Current Affairs 14 August 2024

Contents:  

1. Bangladesh resident to get citizenship under CAA
2. Tarang Shakti exercise
3. Bombay HC rules egg or sperm donor has no legal right
4. DDoS attack
5. First National Space Day 2024
6. ILO seeks to eliminate child labour, forced work in cotton fields

Bangladesh resident to get citizenship under CAA

Context:

A Hindu man, resident of Bangladesh has become the first person in northeast India to get citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019.

Relevance:

GS-II: Polity and Governance (Citizenship, Government Policies and Interventions, Issues arising out of the design and implementation of these policies)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA)
2. Criticisms of the CAA
3. Additional notification and the CAA

Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA)

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was notified in December 2019 and came into force from January 2020, amending the Citizenship Act, 1955.
• The Citizenship Act,1955 provides various ways in which citizenship may be acquired: providing for citizenship by birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and by incorporation of the territory into India.
• The objective of the CAA is to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities — Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian — from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
• Those from these communities who had come to India till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution in their respective countries, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
• The Act provides that the central government may cancel the registration of OCIs on certain grounds.
• The Act does not apply to tribal areas of Tripura, Mizoram, Assam and Meghalaya because of being included in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution.
• Also, areas that fall under the Inner Limit notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, will also be outside the Act’s purview.

Criticisms of the CAA

• It violates the basic tenets of the Constitution. Illegal immigrants are distinguished on the basis of religion.
• It is perceived to be a demographic threat to indigenous communities.
• It makes illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion. This may violate Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to equality.
• It attempts to naturalise the citizenship of illegal immigrants in the region.
• It allows cancellation of OCI registration for violation of any law. This is a wide ground that may cover a range of violations, including minor offences.

Additional notification and the CAA

• Under the existing system, minority communities from the three countries who entered India before December 31, 2009, may or may not choose to provide a copy of their passports but they have to provide the date of the visa and may upload the visa document in place of the passport while applying for citizenship.
• The latest notification is a reiteration of similar orders issued in 2016 and 2018 and is not related to the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) that is yet to come into effect.
• Since the rules for CAA are yet to be framed and a minority applicant from the three countries, even if he or she came in 2014 becomes eligible for citizenship in the year 2025, but many have been residing in India for more than 20 years on long-term visas (LTV). An LTV is a precursor to Citizenship.

Citizenship as a Central Subject discussion

• Citizenship is a Central subject and the Home Ministry periodically delegates powers to States through gazette notification under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
• Indian citizenship can be acquired on eight grounds – based on registration made by a person of Indian origin, by a person married to an Indian, minor child, whose parents are registered as citizens of India, by a person whose either parent was a citizen of Independent India, overseas citizens of India, by naturalisation and registration of a child at an Indian consulate.

-Source: The Hindu

Tarang Shakti exercise

Context:

Recently, the Air Chief Marshal announced plans to make the Tarang Shakti exercise a biennial event.

Relevance:

Facts for Prelims

About Exercise Tarang Shakti:

• Description: Exercise Tarang Shakti is the inaugural multinational air exercise hosted by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• Objective: To invite and collaborate with friendly foreign countries with whom the IAF interacts regularly and shares a certain degree of interoperability.
• Phases:
  • Phase 1:  The first phase of the exercise comes to a close this month.
  • Phase 2: The second phase is scheduled to be held at Jodhpur from September 1 to 14.
• The exercise will have 18 countries joining in, 10 of them with air assets, with a total of 150 aircraft, both foreign and of the IAF taking part. Invitations had been extended to 51 countries.
• Aims:
  • To foster professional interactions among the participating forces.
  • To enrich the employment philosophy of the forces.
  • To facilitate the exchange of valuable insights.
• Significance: Provides a unique opportunity for these nations to collaborate and enhance their tactical and operational capabilities.

-Source: The Hindu

Bombay HC rules egg or sperm donor has no legal right

Context:

The Bombay High Court recently held that merely donating eggs or sperm does not give legal entitlement to the donor to claim that he or she is the biological parent of the child.

