News: 19 rebel Congress MLAs have moved High Court against the speaker’s notice to file their explanation on the party seeking their disqualification.
What is the issue?
Recently one of the prominent figures of the ruling Congress party in Rajasthan Sachin Pilot along with few MLAs has rebelled against his political party due to some differences.
It followed by speculations of joining of opposition BJP party by them. As per the reports, rebel MLAs have not yet returned to Rajasthan.
Against the act of rebel MLAs, Congress chief whip Mahesh Joshi had cited paragraph 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution in his complaint demanding disqualification of the rebel MLAs.
If the rebel MLAs are disqualified, the majority mark in the 200member Assembly will decline, making it easier for Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to win a floor test.
Against that complaint, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi has sought an explanation from the rebel MLAs on the party seeking their disqualification.
Whereas, rebel MLAs are of the view that the anti-defection law could not be invoked against them for disagreeing with decisions and policies of some Congress leaders outside the assembly.
Now rebel Congress legislators have moved the plea to challenge the validity of the notices under Article 191 of the Constitution read with Rajasthan Assembly Member (Disqualification on the grounds of changing party) Rules, 1989.
About Anti-defection law
Acts of defection by the member of legislatures are dealt with under the 10th of the constitution. The 10th Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985 through the 52nd Amendment.
It lays down the grounds of defection and process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature.
The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.
Grounds of disqualification under the anti-defection law
Paragraph 2 of the Tenth Schedule provides the circumstances when a member would incur disqualification from the House. it provides two cases wherein the disqualification would apply.
If a member of a house belonging to a political party:
In case of an Independent Member of the house, anti-defection may apply, if she/he joins a political party after the election
In the case of a nominated member of the house, anti-defection may apply, if she/he joins a party six months after becoming a member of the legislature.
Relevant cases
In Ravi Naik v Union of India case, the Supreme Court held that the words ‘voluntarily given up his membership’ have wider connotations and are not synonymous with ‘resignation’.
“Even in the absence of a formal resignation from membership, an inference can be drawn from the conduct of a member that he has voluntarily given up his membership of the political party to which he belongs”
In some of the other judgments, members were deemed to have resigned for publicly expressing opposition to their party or support for another party.
In the Kihoto Hollohan v Zachillhu case, SC upheld the validity of the clause providing that the member would incur a disqualification if he votes/abstains from voting against the party directions.
SC in this case also held that the above clause does not violate the freedom of speech, freedom of vote, and conscience as contended. The provisions of Paragraph 2 do not violate any rights or freedom under Articles 105 and 195 of the Constitution.
Authority of disqualification under law
Any question of disqualification would be decided by the Speaker or the Chairman of the House and his decision in this regard would be final.
The case of defection can only be taken up by Presiding officer when he receives a complaint from a member of the House
Member (against whom the complaint has been made) must be given a chance to submit his explanation, before taking the final decision
Officer can also refer the matter to the committee of privileges for inquiry
Exceptions
Legislators may change their political party without any risk of facing disqualification in case of a merger with another party when at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of that merger.
New Details:
As per the report of Office of the Registrar General’s Sample Registration System (SRS), MMR has declined to 113 in 2016-18 from 122 in 2015-17 and 130 in 2014-16.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target 3.1 aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 1,00,000 live birth.
The southern states have registered a lower MMR — Andhra Pradesh (65), Telangana (63), Karnataka (92), Kerala (43), and Tamil Nadu (60).
Other states have mixed performance in MMR -Assam (215), Uttar Pradesh (197), Madhya Pradesh (173), Rajasthan (164), Chhattisgarh (159), Odisha (150), Bihar (149), and Uttarakhand (99).
| Year | MMR |
| 2016-18 | 113 |
| 2015-17 | 122 |
| 2014-16 | 130 |
MMR is one of the key indicators of maternal mortality. It is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births.
As per the World Health Organization, if a woman dies during pregnancy or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, will be known as maternal death.
Janani Suraksha Yojana
It’s a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme launched under the National Health Mission (NHM).
