Uniform Civil Code

(GS-II: Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure)

In News:

Amid the row over wearing hijab in schools and colleges, Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh has said the Uniform Civil Code is the “need of the hour” and it should be discussed both in Parliament and in society.

What’s the issue?

The Hijab row started in December end when a few students started coming to a government pre-university college in Udupi wearing Hijab. To protest against it, some Hindu students turned up wearing saffron scarves.

The row spread to other educational institutions in different parts of the State, and the protests took a violent turn at some places earlier this week, prompting the government to declare three-day holiday for the institutions.

The Hijab ban issue has refused to die down as Muslim girls are adamant on wearing hijab to college.

Muslim clerics argue that Hijab ban violates right to freedom of religion enshrined in Constitution.

Background:

Whereas the founders of the Constitution in Article 44 in Part IV dealing with the Directive Principles of State Policy had hoped and expected that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territories of India, till date no action has been taken in this regard.

What is the uniform civil code?

A generic set of governing laws for every citizen without taking into consideration the religion.

What the constitution says?

Article 44 of the Constitution says that there should be a Uniform Civil Code. According to this article, “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”. Since the Directive Principles are only guidelines, it is not mandatory to use them.

India needs a Uniform Civil Code for the following reasons:

A secular republic needs a common law for all citizens rather than differentiated rules based on religious practices.

Gender justice: The rights of women are usually limited under religious law, be it Hindu or Muslim. Many practices governed by religious tradition are at odds with the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Indian Constitution.

Courts have also often said in their judgements that the government should move towards a uniform civil code including the judgement in the Shah Bano case.

Does India not already have a uniform code in civil matters?

Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters – Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act etc. States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and therefore in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.

Why is UCC not desirable at this point?

Secularism cannot contradict the plurality prevalent in the country.

Cultural diversity cannot be compromised to the extent that our urge for uniformity itself becomes a reason for threat to the territorial integrity of the nation.

Char Dham

(GS-II: Indian culture – salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times)

In News:

Veteran environmentalist Ravi Chopra has resigned as chairman of the Supreme Court’s High Powered Committee (HPC) on the Char Dham project, saying that his “belief that the HPC could protect this fragile (Himalayan) ecology has been shattered”.

What’s the issue?

In his resignation letter to the secretary general of the Supreme Court on January 27, Chopra referred to the apex court’s December 2021 order that accepted the wider road configuration to meet defence needs, instead of what the HPC had recommended and the SC accepted in its earlier order in September 2020.

What has the Court said so far in this matter?

In 2018, the project was challenged by an NGO for its potential impact on the Himalayan ecology due to felling trees, cutting hills and dumping excavated material.

In 2019, the SC formed the HPC Chopra to examine the issues, and in September 2020, accepted his recommendation on road width etc.

In November 2020, the ministry of Defence sought wider roads to meet the requirement of the Army.

In December 2021, the SC modified its September 2020 order on the ground that the court could not “interrogate the policy choice of the establishment which is entrusted by law with the defence of the nation”.

About Chardham project:

The project involves developing and widening nearly 900-km of national highways connecting the holy Hindu pilgrimage sites of; Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri at an estimated cost of Rs.12,000 crores.

The highway will be called Char Dham Mahamarg(Char Dham Highway) and the highway construction project will be called Char Dham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojana(Char Dham Highway Development Project).

What Are The Environmental Concerns That Were Flagged?

Large-scale construction works in hilly terrain is a recipe for disaster as it leads to a heightened risk of landslides given the felling of trees and loosening of rocks.

The project was being executed bypassing mandatory environment clearances and environment impact assessment (EIA) procedures.

Over 25,000 trees have reportedly been felled to make way for the project as a grave worry for the ecologically sensitive zone.

Since wider carriageways would require more excavation and blasting, the purpose of having an all-weather highway may be compromised since the topography would become that much more sensitive to slippage and landslides.

Developments so far wrt the Chardham Project:

The foundation stone for the Char Dham road project was laid by PM Narendra Modi in December 2016.

But the project was challenged on environmental grounds in courts with petitioners alleging irregularities vis-a-vis environmental clearances for the project and that it was being pursued in violation of existing norms.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) cleared the project in September 2018, but its order was challenged for being passed by a bench different from the one that had heard the matter. Supreme Court stayed the NGT order in October 2018.

In September 2020, it passed an order on a writ petition stating that highways for the Char Dham project should not exceed 5.5m in width as prescribed in a 2018 circular of the Union Road Transport Ministry. But the Defence Ministry had in December that year sought a modification in the order to allow the width to be of 10m.

