Earlier this week, 11 individuals accused of lynching Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand in June were charged by the police with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Media reports indicate that the more serious charge of murder was not pressed against the accused as the postmortem report indicated that Tabrez had died of cardiac arrest. This development has reignited the debate on the steps that need to be taken to stop incidents of mob violence and lynching in the country. The first step in this direction was taken by the Supreme Court last year.
The apex court, while hearing the case of Tehseen Poonawalla vs the Union of India on 17 July 2018, gave a detailed order addressing the issue of mob lynching. The court observed, “Mob vigilantism and mob violence have to be prevented by the governments by taking strict action... Rising intolerance and growing polarisation expressed through [a] spate of incidents of mob violence cannot be permitted to become the normal way of life or the normal state of law and order in the country.” The court issued guidelines to be followed by the state governments to curb mob lynching.
A little over a year has passed since the apex court issued these guidelines. So far, three states have given legislative backing to the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court. Manipur was the first state to do so followed by Rajasthan and West Bengal.
The Manipur government initially promulgated an ordinance in November 2018 and a few days later the state’s legislature passed the Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Act. Rajasthan and West Bengal have used the Manipur law as a template. Last month they enacted a law to prevent mob lynching in their respective states. The Supreme Court’s guidelines to prevent lynching are at the heart of the laws passed by these three states.
The court formulated a three-pronged approach to putting an end to mob lynching. The first step requires states to take preventive steps to ensure that lynching does not occur. The court’s guidelines mandate the states to identify regions where lynching could occur. The guidelines also prescribe that in every district a senior police officer should be designated as the nodal officer to take measures to prevent lynching.
They specify that the nodal officer should take steps to prevent the creation of a hostile environment against any community or caste. The officer is also required to prevent the spread of messages or videos that could incite mobs. Also, regular situational review and coordination meetings between police and state administration are part of the preventive approach prescribed by the court. The guidelines categorically state that every police officer shall be duty-bound to disperse a mob which may cause lynching.
In case the preventive measures fail, the court’s guidelines prescribe remedial measures which include protection to witnesses, legal aid to victims or next of kin and time-bound completion of judicial proceedings. The guidelines also direct the states to create a scheme to provide compensation to victims of lynching/mob violence. The final step in the court’s approach to curbing lynching is to hold the police or district administration officers accountable for their negligence in preventing incidents of lynching.
The laws passed by the Manipur, Rajasthan and West Bengal have incorporated most of the Supreme Court’s guidelines. These laws define lynching as an act of violence by a mob on the grounds of religion, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation and ethnicity. They also define “offensive material” whose spread has to be checked and what constitutes a “hostile environment”. But the laws of the three states are not entirely similar.
For example, the Manipur law empowers the state government to impose a collective fine on the inhabitants of an area if the government is satisfied that they are involved in lynching or a connected offence. The Rajasthan law does not have this provision. The two states also differ in their approach to holding police officers responsible for their failure to prevent lynching.
Manipur’s law punishes its police officer with one year’s imprisonment while the Rajasthan law does not have a similar provision. However, the two states have the same punishment for the act of lynching. They provide that in case of the death of a victim of a lynching, the perpetrators of the crime will be punished with rigorous imprisonment for life. The West Bengal law, on the other hand, provides the death penalty as the maximum punishment for this offence.
Stringent laws are not the only solution to a problem. They are part of the solution set and have to be supplemented with other measures. For maintaining law and order in the states, the most important requirement is that of an adequate, professional and responsive police force. Data from the Bureau of Police Research and Training points to gaps in the police forces of our states. For example, our police forces are severely overburdened. In 2017, state police forces had a 21.8% vacancy in their ranks. They also face constraints in their mobility and weaponry.
While resource constraints can be met over time, our police forces are plagued with a problem of a much more serious nature, and that is of political interference in their functioning. In 2006, the Supreme Court in the landmark case of Prakash Singh Vs Union of India observed, “The commitment, devotion and accountability of the police has to be only to the rule of law.
The supervision and control has to be such that it ensures that the police serves the people without any regard, whatsoever, to the status and position of any person while investigating a crime or taking preventive measures”. The court directed a slew of measures to protect the police from outside interference. However, the apex court’s directions have not been comprehensively implemented by the states.
The dastardly act of lynching has no easy solution. The responsibility of state legislatures should not be limited to enacting a law providing strict punishments. State legislatures need to be continuously involved with the issue. Their involvement should extend to an in-depth discussion with respect to budgetary requirements of police and judiciary and a continuous holding to account of the state administration for every unlawful act of lynching in the state.
The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan todaylaunched UMMID (Unique Methods of Management and treatment of Inherited Disorders) initiative and inaugurated NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendras, which is being supported by Department of Biotechnology (DBT),M/o Science and Technology.
