Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 20
Mains level: Paper 2- Right against self-incrimination
Context
The Bill proposes to collect “measurements” of convicted persons, those who are arrested (or detained under preventive detention laws) or those who have executed bonds promising good behaviour.
Dilution of right against self-incrimination
- The Constitution, under Article 20(3), protects an accused from being compelled to give witness against himself.
- This fundamental right has been diluted over the years.
- In 2005, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was amended to allow a magistrate to order any person to give their handwriting samples for the purpose of an investigation or proceeding.
- In 2019, the Supreme Court, in Ritesh Sinha v. State of UP, held that such handwriting samples could include voice samples.
- It relied upon its judgment in the Kathi Kalu Oghad case (1962) that held that giving palm impressions or footprints could not be called self-incriminatory because impressions were unchangeable, except in rare cases”.
- Instead, it held that the Constitution bars the compulsory extraction of a statement — oral or written — from the accused, “which makes the case against the accused person at least probable, considered by itself”.
Provisions in the Bill
- While the databasing of convicted persons is not new, the new piece of legislation allows for taking information, including finger-impressions, palm-print impressions, footprint impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan, physical, biological samples and their analysis, behavioural attributes including signatures, handwriting or any other examination referred to in Sections 53, 53A of the CrPC.
- It also mandates the National Crime Records Bureau to store, preserve and destroy the record of measurements at the national level as well as process and share them with any law enforcement agency.
Issues with the Bill
- Right against self-incrimination is unlikely to apply to technologies in use today.
- Wide scope of under new technologies: The logic that was used in 1962 to interpret what would violate the right against self-incrimination is unlikely to apply to technologies in use today.
- The Bill is vaguely worded and the nature of the processing, sharing, and dissemination of data it entails will most certainly involve the use of new and emerging technologies.
- Their application to policing and the criminal justice system has new implications for the right against self-incrimination.
- The compulsory submission of such information could have chilling effects after being subjected to new technologies – in other words, the past of an accused person might be enough to incriminate him.
- Possibility of coercive data collection: The Bill proposes to collect “measurements” of convicted persons, those who are arrested (or detained under preventive detention laws) or those who have executed bonds promising good behaviour.
- Only those arrested for petty offences that are punishable with less than seven years may not be obliged to allow the recording of measurements.
- This rings a warning bell about coercive data collection, especially when seen in the light of the practices used to police oppressed communities.
- For instance, under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, many nomadic and semi-nomadic communities were labelled hereditary criminals.
- Despite the Act being repealed in 1952, these denotified tribal (“Vimukta”) communities continue to be treated as criminals by birth through the “Habitual Offenders” provisions in state-level police regulations that allow local police stations to keep records of such persons residing in their area.
- It condemns a section of the country’s population to several cycles of arrest, bail, and acquittal.
- The new piece of legislation could make the practice of history-sheeting, undertaken when a person is merely alleged of a crime, and not convicted, even more coercive.
- Long storage period and no clear process for destroying information: the “measurements” are to be stored at the national level for 75 years, with no clear procedure outlined for destroying the information.
Conclusion
The right against self-incrimination is at the heart of protection against police excess and torture. Record-keeping as mandated by the Bill violates this right. Parliament must make laws that protect against such blatant attacks on fundamental rights and freedoms, rather than enable them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UN Human Rights Council
Mains level: Russia's expulsion from UNHRC
Russia’s membership to the Human Rights Council (UNHRC), to which it was elected in 2020, was suspended after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote.
Why was Russia suspended from UNHRC?
- Russia’s three-year term as member of the Council began on January 1, 2021.
- With membership on the Council comes a responsibility to uphold high human rights standards.
- It is this responsibility that Russia is alleged to have wilfully violated in Ukraine.
India stayed absent. Why?
- India questioned the process by which the move to suspend Russia took place given that it happened before the international probe into the massacre.
- New Delhi’s point is that it should have been brought before the Human Rights Council first, and not the UNGA, sources said.
- This is a signal to the West that due process has not been followed, something that Indian interlocutors can draw Moscow’s attention to.
About UN Human Rights Council
- The UNHRC is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system, which is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.
- It addresses and makes recommendations on situations of human rights violations, and can discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations.
- The UNHRC replaced the former UN Commission on Human Rights.
- It was created by the UNGA on March 15, 2006, and the body met in its first session from June 19-30, 2006.
Working of the Council
In 2007, the Council adopted an “institution-building package” to set up its procedures and mechanisms. Among these were:
- Mechanism of Universal Periodic Review to assess the human rights situations in all UN Member States.
- It has Advisory Committee that serves as the Council’s think tank providing it with expertise and advice on thematic human rights issues.
- Its Complaint Procedure, allows individuals and organisations to bring human rights violations to the Council’s attention.
- The Council also works with the UN Special Procedures established by the former Commission on Human Rights, consisting of special rapporteurs, special representatives, independent experts etc.
Membership of the Council
- The Council, which meets at the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland, is made up of 47 UN Member States who are elected by majority vote through a direct and secret ballot at the UNGA.
- The membership of the Council is based on equitable geographical distribution.
- African and Asia-Pacific states have 13 seats each, Latin American and Caribbean states have 8 seats, Western European and other states 7 seats, and Eastern European states 6 seats.
- The members serve for three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
Leadership of the Council
- The Council has a five-person Bureau, consisting of a president and four vice-presidents, each representing one of the five regional groups.
- They serve for a year each, in accordance with the Council’s annual cycle.
- The Human Rights Council President of the 16th Cycle (2022) is Federico Villegas, who is the Permanent Representative of Argentina to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva.
