NATIONAL NEWS
CJI voices support for 50% representation for women in judiciary
Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Sunday backed 50% representation for women in judiciary. It is your right. It is not a matter of charity…Enough of this thousands of years of suppression, Chief Justice Ramana said. The CJI paraphrased Karl Marx to say, Women of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains. Speaking to women judges and advocates of the Supreme Court at an event organised to felicitate him and the nine new apex court judges, the CJI said women constitute only about 30% of the subordinate judiciary. In High Courts, women judges constitute 11.5%. Here in the Supreme Court, we currently have four women Justices out of the sitting 33. That makes it just 12%. Of the 1.7 million advocates, only 15% are women. Only 2% of the elected representatives in the State Bar Councils are women. There is no woman member in the Bar Council of India. This needs urgent correction, Chief Justice Ramana said. The Chief Justice highlighted the need to increase gender diversity in legal education. I strongly advocate reservation of a significant percentage of seats in law schools and universities for women, as a first step. Ultimately, inclusion of women judges and lawyers will substantially improve the quality of justice delivery, the CJI said. The Supreme Court has the highest ever number of women judges serving now. The Ramana Collegium scripted history by successfully initiating the appointment of three women judges to the apex court in one go. One of them, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, is poised to be the first woman CJI in 2027. My sisters (women Supreme Court judges) here have carved out a name for themselves already. My dear sisters, your actions in upholding the Constitution will inspire women, not only in this profession but in all walks of life, the CJI addressed his women colleagues. Chief Justice Ramana said the lack of infrastructure, gender stereotypes, and social attitudes have plagued the entry and progress of women in the legal profession. Clients’ preference for male advocates, uncomfortable environment within courtrooms, lack of infrastructure, crowded courtrooms, lack of washrooms for women etc. — all these deter women from entering the profession, the CJI said. The CJI said the need for basic facilities, especially for women, need to be addressed immediately. The survey I directed found out that out of 6,000 trial courts, nearly 22% have no toilets for women, the CJI informed. Chief Justice Ramana has been repeatedly pressing for the need to form a separate entity — National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation — to introduce inclusive designs for court complexes and create a more welcoming environment in them.
Govt plans to intensify operations against Naxals, choke flow of funds, act against groups that serve as fronts
Intensifying operations against the Naxals and choking the flow of funds to them were the two key issues discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by six Chief Ministers and top officials of four other States in New Delhi on September 26, sources said. Action against frontal organisations of the Maoists, filling up the security vacuum, and concerted action by the Enforcement Directorate, the National Investigation Agency, and the State police were other vital issues discussed during the nearly three-hour-long meeting. The Chief Ministers who attended the meeting were Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), K. Chandrashekar Rao (Telangana), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra) and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), official sources ssaid West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan did not attend the meeting. Their States were represented by senior officials. Focused investigation and prosecution of cases, action against front organisations, coordination amongst States, capacity-building of State intelligence branches and the special forces of the States, and construction of fortified police stations were other issues discussed at the meeting. The home minister reviewed with the Chief Ministers and officials the security situation and ongoing operations against Maoists and development projects being carried out in the Naxalism-affected areas, the sources said. Shah took stock of the requirements of the States, the strength of forces deployed to tackle the extremists, and development works such as the construction of roads, bridges, school, and health centres being carried out in Naxal-hit areas. The Naxal problem, also called Left Wing Extremism (LWE), were reported in 61 districts in 2019 and in only about 45 districts in 2020. About 380 security personnel, 1,000 civilians and 900 Naxals were killed in LWE-affected areas from 2015 to 2020. A total of about 4,200 Naxals have also surrendered during the same period, as per data shared by the government.
Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi carries out first cabinet expansion
The new Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday expanded his cabinet with 15 ministers taking oath of office here. Seven fresh faces that were included in the new cabinet include Raj Kumar Verka, Pargat Singh, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurkirat Kotli, Rana Gurjit Singh and Nabha Randeep Nabha. Former Irrigation minister and three-time MLA from Kapurthala Rana Gurjit Singh was also inducted. The Ministers that have been retained from former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s cabinet include Brahm Mohindra, Manpreet Badal, Sukhbinder Sarkaria, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Vijay Inder Singla, Aruna Chaudhary, Razia Sultana and Bharat Bhushan Ashu. Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the legislators. Ahead of the cabinet expansion a few Congress leaders wrote to Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu against including Rana Gurjit Singh in the cabinet for his alleged involvement in a sand-mining scam in the state. Channi and two deputy Chief Ministers — O P Soni and Sukhjinder Randhawa — had already taken oath of office last week.