Relevance:

GS II: Polity and Governance

Dimensions of the Article:’

1. Details
2. About Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021

3. Eligibility criteria for intending couple
4. Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother
5. Offences and penalties

Details:

• The Bench was hearing a plea filed by a woman (petitioner) who challenged a trial court order that refused to give her visitation rights and access to her twin daughters born through surrogacy.
• The High court pronounced the above ruling while dismissing the argument of a woman (petitioner’s sister) who had volunteered to donate her oocyte (eggs) to her sister and brother-in-law who could not conceive naturally.
• The Judge held that the sister had no legitimate right to claim that she was the biological parent of the twins.
• The submissions on behalf of the husband that his wife’s younger sister being the oocyte donor is the biological mother stands rejected outrightly in view of the settled position in law on the basis of the guidelines and the Surrogacy Act enacted subsequently.

About Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021

The Act prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy. 

•  In altruistic surrogacy, the surrogate mother receives no monetary remuneration other than medical bills and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
• Commercial surrogacy refers to surrogacy or associated treatments that are performed for a monetary gain or reward (in cash or kind) that exceeds the cost of basic medical care and insurance coverage.

Surrogacy is permitted when it is:

• For intending couples who suffer from proven infertility;
• Altruistic
• Not for commercial purposes
• Not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation
• For any condition or disease specified through regulations.

Eligibility criteria for intending couple

• The intending couple should have a‘certificate of essentiality’ and a ‘certificate of eligibility’ issued by the appropriate authority.
• A certificate of essentiality will be issued upon fulfilment of the following conditions:
  • A certificate of proven infertility of one or both members of the intending couple from a District Medical Board;
  • An order of parentage and custody of the surrogate child passed by a Magistrate’s court; and
  • Insurance coverage for a period of 16 months covering postpartum delivery complications for the surrogate.
• The certificate of eligibility to the intending couple is issued upon fulfilment of the following conditions:
  • The couple being Indian citizens and married for at least five years;
  • Between 23 to 50 years old (wife) and 26 to 55 years old (husband);
  • They do not have any surviving child (biological, adopted or surrogate); this would not include a child who is mentally or physically challenged or suffers from life threatening disorder or fatal illness;
  • Other conditions that may be specified by regulations.

Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother

• To obtain a certificate of eligibility from the appropriate authority, the surrogate mother has to be:
  • A close relative of the intending couple;
  • A married woman having a child of her own;
  • 25 to 35 years old;
  • A surrogate only once in her lifetime;
  • Possess a certificate of medical and psychological fitness for surrogacy.
• Further, the surrogate mother cannot provide her own gametes for surrogacy.

National and State Surrogacy Boards

The central and the state governments shall constitute the National Surrogacy Board (NSB) and the State Surrogacy Boards (SSB), respectively.

Functions of the NSB include, 

• Advising the central government on policy matters relating to surrogacy;
• Laying down the code of conduct of surrogacy clinics;
• Supervising the functioning of SSBs.

Parentage and abortion of surrogate child

• A child born out of a surrogacy procedure will be deemed to be the biological child of the intending couple. 
• An abortion of the surrogate child requires the written consent of the surrogate mother and the authorisation of the appropriate authority.
• This authorisation must be compliant with the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.  
• Further, the surrogate mother will have an option to withdraw from surrogacy before the embryo is implanted in her womb.

Offences and penalties

• The offences under the Act include:
  • Undertaking or advertising commercial surrogacy;
  • Exploiting the surrogate mother;
  • Abandoning, exploiting or disowning a surrogate child; and
  • Selling or importing human embryo or gametes for surrogacy.
• The penalty for such offences is imprisonment up to 10 years and a fine up to 10 lakh rupees.

-Source: The Hindu

DDoS attack

Context:

Entrepreneur Elon Musk cited a “massive DDoS attack” for the technical glitches during his recent audio interview with Donald Trump on his social media platform.

Relevance:

GS III: Cyber Security, Challenges to Internal Security Through Communication Networks

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Cyber Attack and Cyber Security
2. What is DDoS attack?
3. Suggestions by experts on Cybersecurity
4. Significant development in Digital Payment security
5. Way Forward

Cyber Attack and Cyber Security:

• Cyber Attack: A cyberattackis a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or organization to breach the information system of another individual or organization.
• Usually, the attacker seeks some type of benefit from disrupting the victim’s network.
• Common types of cyber attacks:
  • Malware,
  • Phishing, 
  • Man-in-the-middle attack ,
  • Denial-of-service attack ,
  • SQL injection ,
  • Zero-day exploit ,
  • DNS Tunneling and so on.
• Cyber security: It is the application of technologies, processes and controls to protect systems, networks, programs, devices and data from cyber attacks.
• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In):
  • It is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents as and when they occur. 
  • CERT-In was established in 2004 as a functional organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

What is DDoS attack?

