IAS Exam Current Affairs Study Material May 2017 - Vol 3

CURRENT AFFAIRS – MARCH 2017

PAPER – II 

1 POLITY

1.1 Hung Assembly -Goa & Manipur

1.2 Demanding St Status –Narikuravars

1.3 Vote Tampering in EVMS

1.4 Electoral Bonds

1.5 Special Category Status

1.6 Babri Masjid Issue                                                 To Read Polity Click here

2 GOVERNMENT POLICIES, BILLS AND INTERVENTIONS

2.1 Maternity Benefit Bill
2.2 Mental Healthcare Bill
2.3 The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill
2.4 Medical Termination Of Pregnancy Act
2.5 Inter-State Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017          To Read 2.1 to 2.5 Click Here
2.6 Companies Amendment Bill
2.7 Draft Trafficking of Persons Bill
2.8 National Health Policy 2017
2.9 SDMC’s Order
2.10 Banning Cow Slaughter
2.11 Ban on Liquor Vends
2.12 Mandatory Aadhaar
2.13 BBC Documentary on Kaziranga Tiger Reserve
2.14 NO-FLY List
2.15 Censor Board
2.16 Moral Policing -Anti-Romeo Squads

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GOVERNMENT POLICIES, BILLS AND INTERVENTIONS

2.6 COMPANIES AMENDMENT BILL
 

Why in news?
The  Ministry of Corporate Affairs is making amendments to Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2016  based on standing committee report before taking up for consideration in the Parliament.
 

What are the highlights of the bill? 

• It amends the Companies  Act, 2013 in relation to structuring, disclosure and compliance  requirements for companies.
• The 2013 Act limits the number of intermediary companies through which investments can be made  in a company.
  It also limits the number of layers of subsidiaries a company can have.
  The current bill removes these limits.
• It also requires a group of persons who exercise beneficial control (above 25%) in a company to disclose such interest.
• The Act requires a separate offer letter to be issued to individuals to whom a private offer of shares has been made.The Bill removes the requirement of such an offer letter.
• The Act permits the appointment of members at the level of Joint Secretary to the quasi-judicial tribunal.The Bill mandates that a technical member must be at leastof the level of an Additional  Secretary. These provisions are in line with a 2015 Supreme Court judgment.
• However some CLC recommendations like residence requirements for directors;and compliance requirements for dormant companies were included.

2.7 DRAFT TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS BILL

 
Why in news?
The draft trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) bill is about to be introduced.
 

What does the draft say?

• The draft bill addresses trafficking for prevention, rescue and rehabilitation.
• It seeks to levy severe financial penalties and jail terms ranging from seven years to life term for violators and repeat offenders punished with nothing short of a life sentence.
• It also seeks to bring focus on rehabilitation as a right.
• From  inclusion of aggravated forms of trafficking and other offences to establishment of well coordinated institutional mechanism from district to national level, the law covers a wide range of concerns.
• Trafficking for the purpose of forced labour, marriage, child bearing and administering narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, alcohol and hormones for the purpose of trafficking is proposed to be punished with term not less than 10 years but which may extend to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
• The same penalty  provision  is  proposed  to  be  applied  in  case  of  offence  where  a  child  is  trafficked  for  the purpose of human shield, child soldiers or for commission of crime.
• It also proposes a national Anti-Trafficking Bureau for investigation and prosecution of Trans border crimes and for national level coordination.
• It denotes that an appropriate Government shall maintain either directly or through voluntary organisations,protection homes selected and managed in the manner, as may be prescribed for the  immediate care and protection of the victims.
• It calls for setting up of shelter homes either directly or through voluntary organisations or use the  existing shelter homes, as the case may be, one or more Special Homes in each district for the  purpose of  providing long-term institutional support for the rehabilitation of victims.
• The draft also puts in place the state anti-trafficking and the district anti trafficking committee.
• The draft puts much focus on monetary reliefs and provision for a rehabilitation fund.
• There  is  special  emphasis  on  victim-witness  protection  and  time  bound  investigation  and  trial  and  time bound inter-state and cross border repatriation.
• The proposed legislation calls for the constitution of special courts to try cases relating to trafficking.
• The proposed draft legislation also introduces stringent provisions to punish and deter traffickers  and their associates from committing similar crimes in the future by way of confiscation, forfeiture and attachment and further auction of the property.

