GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

The Supreme Court (SC)reserved its judgment on whether free speech by public functionaries, including inter alia ministers, MLAs, MPs, should have greater restrictions than those imposed by Article 19 (2).

• There has been a significant increase in hate speeches by public functionaries and referred to an incident where the President was being mocked by a minister.
• Almost 500% rise in reported Hate speech cases against politicians and public functionaries since 2014.

Key points highlighted by the Bench

• Self-restriction: People holding public office should exercise self-restriction and not blabber things that are disparaging or insulting to other countrymen. 
• No need for a separate code: This approach is part of our constitutional culture and there is no need for it to formulate a code of conduct for public functionaries. 
• Civil remedy: There is always a civil remedy available to citizens on account of a public functionary making a speech that affects someone.
• Constitutional culture: Irrespective of what Article 19(2) may say, there is a constitutional culture in the country where there is an inherent limitation or a restriction on what people holding responsible positions say.

What does the ‘Constitutional Limitation’ means?

• The original purpose of establishing formal or constitutional limits on government was to check the arbitrary actions of hereditary monarchs or rulers who abused their power, imposed unwanted taxes, or launched unpopular wars.
• In this case, it relates to the ‘duty-based order’ amongst the people in a higher position and responsibility towards a welfare society.

Is controlling the freedom of Speech of officials against Constitutional Provision?

• No, according to the Apex Court, the Fundamental right for freedom of speech is exposed to reasonable restrictions based on ‘Public order’ and ‘Security of the Nation’.

What is the difference between hate speech and freedom of speech?

• The Indian Constitution, under Article 19(1)(a)provides the right to freedom of speech and expression.
• However, under Article 19(2), the constitution also provides for the ‘reasonable restrictions’ against free speech in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offense.

Important Judgements on Freedom of Speech vs.Hate comments:

RangilaRasool case:

• RangilaRasool was a tract brought out by a Hindu publisher — that had made disparaging remarks about the Prophet’s private life.
• Cases against the first pamphlet, filed under Section 153A, were dismissed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which examined the question of whether targeting religious figures is different from targeting religions.
• This debate in interpretation prompted the colonial government to enact Section 295A with a wider scope to address these issues.

Ramji Lal Modi v State of Uttar Pradesh:

• The Supreme Court upheld the law on the grounds that it was brought in to preserve “public order”.
• The constitutionality of Section 295A was challenged.
• Public order is an exemption to the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to religion recognized by the Constitution.

RamlalPuri v State of Madhya Pradesh:

• In 1973, the Supreme Court said the test to be applied is whether the speech in question offends the “ordinary man of common sense” and not the “hypersensitive man”.
• However, these determinations are made by the court and the distinction can often be vague and vary from one judge to the other.

BaragurRamachandrappa v State of Karnataka:

• In a 2007 decision of the Supreme Court, “a pragmatic approach” was invoked in interpreting Section 295A.
• The state government had issued a notification banning Dharmakaarana, a Kannada novel on the ground that it was hate speech, invoking a gamut of provisions including Section 295A.

As per the United Nations, India's population growth appears to be stabilising which is a positive sign for the country's efforts and national policies in health systems, including access to family planning services.

About the UN Statistics: (India-specific data)

• As the World’s population reached 8 billion, where India was a significant contributor to the number with an addition of 177 million
• Although, the UN regarded India's population growth appears to be stabilising.
• As per the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Total Fertility Rate (average number of children born per woman) has declined from 2 to 2.0 at the national level in India.
• The main reasons for the decline in fertility include the following;
  • Increase in adoption of ‘modern family planning methods (from 47.8 percent in 2015-16 to 56.5 percent in 2019-21) and
  • A reduction in ‘unmet need for family planning by four percentage points over the same period.

Factors influencing population growth can be grouped into the following 3 categories-

• Unmet need for Family Planning: This includes the currently married women, who wish to stop childbearing or wait for the next two or more years for the next child birth, but not using any contraceptive method.
  • The real unmet need for Family Planning is 4 (NFHS-V) in our country.
• Age at Marriage and first childbirth: In India, 23.3% (NFHS-V)of the girls get married below the age of 18 years and out of the total deliveries 6.8% are among teenagers i.e. 15-19 years. The situation regarding the age of girls at marriage is more alarming in a few states like,
  • Bihar (40.8%), Rajasthan (25.4%), Jharkhand (32.2%), UP (15.8%), and MP (23.1%).
  • Delaying the age at marriage and first childbirth could reduce the impact of Population Momentum on population growth.
• Spacing between Births: The chances of survival of infants depend upon the spacing between the children and also helps in reducing the impact of population momentum on population growth.

