Women Reservation Bill 2023 & delimitation (GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
Why in news?
- Recently, the government introduced the women’s reservation bill renamed ‘Nari Shakti Vandan’ in the ongoing special session in the new Parliament.
- The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, proposes reserving one-third of the total number of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and the legislative assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Key Highlights:
- Within the proposed 33 percent reservation, one-third of the seats will be reserved for women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. However, there is no sub-quota for Other Backward Class (OBC) women.
- According to the bill, the reservation will be for a period of 15 years from the commencement of the act. The seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise.
- There will be no reservation in the Rajya Sabha or the state legislative councils.
- Currently, 14.36 percent of the total MPs in Lok Sabha are women while in legislative assemblies, it varies from state to state.
Article 334A:
- The bill inserts Article 334A, a new provision that says the reservation will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is undertaken for this purpose, which in turn can take place only after the census.
- This means that till the time the redrawing of constituencies happens, the new law won’t be implemented. And although the census was supposed to be conducted in 2021, it was put off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background:
- It was first brought in the Lok Sabha by the H.D. Deve Gowda-led United Front government in 1996 but lapsed after the House was dissolved.
- It was introduced again in 1998 and 1999 but stalled both times. In 2010, the then United Progressive Alliance government got the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha again amidst huge backlash from across the political spectrum, but it lapsed before being tabled in the Lok Sabha.
What is delimitation?
- Delimitation “literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body”.
- Delimitation is a constitutional exercise and is conducted as per the procedure prescribed in Article 82 of the Constitution.
- This article finds a mention in Chapter 2 of the Constitution that outlines the constitution and composition of Parliament, qualification of its membership and its session, among other things.
- Article 82 talks about readjustment of Lok Sabha and state assembly seats after each census. For this, the Parliament has to frame a law that would authorise a Delimitation Commission to take up the exercise of redrawing the territorial constituencies.
- Promulgation of such a law is as per the requirement under Article 327 which says Parliament may from time to time, by law, make provision with respect to all matters in connection with the elections, including delimitation of constituencies. Article 329 bars a challenge to the validity of such a law before any court.
How is delimitation done?
- Once Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act, the Centre constitutes a Delimitation Commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge. The orders of this high-powered body are legally binding and not subject to scrutiny of any court of law.
- Even Parliament cannot suggest modifications to an order issued by the commission, which also constitutes the Chief Election Commissioner or any of the two Election Commissioners. In case the exercise is specifically for a state, the election commissioner of that state is also a member of the commission.
- Since the commission is a temporary body, without any permanent staff, it takes the assistance of EC employees to carry out the long-drawn exercise. Census data for each district, tehsil and gram panchayat is collected, and the new boundaries are demarcated.
- The exercise can take up to five years, which concludes after the commission examines population data, existing constituencies, the number of seats to be analysed, as well as holds meetings with all the stakeholders and submits its recommendation to the government.
- The commission’s draft report is published in the Gazette of India for seeking feedback from the general public. The feedback is studied and required changes are made in the final report.
- The commission’s recommendation comes into force on a date specified by the President. The copies of its orders are laid before the Lok Sabha and the legislative assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible.
Delimitation in the past:
- The Delimitation Commissions were set up in 1952, 1963, 1972 and 2002. However, the number of Lok Sabha constituencies were not revised since 1972, which was based on the 1971 Census. At present, there are 543 Lok Sabha seats.
- Though a Delimitation Commission was set up in 2002 under Justice (retired) Kuldip Singh, after the 2001 Census, its recommendations remained on paper due to the 84th constitutional amendment that froze delimitation exercise or readjustment of Parliamentary constituencies till 2026.
- The exercise was kept on hold for 25 years so as to allow states to check their population. The tenure of this commission was extended twice, and it gave its report in December 2007.
Next delimitation exercise:
- The decennial census exercise that was to be conducted in 2021 was postponed indefinitely due to the Covid pandemic. In June, the Registrar General of India issued an order, saying the census was extended and would be frozen with effect from 1 January, 2024.
- The next census is expected to be the first digital census, giving the citizens an opportunity to self-enumerate.
Sikkim banks on green hydrogen for future urbanisation
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Why in news?
- Sikkim is jointly exploring the feasibility of developing a hydrogen smart city in the state, with the Korea Research Institute of Human Settlement (KRIHS) and the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC).
- As the state rapidly urbanises, the government is trying to develop the Greater Gangtok area as a pilot green hydrogen smart city.
Why it matters for Sikkim?