• A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is a type of cyber attack in which a website or any other online service cannot be accessed because it has been the target of attacks from a malicious actor.  
• This targeting is done by directing a large number of users against a particular online server at the same time to “flood” it.
• This can result in slow loading times or a total pause in internet services.
  • Sometimes bots can be used to overwhelm the network.

Suggestions by experts on Cybersecurity:

• They stressed on the need for Internet users to train themselves on the best practices of cybersecurity and follow dos and don’ts to ensure a safe digital economy.
• They reiterated that user awareness would help with digital transformations in future.
• An improved awareness about the use of technology with responsibility, can enhance internet safety.
• There is a need for the organizations to train users on how to access data or how to use the network. Certain methods that organizations should often follow include:
  • Training on authentication,
  • Forcing users to change passwords often and
  • Sending alerts before opening a link and so on.
• Compliance and security risk assessment are the important requirements to move forward.
• Users need to be well informed about security authentication methods like two factor authorisation and accessing an encrypted website.

Significant development in Digital Payment security:

• The guideline on digital payment security has undergone a massive transformation.
• These rules not only secure the payment transactions or applications used, but also the point of sale devices, having proper encryption, decryption mechanisms on your point of sales devices and ATMs.

Way Forward:

• Cyber Insurance that is recently coming up in the financial services industry should be stressed to ensure  reasonable coverage for people falling prey to these tactics.
• Awareness before and during the onboarding of customers must happen.
• However, it is the law enforcement agencies that play a significant role in minimise Cyber crimes.
• A cohesive effort is needed to contain these frauds.

-Source: The Hindu, The Indian Express

First National Space Day 2024

Context:

India is set to celebrate its first National Space Day on August 23, 2024.

Relevance:

Facts for prelims

About National Space Day:

• India is celebrating its maiden National Space Day on August 23, 2024.
• Theme:  “Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga.”
• India became the fourth country to land on the moon and the first to reach its southern polar region on August 23, 2023.
• To honour this landmark achievement, the Prime Minister of India announced August 23 as “National Space Day”.

-Source: All India Radio

ILO seeks to eliminate child labour, forced work in cotton fields

Context:

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has joined hands with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) aims to eliminate child labour, forced labour in cotton fields.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice (Issues Related to Children, Government Interventions and Policies, Issues arising out of the design and implementation of Government Policies)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Details
2. Forced Labour Defined by ILO
3. Definition of Child and Child Labour
4. State of Child Labour in the World
5. Data regarding Child Labour in India
6. The Present Problem
7. Legislations in India regarding Child Labour
8. Conclusion

Details:

• Cotton and hybrid cotton seeds from India continue to remain in the United States Labour Department’s ‘List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour’.
• The joint project seeks to promote Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW).
• It aims to promote
  • Effective recognition of freedom of association
  • Right to collective bargaining
  • Elimination of child labour
  • Abolition of forced labour
  • Elimination of all forms of discrimination
  • Promotion of a safe and healthy working environment among the cotton growing community in India.
• The project was launched in Delhi on Tuesday and is expected to reach out to 65 lakh cotton farmers in 11 States.

Forced Labour Defined by ILO:

Forced or compulsory labour is described by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as any work or service extracted from an individual under the threat of a penalty, where the person has not offered themselves voluntarily.

• Involuntary Work: This refers to work carried out without the worker’s free and informed consent.
• Coercion: This denotes the methods employed to force an individual into work against their will and without their consent.

Definition of Child and Child Labour

• As per the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, amended in 2016 (CLPR Act), a “Child” is defined as any person below the age of 14, and the CLPR Act prohibits employment of a Child in any employment including as a domestic help.
• Children between age of 14 and 18 are defined as “Adolescent” and the law allows Adolescent to be employed except in the listed hazardous occupation and processes which include mining, inflammable substance and explosives related work and any other hazardous process as per the Factories Act, 1948.

Criticisms of CLPR definition

• It is criticised that the CLPR Act allows child labour in “family or family enterprises” or allows the child to be “an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry”.
• It is criticised that the Act allows child labour in “family or family enterprises” or allows the child to be “an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry”.

Other Definitions/Conditions

• India’s Census 2001 office, defines child labour as participation of a child less than 17 years of age in any economically productive activity with or without compensation, wages or profit.
• Factories Act, 1948 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory. The law also placed rules on who, when and how long can pre-adults aged 15–18 years be employed in any factory.
• National Policy on Child Labour in 1987 also says that “no, child below age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any hazardous employment”.

