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Five years after the Supreme Court's five-judge Bench under Chief Justice J.S. Khehar invalidated instant triple talaq in August 2017, the women petitioners continue to live a life of half-divorcees.
Technically still married, practically divorced, they enjoy no conjugal rights nor receive any regular maintenance from the estranged husbands. Practically abandoned, the women cannot remarry in the absence of a legally valid divorce.
After the verdict, none of the men were visited by law enforcement bodies and told to take back their wives. Further, no arrests could be made for giving instant triple talaq as the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 came into force long after pronouncement of instant talaq.
A cloud of confusion hangs in the air as the women are uncertain of their eligibility for a fresh marriage. The apex court, it may be recalled, invalidated instant triple talaq in the ShayaraBano versus the Union of India case while refraining from commenting on the state of their marriages directly.
The women had gone to court seeking redress as the victims of instant triple talaq. However, after the court had set aside Talaq-e-Biddat or instant triple talaq, the husbands of the petitioners failed to accept them back in marriage.
Many of the men, meanwhile, have gone on to get married again, and sired children. Even as they toil through life, none of the women have opted to exercise khula, a woman’s inalienable right to divorce, either.
Says ShayaraBano whose petition against instant talaq by husband Rizwan Ahmed snowballed into the landmark verdict, "My husband established no contact to restore marriage after the judgment. Legally, I am still married to him.”
She has not sought to end marriage through khula either. “I am fighting for the custody of my children. My son is 18, daughter 15. I only get to see them in court.
I want to speak to them at least on phone but it is not possible. For two years due to the pandemic, there were only online hearings. So I have not seen them since then.
My husband though has remarried.” After the historic verdict, Ms. Banowas made the Vice-President of the Uttarkhand Women’s Commission, a position she continues to hold. At one time, she had to even leave her parental place in Kashipur due to social outrage over her decision.
Colombo clears arrival of Chinese vessel (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Sri Lanka cleared the arrival of Chinese space and satellite-tracking vessel Yuan Wang 5 on August 16 at the southern Hambantota port, a day after New Delhi reiterated its security concerns over the vessel’s visit earlier scheduled on August 11.
Even as Colombo was put on a delicate diplomatic spot, dealing with two of its close partners with competing geostrategic interests in the island, Sri Lanka’s fresh approval, announced by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement, effectively points to a five-day postponement of the arrival of the Chinese ship, and a week’s stop as was earlier planned.
The Ministry said it held “extensive consultations” at a high level through diplomatic channels with “all parties” concerned, with a view to resolving the matter in a spirit of “friendship, mutual trust and constructive dialogue, taking into account the interests of all parties concerned”.
While it said the developments were “in light of certain concerns raised with the Ministry”, it stopped short of naming India in its statement.
Having considered all material in place, on 13 August 2022 the clearance to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China was conveyed for the deferred arrival of the vessel from 16-22 August 2022, confirming the development, and the duration of the vessel to be berthed at the southern Hambantota Port.
Further, the Ministry stated that when it had cleared the scheduled visit earlier in July, it was based on the Defence Ministry’s conditions that the visiting Chinese vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) be kept switched on within the EEZ of Sri Lanka and that no scientific research be conducted in Sri Lankan waters.
The development comes after New Delhi raised the matter with President RanilWickremesinghe, and made public remarks twice at the Ministry of External Affairs’s weekly briefing on July 28, and more recently, on Friday. India “carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests”, MEA spokesperson ArindamBagchi earlier, “rejected insinuations” that Sri Lanka was “pressured”. New Delhi's remarks came days after China asked India to “not disturb normal exchanges” between Sri Lanka and China, and termed India’s security concerns over the vessel visit “senseless”.
News
Positive impetus to ties: Chinese envoy (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India and China are seeing a “positive impetus” to ties, given two meetings between the Foreign Ministers in the past few months and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in June.
Mr. Sun noted that China expects to welcome back Indian students to resume their studies in the country in the “near future”.
He did not, however, state whether Mr. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet in the next few months, when they are both expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand in September and the G-20 summit in Bali in November.
In his first press conference since the military stand-off at the LAC began after Chinese troops amassed there in April 2020, Mr. Sun defended China’s actions at the Line of Actual Control, as well as the decision to place on hold UN Security Council terror listings for Pakistan-based terrorists, that India had proposed.
Mr. Sun said that the situation at the LAC at present is “overall stable”, and efforts are on to resolve the issue, comments that were at some variance to those of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Mr. Jaishankar has said that bilateral relations are “far from normal” due to the tensions at the boundary, and that several rounds of talks had not yielded any resolution.
