Current Affairs Mar 30 – GES Reporter

Ever Given

Why in News?

The mammoth cargo ship Ever Given, which has blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week, has been freed from the vital channel’s shoreline and seen its course corrected by 80%.
A human-made waterway, the Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes, carrying over 12% of world trade by volume.
The “traffic jam” caused by the blockage has been holding up an estimated $9.6bn of goods every day, and trading companies have been forced to reroute ships.
Built in 1869, the canal provides a major shortcut for ships moving between Europe and Asia, which before its construction had to sail around Africa to complete the same journey.

Quran case, and the powers of judicial review

Why in News?

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking declaration of 26 verses of the Quran as unconstitutional, non-effective and non- functional on the ground that these promote extremism and terrorism and pose a serious threat to the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country.

Power of judicial review

Under Indian law, only a “law” can be challenged as unconstitutional. Article 13(3) defines law, which includes any ordinance, order, by-law, rule, regulations, notification, custom or usage having in the territory the force of law.
“Laws in force” on the commencement of the Constitution include laws enacted by a legislature or other competent authority.
This definition certain does not cover any religious scripture including the Quran.
Similarly, neither the Vedas nor the Gita, nor the Bible, nor the Guru Granth Sahib can be said to be “law” under Article 13 and thus challenged in a court of law.
To term the Quran or other religious scriptures as custom or usage, as this petition claims, is absurd.
Customs and usage are repeated practices of human beings.
Words of divine characters can never be considered as customs.
The divine books can be sources of law but not law in themselves.
Thus Quran in itself is not “law” for the purposes of Article 13.
It is the paramount source of Islamic law and Muslim jurists extract laws from it through interpretation and also taking into account other sources of law such as Hadees (Prophet’s sayings), Ijma (juristic consensus), Qiyas (analogical deductions), Urf ( customs), Istihsan (juristic preference) and Istisilah (public interest).
If Quran is not law, it is not subject to judicial review. No court can sit in judgment on any sacred book.

PILs & petitioners

PILs or pro bono public litigations became popular post-Emergency when the Supreme Court was suffering from a crisis of legitimacy due to its pro-government decisions.
Through PILs, the court started winning the trust of the people. Within a decade or two, abuse of PILs became rampant.
The court soon realised it and tried to contain the misuse. In Narmada Bachao Andolan (2000), Justice B N Kirpal said public interest litigation should not be allowed to degenerate to become “publicity interest litigation” or “private inquisitiveness litigation”.
To restrict use of PILs, the first question courts ask today is about the credentials and motives of the petitioner.
In Ashok Kumar (2003), Justice Arijit Pasayat held that the court has to be satisfied about the credentials of the petitioner, his information must not be vague, and the information should show gravity and seriousness.
No PIL petitioner can be allowed to indulge in wild allegations about the character of others.

Uniform Civil Code

Why in News?

Chief Justice of India (CJI) recently lauded Goa’s Uniform Civil Code, and encouraged “intellectuals” indulging in “academic talk” to visit the state to learn more about it.
The founders of the Constitution in Article 44 in Part IV dealing with the Directive Principles of State Policy had hoped and expected that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territories of India, till date no action has been taken in this regard.

So, what is a Uniform Civil Code?

A Uniform Civil Code is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
Article 44 is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy. These, as defined in Article 37, are not justiciable (not enforceable by any court) but the principles laid down therein are fundamental in governance.
Fundamental Rights are enforceable in a court of law.
While Article 44 uses the words “state shall endeavour”, other Articles in the ‘Directive Principles’ chapter use words such as “in particular strive”; “shall in particular direct its policy”; “shall be obligation of the state” etc.
Article 43 mentions “state shall endeavour by suitable legislation”, while the phrase “by suitable legislation” is absent in Article 44.
All this implies that the duty of the state is greater in other directive principles than in Article 44.

What are more important — Fundamental Rights or Directive Principles?