Other causes of Increasing Population:

• The decline in death rate: If the number of children born each year equals the number of adults that die, then the population will stabilize.
• Agricultural advancements: Agricultural advancements have allowed humans to increase food production using fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and yields further.
• Better medical capabilities: Illnesses that had claimed thousands of lives until now were cured because of the invention of vaccines. Combining the increase in food supply with fewer means of mortality tipped the balance and became the starting point of overpopulation.
• More hands to work: Families that have been through poverty, or natural disasters, or are simply in need of more hands to work are major factors in overpopulation.
• Advanced fertility treatment: Today there are effective medicines that can increase the chance of conception and increase the birth rate. Moreover, due to modern techniques, pregnancies today are far safer.
• Immigration: Many people prefer to move to urban areas, where the best facilities are available. The result is that those people settle over there, eventually making those places overcrowded.
• Lack of family planning/unawareness: There are a large number of illiterate people, who live below the poverty line, and have little or no knowledge about family planning.
• Poor contraceptives use: A study by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that women aged between 16 and 49 used at least one form of contraceptive 43% in underdeveloped countries, which leads to higher birth rates.
  

Areas to be focused on for Sustainable development:

• Social security and universal health
• Demographic liability
• Resource allocation and Achieving SDGs
• Poverty and quality of life

Government Interventions to promote family planning:

• Mission Parivar Vikas was initially for 146 high-priority districts in the 7 high focus states.
  • It includes Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan & Jharkhand, to ensure the availability of contraceptive products to clients at all levels of Health Systems.
• National Population policy: The National Population Policy 2000 affirmed a commitment to achieve replacement levels of fertility (total fertility rate of 2.1) by 2010.
  • Most of the southern states controlled their population.
  • However, low socio-economic development in northern and central India has led to a population explosion in these regions.

• Strengthening community-based distribution of contraceptives by involving ASHAs and Focussed IEC/ BCC efforts for enhancing demand and creating awareness on family planning
• Ensuring quality care in Family Planning services by establishing Quality Assurance Committees at the state and district levels Plan for accreditation of more private/ NGO facilities to increase the provider base for family planning services under PPP.
• Demand generation activities in the form of display of posters, billboards, and other audio and video materials in the various facilities are planned and budgeted.
• Increasing male participation

Recently, the Companies dealing in the personal data of consumers that fail to take reasonable safeguards to prevent data breaches could face penalties of around Rs.200 crore under the revamped Data Protection Bill, 2022.

• The Union Information Technology Minister announced the withdrawal of The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha.
• He stated that the government has decided to come up with a fresh bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework with reference to the suggestions made by the Joint Committee of Parliament (JCP) on the Bill.

• Apart from that, the panel, headed by the former Union Minister, had recommended about 97 corrections and improvements to the Bill.
• Now, the new bill has come up with a new set of guidelines addressing the loopholes in the previous statement and demarcating more stringent lines for violators.

Key features of the New Bill:

• Fines and Penalties: For breach of Law; According to the new bill, Companies dealing with the personal data of consumers that fail to take reasonable safeguards to prevent data breaches could end up facing penalties as high as around Rs.200 crore.
  • Under the previous bill, the penalty proposed on a company for violation of the law was 15 crore or 4 percent of its annual turnover, whichever is higher.
• For intimidating: Penalties are expected to vary on the basis of the nature of non-compliance by data fiduciaries — entities that handle and process the personal data of individuals.
• Companies failing to notify people impacted by a data breach could be fined around Rs.150 crore, and those failing to safeguard children’s personal data could be fined close to Rs.100 crore.
• Administration body: The Data Protection Board, an adjudicating body proposed to enforce the provisions of the Bill, is likely to be empowered to impose the fine after giving the companies an opportunity of being heard.
• Scope of Data being protected: The new Bill will only deal with safeguards around personal data and is learned to have excluded non-personal data from its ambit.

Why has the previous Bill been withdrawn?

Compliance Intensive:

• The Bill was also seen as being too “compliance intensive” by start-ups in the country.
• The revamped bill will be much easier to comply with, especially for start-ups.

Issues with Data Localisation:

• The tech companies questioned a proposed provision in the Bill called Data Localisation.
• Under data localization, it would have been mandatory for companies to store a copy of certain sensitive personal data within India, and exporting undefined “critical” personal data from the country would be prohibited.
• The activists had criticized that it would allow the central government and its agencies blanket exemptions from adhering to any and all provisions of the Bill.

Pushback from Stakeholders:

• The bill had faced significant pushback from a range of stakeholders including big tech companies such as Facebook and Google, and privacy and civil society activists.

Delay in Implementation:

• The delays in the Bill had been criticized by several stakeholders pointing out that it was a matter of grave concern that India did not have a basic framework to protect people’s privacy.

Other Government Interventions:

• Information Technology Act, 2000: It provides for safeguarding against certain breaches in relation to data from computer systems.
• It contains provisions to prevent the unauthorized use of computers, computer systems, and data stored therein.

Even as countries are meeting at the ongoing Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, a recent report by Lancet, has traced in detail the intimate link between changing weather events and their impact on the health of people.

What does the report outline?