Since 2020 we have kept diplomatic and military channels open and kept a series of meetings of corps commanders that have resulted in disengagement in some parts. Currently the border is overall stable, and the 16th round of talks (on July 17) ended with a joint statement issued where both sides agreed to continue the talks.
Mr. Jaishankar had said that the India-China relationship “cannot be normal as the border situation is not normal,” adding that LAC tensions could lead to a “dangerous situation”, and more talks were needed.
In response to a question from The Hindu on terrorism, Mr. Sun insisted there was no contradiction between Beijing’s pronouncements at the BRICS summit and at the UN on countering terror, and its actions on blocking a series of terrorist designations requested by India at the Security Council, including the proposals on LeT deputy chief AbdurMakki and JeM deputy chief Rauf Asghar.
India, Italy negotiatelegal assistance treaty(Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India and Italy are finetuning a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) that would help the two countries obtain formal assistance in investigation related to criminal cases.
Though the two countries have held two rounds of negotiation, the final agreement is said to be stuck amid concerns that maximum punishment for heinous crimes in India is “death penalty,” while capital punishment has been abolished in Italy.Earlier, Germany had also refused to sign MLAT with India on death penalty grounds.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, “Mutual Legal Assistance is a mechanism whereby countries cooperate with one another in order to provide and obtain formal assistance in prevention, suppression, investigation and prosecution of crime to ensure that the criminals do not escape or sabotage the due process of law for want of evidence available in different countries.
While India has so far signed MLAT with 45 countries, India and Italy do not have a bilateral agreement on criminal matters so far.
In 2021, the Supreme Court formally closed criminal proceedings against two Italian marines who shot dead two fishermen off Kerala coast in 2012 under the belief that they were pirates.
When the case was under trial, Italy refused to return two of its marines who had returned to cast vote in elections in 2013. The Marines returned only after an assurance was given by India that they will not be subjected to death penalty.
The investigating agencies probing the 2013 Agusta Westland chopper scam had to face multiple hurdles when Italy refused to extradite Carlo Gerosa, one of the three middlemen wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
It had contended in 2018 that the extradition could not take place as the two countries did not have an MLAT or a formal extradition agreement. The extradition pact in place now is only limited to narcotics related crimes.
The formalisation of MLAT with Italy is also likely to help the investigating agencies in securing assistance in investigation against Sikh secessionist network operating from the country.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in chargesheets filed in courts in 2018 and 2019 said that the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), a banned outfit, had planned and executed eight incidents of targeted killings and attempted killings in Punjab between January, 2016 and October, 2017 and all the victims belonged to specific communities and organisations.
NIA found that the crime had its footprints in several countries, including Italy. KLF chief Harmeet Singh alias PhD was killed in Pakistan in 2020.
Science and Tech
Walking a tightrope in messaging transmission routes (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Researchers at the National Institute of Virology, Pune, had recently posted the case report of the first two imported monkeypox cases that were detected in Kerala.
But the people who tested positive for monkeypox virus had returned from the United Arab Emirates just days before they were detected with monkeypox infection.
In a preprint (which is yet to be peer-reviewed), the researchers have detailed the clinical presentation of the infection in these people, and based on genome sequencing data have designated them as belonging to the A.2 clade.
The likely mode for transmission of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in both cases has not been mentioned in the preprint. In the first case — a 35-year-old male — the researchers say multiple vesicular rashes were seen in the “oral cavity and lips followed by a single lesion on the genital organ”.
The person had revealed similar lesions in people whom he had come in contact with a week before the onset of symptoms but denied any sexual contact.
In the second case, genital swelling was seen on July 8, 2022, and two days later, multiple vesicular rashes developed on the genital organ and on both hands; lesions were seen in a few other parts of the body couple of days later.
This person, too, had denied any sexual or physical contact with anyone with suspected or confirmed monkeypox infection.
As per the global update by WHO, as of August 10, 98.7% of 18,940 people with confirmed infection were men. Among cases with known data on sexual orientation, 97.2% (8,224 of 8,462) identified as men who have sex with men (MSM).
Of the 5,473 cases where the route of transmission was reported, 91.5% was through a sexual encounter. This would mean that in about 8.5% of cases the route of transmission was not sexual.
While the first two people in India who tested positive for the monkeypox virus had developed initial symptoms (rashes/lesions), including in the genital area, even before travelling from the United Arab Emirates to Kerala, both had denied sexual contact with anyone with confirmed or suspected infection.
While other routes of transmission cannot be ruled out in both cases, it is pertinent to note that lesions were first seen in the genital and/or oral areas.The reasons for denying the sexual route of transmission could be due to fear of stigma and discrimination.