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2.8NATIONAL HEALTH POLICY 2017

Why in news?
The National Health Policy, 2017, was approved by the Union Cabinet which will replace the previous policy adopted in 2002. 

What are the key highlights? 

• The broad principles of the Policy are centered on professionalism, integrity and ethics, equity, affordability, universality, patient centered and quality of care, accountability and pluralism.
• It  aims  to  achieve  universal  access  to  good  quality  health  care  services without  anyone  having  to  face financial hardshipas a consequence.
• It intends on gradually increasing public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP.
• It  proposes  free  drugs,  free  diagnostics  and  free  emergency  and  essential  healthcare  services in  public hospitals.
• The policy advocates allocating two-thirds of resources to primary care.
• It proposes two beds per 1,000 of the population to enable access within the first 60 minutes after a traumatic injury.
• To reduce morbidity and preventable mortality of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by advocating pre-screening.
• It highlights AYUSH as a tool for effective prevention and therapy that is safe and cost-effective.
• It proposes introducing Yoga in more schools and offices to promote good health.
• It also proposed reforming medical education.
• The  policy  also  lists  quantitative  targets  regarding  life  expectancy,  mortality  and  reduction  of  disease prevalence in line with the objectives of the policy. 
  

What are the key targets?

• Increase Life Expectancy at birth from67.5 to 70 by 2025.
• Reduce Fertility Rate to 2.1 by 2025.
• Reduce Infant Mortality Rate to 28 by 2019.
• Reduce Under Five Mortality to 23 by 2025.
• Achieve the global 2020 HIV target (also termed 90:90:90 global target).
• To reduce premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory diseases by 25 per cent by 2025.
• Reducing the prevalence of blindness to 0.25 per 1000 persons by 2025.
• The disease burden to be reduced by one third from the current levels.
• Elimination of leprosy by 2018, kala-azar by 2017 and lymphatic filariasis in endemic pockets by 2017.

What are the positives?

• It  seeks  to promote  universal  access  to  good  quality  healthcare  services and  a  wide  array  of  free drugs and diagnostics.
• The proposed steps such as a health card for every family will certainly help improve health outcomes in India.
• The  recommended grading  of  clinical  establishments and  active  promotion  and  adoption  of  standard treatment guidelines can also help improve the quality of healthcare delivery in India.

What are the lacunas?

• The policy duplicates portions of the Health section of Finance Minister‘s 2017 Budget speech, reiterates health spend targets set by the erstwhile Planning Commission for the 12th Five Year Plan.
• It fails  to  make  health  a  justiciable  right in  the  way  the  Right  to  Education  2005  did  for  school education.
• A health cesswas a pathbreaking idea that was proposed in the draft policy but it was dropped.Whether Health should continue to be in the State List, or in the Concurrent List is not answered in the policy.Among  the  most  glaring  lacunae  in  the  present  context  is  the  lack  of  capacity  to  use  higher  levels  of  public funding for health.
• Although a major capacity expansion to produce MBBS graduates took place between 2009 and 2015, this is unlikely to meet policy goals since only 11.3% of registered allopathic doctors were working in the public sector as of 2014.

2.9 SDMC‟S ORDER

Why in news?
South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) made it mandatory for all hotels and restaurants in its jurisdiction to give full access to the general public to their toilet facilities.

What the order has said?

• The move is part of a soon-to-be national campaign to make more toilet facilities available to the public, with special focus on women and children.
• The broad ideas are hygiene and security.
• The suggestion came from Delhi Lieutenant Governor who urged SDMC to explore the possibility.
• Restaurant managements have been given discretion to charge up to Rs 5 per use of their toilets.
• SDMC claims as a result of the initiative, additional 3,500 toilets will be accessible to the public.

 What is the reaction of the public?

• Many have complained of an undermining of their „rights of admission‟.
• Others have pointed out that it is insensitive to deny access to an individual who needs to use the restroom.
• Both sides agree that the proposed Rs 5 charge to ostensibly cover costs of maintenance and cleaning.

What is the need for such a decision?

• The corporation maintains that because restaurants get health trade licences from the corporation,  they are bound to follow its orders. 
• While on paper, the SDMC has 600 urinals and roughly 400 toilet complexes in its jurisdiction, most of them are unusable.
• Maintenance of the SDMC‘s public facilities is poor because the corporation does not have jetting machines that spray water at high pressure to clean the toilets.
• So, in light of SDMC order, it is pertinent to consider, the state of its existing public utilities also.