Objective: reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women especially with weak socio-economic status i.e. women from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and BPL households.
Cash assistance: After removal of the exclusion criterion, cash assistance will be provided to the eligible pregnant women irrespective of the age of mother and number of children for giving birth in a government or accredited private health facility.
Assistance for delivery at home: BPL pregnant women, who prefer to deliver at home, are entitled to cash assistance of Rs 500 per delivery regardless of the age of women and the number of children.
Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK)
Launched by: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Objective: Promoting institutional deliveries by the elimination of out of pocket expenditure for pregnant women and sick infants.
The program entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery, including C-sections.
The program also provides for free drugs, diagnostics, blood, and diet, besides free transport from home to an institution.
It provides for free Diet during the stay in the health institutions (up to 3 days for normal delivery and 7 days for cesarean section).
Entitlements for Sick infants under JSSK till one year after birth:
News: India on Thursday accused Pakistan of not allowing free and unimpeded consular access to death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav.
News details
According to the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, the arrangement made for access did not permit a free conversation between the Indian officials and Jadhav.
Moreover, Indian officials were prevented from obtaining the written consent of Jadhav for arranging his legal representation. Despite the protests of the Indian side, Pakistani officials were present in close proximity to Jadhav and consular officers.
The consent is necessary for filing a review plea against the death sentence.
In 2019, The Hague-based International Court of Justice ruled that Pakistan must grant consular access to India with Jadhav without further delay and undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav.
A brief on the case of Kulbhusan Jadhav
As per Pakistan, Kulbhusan Jadhav was arrested in Baluchistan, whereas India has maintained that he was a prematurely retired Indian Navy officer kidnapped from Iran, where he was running a business in the port city of Chabahar.
Pakistani military court sentenced him to death on the charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
India challenged this order in the International Court of Justice on May 18, 2017.
on July 17, 2019, although ICJ rejected India’s appeal for Jadhav’s release, it ruled that Pakistan will have to review the entire process of trial and conviction of Jadhav and provide India with consular access.
1st consular access was provided to India by Pakistan on September 2, 2019.
International Court of Justice
a. legal disputes between States submitted to it by them
b. Matters referred to it for advisory opinions on legal questions by UN organs and specialised agencies.
News: Supreme Court agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the Kerala Animals and Bird Sacrifice.
News details
Kerala Animals and Birds Sacrifices act of 1968 prohibits the sacrifice of animals and birds in temples to ‘please’ the deity.
Arguments in the appeal
An appeal against the act has been filed by P.E. Gopalakrishnan and some others, who are Shakthi worshippers. For Shakti worshippers, animal sacrifice is an integral part of the worship.
As per the arguments, animal sacrifice was an “essential religious practice” and the High Court had no power to interfere.
The Act criminalizes the intent behind the animal sacrifice and not animal sacrifice per se. If the sacrifice is not for appeasing any deity but for personal consumption even in the precincts of the temple, it is not forbidden. This arbitrary classification is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution
The state law — Kerala Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1968 — was also repugnant to the central law on the issue Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which permits animal sacrifice under customs of various religions.
Statements of CJI
CJI highlighted the “dichotomy” in animal protection law that prohibits the killing of animals for offering to a deity and then consumption but allows the killing of animals for food. “
CJI said how the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960 allows the killing of animals but prohibits cruelty to animals.
Doctrine of “essentiality”/essential religious practice
In the seven-judge Bench ‘Shirur Mutt’ case in 1954, The doctrine of “essentiality” was invented by SC. In this case, SC held that the term ‘religion’ will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion and took the responsibility upon itself to determine the non-essential and essential practices.
e.g. In ‘Dr. M Ismail Faruqui and Ors vs Union Of India and Ors’ Constitution Bench had ruled in 1994 that “A mosque is not an essential part of the practice of the religion of Islam and namaz (prayer) by Muslims can be offered anywhere, even in open.”
Any religious practice that is ‘essential’ to a religion or forms the basis of a religion, will fall within the protection of Article 25 and 26 and will be protected.