How lactose tolerance in humans became widespread (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Milk has often been branded as a superfood as it is rich in most of the nutrients necessary for health. However, how milk came to be an integral part of the human diet has been a conundrum to scientists because most of the world can’t digest the product.
Studies on the global prevalence of this mutation suggest that 65% of humanity is lactose-intolerant, meaning they lack the gene to break down lactose into adulthood.
Beyond the age of five, lactose, a sugar present in milk, cannot be naturally broken down in the stomach and this remains in the gut causing flatulence, acidity and diarrhoea.
India is among the largest producers of milk and, by country, the largest consumer and it stands to reason most Indians possess it. However, multiple studies have shown that only around 18-25% have it.
Milk drinking, the story goes, hasn’t been very popular in the roughly 3,00,000-year history of humanity. But in the last 5,000 years, a genetic mutation enabled European pastoralists to produce lactase — an enzyme that breaks down lactose into a digestible form — well into adulthood, a trait called lactose persistence.
Moreover, the genetic variant present in Indians is almost identical to that found in Europeans, meaning that it likely spread into India from migrant European populations.
Thus, the standard story goes that something amplified the popularity of the genetic variant in Europeans and consequently in pockets of other continents.
Because evolution favours traits that confer benefits and eliminates those that don’t, scientists have long sought to explain why the mutated lactose gene became popular.
Was it because European pastoralists, who herded cows, continued to drink milk despite the obvious discomfort because it was otherwise a viable source of nutrition?
A recent study in the journal Nature reports a multi-pronged analysis that suggests drinking milk was actually harmful in those who lacked the gene-variant but only in periods of famine and adverse environmental conditions. Thus, the gene flourished because it likely killed the Europeans who lacked it.
Professor Richard Evershed, the study’s lead author from the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry, assembled a unique database of nearly 7,000 organic animal-fat residues from 13,181 fragments of pottery from 554 archaeological sites to find out where and when people were consuming milk.
His findings showed milk was used extensively in European prehistory, dating from the earliest farming nearly 9,000 years ago, but increased and decreased in different regions at different times.
HIV drugs shortage is a challenge to ending AIDS in India(Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
In June, PLHIV (People Living with HIV) networks across the country started witnessing an acute shortage of certain Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centres. Among them were pediatric formulations and dolutegravir, the backbone of HIV treatment.
In the summer heat, PLHIV have been protesting peacefully for the past 23 days continuously on the premises of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).
The dharna is calling attention to the need for emergency procurement of ARVs and the unintended consequences of a weak and ineffective supply chain.
People living with HIV need access to treatment with a combination of drugs known as antiretroviral therapy to suppress the virus, preserve their health, and prevent transmission of the virus to an HIV-negative partner. Staying on anti-retroviral therapy continuously is crucial to keep the virus suppressed.
But the virus can mutate into a resistant form if treatment delivery is poor or patchy. As treatment activists, we have seen firsthand when antiretroviral therapy treatment is interrupted, people living with HIV develop resistance to their regimen and become vulnerable to life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections — the primary causes of hospitalisation and AIDS-related deaths in the community.
Governments such as the Indian government have made considerable advances in providing access to testing and antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV.
While there has been a reduction in AIDS-related deaths since 2004, progress has stalled in recent years, highlighting the need to address health system challenges such as disruptions in the medicine supply chain to end AIDS.
The disruptions in the life-saving HIV medicine supply chain are not new. What drives these widespread reoccurring shortages in the last decade affecting many States is the failure of the pooled procurement mechanism.
The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the nodal agency responsible for overlooking and coordinating activities of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) along with the Central Medical Services Society, which is responsible for centralised tendering and pooled procurement of different HIV products, including Antiretroviral drugs.
The tender for pooled procurement of life-saving antiretroviral medicines has faced bureaucratic delays in 2014, 2017, and now again in 2022.
FAQ
Have coastal ecosystem norms been violated? (Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
This week, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled a report in Parliament on whether steps taken by the Union Environment Ministry to conserve India’s coastal ecosystems have been successful.
The CAG frequently undertakes ‘performance audits’ of government programmes and ministries. This latest report contains the observations from an audit of Conservation of Coastal Ecosystems from 2015-20.
The government has issued notifications under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, to regulate activities along India’s coasts particularly regarding construction.
The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (CRZ) 2019, implemented by the Ministry, classifies the coastal area into different zones to manage infrastructure activities and regulate them.
The three institutions responsible for the implementation of the CRZ are the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) at the Centre, the State/Union Territory Coastal Zone Management Authorities (SCZMAs/UTCZMAs) in every coastal State and Union Territory and the District Level Committees (DLCs) in every district that has a coastal stretch and where the CRZ notification is applicable.