Why it is not a proper solution?

• It is just a quick fix solution.
• It  did  not  look  into the  full  system,  including  the  availability  of  toilets,  water  for  flushing,  the  sewerage network, sewage treatment and provisions for discharge of the treated sewage into waterbodies.
• Instead of outlining a programme incorporating these elements, the problem is trivialised by shifting attention away.
• Health  and  Sanitation  should  be  provided  the  government  and  the  private  restaurants  cannot  be  forced  to open their toilets to the public.
• It is not a solution round the clock.

What could be done?

• The   solution   lies   in building   more   public   toilets and   ensuring   they   are   properly   maintained   and financially sustainable.
• Most public toilets are single-storey buildings; they could easily have another floor of toilets, thereby doubling the capacity without any need for additional land.
• Another  possible  approach  for  the  SDMC  would  be  to  use public-private  partnership,
• not  only  to  build toilets, but provide and/or fix the different links in the supply chain of managing and disposing waste.
• Sewage  treatment  plants can  also  be built on  land  leased  by  the  government  and  capital  invested by the private sector.

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2.10 BANNING COW SLAUGHTER

Why in news?
The  Uttar  Pradesh government  is  undertaking  a  crackdown  on  buffalo  slaughterhouses,  meat  processing  plants  and retail outlets in the state, including the legal ones.

What are the cons of meat production?

• Apart from the religious sentiments being hurt, meat production is also detrimental to the environment.
• Agriculture contributes  roughly 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions and half of this comes from meat production.
• An estimated 30% of the world‘s land not covered with ice is used to grow food for livestock, leaving a huge footprint in terms of land and water consumption.
• Eating around 100g of meat per day per person results in emitting about 7.2 kg of CO2 per day as compared to 2.9 kg of CO2 emitted by vegan diets.

What are the necessities for slaughter houses? 

• Freedom-India is a secular nation and the culture of eating food differs across communities, regions and religions. Hence this cannot be infringed upon.
• Economy of Farmers-The cow has been traditional used for ploughing, drawing water from wells  for irrigation, threshing grain and pulling carts. 
• Due to modernisation most of these activities became redundant.
• So the farmer today rears cattle and buffaloes essentially for milk.
• The viability of milk production depends on maintaining only high-milking animals.
• But it is not possible if there is no mechanism available for disposal of unproductive animals. 
• It costs about Rs 70,000 per animal per year to be fed properly and looked after. 
• A small farmer cannot afford to spend such an amount on unproductive animals.
• The  reason  for  increase  in  Buffalo  population  by 61% between  1997  and  2012  and the  maintaining of  female buffaloes  at  the  rate  of  82%  of  its  total  population  is  due  to  the  availability  of  an  avenue  for  disposal  in  the form of slaughterhouses. 
• The current environment of closing down abattoirs and so-called unlicensed meat shops discourage dairy farming.
• This could eventually hit the country‘s milk production and force reliance on imports. 
• Nutrition -Beef is a cheap source of protein for a large number of people, hence critical for their nutritional security. 

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2.11 BAN ON LIQUOR VENDS

Why in news?
The Supreme Court ordered to remove ―liquor vends‖ located within 500 m distance of national, State highways,associated roads and service lanes.

What was the order?

• The licences of liquor shops across the highways will not be renewed after March 31, 2017.
• The judgment ordered that the prohibition on sale of liquor alongside highways would extend to stretches of such highways that fall within limits of municipal corporations, city towns and local authorities.
• The ban also extends to bars, pubs and restaurants located on highways.
• It also prohibits signage and advertising of availability of liquor on highways.
• No shop for sale of liquor should be visible from the National and State highways and noted that the visibility is the first temptation.

What was the court’s rationale?

• The order is intended to prevent drunk driving.
• 1.5 lakh fatalities happen annually in road accidents and about 10% deaths were caused because of driving under the influence of alcohol.
• The court said revenue generation could not be a ―valid reason‖ for a state or a Union Territory to give licence for liquor shops on highways.
• India being a signatory to the Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety, it is imperative that policy guidelines are framed to control road accidents.

Is the freedom of choice compromised?