There is no doubt that Fundamental Rights are more important.
The Supreme Court held in Minerva Mills (1980): “Indian Constitution is founded on the bed-rock of the balance between Parts III (Fundamental Rights) and IV (Directive Principles). To give absolute primacy to one over the other is to disturb the harmony of the Constitution”.
Article 31C inserted by the 42nd Amendment in 1976, however, lays down that if a law is made to implement any Directive Principle, it cannot be challenged on the ground of being violative of the Fundamental Rights under Articles 14 and 19.

Does India not already have a uniform code in civil matters?

Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters — Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act, etc.
States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and, therefore, in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.
Recently, several states refused to be governed by the uniform Motor Vehicles Act, 2019.
If the framers of the Constitution had intended to have a Uniform Civil Code, they would have given exclusive jurisdiction to Parliament in respect of personal laws, by including this subject in the Union List.
But “personal laws” are mentioned in the Concurrent List. Last year, the Law Commission concluded that a Uniform Civil Code is neither feasible nor desirable.

How does the idea of a Uniform Civil Code relate to the fundamental right to religion?

Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion; Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”;
Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture.
An individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality” and other provisions relating to fundamental rights, but a group’s freedom under Article 26 has not been subjected to other fundamental rights.
In the Constituent Assembly, there was division on the issue of putting Uniform Civil Code in the fundamental rights chapter. The matter was settled by a vote.
By a 5:4 majority, the fundamental rights sub-committee headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel held that the provision was outside the scope of Fundamental Rights and therefore the Uniform Civil Code was made less important than freedom of religion.

China, Iran sign 25-year ‘Strategic Pact’

Why in News?

China and Iran signed what was described as a 25-year “strategic cooperation pact”, during Chinese Foreign Minister on-going six-nation tour to West Asia.
The agreement comes amid a major push from China to back Iran, which counts on Beijing as its largest trading partner, as it deals with the continuing weight of sanctions re-instated following then U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

Recently,

China and Russia called for the U.S. to “unconditionally return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as soon as possible and revoke the unilateral sanctions against Iran” as their Foreign Ministers met in China.
In this context, they proposed “the establishment of a regional security dialogue platform to converge a new consensus on resolving the security concerns of countries in the region.”
Details of the new 25-year pact includes “political, strategic and economic” components.
China was keen to deepen its Belt and Road Initiative in the region, “expand areas of growth such as high and new technologies”, as well as “look forward to early conclusion of a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council” with China’s trade with Arab States reaching $240 billion last year, establishing it as the region’s largest trading partner and a major buyer of crude oil that counts on the region for half of its imports.

THE HINDU

India- Bangladesh sign 5 MoUs

Why in News?

India and Bangladesh signed 5 MoUs in the fields of Disaster Management, trade, NCC, ICT and setting up of sports facilities on the concluding day of the 2-day long official visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

About

Foundation stone was laid for infrastructure development for power evacuation facilities from the Rooppur Nuclear power plant.
The Bangladesh leg of the Banagabandhu-Bapu Digital Exhibition was inaugurated by the two Prime Ministers. It will be taken to other parts of the world including the UN.
Both the leaders also unveiled the foundation stone for the construction of a memorial at Ashuganj honoring the martyrs of Indian armed forces in the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
India gifted 109 life support ambulances to Bangladesh and also 1.2 million doses of the Covishield vaccine.
Three border haats were also opened along the India-Bangladesh border.
A direct passenger train named ‘Mitali Express’ will run between Dhaka and New Jalpaiguri.
Invited 50 young entrepreneurs from Bangladesh to connect with India’s start up ecosystem.
1000 Subarno Jayanti Scholarships were announced for the Bangladeshi students to study in India at the Undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
A Bangabandhu Chair will be established at Delhi University to facilitate Bangladesh studies.

AIR

RTI Rejections

Why in News?

