Theoretically, the court also linked the idea of indiscriminate arrests to magistrates ignoring the rule of “bail, not jail” to a colonial mindset.
  • The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was first drafted in 1882 and continues to be in use with amendments from time to time.

What is India’s Law on Bail?

• The CrPC does not define the word bail but only categories offences under the Indian Penal Code as ‘bailable’ and ‘non-bailable’.
• The CrPC empowers magistrates to grant bail for bailable offences as a matter of right.
  • This would involve release on furnishing a bail bond, without or without security.
• In case of Non-bailable offences , a magistrate would determine if the accused is fit to be released on bail.
  • Non-bailable offences are cognisable, which enables the police officer to arrest without a warrant.

How has the Supreme Court rules on Reforms?

Separate Law for Bail:

• The court underlined that the CrPC, despite amendments since Independence, largely retains its original structure as drafted by a colonial power over its subjects.
  • The court made this point to signal that despite its rulings, structurally, the Code does not account for arrest as a fundamental liberty issue in itself.
• It also highlighted that magistrates do not necessarily exercise their discretionary powers uniformly.
• The court advocates for framing of a separate law that deals with the grant of bail.

Bail Application:

• There need not be any insistence of a bail application while considering the application under Section 88, 170, 204 and 209 of the Code.
  • These sections relate to various stages of a trial where a magistrate can decide on release of an accused.
  • These range from power of the magistrate to take bond for appearance (Section 88) to power to issue summons (Section 204).

Direction to States:

• The SC also directed all State governments and Union Territories to facilitate standing orders to comply with the orders and avoid indiscriminate arrests.
• This would certainly take care of not only the unwarranted arrests, but also the clogging of bail applications before various Courts as they may not even be required for the offences up to seven years.

What Protection does the Constitution provide against Indiscriminate Arrest?

Article 20:

• Article 20 provides Protection against indiscriminate arrest by stating that “No person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of the law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence, nor be subjected to a penalty greater than that which might have been inflicted under the law in force at the time of the commission of the offence.”

Article 21:

• Article 21 provides Protection of Life and Personal Liberty
• Detention of an individual infringes the Right to Life and Liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution of India.

Article 22:

• Article 22 provides Protection Against Arrest and Detention.
• The first part of Article 22 deals with the ordinary law and includes:
  • Right to be informed of the grounds of arrest.
  • Right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner.
  • Right to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours, excluding the journey time.
  • Right to be released after 24 hours unless the magistrate authorises further detention.

Way Forward

• Increasing awareness of laws among police personnel, increasing the number of police personnel and stations in proportion to the number of complaints in an area, and including social workers and psychologists in the criminal justice system.
• The focus also needs to be on the victim’s rights and smart policing. There is a need to study the rate of conviction of police officials and their non-compliance of law.
• As highlighted by the Supreme Court, a separate law on bail should be drafted for effective management of under trial cases in the country.
• Increase the inclusiveness in the police force from the different section of the society, so as to provide with balanced mindset to avoid indiscriminately arrests against any caste/class/community.

Mission Vatsalya

Context:

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has sent its draft guidelines for Mission Vatsalya Scheme to States and Union Territories to seek their suggestions.

• Mission Vatsalya is one of the new triad of schemes along with Mission Shakti, and Poshan 2.0, that aims at securing a healthy and happy childhood for every child.
• It focuses on Child Protection Services and child welfare services.
• It is essentially a renamed version of the pre-existing scheme called Child Protection Services.

Objectives of the Mission:

• To secure a healthy and happy childhood for every child in India.
• To foster a sensitive, supportive and synchronized ecosystem for the development of children.
• To assist States/UTs in delivering the mandate of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.
• To achieve the SDG goals.

Components:

It will include statutory bodies; service delivery structures; institutional care/services; non-institutional community-based care; emergency outreach services (through Childline or the national helpline 1098 for children); training and capacity building.

Implementation:

• Under the mission, the Government plans to partner with the private sector as well as volunteer groups for its scheme for the protection of vulnerable children such as those abandoned or missing.
• For this, a Vatsalya portal will be developed that will allow volunteers to register so that State and District Authorities can engage them in executing various schemes.

Flag Code of India 2022

Why in News?

Recently, the Government of India has announced that the national flag can now remain hoisted through the night, if it is in the open and hoisted by a member of the public.