News: Election Commission stated the postal ballot facility for electors above the age of 65 in the Bihar Assembly elections would not be implemented.
Background and news details
Postal ballots would be available to electors over 80 years of age, essential service workers, persons with disabilities, and those infected with COVID-19 or suspected to be.
About Election Commission
It is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India. It was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950, as per Article 324 of Indian constitution. EC administers elections to the:
Membership
State level staff
News: Assam’s Health Ministry has announced Plasma donors in Assam may get preference in jobs and government schemes.
News details
Following are the other facilities announced by Assam government for plasma donors:
Announcements are based on the following observation in India and the U.S., underscored by Assam government:
About Plasma therapy
About 55% of our blood is plasma, and the remaining 45% are red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets that are suspended in the plasma. Plasma is the pale yellowish liquid part of the blood that contains about 92% water plus 7% vital proteins. Plasma is a blood component that contains virus-fighting antibodies.
During the recovery process, COVID-19 patients develop antibodies in the blood against the virus. Antibodies are molecules that learn to recognise and fight the antigens (Virus and bacteria).
Once antibodies done fighting with a certain kind of foreign element, some blood cells act as a memory cell and store information. When they come in contact with the same kind of pathogens again, they identify and defect it quickly by producing the same antibodies.
These antibodies can be transferred along with the plasma to the infected patient, which help her/his body in fight against the disease.
Plasma donation
Plasma donation is bit different to blood donation, where whole blood is collected in a bag. In Plasma donation, blood of the donor goes through a special machine separating plasma from the rest of the part of the blood.
Machine store plasma and the rest of the components including donor’s red blood cells and platelets are then returned to the body along with some saline.
News: MEA has clarified on the reports that India has been dropped out of Chabahar Zahedan railway project.
Background
Recently a news report was published in the media that Iran has dropped India from the rail line project from Chabahar port to Zahedan — Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement.
Reason was cited for the same as delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project. Iran is said to be using $400 million from the Iranian National Development Fund for the project.
It was a part of trilateral agreement signed between India, Iran and Afghanistan in 2016 for developing a transport and trade passageway between the three countries via the Chabahar Port.
The agreement was to construct the 628 km rail line along the Iran-Afghanistan border. Route was hailed an alternate trade route for India to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Clarification from the MEA officials
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson has clarified that India is waiting for the Iranian side to nominate an authorised entity since 2016, to finalise the outstanding technical and financial issues related to the project.
Moreover, India had not received any response from Iran since December 2019 on the future of the Chabahar Zahedan railway project.
Since 2016, there has been significant progress on the Chabahar port project.
In another development, MEA also confirmed that India is no longer involved in the FarzadB gas field project where ONGC had originally signed an agreement for exploration in 2002, investing approximately $100 million thus far.
As per MEA, reason behind such moves by Iran is changes in their policies. In January, Iran had informed India, that Iran would develop the field on its own and would involve India appropriately at a later stage.
Significance of the railway project: India’s overland route to Afghanistan has been obstructed by Pakistan and Railway project would have provided it with a route close to border of Afghanistan.
Concerns for India: In the backdrop of recent conflict with China, it is possible that the recent funding by China in Iran is the reason behind this move of Iran.
Notably, Iran and China are working on a long-term economic and military partnership. Iran and China are close to finalising a 25-year Strategic Partnership, which involve package worth $400-billion for Iran over next 25 years and Chinese assistance to Iran in Chabahar’s duty free zone, an oil refinery nearby.
Importance of Chahbahar project
Chabahar is located in south-eastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman just 72 kilometres west of Gwadar being developed jointly by Pakistan and China.
It is the only route for India to access to central Asia, which is otherwise blocked by Pakistan. Although International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) has partly solved this problem, but Chabahar port is an added advantage due to infrastructural assistance it is providing to India.
As Afghanistan is not part of INSTC, Chabahar port is undeniably important trade route between India and Afghanistan.
The Chabahar port reduces transport costs/time for Indian goods.
Port is located at a strategically important point at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of the oil consumed worldwide each day passes trough the strait.