The Centre has only rejected 4.3% of all Right to Information (RTI) requests in 2019-20, the lowest ever rate, according to the Central Information Commission’s annual report.
However, almost 40% of these rejections did not include any valid reason, as they did not invoke one of the permissible exemption clauses in the RTI Act.
This includes 90% of rejections by the Prime Minister’s Office.
Home Ministry had the highest rate of rejections, as it rejected 20% of all RTIs received.
The Agriculture Ministry’s rejection rate doubled from 2% in 2018-19 to 4% in 2019-20. The Delhi Police and the Army also saw increases in rejection rates.
The RTI Act allows public authorities to reject RTI requests on a number of grounds, ranging from information which would endanger life and safety to that which involves irrelevant personal information, Cabinet papers, foreign governments, copyrights, or sovereignty, security and intelligence matters.
Public authorities are expected to cite the relevant clause of the Act to invoke the exemption.

Highest use

Of the permissible grounds for rejection, Section 8(1)(j) saw the highest use.
It permits denial of access to personal information if disclosure has no relationship to any public activity or public interest or is likely to cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual concerned. One third of all permissible rejections invoked this clause.
Section 24 of the Act which exempts information related to security and intelligence organisations — except allegations of corruption and human rights violations — was also frequently used, with one in five permissible rejections coming under this category.

THE HINDU

Mystery of Missing Antimatter

Why in News?

Stars, galaxies, and everything in the universe, including our own bodies, are comprised of so-called regular matter.
Regular matter includes atoms and molecules, which are made up of tiny particles, such as electrons, protons, and neutrons.
These particles dominate our universe, vastly outnumbering their lesser-known counterparts: antimatter particles.

History

First experimentally discovered in 1932 by the late Nobel laureate Carl Anderson, antimatter particles have the opposite charges to their matter counterparts.
The antimatter particle to the negatively charged electron, for example, is the positively charged positron.

How did matter come to overshadow antimatter?

Scientists believe that something happened early in the history of our cosmos to tip the balance of particles to matter, causing antimatter to largely disappear.
In a new study, researchers propose a new tabletop-based tool to search for answers to the antimatter riddle.
Like other physicists studying the problem, the researchers’ main idea is to look for asymmetries in how regular matter interacts with electromagnetic fields.
This is related to a type of symmetry commonly seen in particles called charge parity, or CP. Any deviations from the expected CP symmetry might explain how matter ultimately edged out antimatter in our universe.
The joint studies demonstrate that radioactive molecules have the potential to be even more sensitive probes of fundamental particle symmetries than the non-radioactive atoms commonly used today.
To look for symmetry violations in particles, researchers generally observe how particles behave in electric fields.
They search for abnormal behaviors that break the known symmetry rules; for instance, physicists have predicted that symmetry violations might cause an electron to precess, or wobble around like a spinning top, in an electric field.
Molecules have electromagnetic fields inside them, due to their asymmetrical nature, so they make ideal targets for this kind of work.

Phys.org

Wet Fire Smoke in Clouds

A first-of-its-kind instrument that samples smoke from megafires and scans humidity will help researchers better understand the scale and long-term impact of fires—specifically how far and high the smoke will travel; when and where it will rain; and whether the wet smoke will warm the climate by absorbing sunlight.
Smoke containing soot and other toxic particles from megafires can travel thousands of kilometers at high altitudes where winds are fast and air is dry.
These smoke-filled clouds can absorb much more sunlight than dry soot—but this effect on light absorption has been difficult to measure because laser-based techniques heat the particles and evaporate the water, which corrupts observations.
The new instrument circumvents this problem by developing a gentler technique that uses a low-power, light-emitting diode to measure water’s effect on scattering and absorbtion by wildfire smoke and hence its growth.
By sampling the smoke and scanning the humidity from dry to very humid conditions while measuring its optical properties, the instrument mimicks what happens during cloud and rain formation, and the effects of water are measured immediately.
Water coating the black soot-like material can enhance the light absorption by up to 20 percent.

Phys.org