PIB Summary- 18th October, 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Jayanti

Context
PM paid tribute to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on his Jayanti

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: A Remarkable Life

• Early Life: Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born to Jainulabdeen, a boat owner and Imam, and Ashiamma, a housewife. He had four brothers and a sister, all elder to him.
• Education: Kalam attended a school in Ramanathapuram and earned a degree in Physics from Saint Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli. In 1955, he pursued aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology.
• Scientific Career: Kalam began his career as a scientist at the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). He also worked under the guidance of eminent scientist Vikram Sarabhai.
• ISRO Involvement: In 1969, Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). At ISRO, he served as the Project Director of the satellite launch vehicle (SLV) that successfully deployed India’s first satellite, Rohini, into orbit in 1980. He also contributed to the development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• “Missile Man of India”: Kalam gained the moniker “Missile Man of India” for his significant contributions to ballistic missile technology.
• Key Roles: From 1992 to 1999, he served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of DRDO. Kalam was the Chief Project Coordinator during the Pokhran II nuclear tests, significantly raising his profile.
• Presidential Tenure: In 2002, Abdul Kalam was elected as the 11th President of India. He was the first scientist to hold this position and also the first bachelor President. His presidency, which extended to a full term until 2007, was marked by his close connection with the people, earning him the title of the “People’s President.”
• Post-Presidential Life: After his presidency, Kalam became a visiting professor at various prestigious institutions, including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Shillong, IIM Indore, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Anna University.
• Passing: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam passed away due to a cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong on July 27, 2015. His death was met with widespread grief, and the Indian government declared a 7-day state mourning in his honor.

Books Written by APJ Abdul Kalam

• India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium
• Wings of Fire
• Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power within India
• Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji
• A Manifesto for Change: A Sequel to India 2020

Fast-Track Courts

Context
Ensuring the safety & security of women and girl child, the Department of Justice is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, to set up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) including 389 exclusive POCSO Courts across the nation for expeditious trials relating to Rape & POCSO Act cases.

About Fast-track courts

• Fast-track courts (FTCs) are created primarily to deal with the judicial backlog.
• A ‘special court’ is one which is to deal with special types of cases under a shortened and simplified procedure.
• Fast-track courts (FTCs) have been around for a long time, with the first ones being established in the year 2000.
• However, 56% of the States and Union Territories, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, had no FTCs.
• Judges are appointed on the ad hoc basis.
• Retired judges or eligible judicial officers who are selected by the High court of the respective states are the head of these courts.

Need for Fast Track courts

• Clearing the considerable amount of pending cases
• Expected to reduce the number of undertrials in jails
• Need for Speedy Trial
• Judiciary’s commitment to end sexual and gender based violence

Advantages of Fast track courts

• Lessening of the general caseload burden: The objective with which the fast track courts were established has been very beneficiary for judiciary as it has solved over a million cases and has reduced the case load from other courts.
• Promotes specialization and professionalization: It has helped employ thousands of people from different fields, it also avails retired judges from high courts and district courts. The establishment of fast track courts has promoted the specialization of a category of law.
• Improves judicial efficiency and effectiveness: By the proper use of judiciary and by speedy trial and judgment, fast track courts boost the efficiency of the judiciary.
• High case clearance rate and speedy trial rate: Fast Track courts in India have the highest case disposal rate due to its speedy trial and judgment. And hence it is efficient in solving cases in a bound time.
• Guarantees consistency and predictability: Fast track courts have high performance rate and are stable and steady. It renders justice with high accuracy.

Issues Faced by FTCs

• Non-Uniformity in Type of Cases: In a survey of FTCs conducted by National Law University Delhi, it was observed that there is a huge variation in the kinds of cases handled by these courts across States, with certain States primarily allocating rape and sexual offence cases to them and other States allocating various other matters.
• Infrastructural Issues: Most FTCs were not set up with different infrastructure or facilities, but were often housed in an existing court. Moreover, several States appoint FTCs special judges from the current pool of judges. This substantially increases the workload of the remaining judges.
• Technological Barrier: Several FTCs lacked technological resources to conduct audio and video recordings of the victims and many of them did not have regular staff.
• Adhocism: Setting up of FTCs was not based on actual problems of pendency, but was often in response to specific incidents such as securities scams, rape cases and sexual harassment of children.
• Lack of Coordination: In India, tribunals are managed by different ministries, and fast-track courts and special courts are administered under different judicial bodies, with little coordination or uniformity among them.
• Other Issues: There are delays in getting reports from the understaffed forensic science laboratories, judges make frivolous adjournments and inadequate staff adversely affect the efficiency of the fast track courts.