The top court then asked its high-powered committee (HPC) to look into the contentions raised by the Centre on the width of the highways.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)

(GS-II: Important International institutions)

In News:

As tensions exacerbate between Washington and Moscow over Ukraine, political commentators say that the United States could, as a last resort, exclude Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

What happens if one is excluded from SWIFT?

If a country is excluded from the most participatory financial facilitating platform, its foreign funding would take a hit, making it entirely reliant on domestic investors. This is particularly troublesome when institutional investors are constantly seeking new markets in newer territories.

What is SWIFT?

It is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes. Under SWIFT, each financial organization has a unique code which is used to send and receive payments.

SWIFT does not facilitate funds transfer: rather, it sends payment orders, which must be settled by correspondent accounts that the institutions have with each other.

The SWIFT is a secure financial message carrier — in other words, it transports messages from one bank to its intended bank recipient.

Its core role is to provide a secure transmission channel so that Bank A knows that its message to Bank B goes to Bank B and no one else. Bank B, in turn, knows that Bank A, and no one other than Bank A, sent, read or altered the message en route. Banks, of course, need to have checks in place before actually sending messages.

Where is it located?

The Belgium-headquartered SWIFT connects more than 11,000 banking and securities organizations in over 200 countries and territories.

How is it administered?

It is regulated by G-10 central banks from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, and Sweden, alongside the European Central Bank. Its lead overseer is the National Bank of Belgium.

The SWIFT oversight forum was established in 2012. The G-10 participants were joined by the central banks of India, Australia, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, the Republic of Turkey, and the People’s Republic of China.

SWIFT India:

SWIFT India is a joint venture of top Indian public and private sector banks and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). The company was created to deliver high quality domestic financial messaging services to the Indian financial community. Bhattacharya said the venture has a huge potential to contribute significantly to the financial community in many domains.

Significance of SWIFT:

Messages sent by SWIFT’s customers are authenticated using its specialised security and identification technology.

Encryption is added as the messages leave the customer environment and enter the SWIFT Environment.

Messages remain in the protected SWIFT environment, subject to all its confidentiality and integrity commitments, throughout the transmission process while they are transmitted to the operating centres (OPCs) where they are processed — until they are safely delivered to the receiver.

Anti-defection law

(GS-II: Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure)

In News:

West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee has dismissed the petition filed by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari seeking Mukul Roy’s disqualification as an MLA under the anti-defection law for switching sides after elections.

Details:

Roy, a former BJP national vice-president, had defected to the ruling TMC in June last year.

Roy would now continue as a BJP legislator in the House in the wake of the ruling.

What had the High Court ruled?

The high court had asked the Speaker to take a decision on the petition for Roy’s disqualification as a member of the House by October 7. In case of failure, the court said that it would take a call on the matter.

Even the Supreme Court had expressed hope that the Speaker will take a decision on the disqualification plea soon.

Relevance: the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution:

Popularly known as the anti-defection law.

It specifies the circumstances under which changing of political parties by legislators invites action under the law.

It was added to the Constitution by the 52nd Amendment Act.

It includes situations in which an independent MLA, too, joins a party after the election.

The law covers three scenarios with respect to shifting of political parties by an MP or an MLA. These include:

• When a member elected on the ticket of a political party “voluntarily gives up” membership of such a party or votes in the House against the wishes of the party.
• When a legislator who has won his or her seat as an independent candidate joins a political party after the election.
• In the above two cases, the legislator loses the seat in the legislature on changing (or joining) a party.
• Relates to nominated MPs. In their case, the law gives them six months to join a political party, after being nominated. If they join a party after such time, they stand to lose their seat in the House.

Matters related to disqualification:

Under the anti-defection law, the power to decide the disqualification of an MP or MLA rests with the presiding officer of the legislature.

The law does not specify a time frame in which such a decision has to be made.

Last year, the Supreme Court observed that anti-defection cases should be decided by Speakers in three months’ time.

However, Legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances. Exceptions:

The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger.

On being elected as the presiding officer of the House, if a member, voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or rejoins it after he ceases to hold that office, he won’t be disqualified.

Loopholes in the law:

Those against say that voters elect individuals in the election and not parties and hence the Anti-Defection law is infructuous.

Can the courts intervene?

Courts have, in certain cases, intervened in the workings of a legislature.

In 1992, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court held that the anti-defection law proceedings before the Speaker are akin to a tribunal and, thus, can be placed under judicial review.

In January 2020, the Supreme Court asked Parliament to amend the Constitution to strip legislative assembly speakers of their exclusive power to decide whether legislators should be disqualified or not under the anti-defection law.

In March 2020, the Supreme Court removed Manipur minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar Singh, against whom disqualification petitions were pending before the speaker since 2017, from the state cabinet and restrained him “from entering the legislative assembly till further orders”.