• The judgement infringes on individuals right to decide with their own free will.
• But alcohol influences the brain and compromises its ability to make a reasoned choice.
• Moreover, there is third party damage.
• Those around the abusers like wives, children, neighbours, those walking or driving on the streets, the poor sleeping on footpaths are at grievous risk.
• Therefore the issue is not simply about the freedom of choice of drinkers.
• It is also the freedom of life, safety and dignity, of family income and the productivity of other people.

Whether prohibition is effective?

• According to WHO, the annual per adult consumption of absolute alcohol in India is 4,000 ml.
• It is 100 ml in Pakistan and 200 ml in Bangladesh.
• In the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and Bhutan, it is 700 ml.
• It less than 1,000 ml in 26 countries where governments & culture have taken an anti-alcohol view.
• So culture does influence people behaviour,especially when government also holds a similar view.
• Most religions in India prohibit drinking. If government policy and efforts complement this cultural factor, lessening the present alcohol consumption is possible.
• Alcohol consumption might never become zero.
• So the initial focus of prohibition should be towards reducing alcohol consumption.

What are the shortcomings?

• It will not stop the availability of liquor. One can always buy it beforehand.
• The order does not exempt outlets in cities and towns, where most of the consumers are local residents.
• The move halves the country‘s excise revenues from alcohol from current levels of Rs.12,000crore per annum.
• States could lose Rs.50,000 crore in overall tax revenues. Maharashtra expected to be the worst-hit.
• Retail outlets can perhaps move another 500m with minimal expense & no great loss of clientele but established hotels and clubs does not enjoy such luxury.
• Smaller administrative units like Puducherry will find relocation of many shops impossible, as they are caught between the highway and the sea.
• Goa, a small State that depends heavily on tourism, is in a similarly difficult situation.
• The relaxation of the liquor-free zone from 500 m to 220 m from the highways in the case of areas with a population of 20,000 or less might only partly address their concerns.
• Even if less than 5% of the jobs in the travel and tourism sector are affected, it could amount to 1.5 million jobs.
• The ban will also hurt the many small businesses which survive around the bars and restaurants.
• It is neither easy nor perhaps even desirable for bars to move away from the highways into residential neighbourhoods. 

What should be done? 

• There are better ways of dealing with drunken driving starting like stricter enforcement of current laws, tougher and more frequent policing, and stiffer consequences, like deterrent fines and loss of driving privileges.
• A zero tolerance‘ approach to drunk driving has shown positive results wherever it has been enforced adequately, such as in Mumbai.  

2.12 MANDATORY AADHAAR

Why in news?
Aadhaar is being made mandatory for many government schemes like withdrawing pension money to access to midday meals at school.

What is Aadhaar?

• Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique-identity number issued to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demographic data.
• The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
• It is a statutory authority established by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016.
• Over a billion Aadhaar numbers have now been handed out.

What are the positives of having Aadhaar?

• The number would serve as a unique identifier, suitable for all forms of identification.
• The government can transfer welfare payments directly to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, cutting out India‘s notoriously corrupt middlemen.
• It could be used to borrow money, tap into a pension account.
• It was a simple, lightweight, elegant solution with a minimal cost.
• Initially using it was voluntary.
• Proving ones identification is very simple.
• Aadhaar designers promised robust privacy legislation. 

What are the problems of Aadhaar?

• Presently in India, providing certificates for one‘s identity is sometimes impossible.
• Supreme Court has mandated that Aadhaar should be voluntary and limited to the programs that require it.
• But the government is forcing Indians to use their ID number to access all available government services.
• Concerns about the security of the Unique ID system still remain.
• Indians do not have no fundamental right to privacy.
• Therefore citizens are left trusting Aadhaar‘sadministratorsi.e UIDAI. It needs to be clearly accountable, but that‘s not the case.

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2.13 BBC DOCUMENTARY ON KAZIRANGA TIGER RESERVE

Why in news?

• The Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has urged the Ministry of External Affairs to revoke the visas of BBC‘s crew and ban their entry into India for at least five years.
• It is a retaliative measure for filming a documentary that allegedly put India‘s conservation efforts in bad light.

What are the features of KNP?

• Kaziranga National Park in Assam hosts two-thirds of the world's great one-horned rhinoceroses.
• It is a World Heritage Site and located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot.
• It is home to the highest density of tigers and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006.
• It also hosts large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer.
• The rivers Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri flow through it.
• The great one-horned rhinoceros is native to India and listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List

What is the documentary about?