• Climate change is not an isolated incident or occurrence, but a global phenomenon.
• Persistent fossil fuel overdependence has pushed the world into global energy and cost-of-living crises.
• Rapidly increasing temperatures have exposed people, especially vulnerable populations 3.7 billion more heatwave days in 2021 than annually in 1986–2005.
• Health-focused shifts in dietary habits would reduce the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

How climate change is impacting health?

Climate change is already impacting health in a myriad of ways, including by

• leading to death and illness from increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, storms, and floods
• disruption of food systems
• increases in zoonoses and food-, water- and vector-borne diseases, and mental health issues
• Undermining of social determinants for good health (livelihoods, equality, and access to health care and social support structures)

Who are the most affected?

• The climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or displaced persons, older populations, and those with underlying health conditions.
  
  

Are there any solutions?

• A health-centered response to climate and energy crises
  • It would reduce the likelihood of the most catastrophic climate change impacts.
  • Improve energy security.
  • Improvements in air quality will help prevent deaths(from fuel-derived PM2.5)
  • Create an opportunity for economic recovery.
  • An increase in urban spaces would result in promoting physical activity.
  • Plant-based diets will reduce emissions from red meat and milk production
• Positive signs:
  • Rising coverage of health and climate change in the media.
  • Government's commitment to assess and address the threats from climate change.

India’s case:

• In 2019, 17.8% of all deaths and 11.5% of respiratory, cardiovascular, and other related diseases are attributable to high exposure to pollution (The Lancet).
• The isolated nature of policymaking and an insufficient understanding of health among policymakers is worrying.
• India has to place health at the center of air quality governance and policymaking.

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP):

• It was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in January 2019.
• It aims to bring a 20%-30% reduction in pollution levels from PM2.5 and PM10 particles by 2024, using 2017 pollution levels as a base.
• It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
• It covers 132 non-attainment cities which were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Initiatives taken by India for Controlling Air Pollution:

• System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) Portal
• Air Quality Index: AQI has been developed for eight pollutants viz. PM2.5, PM10, Ammonia, Lead, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide.
• Graded Response Action Plan (for Delhi)
• For Reducing Vehicular Pollution:
  • BS-VI Vehicles,
  • Push for Electric Vehicles (EVs),
  • Odd-Even Policy as an emergency measure (for Delhi)
• New Commission for Air Quality Management
  • It is a statutory authority - the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) and Adjoining Areas.
  • The MoEFCC brought a second ordinance in April 2021, after farmers had raised concerns about stiff penalties and possible jail terms for stubble burning.
• Subsidy to farmers for buying Turbo Happy Seeder (THS) Machine for reducing stubble burning.
• National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP):
  • Under NAMP, four air pollutants viz. SO2, NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 have been identified for regular monitoring at all locations.

The Third ‘No Money for Terror (NMFT)’ conference is going to be held in India from November 18-19 in New Delhi.

About the Conference:

• Type: Ministerial Conference
• Aim: to create a platform for international discussions on countering terror financing.
• Organized by: Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of over 100 countries, jointly called The Egmont Group.

• The Egmont Group was created to provide FIUs around the world a forum to exchange information confidentially to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and other predicate offenses.
• The inaugural edition of this conference was held in Paris, France, in 2018. The second edition of the NMFT took place in Melbourne, Australia, in 2019.

Points to be in focus for the third edition:

• The representatives of about 75 countries are going to attend the event.
• The major topics to be discussed at the conference spanning four sessions are;
  • Global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing;
  • Use of formal and informal channels for terrorism;
  • Emerging technologies and terrorist financing; and
  • International cooperation to address challenges in combating terrorist financing.
• It aims to set the pace for other high-level official and political discussions focusing on terror finance.
• Concerns highlighted:
  • Terrorists and extremists have improvised on technologies like cryptocurrency and crowdfunding by customizing them to suit their requirements.
  • They are also using the dark web to bring together professional hackers and terrorists seeking to transfer or crowdsource funds, and the anonymous, decentralized, and often untraceable nature of terror financing through various means.

What is Terror Financing?

• Terrorist financing encompasses the means and methods used by terrorist organizations to finance their activities.
• This money can come from legitimate sources, for example from profits from businesses and charitable organizations.
• But terrorist groups can also get their financing from illegal activities such as trafficking in weapons, drugs, or people, or kidnapping for ransom.
• Nations like Pakistan have stated the policy of supporting cross-border terrorism in India through global funding.

What hinders the global consensus?

• No definition of terrorism: There is no universal agreement over what constitutes terrorism. This weakens efforts to formulate a concerted global response.
• Non-enforcement: Multilateral action suffers from inadequate compliance and enforcement of existing instruments.
• No global watchdog: Counter-terrorism regime lacks a central global body dedicated to terrorist prevention and response.

Other mechanisms to curb terror financing:

• Financial Action Task Force: FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
• It makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase the acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
  

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