• Earlier, the tricolour could be hoisted only between sunrise and sunset.
• The government had earlier amended the flag code to allow for machine-made and polyester flags to be used.
• As government launched a Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, the Ministry of Home Affairs amended the Flag Code of India 2002 to allow for the national flag to be flown even at night.

What do we know about the Flag Code of India?

• It allowed the unrestricted display of the Tricolour as long as the honour and dignity of the flag were being respected.
• The flag code did not replace the pre-existing rules governing the correct display of the flag.
  • It was, however, an effort to bring together all the previous laws, conventions and practices.
• It is divided into three parts -
  • General description of the tricolour.
  • Rules on display of the flag by public and private bodies and educational institutions.
  • Rules for display of the flag by governments and government bodies.
• It mentions that the tricolour cannot be used for commercial purposes and cannot be dipped in salute to any person or thing.
• Moreover, the flag should not be used as a festoon, or for any kind of decoration purposes.
• For official display, only flags that conform to the specifications as laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards and bearing their mark can be used.

What is the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign?

• ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s independence.
• Our relationship with the flag has always been more formal and institutional than personal.
  • Bringing the flag home collectively as a nation in the 75th year of independence thus becomes symbolic of not only an act of personal connection to the Tiranga but also an embodiment of our commitment to nation-building.
• The idea behind the initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of the people and to promote awareness about the Indian National Flag.

What do we know about India’s National Flag?

History:

• 1906:
  • The first national flag, which consisted of three horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green, is said to have been hoisted on 7th August, 1906, at the Parsee Bagan Square, near Lower Circular Road, in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
• 1921:
  • Later, in 1921, freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya met Mahatma Gandhi and proposed a basic design of the flag, consisting of two red and green bands.
• 1931:
  • After undergoing several changes, the Tricolour was adopted as our national flag at a Congress Committee meeting in Karachi in 1931.
• 1947:
  • The Indian flag was adopted in its present form during a meeting of the Constituent Assembly held on 22nd July 1947.

Rules Governing the Tricolour:

• The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950:
  • It restricts the use of the national flag, the coat-of-arms used by a government department, the official seal of the President or Governor, the pictorial representation of Mahatma Gandhi and the Prime Minister, and the Ashoka Chakra.
• The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971:
  • It prohibits the desecration of or insult to the country’s national symbols, including the national flag, the Constitution, the national anthem and the Indian map.
  • A person who is convicted for the following offences under the Act is disqualified to contest in the elections to the Parliament and state legislature for 6 years.
    (i) Offence of insulting the National Flag,
    (ii) Offence of insulting the Constitution of India,
    (iii) Offence of preventing the singing of the National Anthem.
• Part IV-A of the Constitution:
  • The Part IV-A of the Constitution (which consists of only one Article 51-A) specifies the eleven Fundamental Duties.
  • According to Article 51A (a), it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.

Delimitation in Four Northeast States

Why In News-

Recently, the Election Commission’s former legal advisor, red-flagged the Central government’s order setting up a Delimitation Commission for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam and Nagaland calling it “unconstitutional” and “illegal”.

Background:

• When delimitation was done in the country in 2002-08, these states were left out, due to apprehensions overuse of the 2001 Census. 
• In these states various organisations had moved the Gauhati High Court against the 2002-08 exercise, challenging the use of the 2001 Census for reference. 
• An all-party delegation from Assam met the then Home Minister pleading that delimitation is called off because the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was yet to be updated.
• In 2008, the Delimitation Act was amended and in February 2008 Presidential orders were issued to defer delimitation in these four states.
• In February 2020, the President cleared the decks for the resumption of the delimitation exercise in the four states by cancelling the order of February 2008.
• In March 2020, the Law Ministry notified the Delimitation Commission for the four northeast states and Jammu and Kashmir, which was also left out in 2002-08.

More on the news:

• This delimitation will not change the number of seats in these states in the four Northeast states. 
• It will only redraw the boundaries of seats in each state and can rework the number of reserved seats for SCs and STs. 
• Due to the exceptional past circumstances, assembly seats Jammu & Kashmir will now increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to increase the Jammu region’s representation.

Why it is being called illegal?

• The March notification of the Law Ministry violates the Representation of the People Act 1950.
• In 2008, after the President deferred delimitation in these northeastern states the Parliament decided that instead of creating another Delimitation Commission in future for the limited purpose of redrawing seat boundaries in these northeastern states, the exercise there would be carried out by the EC. 
• For this purpose, the Representation of the People Act 1950 was amended, and Section 8A was introduced.

