Aadhaar: 9-judge Bench to consider
whether privacy is a basic right
- A nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court will hear the question whether privacy is a fundamental human right and is part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- The decision taken by a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Khehar is on the basis of a bunch of petitions contending that the Aadhaar scheme, is a violation of the citizens' right to privacy.
- The petitioners have argued that right to privacy is part of Article 21, the right to life, and interspersed in Article 19, though not explicitly stated in the Constitution.
- Two judgments of the Supreme
Court — the M.P.
Sharma case verdict pronounced
by an eight-judge
Bench in 1954 shortly after
the Constitution came into
force in 1950 and the Kharak
Singh case verdict of 1962 by
a six-judge Bench — had
dominated the judicial dialogue
on privacy since Independence.
- Both judgments
had concluded that privacy
was not a fundamental or
‘guaranteed’ right
- Though smaller Supreme Court Benches have, over the years, differed and held that privacy is indeed basic to our Constitution and a fundamental right, the arithmetical supremacy of the MP Sharma and Kharak Singh cases continues to hold fort.
Taking a final call
- Now, by forming a Bench of nine judges, Chief Justice Khehar's Supreme Court has decided to determine once and for all whether privacy is negotiable or not.
- We have to first determine
whether right to privacy
is a fundamental right or not
before going into the issue
(on the constitutionality of
the Aadhaar scheme)
- “In
a Republic founded on a
written Constitution, it is difficult
to accept there is no
fundamental right to privacy.
- There is a battery of
judgments saying privacy is
a fundamental right, we cannot
ignore them
‘Cauvery Tribunal
order is like ordering
god to send rain’
Argument made by Karnataka in Supreme Court:
1.Take Groundwater into Account :The tribunal’s order
to Karnataka to supply 192
tmcft annually was without any regard to
the 30 tmcft groundwater
available in
Tamil Nadu.
2.Equity among farming families: Karnataka has argued
that the water-sharing
arrangement decided by the
tribunal did not keep in
view equity as also the farming families
3.Increase in farming area in Tamilnadu : It said that at the time of
the 1924
agreement for water-sharing,
Tamil Nadu was
entitled to develop only
21.38 lakh
acres for irrigation. However, even as the
1924 agreement continued,
the State had
developed
28.2 lakh acres for irrigation
utilising 566 tmcft of
Cauvery water
Solution proposed by the Karnataka
The “real shares” of
each riparian State should
be determined on the basis
of needs by taking into account :
[1]The contribution of
water by each State to the
river valley
[2]The population
of each State in the basin depending
upon the waters
and
[3]The culturable area of
each State in the basin requiring
application of water
to raise crops.
SC nod for new MCI
oversight panel
The Supreme Court on
Monday agreed with the
government’s proposal of
five eminent medical
practitioners to oversee
the functioning and decisions
of the Medical
Council of India
Medical Council of India (estd. in 1934 under MCI Act 1933)is a statutory body (formed by an act of parliament) aimed to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine.
The objectives of the Council are as follows:-
- Maintenance of uniform standards of medical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate.
- Recommendation for recognition/de-recognition of medical qualifications of medical institutions of India or foreign countries.
- Permanent registration/provisional registration of doctors with recognized medical qualifications.
- Reciprocity with foreign countries in the matter of mutual recognition of medical qualifications.
States can enact laws to
preserve cattle: Centre
- The State legislatures have
“exclusive” powers to enact
laws for the preservation of
cattle, the Union government
told the Rajya Sabha
on Tuesday.
It was in response to a
question on what it proposed
to do in response to
the Rajasthan High Court’s
suggestion to declare cow a
national animal.
- “Under the distribution of
legislative powers between
the Union of India and the
states under Article 246(3) of
the Constitution, the preservation
of cattle is a matter on
which the legislature of the
States have exclusive powers
to legislate,”
- At present,there are 62 subjects in the state list compare to 66 at the enactment of the constitution .
Nagaland CM to
face trust vote today
- Nagaland Chief Minister
Shurhozelie Liezietsu will
face a floor test at a special
session of the Assembly on
Wednesday after the
Gauhati High Court on Tuesday
dismissed his plea to
stay the Governor’s order
directing him to seek a trust
vote
- It said the process of by-election Mr. Liezietsu is contesting ,is already underway and therefore it was "imperative & incumbent "upon the Governor to call upon the petitioner to prove his majority on the floor of the house only pursuant to the by-election where the petitioner is a candidate
- His plea before the high court was :There was no recommendation from the Council of Ministers for the floor test and the Governor on his own choose to "impose" the impugned decision upon the petitioner " without any legal foundation and against constitutional norms.
Article 163 in the constitution of India
163
1.The Council of Ministers to aid and advice governor:There shall be a council of minister with the chief minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions except in so far as he is by or under this constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion
DGCA braces for ICAO safety audit
- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is bracing for a safety oversight audit by the U.N. body, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), in November 2017.
- The aviation regulator is taking a series of steps to save it from the embarrassment of the 2012 audit in which the ICAO had raised safety concerns about India's aviation system.
- The DGCA will be furnishing
its response to the detailed
protocol questionnaire
posed by ICAO for its Universal
Safety Oversight Audit
Programme (USOAP) by August
first week
- The measures include hiring flight operation inspectors, aligning its rules with ICAO norms, certifying flight examiners, among others.
