NATIONAL NEWS
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao: 80% of funds spent on media campaigns, says Parliamentary Committee
The government spent a whopping 80% of funds under its flagship Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme on media campaigns and must now revisit this strategy and invest in measurable outcomes in health and education for girls, noted the Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women in its report tabled in Lok Sabha. The Committee finds that out of a total of ₹446.72 crore released during the period 2016-2019, a whopping 78.91% was spent only on media advocacy, said the report. It adds, over the last six years, through focussed advocacy BBBP has been able to capture the attention of political leadership and national consciousness towards valuing the girl child. Now, it is time to focus on other verticals by making ample financial provisions to help achieve measurable outcomes related to education and health envisaged under the scheme. The Committee noted that the massive spend on advertisements was despite the clearly laid down formula for utilisation of funds – ₹50 lakh per year is earmarked for a district for utilisation under six different components. Of this, 16% of funds are for inter-sectoral consultation or capacity building, 50% for innovation or awareness generation activities, 6% for monitoring and evaluation, 10% for sectoral interventions in health, 10% for sectoral interventions in education and 8% as flexi funds. The Committee is chaired by Heena Vijaykumar Gavit and the report is titled ‘Empowerment of Women through education with special reference to Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’. It was tabled in Lok Sabha on Thursday. The Beti Bachao scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2015 with the aim to address sex selective abortion and the declining child sex ratio which was at 918 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2011. The programme is being implemented across 405 districts in the country. The total utilisation under the scheme was also poor – the Committee found that since the inception of BBBP in 2014-15 till 2019-20, the total Budgetary allocation under the scheme was ₹848 crore, excluding the COVID-stricken financial year of 2020-21. During this period, an amount of ₹622.48 crore was released to the States but only 25.13% of the funds, i.e. ₹156.46 crore, have been spent by the States and Union Territories.
Supreme Court directs Air Quality Commission to decide on relaxing curbs in Delhi
Noting that the air quality in Delhi had started improving, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre’s Air Quality Commission to take a decision on relaxing restrictions imposed by the court on sources of pollution — including industries, constructions and factories — in the capital. A Special Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana asked the panel to look into the issue within a week. The court had earlier ordered the regulation of construction and the operation of factories using unclean fuel. It had banned the entry of polluting trucks not carrying essential goods into Delhi. The Delhi government had also closed educational institutions. The commission had, in a previous hearing, said that thermal plants within a 300-km radius of Delhi would continue to be regulated. Only five of 11 plants were functional. The rest would remain inoperative till December 15. Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, speaking for the commission, said long-term anti-pollution measures were already under contemplation. During the last hearing on December 3, the commission informed the court about the creation of an ‘Enforcement Task Force’ and flying squads to prevent and penalise polluters in Delhi NCR. Mehta had, at the time, informed the court that 17 flying squads had been formed thus far and this number would be increased to 40 in the next 24 hours. The court, in a hearing on December 2, had questioned the very purpose of having the Air Quality Commission as pollution levels continued to rise unabated. It had given the Centre a 24-hour deadline to act. The court mentioned orally that the commission was participating in the hearings and the Bench could not go into individual cases. The court further directed Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to pay wages to construction workers from the welfare cess.
No proposal to scrap sedition law: Govt.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday told the Lok Sabha that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has no proposal under consideration to scrap Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that deals with sedition. Rijiju also informed the House that the question of law regarding Section 124A is pending for adjudication before the Supreme Court. The Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that there is no proposal under consideration to scrap Sec 124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Further, the question of law regarding Section 124A is pending for adjudication before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Law Minister said in a written reply to a question that asked if the government was planning to strike it down. Section 124A of the IPC says, Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in [India], shall be punished with [imprisonment for life], to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine. He was responding to a question from All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) member from Assam, Badruddin Ajmal, who asked whether the Supreme Court had recently termed the sedition law as colonial and made an observation that it is being misused and if the court has directed the Union Government to submit its response on the necessity and validity of this law. No such observations have been found in any judgment or order delivered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Law Minister said. However, he said, in a writ petition, the top court has observed that the ambit and parameters of the provisions of Sections 124A, 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 would require interpretation, particularly in the context of the right of the electronic and print media to communicate news, information and the rights, even those that may be critical of the prevailing regime in any part of the nation. The Law Minister said the top court, in a writ petition (criminal) issued notice to the Centre, said the petitioners have made a prayer before the Supreme Court for an appropriate writ, order or direction declaring Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to be unconstitutional and void. Upon hearing the matter, the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide order dated July 12, 2021 has granted time for filing written submissions and counter affidavit in the matter on behalf of the Union of India, he said. The Writ petition (Civil) No. 682/2021 has been tagged with other matters wherein similar question of law has been raised and are pending for consideration before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, Mr. Rijiju’s reply noted.