Speaking on the occasion in New Delhi, the Minister for Science & Technology brought attention to the issue of ensuring proper treatment to children and creation of awareness amongst the masses and urged upon all to dwell more into finding solutions. Congratulating DBT for supporting this path-breaking initiative, Dr Harsh Vardhan said “With the program being implemented at government hospitals, people who cannot afford expensive care for genetic disorders will be benefited”. He further emphasized on the use of cutting edge scientific technology and molecular medicine for extending Universal Health Coverage for all.
Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT also highlighted how UMMID is a path-breakinginitiative in the health-care sector. She said “UMMID initiative is meeting the hopes of large number of persons with inherited diseases”.
Taking into account that congenital and hereditary genetic diseases are becoming a significant health burden in India, and realizing the need for adequate and effective genetic testing and counselling services. DBT has started the UMMID Initiative which is designed on the concept of ‘Prevention is better than Cure’. In India’s urban areas, congenital malformations and genetic disorders are the third most common cause of mortality in newborns.
With a very large population and high birth rate, and consanguineous marriage favored in many communities, prevalence of genetic disorders is high in India, the UMMID initiative aims (i) to establish NIDAN Kendras to provide counselling, prenatal testing and diagnosis, management, and multidisciplinary care in Government Hospitals wherein the influx of patients is more, (ii) to produce skilled clinicians in Human Genetics, and (iii) to undertake screening of pregnant women and new born babies for inherited genetic diseases in hospitals at aspirational districts.
As a part of this initiative, in the first phase, five NIDAN Kendras have been established to provide comprehensive clinical care.
Training Centres at Madras Medical Mission- Chennai; SGPGIMS- Lucknow; CDFD – Hyderabad; AIIMS- New Delhi; MAMC- New Delhi; NIIH- Mumbai and CMC Vellore have been supported to provide training in Biochemical Genetics, Cytogenetics, Molecular Genetics, and Clinical Genetics to the clinicians from government hospitals. Screening of 10,000 pregnant women and 5000 new born babies per year for inherited genetic diseases will be taken up at the following seven aspirational districts.
The department is planning to expand the program and establish more Nidan Kendras in other parts of the country, train more clinicians in clinical genetics and cover more aspirational districts for screening of pregnant women and new born babies for inherited genetic diseases to provide comprehensive clinical care, in the next phase under this UMMID initiative.
The Government of India has launched the National Health Policy, 2017 aiming to shift focus from “sick-care” to “wellness”. UMMID initiative shall work towards achieving wellness by promoting prevention of genetic diseases.
Context: Israel has cut off power to some parts of occupied West Bank due to outstanding payments.
Key facts: The West Bank is a landlocked territory, which is bordered by Jordan to the east and the Green Line separating it and Israel in the north, south and west. The territory was occupied by Israel during the six-day war in 1967.
Under the Oslo Accords, which was signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in September 1993, the two sides agreed that West Bank and Gaza Strip would be treated as a single territorial unit.
It is a Plagiarism Detention Software (PDS) launched by the union Ministry of HRD.
This service is being implemented by Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an Inter University Centre (IUC) of UGC.
Significance: It will significantly help to improve the quality of research outcome by ensuring the originality of ideas and publication of the research scholars.
It is a new wheat variety unveiled recently by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). Also Called HD-3226, the new variety has a higher weighted average yield compare to predecessors.
It also has higher content of protein and gluten (which contributes to strength and elasticity of the dough), apart from more zinc (at 36.8 parts per million.
It has high levels of resistance against all major rust fungi — yellow/stripe, brown/leaf and black/stem. It will grow to its full maturity duration of 150 days and is ready for harvesting by end-March/early-April, 10-15 days before other wheat varieties. It is also ideal for zero-tillage planting.
It is a nationwide activity in which the Leather Sector Skill Council (LSSC) will extend support to the cobbler community who provide leather-based services, with CSR funds and bring respect to their skills by giving them a better working environment in the form of kiosks/umbrellas.
About the Leather Sector Skill Council (LSSC): It is a non-profit organisation dedicated to meeting the demand for skilled workforce in the leather industry in India. The LSSC was set up in 2012 as one of the key sector skill councils approved by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).
It is a movement that began in August 2018, after 15 years old Greta Thunberg sat in front of the Swedish parliament every schoolday for three weeks, to protest against the lack of action on the climate crisis.
On the 8th of September, Greta decided to continue striking every Friday until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under 2-degree C, i.e. in line with the Paris agreement.
It has now become an international movement of school students who take time off from class to participate in demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and climate change.
Why in News? Between September 20 and September 27, 2019 FFF, is marking Global Climate Strike. The strike is timed to be in sync with the Climate Action Summit that UN Secretary-General António Guterres will hold on September 23, 2019 to address the “global climate emergency”.