Rajaguru ias academy
Rajaguru ias academy April 25 Phalke award for Viswanath Introduction: Veteran film director Kasinathuni Viswanath has made the Telugu film industry proud by winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in cinema, for 2016. It is the biggest milestone in his long journey spanning nearly six decades that began in 1957.
The court agreed that India, which had signed the UN Convention against torture way back in 1997, had still not ratified it. The Convention defines torture as a criminal offence. No steps had been taken to implement the Prevention of Torture Bill 2010 even six years after it was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 6, 2010. The Centre had avoided an independent legislation on torture, saying that some States were not in favour of such a law and the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code were more than sufficient.
SC for broad anti-torture legislation Introduction: India may be finding it tough to secure extraditions because there is a fear within the international community that the accused persons would be subject to torture here, the Supreme Court said. Supreme Court bench said it was a matter of both Article 21 (fundamental right to life and dignity) and of international reputation that the government must consider promulgating a standalone, comprehensive law to define and punish torture as an instrument of “human degradation” by state authorities. Earlier case: The court referred to the setback suffered by the CBI in its efforts to get Kim Davy — a Danish citizen and prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case of 1995 — extradited from Denmark. A Danish court had rejected the plea on the ground that he would risk “torture or other inhuman treatment” in India.
Support from States: 90% of the States had no objection for a special law on torture and the NHRC itself had strongly supported the need for such a law. The Indian Penal Code did not specifically and comprehensively address the various aspects of custodial torture and was “grossly inadequate in addressing the spiralling situation of custodial violence across the country.” NHRC kept count: The petition contended that the NHRC kept count of incidents of custodial torture only if the inhuman treatment led to death and not otherwise. So a majority of cases simply went unreported. Goldman Prize for Niyamgiri hero Activist Prafulla Samantara was named as one of the six winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize for 2017.
Tackling torture:
Con: 94447-84446, 94447-83336
www.rajaguruiasacademy.com
Page 1
Rajaguru ias academy The prize citation said he was honoured for his “…historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondhs’ land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine.” Mr. Samantara was one of the key leaders responsible for rallying tribes, indigenous to Odisha’s Niyamgiri region, and using legal provisions to thwart mining-tometals conglomerate, Vedanta.
The company was later forced to suspend plans to mine bauxite in the region. The annual prize awarded by the Goldman Environmental Foundation honours grassroots environmentalists, who risk their lives to protect the environment and empower those who have the most to lose from industrial projects. He is however, best known for his championing of the rights of the Dongria Kondh, an 8,000-member indigenous tribe in Odisha. The Niyamgiri Hills are sacred to them, and as such, the Dongria consider themselves to be its custodians. In October 2004, the Odisha State Mining Company (OMC) signed an agreement with U.K.-based Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite, in the Niyamgiri Hills. The mine threatened 1,660 acres of forests. Five other Indians — Medha Patkar, M.C. Mehta, Rasheeda Bi, Champaran Shukla, Ramesh Agrawal — have won the award since it was instituted in 1990.
Con: 94447-84446, 94447-83336
PAPER III Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security Arms haul in border village causes concern The Union Home Ministry is understood to have taken note of the seizure of an AK 47 and an M-16 rifle and other accessories from a house at Indisen village near Dimapur in Nagaland. Seizure of such sophisticated rifles is reported frequently from some Northeastern States. Arms smuggling: International gunrunners are believed to be operating along the 358-km ManipurMyanmar border to supply arms to the everincreasing number of insurgent outfits in the region. Border Security Force personnel deployed along the International Border with Manipur were replaced some years ago by the Assam Rifles trained in counter-insurgency operations. There have been ambushes in Chandel district in which several Army men have lost their lives. Several hundred vehicles ply along the Trans-Asian Highway no. 102 passing through Moreh, Manipur’s border town, which makes it easy to transport illegal weapons. Automatic guns and explosives are also smuggled to the region through the mountain bridle paths. Sources say there are several groups willing to smuggle guns along the highway for a fee. In the past, the Assam Rifles troopers have seized guns concealed in cars and explosives stuffed inside fish tins, pumpkins and coconuts. Some have even been arrested with huge caches of arms openly brought in cars and vans. Work on a 10-km border fence was started along the Moreh-Myanmar border mainly to keep off arms and drug smugglers. However, the work was suspended after residents of several villages the fence would have cut across objected.
www.rajaguruiasacademy.com
Page 2
The court agreed that India, which had signed the UN Convention against torture way back in 1997, had still not ratified it. The Convention defines torture as a criminal offence. No steps had been taken to implement the Prevention of Torture Bill 2010 even six years after it was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 6, 2010. The Centre had avoided an independent legislation on torture, saying that some States were not in favour of such a law and the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code were more than sufficient.