Issue involved:

• There is a contradiction between the Law Ministry’s notification of March and Section 8A of the RP Act 1950. 
• The RP Act 1950 clearly states that delimitation in the four northeastern states, when held, would fall within the EC’s remit, the Centre should not have notified a separate Delimitation Commission for this purpose. 
• Therefore, any delimitation exercise in these northeastern states by the new Delimitation Commission would be “declared void by the courts” and, subsequently, result in “wastage of huge precious public funds. 

What is Delimitation?

• Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats to represent changes in population.  This may result in the change in the number of seats allocated to a state. 
• The objective is to provide equal representation for equal population segments and a fair division of geographical areas so that no political party has an advantage.

Constitutional provisions:

• Article 82: this provides the Parliament with the authority to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Article 170: This provides for the  States to get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.
• The Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission once the Act is in force.

Delimitation Commission:

• It is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
• Its members are a serving or retired Supreme Court judge, Chief Election Commissioner or an Election Commissioner nominated by CEC and Election Commissioners of the respective state.
• Its function is to determine the number and boundaries of constituencies, to identify seats reserved for SC/ST. In case of difference of opinion among members of the Commission, the opinion of the majority prevails.
• It has the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.
• Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002. There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.
• The last delimitation exercise between 2002-2008, based on the 2001 Census, only readjusted boundaries of existing Lok Sabha and Assembly seats and reworked the number of reserved seats.

To read more information on this topic:

• Delimitation - Indian Polity

Youth in India 2022 Report

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released ‘Youth in India 2022’ Report, which shows that the population share of the youth is starting to decline whereas the share of the elderly is expected to increase during 2021-2036.

• A sustained drop in fertility has led to an increased concentration of the population at working ages (between 25 and 64 years) and this shift in the age distribution provides a time-bound opportunity for accelerated economic growth known as the “Demographic Dividend”.

What are the Findings of the Report?

• Decline in Youth Population: The youth population is expected to increase initially but will start to decline in the latter half of 2011-2036 period.
  • The total youth population increased from 222.7 million in 1991 to 333.4 million in 2011 and is projected to reach 371.4 million by 2021 and, thereafter, decrease to 345.5 million by 2036.
• Proportion of Youth and Elderly Population: Proportion of youth to the total population had increased from 26.6% in 1991 to 27.9% in 2016 and then projected to start a downward trend and to reach 22.7 % by year 2036.
  • On the contrary, the proportion of elderly population to the total population has increased from 6.8% in 1991 to 9.2% in 2016 and is projected to reach 14.9% in 2036.
• Scenario in the States: States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh are projected to see a higher elderly population than the youth by 2036.
  • Bihar and Uttar Pradesh experienced a rise in proportion of youth population to total population till 2021 and then it is expected to start declining.
  • These two states, along with Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, are projected to have over half (52%) of the country’s youth.

What are the Implications?

• India is experiencing a demographic window of opportunity, a “youth bulge”. However, youth come across various development challenges viz. access to education, gainful employment, gender inequality, child marriage, youth- friendly health services and adolescent pregnancy.
  • Youth bulge refers to a demographic pattern where a large share of the population is comprised of children and young adults.
• A greater proportion of youth at present will result in a greater proportion of elderly in the population in future. This will create a demand for better healthcare facilities and development of welfare schemes/programmes for elderly people.
• Rise in the share of elderly population will put pressure on social security and public welfare systems and the next 4-5 years need to be utilised well to accelerate productive job creation.
  • People, typically in informal employment, don’t have social security, it will add burden to the respective state.

What are the Recommendations?

• There is need to increase share of employment in manufacturing because people who in current labour force, when they are retire and the share of elderly starts rising in very populous states, then it will be like a ticking time bomb (a situation that is likely to become difficult to deal with or control).
• In the next 4-5 years, there is a need for active labour market policies to be adopted to accelerate productive job creation.
• There is a need to take steps to adapt public programmes to the growing proportion of older persons, including by improving the sustainability of social security and pension systems and by establishing universal health care and long-term care systems.

What are the Schemes Related to Youth?

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
• YUVA: Prime Minister’s Scheme For Mentoring Young Authors
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme
• National Health Mission (NHM)
• National Youth Policy-2014
• National Skill Development Corporation
• Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram Scheme
• Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation Programme (WIFSP)
• Scheme for Promotion of Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescent Girls.