State of Child Labour in the World

• Already, there are an estimated 150+ million children in child labour, 70+ million of which are in hazardous work.
• Almost one in ten of all children worldwide are in child labour.
• While the number of children in child labour has declined by 94 million since 2000, the rate of reduction slowed by two-thirds in recent years.
• The Africa and the Asia and the Pacific regions together account for almost nine out of every ten children in child labour worldwide.
• Africa ranks highest among regions both in the percentage of children in child labour and the absolute number of children in child labour. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in both these measures.
• While the percentage of children in child labour is highest in low-income countries, their numbers are actually greater in middle-income countries.

Data regarding Child Labour in India

• The Census of India 2011 reports 10.1 million working children in the age group of 5-14 years, out of whom 8.1 million are in rural areas mainly engaged as cultivators (26%) and agricultural labourers (32.9%).
• While multiple data vary widely on enrolment/attendance ratios in India, UNESCO estimates based on the 2011 Census record 38.1 million children as “out of school” (18.3% of total children in the age group of 6-13 years). Work performed may not appear to be immediately dangerous, but it may produce long-term and devastating consequences for their education, their skills acquisition, and hence their future possibilities to overcome the vicious circle of poverty, incomplete education and poor-quality jobs.
• A Rapid Survey on Children (2013-14), jointly undertaken by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNICEF, found that less than half of children in the age group of 10-14 years have completed primary education.
• A Government of India survey (NSS report) in 2017-18, suggests that 95% of the children in the age group of 6-13 years are attending educational institutions (formal and informal) while the corresponding figures for those in the age group of 14-17 years is 79.6%. Hence, a large number of children in India remain vulnerable, facing physical and psychological risks to a healthy development.

The Present Problem

• The economic contraction and lockdowns ensuing from the pandemic have affected all countries in Asia, leading to income reductions for enterprises and workers, many of them in the informal economy.
• The large number of returned migrant workers has compounded the socio-economic challenges.
• India experienced slower economic growth and rising unemployment even before the pandemic. Subsequent lockdowns have worsened the situation, posing a real risk of backtracking the gains made in eliminating child labour.
• With increased economic insecurity, lack of social protection and reduced household income, children from poor households are being pushed to contribute to the family income with the risk of exposure to exploitative work.
• With closure of schools and challenges of distance learning, children may drop out leaving little scope for return unless affirmative and immediate actions are taken. As many schools and educational institutions are moving to online platforms for continuation of learning, the ‘digital divide’ is a challenge that India has to reconcile within the next several years.
• The NSS Report No. 585 titled ‘Household Social Consumption on Education in India’ suggests that in 2017-18, only 24% of Indian households had access to an Internet facility, proportions were 15% among rural households and 42% among urban households. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2020 survey highlights that a third of the total enrolled children received some kind of learning materials from their teachers during the reference period (October 2020) as digital mode of education was opted for.

Legislations in India regarding Child Labour

1. The CLPR Act prohibits employment of a Child in ANY employment including as a domestic help. It is a cognizable criminal offence to employ a Child for any work.
2. Children between age of 14 and 18 are defined as “Adolescent” and the law allows Adolescent to be employed except in the listed hazardous occupation and processes which include mining, inflammable substance and explosives related work and any other hazardous process as per the Factories Act, 1948.
3. The Constitution of India prohibits child labour in hazardous industries (but not in non-hazardous industries) as a Fundamental Right under Article 24.
4. In addition to the constitutional prohibition of hazardous child labour, various laws in India, such as the Juvenile Justice (care and protection) of Children Act-2000, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act-1986 provide a basis in law to identify, prosecute and stop child labour in India.

Conclusion

• The challenges in tackling Child Labour problems are significant and manifold but it is not impossible to meet them if the right level of commitment among all the relevant stakeholders and the right mix of policy and programmatic interventions are present.
• are significant and manifold but it is not impossible to meet them if the right level of commitment among all the relevant stakeholders and the right mix of policy and programmatic interventions are present.
• We need a strong alliance paving our way towards ending child labour in all its forms by 2025 as countries around the world have agreed to in Sustainable Development Goal 8.7.
• Governments, employers, unions, civil society organisations and even individuals — must rise and pledge to ‘Take Action against Child Labour’ as a part of the UN’s declaration of 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.

-Source: The Hindu, The Indian Express