SC for broad anti-torture legislation Introduction: India may be finding it tough to secure extraditions because there is a fear within the international community that the accused persons would be subject to torture here, the Supreme Court said. Supreme Court bench said it was a matter of both Article 21 (fundamental right to life and dignity) and of international reputation that the government must consider promulgating a standalone, comprehensive law to define and punish torture as an instrument of “human degradation” by state authorities. Earlier case: The court referred to the setback suffered by the CBI in its efforts to get Kim Davy — a Danish citizen and prime accused in the Purulia arms drop case of 1995 — extradited from Denmark. A Danish court had rejected the plea on the ground that he would risk “torture or other inhuman treatment” in India.
Support from States: 90% of the States had no objection for a special law on torture and the NHRC itself had strongly supported the need for such a law. The Indian Penal Code did not specifically and comprehensively address the various aspects of custodial torture and was “grossly inadequate in addressing the spiralling situation of custodial violence across the country.” NHRC kept count: The petition contended that the NHRC kept count of incidents of custodial torture only if the inhuman treatment led to death and not otherwise. So a majority of cases simply went unreported. Goldman Prize for Niyamgiri hero Activist Prafulla Samantara was named as one of the six winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize for 2017.
Tackling torture:
Con: 94447-84446, 94447-83336
www.rajaguruiasacademy.com
Page 1
Rajaguru ias academy The prize citation said he was honoured for his “…historic 12-year legal battle that affirmed the indigenous Dongria Kondhs’ land rights and protected the Niyamgiri Hills from a massive, open-pit aluminum ore mine.” Mr. Samantara was one of the key leaders responsible for rallying tribes, indigenous to Odisha’s Niyamgiri region, and using legal provisions to thwart mining-tometals conglomerate, Vedanta.
The company was later forced to suspend plans to mine bauxite in the region. The annual prize awarded by the Goldman Environmental Foundation honours grassroots environmentalists, who risk their lives to protect the environment and empower those who have the most to lose from industrial projects. He is however, best known for his championing of the rights of the Dongria Kondh, an 8,000-member indigenous tribe in Odisha. The Niyamgiri Hills are sacred to them, and as such, the Dongria consider themselves to be its custodians. In October 2004, the Odisha State Mining Company (OMC) signed an agreement with U.K.-based Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite, in the Niyamgiri Hills. The mine threatened 1,660 acres of forests. Five other Indians — Medha Patkar, M.C. Mehta, Rasheeda Bi, Champaran Shukla, Ramesh Agrawal — have won the award since it was instituted in 1990.
Con: 94447-84446, 94447-83336
PAPER III Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security Arms haul in border village causes concern The Union Home Ministry is understood to have taken note of the seizure of an AK 47 and an M-16 rifle and other accessories from a house at Indisen village near Dimapur in Nagaland. Seizure of such sophisticated rifles is reported frequently from some Northeastern States. Arms smuggling: International gunrunners are believed to be operating along the 358-km ManipurMyanmar border to supply arms to the everincreasing number of insurgent outfits in the region. Border Security Force personnel deployed along the International Border with Manipur were replaced some years ago by the Assam Rifles trained in counter-insurgency operations. There have been ambushes in Chandel district in which several Army men have lost their lives. Several hundred vehicles ply along the Trans-Asian Highway no. 102 passing through Moreh, Manipur’s border town, which makes it easy to transport illegal weapons. Automatic guns and explosives are also smuggled to the region through the mountain bridle paths. Sources say there are several groups willing to smuggle guns along the highway for a fee. In the past, the Assam Rifles troopers have seized guns concealed in cars and explosives stuffed inside fish tins, pumpkins and coconuts. Some have even been arrested with huge caches of arms openly brought in cars and vans. Work on a 10-km border fence was started along the Moreh-Myanmar border mainly to keep off arms and drug smugglers. However, the work was suspended after residents of several villages the fence would have cut across objected.
www.rajaguruiasacademy.com
Page 2