- To make the posts of flight operation inspectors attractive for experienced pilots, the DGCA offered them market-linked salary.
- The aviation regulator has been holding review meetings with airlines and airports every month for safety compliance.
- The ICAO conducts audit in areas related to legislation, organisation, licensing, operation, airworthiness, accident investigation, air navigation and aerodromes.
ICAO
DGCA
Australia for ‘peaceful’ end to standoff
Australia’s position is
that any territorial disputes
should be resolved peacefully
between the claimant
countries
Distinguishing between
land boundary disputes and
the maritime disputes China
has with countries in the
South China Sea, through
which two-thirds of Australia’s
trade passes.
In the case of
maritime disputes, it
should be subjected to arbitration
under UNCLOS, if necessary.
Land disputes
should be resolved peacefully
between the competing
claimants
India set to extradite
Bangladeshi to Britain
India is set to extradite a
Bangladeshi national, Mohammad
Abdul Shakur, to
the U.K., where he is accused
of murdering his wife
and children 10 years ago.
This development is seen as
another signal of increasing
cooperation between the
two nations on sensitive,
and potentially thorny issues
in the Home Affairs
arena
Shakur’s extradition
was recommended by a New
Delhi court in 2013, but a
case against him filed in India
meant that he remained
in the country. However, India
has now agreed to drop
the case against him, and return
him to Britain
The movement on these two
cases[Shakur's and Vijay Mallya's] is a sign that the India-UK
Extradition Treaty,
which has been in place
since 1992 is sufficient to deliver
the kind of cooperation
the two nations have sought,
particularly with political
backing.
Must Read:India-UK Home Dialogue
Delhi, Kabul discuss
‘common regional threats’
- External Affairs Minister discussed
the “common regional
threat” with her Afghan
counterpart, Salahuddin
Rabbani, on Monday.
- The
discussion is significant as it
comes in the backdrop of an
ongoing review of Afghanistan
policy by the U.S.
government which appears
to lean on Pakistan in shaping
the future of
Afghanistan
- iew for Afghanistan.
In a recent media interaction,
U.S. Secretary of Defence
James Mattis acknowledged
that the regional
context of the Afghan crisis
makes the policy review difficult
as it needs to take
Pakistan into consideration.
- The problem of this approach
includes bilateral
problems that Afghanistan
and India have with
Pakistan
Reluctant Trump recerties Iran deal
Background:Former US President along with other P5+1 leaders signed a nuclear deal with Iran in Oct 2015.
- U.S. President Donald
Trump agreed on Monday to
certify again that Iran is complying
with an international
nuclear agreement that he
has strongly criticised
- The decision was the second time his administration
certified Iran’s
compliance, and aides said a
frustrated Mr. Trump had
told his security team that he
would not keep doing so
indefinitely
- Administration officials
announced the certification while
emphasising that they intended
to toughen enforcement
of the deal, apply new sanctions
on Iran for its “support
of terrorism” and other
“destabilising activities”, and
negotiate with European
partners to craft a broader
strategy to increase pressure
on Tehran
- By law, the administration
is required to notify Congress
every 90 days whether
Iran is living up to the deal,
which limited its nuclear
programme in exchange for
the lifting of many international
sanctions
U.S. announces
new sanctions
- US Administration unveiled new
economic sanctions against
Iran over its ballistic missile
programme and for
contributing to regional
tensions, one day after
warning Tehran that it was
not following the spirit of
its nuclear agreement with
world powers
- The U.S. Department of
Treasury, in a statement,
said it was targeting 16
entities and individuals for
supporting what is said was
“illicit Iranian actors or
transnational criminal
activity”
- Those sanctioned had
backed Iran’s military or
the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps by developing
drones and military
equipment
Iran's Response:Majlis says it
will fight U.S.
‘adventurism
- Iran’s Parliament, known
as Majlis, voted on Tuesday
to urgently work towards
increasing funds for the
country’s missile programme
and Revolutionary
Guards in response to
Washington's “adventurism”
in the region
E-commerce: RCEP
nations talk details
Sixteen Asia Pacific nations,
including India, are understood
to be discussing in detail
norms on e-commerce
as part of negotiations on
the proposed mega Free
Trade Agreement known as
the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership
(RCEP).
Technical
level talks of the RCEP are
being held from July 18 to 28
in Hyderabad
India has been opposing
binding norms on opening
up the e-commerce sector at
the level of RCEP as well as
the global level (WTO) talks
on grounds including that it
(India) is yet to have a comprehensive
national policy
on the topic
However, it is understood
that many RCEP nations including
Australia, Japan and
China, are pushing for inclusion
of a host of elements
for ‘Terms Of Reference’ for
RCEP negotiations concerning
e-commerce.
This is
with a view to have some
binding commitments from
the RCEP members on liberalising
e-commerce and ensure
that the final pact has a
separate chapter on
e-commerce
Developing Countries including India ,should be wary of:
1.
Demands
for absolute prohibition
on disclosure of ‘source
code’ (code behind the software)
because lack of access
to ‘source code’ will make it
tough to prevent anti-competitive
practices, hacking
and rights violation
2.Demands
for prohibition of
‘data localisation’ saying accepting
such demands will
lead to difficulties in ensuring
regulatory control over
e-commerce firms