• The documentary, One World: Killing for Conservation explored the anti-poaching strategy adopted by the guards of the Kaziranga Tiger Reserve (KTR) in Assam while protecting the one-horned Indian Rhino.
• It referred to ―dark secrets‖ of conservation at KTR.
• The documentary said the forest guards had been given powers to shoot and kill poachers.
• It also stated that more people were killed by guards than rhinos by poachers at the tiger reserve.

What is NTCA’s rationale?
The NTCA alleged that the violations by the journalist involved
1. Filming after sunset,
2. Dishonouring the undertaking provided,
3. Deviating from the original synopsis submitted to mea and its authority.
4. Not screening the documentary before a committee of the moef&cc.
It described the documentary as ―grossly erroneous reporting‖.
BBC had failed to submit the documentary to MoEFCC and the MEA for obligatory previewing.
So, NTCA has asked chief wildlife wardens of all tiger range states and field directors of tiger reserves to disallow filming permission to BBC in any of the protected areas for a period of 5 years.

What is the shoot and sight order?

• The forest guards were given ―legal immunity‖ in Kaziranga and Corbett to use lethal force to stop poaching.
• Shoot-at-sight does not mean forest guards can gun down anyone they spot inside the forest.
• It means that they are empowered to open fire if they cannot satisfactorily establish the identity or purpose of an intruder.
• A protection force is in any case entitled to retaliate if attacked. The distinction here is that the guards are allowed to shoot as a pre-emptive move before they are shot at.
• Poachers in KNP are known to carry Kalashnikov assault rifles.
• Forest guards with their usual .303s have a slim chance without a first-mover advantage.
• Kaziranga does not has any village inside.
• Therefore, there is no question of villagers entering or leaving the park at unusual hours.
• That makes anyone who is spotted a suspect.

How effective is the shoot and sight order?

• There is no denying that firepower is required to take on heavily-armed poachers.
• But there is a question about its effectiveness and guard‘s responsible use of power.
• Abuse - The guards allegedly settled personal scores in the name of anti-poaching operations.
• They even colluded with the poaching syndicates.
• The park authorities were accused of harassing local villagers while shielding political bigwigs.
• Effectiveness - The guns also worked only as a limited and temporary deterrent to poaching.
• Even after hundreds of poachers were killed in Kruger, South Africa, around 500 instances of rhino poaching were reported every year.
• In Kaziranga, forest guards shot dead 45 poachers over 2014 & 2015, yet at least 44 rhinos were poached in the park during the same period.
• Reliance on guns tends to shift focus from intelligence-based anti-poaching drives.
• Local Community - Guns alienate local stakeholders whose support is crucial for any conservation effort to succeed in the long term.
• Instead, disempowered, persecuted and impoverished locals become easy recruits for syndicates.
• Sharing the economic benefits of conservation with local communities will not immediately sever the lifelines of poaching syndicates.
• Yet it is more important to include them as it is more about recognising their rights and dignity. Over time, the collective stake of these communities can grow to work as an effective deterrent.

2.14 NO-FLY LIST

What is the issue?

RavindraGaikwad, a MP belonging to the Shiv Sena, assaulted a duty manager on an Air India flight.

Following this there was an airline-wide boycott against him.

It has prompted the civil aviation ministry to consider drawing up an official No-Fly List (NFL) as well as rules specifying the grounds on which airlines can bar people from travelling.  

How important is to address unruly passengers?

• Unruly passenger incidents include violence against crew and other passengers, harassment, verbal abuse, smoking, failure to follow safety instructions, and other forms of riotous behaviour.
• It is a serious matter that needs to be dealt with as it has the potential to put at risk the safety of others flying with them.
• A survey by International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that there was one unruly incident for every 1,205 flights in 2015 and 1/ 1,282 flights in 2014.
• The majority were Level 1 incidents i.e they are verbal in nature and can usually be dealt with successfully by crew using de-escalation training.
• The survey also that unruly behaviour had increased in the last five years, while physical aggression was one of the top three safety issues that caused concern to cabin crew.

How it is dealt with in India?
The Aircraft Rules,1937,spell out course of actions to be taken following disruptive behaviour.
Rules 22 and 23 highlight the parameters under which action can be taken under the jurisdiction of India, andthe crucial role of the pilot-in-command.
The government and Airlines in India are beginning to take some steps to put in place a ―no-fly‖ list.