Caste census: Nitish to hold all-party meeting on way forward
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday reiterated that holding a caste-based census in the country is the need of the hour, and said he would hold an all-party meeting after the Central government informed the Supreme Court that conducting such a census was not feasible. Last month leaders of ten political parties from Bihar, led by Mr. Kumar, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand a caste-based census in the country. A 11-member, all party delegation led by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday demanding a caste-based census. Last month leaders of 10 political parties from Bihar, led by Mr. Kumar, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand a caste-based census in the country. Caste-based census is a legitimate demand and need of the hour. The Central government should think over it as it is pro-development and will help policy-makers frame targeted welfare policies for the backward classes. It (caste-based census) must take place. We’ll hold an all-party meeting again over this issue in Bihar, Kumar told media persons in Delhi. Kumar was speaking after attending a high-level meeting on Left Wing extremism. On Saturday, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Tejashwi Yadav had written to 33 non-BJP leaders for the demand of caste-based census in the country. The ruling party does not have a single rational reason against conducting caste based census, Yadav said in his two-page letter. The RJD leader had earlier served a three-day ultimatum to Kumar to reveal the next step after the Centre’s refusal. While listing benefits of a caste-based census in the country, Soren said the data would help in providing reservation to backward people, help in framing better policies and their implementation for development of backward class people.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Avoid shifting goalposts on border dispute, Indian envoy tells China
India’s envoy to China has called on Beijing to avoid shifting goalposts by blurring the immediate challenge of managing disputed border areas with the longer term negotiations to resolve the boundary dispute, saying both sides needed to follow past agreements and pursue both objectives on parallel tracks. Underlining the obstacles that India-China relations currently face, Ambassador to China Vikram Misri said, The first is to avoid shifting goalposts. He was speaking at a Track Two dialogue held by Indian and Chinese institutes last week and the transcript was made available by the Indian Embassy in Beijing on Saturday. Misri said both sides continued to have conversations about resolving the crisis on the Line of Actual Control, and following disengagement at Galwan Valley, the north and south banks of Pangong Lake, and most recently at Gogra last month, were now taking up remaining friction areas. For long, the Indian and Chinese sides have adhered to a well-understood distinction between resolving the boundary question and managing border affairs, he said. The 1988 understanding between our leaders was precisely for keeping the resolution of the boundary question on a track separate yet parallel to the bilateral relationship, with maintenance of peace and tranquillity as the prerequisite. The Special Representatives mechanism, the Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles of 2005 and the three-phase framework were all designed to work on the boundary question, which we agreed was a complex and sensitive issue requiring time to work through. On the other hand, he said, for managing border affairs on a daily basis, we evolved a mechanism, consisting of instruments such as the WMCC [Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on border affairs] and a succession of agreements, protocols and CBMs, to govern behaviour on the ground and ensure peace and tranquillity. A serious violation of peace and tranquillity in the border areas naturally requires us to apply our minds on the basis of established agreements, protocols and mechanisms to resolve it, he said.
China has completed a key section of the Beijing-Lhasa expressway, a 295 km stretch from Lhasa to Nagqu.
This section is located at an average altitude of 4,500 metres above sea level which Chinese state media have termed the world’s highest expressway. The Lhasa-Nagqu section is part of the G6 Beijing-Lhasa expressway and is the first expressway linking Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region to north Tibet. It also connects the PLA’s Central Theatre Command with the Western Theatre Command which is responsible for the border with India. An important stretch of the expressway between Nagqu to Yangbaijain of Lhasa-Nagqu section was put into operational trial on August 21. On completion of Lhasa-Nagqu section, the driving time between Lhasa and Nagqu has reduced from six hours to three hours. The completed expressway will pass through seven major cities of China including Beijing, Hebei, inner Mangolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and Lhasa with an approximate length of 3,710 km. China has been on a massive infrastructure build up in Tibet which continued all through the standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh with India since May last year(2020). The infrastructure includes duel use airfields, roads, accommodation for troops, ammunition dumps among others. In June, China had launched a high speed bullet train connecting Lhasa with Nyingchi, a strategically located Tibetan town located close to Arunachal Pradesh.
