Current Affairs 15.01.2022
Current Affairs 15.01.2022
Current Affairs 15.01.2022 pdf
1. Suspension of MLAs
- 12 MLAs from the Maharashtra legislative assembly have gone to the Supreme Court against their year-long suspension from the Assembly.
- The Supreme Court has observed that the suspension for a full year is prima facie unconstitutional and created a constitutional void for these constituencies.
About the Suspension of MLAs:
- The MLAs were suspended for misbehaviour in the Assembly pertaining to disclosure of data regarding OBCs.
- The challenge to suspension relies mainly on grounds of denial of the principles of natural justice, and of violation of laid-down procedure.
- The 12 MLAs have said they were not given an opportunity to present their case, and that the suspension violated their fundamental right to equality before the law under Article 14 of the Constitution.
- Rule 53 of Maharashtra Assembly: It states that the “Speaker may direct any member who refuses to obey his decision, or whose conduct is, in his opinion, grossly disorderly, to withdraw immediately from the Assembly”.
- The member must “absent himself during the remainder of the day’s meeting”.
- Should any member be ordered to withdraw for a second time in the same session, the Speaker may direct the member to absent himself “for any period not longer than the remainder of the Session”.
Arguments by Maharashtra Assembly:
- Article 212: The House had acted within its legislative competence, under Article 212, and courts do not have jurisdiction to inquire into the proceedings of the legislature.
- Article 212 (1) states that “The validity of any proceedings in the Legislature of a State shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure”.
- Article 194: The state has also referred to Article 194 on the powers and privileges of the House, and argued that any member who transgresses these privileges can be suspended through the inherent powers of the House.
- It has denied that the power to suspend a member can be exercised only through Rule 53 of the Assembly.
Arguments By the Supreme Court:
- Violation of Basic Structure of the Constitution: The basic structure of the Constitution would be hit if the constituencies of the suspended MLAs remained unrepresented in the Assembly for a full year.
- Constitutional Requirement: The bench referred to Article 190 (4) of the Constitution, which says, “If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant.”
- Statutory Requirement: Under Section 151 (A) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, “a bye-election for filling any vacancy shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy”.
- This means that barring exceptions specified under this section, no constituency can remain without a representative for more than six months.
- Punishing Whole Constituency: The Supreme Court said that the one-year suspension was prima facie unconstitutional as it went beyond the six-month limit, and amounted to “not punishing the member but punishing the constituency as a whole”.
- Question of Supreme Court Intervention: The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the question of whether the judiciary can intervene in the proceedings of the House.
- Constitutional experts, however, say that the court has clarified in previous rulings that the judiciary can intervene in case of an unconstitutional act done by the House.
2. Criminalising Marital Rape
- a batch of petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape, has been filled in the Delhi High Court.
- In response to it the Union government has replied that it is considering a “constructive approach” towards criminalising it and had sought suggestions from various stakeholders.
- The petition seeks to amend the criminal law, which includes Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
- The grounds for “marital immunity” for rape prosecution have emerged from the patriarchal discourse in society.
- According to which, a husband cannot be guilty of a rape committed upon his lawful wife because she has given up herself in this kind to her husband by their mutual matrimonial consent and contract, which she cannot retract.
- Under the impact of the second wave of feminism in the seventies, Australia became the first common law country to pass reforms in 1976 and after it, many Scandinavian and European countries made rape in marriage a criminal offence.
Legal Provision Regarding Marital Rape:
- Marital Rape Exception: Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, which exempts forceful sexual intercourse by a man with his own wife from the offence of rape, provided the wife is above 15 years of age, also known as the “marital rape exception”.
Issues With Marital Rape Exception:
- Against Basic Rights of Women: This exception clause violates the women’s fundamental right to equality, freedom of speech and expression, and most of all the right to life and personal liberty.
- It also denies the agency over their own bodies to women.
- Dismal State of Judicial System: Some of the reasons for low rates of prosecution in the cases of marital rape in India include:
- Low reporting of crimes due to societal conditioning and low legal awareness.
- Inaccurate method of collection of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
- Out of court settlements due to the lengthy process of justice/lack of admissible proof.
- Justice J. S. Verma Committee Recommendation: The Justice J. S. Verma Committee, constituted in the aftermath of the horrific Nirbhaya gang rape in 2012.
- While some of its recommendations helped shape the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, its most radical suggestions, including on marital rape, were swept under the carpet.
3. Millimetre Wave band in 5G
- Satcom Industry Association-India (SIA) has voiced concerns over the Government’s plan to include the Millimetre Wave (mm Wave) bands in the 5G spectrum auction.
- SIA is an industry body that represents the interests of the communication satellite ecosystem in India.
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had sought industries’ views on topics related to quantum of spectrum to be auctioned off.
- 5G is the 5th generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. The 5G networks will operate in the mm Wave spectrum.
- It enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices.
- Bands in 5G: 5G mainly work in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
- Low band spectrum: It has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange however the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
- Mid-band spectrum: It offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
- High-band spectrum: It has the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
- Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G has been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.
4. India-China Military Talks
- The 14th round of Corps Commander level talks concluded between India and China. The meeting resulted in no breakthrough for disengagement from Hot Springs and Gogra Post, but the two sides have agreed to meet again soon.
- The meeting had a positive outcome in comparison to the last meeting, whereby no joint statement was released and the two sides had issued independent statements blaming each other for the situation.
Location of Hot Springs and Gogra Post:
- Hot Springs is just north of the Chang Chenmo river and Gogra Post is east of the point where the river takes a hairpin bend coming southeast from Galwan Valley and turning southwest.
- The area is north of the Karakoram Range of mountains, which lies north of the Pangong Tso lake, and south east of Galwan Valley.
Importance of Hot Springs and Gogra Post :
- The area lies close to Kongka Pass, one of the main passes, which, according to China, marks the boundary between India and China.
- India’s claim of the international boundary lies significantly east, as it includes the entire Aksai Chin area as well.
- Hot Springs and Gogra Post are close to the boundary between two of the most historically disturbed provinces (Xinjiang and Tibet) of China.
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