How effective is the No-Fly list?

• No-fly lists may come from the airline industry‘s right guaranteed under international aviation law to accept or decline passengers on grounds of flight safety.
• The experience in the US, where the list was mobilised after 9/11, has been far from happy because people can be assigned to it without even being informed.
• There were no specific guidelines on who can be added in the list. e.g Anything can trigger the ban like an intemperate social media entry.
• It also loosened protection of civil rights and gave free reign to social prejudice e.g the bulk of those who end up on the list were Muslims.
• US court declared that the method of compiling the no-fly list unconstitutional.
• Hence NFL can run into legal hurdles as it mandates public behaviour.
• There an informal no-fly list is best left to the airlines‘ discretion.
• Like hotels and restaurants, their staff should be skilled at spotting potential troublemakers.

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2.15 CENSOR BOARD

Why in news?

• The Central Board of Film Certification i.e the ‗Censor Board‘ has turned down a film KaBodyscapes recently.
• It has been viewed thrice by the Board.

What is CBFC?

• CBFC is a statutory body under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• It regulates the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952.
• Films can be publicly exhibited in India only after they have been certified by CBFC.
• The Board consists of non-official members and a Chairman (all of whom are appointed by Central Government) and functions with headquarters at Mumbai.
• It has nine Regional offices, one each at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Cuttack and Guwahati.
• The Regional Offices are assisted in the examination of films by Advisory Panels.
• The members of the panels are nominated by Central Government by drawing people from different walks of life for a period of 2 years.
• The Certification process is in accordance with The Cinematograph Act, 1952, The Cinematograph (certification) Rules, 1983, and the guidelines issued by the Central government u/s 5 (B)

What is the film about?

• It revolves around three characters.
• It includes a homosexual couple, of which one happens to be a Muslim and the other is a Hanuman-bhakt who comes from a family of right-wingers.
• Third is a feministic woman.
• The story is about how they struggle to find space and happiness in a conservative Indian City.

What are the Board’s objections?

• The board is of view that the film is glorifying the subject of gay and homosexual relationship.
• They also held that the film is explicit of scene offending Hindu sensibilities depicting vulgarity, nudity and obscenity through the movie.
• It also held that the movie might invoke a law and order‘ problem.

Why is the move wrong?

• It is against the freedom of expression
• The view that the homosexuality is against culture is unwarranted as many temple sculpture in India celebrates sexual union of every kind.
• Moreover, there is no stricture against the depiction of nudity in Hinduism.
• Court judgments have categorically rejected the argument of law & order as a criterion banning film.
• The Constitution gives an individual the freedom to practice his or her religion.
• It does not give the right to be protected from any reference to the religion that may be interpreted as giving offense. All practices are open to scrutiny and no religious immunity‘ is offered.
• India is a secular republic and no special rights are accorded to religion. The political rights are due only to individuals not to a whole religion.

What should be done?

• The Board‘s authority to effectively ban films should go.
• CBFC should only be a film certification body whose scope should be restricted to categorizing the suitability of the film to audience groups on the basis of age and maturity

2.16 MORAL POLICING - ANTI-ROMEO SQUADS

Why in news?

• The setting up of ―anti-Romeo squads‖ was one of the election promises in Uttar Pradesh.
• What is the purpose of these “squads”?
• They were meant to curtail eve-teasing and provide greater security to women.
• It is aimed at taking action against boys who are found outside girls‘ colleges, and are involved in eveteasing and molesting girl students
• But couples were stopped just for being spotted together, though the squad admittedly had no legal jurisdiction to stop them.

Why it is bad?

• If the police can‘t tell the difference between molesters and amicable couples, the squads disperse humiliation,extortion and violence on innocent young people in public places.
• It violates citizens‘ rights and dignity
• It brings back medieval repressions especially at a time when walls between the genders are breaking.
• They make it unsafe for women to step out with men of their choice, inhibit families and foist retrograde notions about the sexes meeting.
• Earlier accusation love jihad todescribe mixed-religion marriages as was aggression targeted minorities.
• It included references to an incident of alleged abduction, gangrape and forced conversion of a Hindu girl to Islam in Kharkhoda area of Meerut.
• The current move has expanded hatred towards all young people.
• It is also against the concept of minimum government.

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