These bodies examine if CRZ clearances granted by the government are as per procedure, if project developers once given the go-ahead are complying with conditions, and if the project development objectives under the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme (ICZMP) are successful.
They also evaluate the measures taken up by the government towards achieving the targets under Sustainable Development Goals, a set of United Nations-prescribed targets for countries towards eradicating poverty and becoming sustainable societies.
The CAG has a constitutional mandate to investigate and report on publicly funded programmes. The CAG conducted “pre-audit studies” and found that there were large-scale CRZ violations in the coastal stretches.
Incidences of illegal construction activities (reducing coastal space) and effluent discharges from local bodies, industries and aquaculture farms had been reported by the media and this prompted it to undertake a detailed investigation.
What is the threat from zoonotic diseases?(Page no. 18)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
A new zoonotic virus that has evolved to infect humans was identified in China in August. The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) described the virus called Langya (LayV), reported in patients in Eastern China.
In a letter published in NEJM, a team of researchers from China and Singapore led by Xiao-Ai Zhang, Hao Li, et al say: “In our study, a newly identified henipavirus of probable animal origin was associated with febrile illness, a finding that warrants further investigation to better understand associated human illness.”
The pathogen belongs to the henipavirus family, closely associated with Nipah and Hendra viruses, and was noticed to cause fever, and respiratory symptoms among 35 people in China since 2018.
It was discovered during routine sentinel surveillance of patients who had fever and reported a recent history of exposure to animals in eastern China.
It was identified as a phylogenetically distinct henipavirus, indicating its evolution, after being identified in a throat swab sample from a patient. The virus was named after the town this patient lived in — Langya in the Shandong province in China.
Subsequent investigations identified 35 patients with acute LayV infection in the Shandong and Henan provinces of China, the communique explains.
In all except nine patients, LayV was the only pathogen isolated, indicating no other infection was present that could have caused the symptoms.
The common symptoms were fever, fatigue, cough, anorexia, myalgia, nausea, headache, and vomiting, accompanied by thrombocytopenia or low platelet count, and leukopenia or a low white blood cell count. In some cases, doctors also noticed impaired liver and kidney functions.
To determine the source or animal origin of the infection, since the patients, mostly farmers, revealed close exposure to animals before they fell sick, scientists drew blood from farm animals and small animals. These serosurveys in animals revealed that shrews, a rat like rodent, might be a reservoir of the LayV.
The NEJM letter says that contact tracing of nine patients with 15 close-contact family members revealed no close-contact LayV transmission, but acknowledges that the sample size was too small to effectively determine the status of human-to-human transmission for LayV.
So while concluding, with the available evidence, that the virus must have been directed transmitted by shrews or any other intermediary animal (goats, dogs, for instance, that tested positive for LayV in the sero-study), researchers called for further studies to examine all angles thoroughly.
Business
India can sustain CAD of 2.53%: Patra(Page no. 20)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s economy can cope with a current account deficit (CAD) of 2.5-3.0% without facing an external sector crisis, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor.
Our experience has been that India can sustain a current account deficit of 2.5-3.0% without getting into an external sector crisis.
Considering the increase in international crude oil prices in 2022, the trade deficit has widened causing concern. In July, the trade deficit widened to a record $30 billion due to a 70% surge in crude oil imports.
The current account deficit (CAD) in the country’s balance of payments (BoP) determines how much of foreign savings or net capital inflows into the country can be absorbed or used for growth. Exports earn foreign exchange while imports have to be paid for in foreign exchange.
India’s reliance on the overseas purchase of items that the country does not produce such as crude oil and items such as machinery, equipment and technology, imports typically exceed exports and hence earnings of foreign exchange were not sufficient for covering import payments.
The gap has to be filled by borrowing from abroad which, however, has to be serviced through principal and interest payments, if debt servicing exceeds our earnings, we have to either reduce imports and stifle our growth prospects or default on debt payments and face international isolation.
Recounting how a record increase in oil prices and high gold imports had pushed the current account deficit above the Plimsoll line [of 2.5-3% of GDP levels] and to historically high levels during 2011-13” Mr. Patra said the U.S. Federal Reserve’s contemplation of an end to easy monetary policy in the summer of 2013 and the consequent ‘taper tantrum’ had led India to being labelled as a part of the ‘fragile five’ economies comprising Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey.
Mapping India’s growth over the decades, he said a striking feature of the economy was that the growth had been home financed. “Investment is financed primarily by domestic savings, with foreign savings playing only a supplemental role.”
Another noteworthy feature is that the saving rate has started slowing down since 2007-08 after the global financial crisis. Eventually, this pulled down the investment rate which has exhibited deceleration since 2012-13. Reversing this trend is critical to achieve higher growth.