Man lynched in Bihar allegedly for stealing cattle
Police have filed an FIR against unknown persons after a man was lynched by a mob allegedly for stealing cattle in Bihar’s Araria district on December 8. According to the police, Mohd Siddiqui, 52, was lynched by a mob at Bhawanipur village under Fulkaha police station of Forbesganj sub-division in Araria district on Wednesday allegedly for stealing cattle. However, the incident came to light on December 10. A villager raised an alarm after he spotted some men stealing buffaloes and bullocks owned by his co-villager Sanichar Bariyet and when they started chasing thieves, one of them fired a gunshot in the air to scare them away, but another of them Mohd Siddiqui was caught by the villagers while, others managed to escape. Mohd Siddiqui was beaten up with sticks and fists and he succumbed to his injuries, said Fulkaha police station Inspector Nagina Kumar. He also said an FIR has been lodged against unknown persons. Villagers said cattle thieves often sell stolen cattle to slaughter houses in areas bordering Nepal. The victim Mohd Siddiqui was identified as resident of the neighbouring district of Supaul. We’re questioning villagers to identify attackers as there were around 100 people gathered at the spot when the incident had happened, said the police officer while adding, no arrest has been made yet in the case. We keep getting complaints of cattle theft regularly in the area but not of mob lynching. Arrests will be made soon in the case, a senior police official of the district said.
Aryan Khan seeks relaxation in bail terms
Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, moved the Bombay High Court seeking minor changes in the bail conditions imposed on him by the court in the drug racket case against him. On October 29, a single bench of Justice Nitin Sambre granted bail to Khan, 23, and two others and directed that they be released from Arthur Road Jail after executing a cash bond of ₹1 lakh with one or more sureties. Khan sought a relaxation in the conditions requiring him to appear at the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai office every Friday between 11a.m. to 2 p.m. In the application filed on Thursday, Khan said the cruise ship drug heist case was now being drug probed by a special investigation team based in Delhi. He also urged the court that there should be police presence when he attended the NCB office because of the heavy media presence there. The application is likely to be heard by the High Court next week, his lawyers said. On October 2, the central agency seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of MD (mephedrone), 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and ₹1,33,000 cash at the International Cruise Terminal, Mumbai. Khan along with others were booked under several sections of the NDPS Act.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
U.K. court permits Assange extradition to U.S. on spying charges A British appellate court opened the door Friday for Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States by overturning a lower court ruling that found the WikiLeaks founder’s mental health was too fragile to withstand the American criminal justice system. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks. File The High Court in London ruled that U.S. assurances were enough to guarantee Assange would be treated humanely and directed a lower court judge to send the extradition request to the home secretary for review. The home secretary, who oversees law enforcement in the U.K., will make the final decision on whether to extradite Assange. However, the appellate court ruling handed down on Friday is likely to be appealed. A lower court judge earlier this year had refused an American request to extradite Assange to the U.S. to face spying charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret military documents a decade ago. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied extradition on health grounds, saying Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. The United States appealed, challenging the notion that Assange’s mental health made him too vulnerable to withstand the U.S. judicial system. Lawyer James Lewis said Assange has no history of serious and enduring mental illness and does not meet the threshold of being so ill that he cannot resist harming himself. U.S. authorities have told British judges that if they agree to extradite Assange, he could serve any U.S. prison sentence he receives in his native Australia. U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, although Lewis said the longest sentence ever imposed for this offense is 63 months. Assange, 50, is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison.
India airlifts stranded Indians from Kabul, Afghanistan.
A special flight arrived to India from Kabul in Afghanistan carrying 110 stranded people in the war-torn country. The flight bought 10 Indians and 94 Afghans including the members of the Afghan Hindu-Sikh minority community. Ancient Hindu scriptures and three holy Shree Guru Granth Sahib Ji were also brought back.