- He was elected president of the Human Rights Council for 2022 in December 2021.
Meetings of the Council
- The Human Rights Council holds no fewer than three regular sessions a year, for a total of at least 10 weeks.
- These sessions take place in March (4 weeks), June (3 weeks) and September (3 weeks).
- The Council met in its latest (49th) regular session from February 28 to April 1, 2022
- If a third of the Member states requests, the Council can decide at any time to hold a special session to address human rights violations and emergencies.
- Under the presidency of Nazhat S Khan of Fiji, the Council held a record five special sessions in 2021 — on Myanmar, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Global edible oil crunch
Mains level: Read the attached story
The world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, Indonesia, is facing domestic shortages, leading to price controls and export curbs.
What is the news?
- It’s rare for any country that is the largest producer and exporter of a product to experience domestic shortages of the same product.
- Consumers are unable to access or paying through the nose for a commodity in which their country is the preeminent producer and exporter.
What is Oil Palm?
- Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp of the fruit of the oil palms.
- The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel.
Palm oil production in Indonesia
- Its palm oil production for 2021-22 (October-September) at 45.5 million tonnes (mt).
- That’s almost 60% of the total global output and way ahead of the next bigger producer: Malaysia (18.7 mt).
- It is also the world’s No. 1 exporter of the commodity, at 29 mt, followed by Malaysia (16.22 mt).
Do you know?
14,000 IDR is less than $1 or Rs 74! See the extent of depreciation one currency can undergo!
Have you ever heard of the Zimbabwean hyperinflation of 2009? One literally had to pay a heap of cash to buy a piece of bread!
Why in headlines?
- Indonesia has seen domestic prices of branded cooking oil spiral, from around 14,000 Indonesian rupiah (IDR) to 22,000 IDR per litre between March 2021 and March 2022.
- Much recently, the government imposed a ceiling on retail prices at 14,000 IDR.
- This led to the product disappearing from supermarket shelves, amid reports of hoarding and consumers standing in long queues for hours to get a pack or two.
India’s imports of palm oil (in lakh tonnes)
Plausible factors
(1) Ongoing War
- The possible reason has to do supply disruptions — manmade and natural — in other cooking oils, especially sunflower and soyabean.
- Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly 80% of the global trade in sunflower oil, quite comparable to the 90% share of Indonesia and Malaysia in palm.
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in port closures and exporters avoiding Black Sea shipping routes.
- Sanctions against Russia have further curtailed trade in sunflower oil, the world’s third most exported vegetable oil after palm and soybean.
(2) Diversion for Bio-Fuels
- Another factor is linked to petroleum, more specifically the use of palm oil as a bio-fuel.
- The Indonesian government has, since 2020, made 30% blending of diesel with palm oil mandatory as part of a plan to slash fossil fuel imports.
- Palm oil getting increasingly diverted for bio-diesel is leaving less quantity available, both for the domestic cooking oil and export market.
Impact on India
- India is the world’s biggest vegetable oils importer.
- Out of its annual imports of 14-15 mt, the lion’s share is of palm oil (8-9 mt), followed by soyabean (3-3.5 mt) and sunflower (2.5).
- Indonesia has been India’s top supplier of palm oil, though it was overtaken by Malaysia in 2021-22 (see above table).
- The restrictions on exports, even in the form of levy, take into cognizance Indonesia’s higher population (27.5 crores, against Malaysia’s 3.25 crore) as well as its ambitious biofuel program.
- To that extent, the world – more so, the bigger importer India – will have to get used to lower supplies from Indonesia.
Answer this PYQ from CSP 2019:
Q.Among the agricultural commodities imported by India, which one of the following accounts for the highest imports in terms of value in the last five years?
(a) Spices
(b) Fresh fruits
(c) Pulses
(d) Vegetable oils
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian Tent Turtles
Mains level: Not Much
Indian tent turtle is now listed in Schedule –I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and is thereby provided the highest degree of protection.
Why in news?
- The Indian tent turtle is threatened due to illegal mining in Narmada River.
- This turtle has also been widely traded as a pet at aquariums.
Indian Tent Turtles
IUCN status: Least Concerned
- The Indian tent turtle (Pangshura tentoria) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae. The species is endemic to India and Bangladesh.
- Its preferred habitats are freshwater rivers and swamps.
- The species is native to India, Nepal and Bangladesh, with three subspecies recorded from the region viz., P. t. tentoria, P. t. circumdata and P. t. flaviventer.
- t. tentoria occurs in peninsular India and is recorded from Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
- t. circumdata occurs in the western tributaries of Ganga and the rivers of Gujarat. It is found in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
- t. flaviventer occurs in the northern tributaries of Ganga and is recorded from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.
Back2Basics: Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
- WPA provides for the protection of the country’s wild animals, birds and plant species, in order to ensure environmental and ecological security.
- It provides for the protection of a listed species of animals, birds and plants, and also for the establishment of a network of ecologically-important protected areas in the country.
- It provides for various types of protected areas such as Wildlife Sanctuaries, National Parks etc.
There are six schedules provided in the WPA for protection of wildlife species which can be concisely summarized as under:
| Schedule I: |
These species need rigorous protection and therefore, the harshest penalties for violation of the law are for species under this Schedule. |
| Schedule II: |
Animals under this list are accorded high protection. They cannot be hunted except under threat to human life. |
| Schedule III & IV: |
This list is for species that are not endangered. This includes protected species but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules. |
| Schedule V: |
This schedule contains animals which can be hunted. |
| Schedule VI: |
This list contains plants that are forbidden from cultivation. |
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