- Though less affected than other Himalayan states such as Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, home to the mighty Kanchenjunga, is also facing the adverse effects of climate change.
- This includes retreating glaciers, changing precipitation patterns, increased temperature, shifts in the habitats of plants and animals, water scarcity, impact on agriculture, increased soil erosion and landslides, bio-diversity loss, health impact and effects on the tourism sector of the state.
- By experimenting with green hydrogen cities, it is preparing a blueprint for its own new urban agglomerations. This could serve other hill cities as well in the future.
- To protect tourism, Sikkim is banking on its strengths – hydel power to prepare green hydrogen. This makes it self-reliant.
Why South Korean?
- South Korea has perfected many technologies to produce hydrogen in the country and also created very visible proofs of concept in municipal uses, but it lacks either wind, solar or hydel power enough to keep its hydrogen production green.
- India, with an abundance of all three renewable energy sources, is a perfect partner to scale up the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives. Sikkim’s proactive stance makes it one of the early beneficiaries of Korean expertise and funds.
G20 Declaration:
- At the Green Hydrogen Cities conference, Sikkim was working in the spirit of the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration, for implementing clean, sustainable, just, affordable and inclusive energy transitions.
- The G20 committed to supporting the acceleration of production, utilisation and development of transparent and resilient global markets for hydrogen produced from zero and low-emission technologies and its derivatives such as ammonia.
- The G20 high-level voluntary principles on hydrogen aimed at developing voluntary and mutually agreed harmonising standards and mutually recognised and inter-operable certification schemes to build a sustainable and equitable global hydrogen ecosystem that benefits all nations.
- India has taken the initiative to establish the Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre steered by the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Similarly, Sikkim has taken the lead on hill states in India.
Way Forward:
- Sikkim has plugged in early to benefit from these global alliances. It estimates that in Amrit Kaal by 2047, at least 50 percent of the population will be staying in urban centres.
- By planning for green industries to provide jobs in these centres, Sikkim is estimating the employment potential of each growing urban centre and imparting relevant skills training for these future citizens.
- Unless that is done, it will be impossible to estimate the resources required to be invested there and the requirements of water, power, housing and other basic amenities in a sustainable manner.
Centre floats new science awards
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- The Union government is set to institute the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar — 56 prizes to felicitate scientists, technologists and innovators.
- Akin to the prestigious Padma awards, these awards will not include any cash component; instead, they will likely bestow a certificate and a medallion on the awardee.
Details:
- The RVP will comprise three Vigyan Ratna, 25 Vigyan Shri, 25 Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and three Vigyan Team awards.
- These prizes will be awarded annually for physics, chemistry, biological sciences, mathematics and computer science, earth science, medicine, engineering science, agricultural science, environmental science, technology and innovation, atomic energy, space science and technology, and a 13th category, simply called “others”.
- The 56 proposed awards are a stark reduction from the almost 300 science prizes that used to be given by Union Ministries.
Vigyan Ratna:
- The new awards will also be open to persons of Indian origin (PIOs), though a maximum of one such may be awarded the Vigyan Ratna, while three PIOs each can be selected for the Vigyan Shri and the VY-SSB. However, PIOs will not be eligible for the Vigyan Team awards.
- The Vigyan Ratna awards shall be for “lifetime contributions along with excellence made in any field of science”, the Vigyan Shri for “distinguished contribution to any field”, and the SSB for “exceptional contribution by young scientists”.
- The team awards shall be for three or more researchers who have made an “exceptional contribution as a team”.
- There are no age limits for any prizes except the SSB, for which recipients must be 45 years or younger.
Starting in 2024:
- The awards will be announced annually on May 11, which is National Technology Day, and will be awarded on National Space Day, August 23.
- These are the days on which India successfully conducted its second nuclear test in 1998, and then catapulted the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander on the moon.
- The RVP awards, which will commence from 2024, will be given by the President or the Vice President, according to the proposal.
Selection Committee:
- A committee will be constituted every year, comprising the Secretaries of six Science Ministries, up to four presidents of science and engineering academies, and six distinguished scientists and technologists from various fields.
- The CSIR will coordinate the administration of the awards process for two years, after which it will be taken over by the proposed National Research Foundation.
Other science awards in India:
- The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) awards, given by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) since 1958, now includes ₹5 lakh per winner, as well as a salary perk.
- In fact, the government announced the names of 12 winners of the SSB awards recently, after a year’s delay.
- The National Technology Awards, given to teams by the Technology Development Board (a DST entity), also include cash prizes worth ₹25 lakh.
