Topics

1. SC Ends Immunity for Legislators Taking Bribe - Pg 1

2. India’s 3-Stage Nuclear Program - Pg 8
3. What’s in a Surname? - Pg 6
4. Russia - North Korea Ties - Pg 6
5. Indian Illegal Migrants into UK - Pg 7
6. Nepal’s Political Change - Pg 13

7. NIA’s Jurisdiction - Pg 5
1. Pg 1 – GS II (Polity)
Context
• A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme
Court on Monday declared that
parliamentary privilege or immunity will not
protect legislators who take bribes to vote
or speak in Parliament or State Legislative
Assemblies from criminal prosecution.

• This overrules the 25-year-old JMM bribery

case judgment.
Parliamentary Privilege
Parliamentary Privilege
JMM Bribery Case
SC Overrules
• Privileges and immunities are not gateways to claim
exemptions from the general law of the land.

• Corruption and bribery of members of the legislature

erode the foundation of Indian parliamentary
democracy.

• The seven-judge Bench said the majority on the five-

judge Bench in the JMM bribery case had erred.

• Representative democracy was at stake.

SC on Bribe Taking
• Chief Justice Chandrachud clarified that the offence of
bribery was complete the moment the corruption
money was accepted.

• “The legislator will face criminal prosecution whether

or not he makes a speech or votes in favour of the
bribe-giver”.

• The offence of bribery is complete on the acceptance

of the money or on the agreement to accept money
being concluded.
Will it affect Right to Free Speech of Opposition?
• The Constitution Bench dismissed notions that
whittling down parliamentary immunity would expose
a vote or a speech made by Opposition lawmakers in
the House to criminal investigation and thus enhance
the possibility of abuse of the law by political parties in
power.
Privilege & Parliamentary Democracy
• Bribed lawmakers, the court said, were destructive to
the “aspirational and deliberative ideals of the
Constitution and create a polity which deprives
citizens of a responsible, responsive and
representative democracy”.

• Chief Justice Chandrachud reasoned that the freedom

of speech and expression, which include voting in the
House, and attendant immunities granted to
legislators under Articles 105 and 194 did not extend
to giving or taking bribes.

• The judgment said parliamentary immunity would kick

in only if a legislator acts in furtherance of “fertilizing a
deliberate, critical and responsive democracy”.
Two-Fold Test
• The shield of immunity or parliamentary privilege
could be claimed in two circumstances.

i. One, if the actions of a legislator were meant to

enhance the dignity and authority of the House and
its members as a collective body.

ii. Secondly, if they were in the exercise of his rights to

free speech, protest and freedom from arrest, among
others.

• A claim for immunity would not survive if it failed this

two-fold test, the court said.
Doctrine of Separation of Powers
• Criminal courts and Houses of the legislature have
parallel jurisdiction over allegations of bribery.

• One cannot negate the jurisdiction of the other.

• “The jurisdiction exercised by a competent court to

prosecute a criminal offence and the authority of the
House to take action for a breach of discipline in
relation to the acceptance of a bribe by a member of
the legislature exist in distinct spheres,” Chief Justice
Chandrachud laid down.
2. Pg 8 – GS III (S&T)
Context
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday witnessed the
initiation of the core loading of India’s indigenous 500 Mwe
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) in the nuclear
complex at Kalpakkam, about 70 km south of Chennai.

• The initiation of the core loading of PFBR, developed by

BHAVINI (Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited), marked
a “historic milestone in India’s nuclear power programme”.
India’s 3 Stage Nuclear Program
• The critical shortage of fissile material has prevented the large-
scale deployment of thorium-fuelled reactors in India.

• India has very modest deposits of uranium and some of the

world’s largest sources of thorium.

• Keeping this in mind, in 1954 Homi Bhabha envisioned India’s

nuclear power programme in three stages to suit the country’s
resource profile.
India’s 3 Stage Nuclear Program
• In the first stage, heavy water reactors fuelled by natural uranium
would produce plutonium.

• The second stage would initially be fuelled by a mix of the

plutonium from the first stage and natural uranium.

• This uranium would transmute into more plutonium and once

sufficient stocks have been built up, thorium would be introduced
into the fuel cycle to convert it into uranium 233 for the third
stage.

• In the final stage, a mix of thorium and uranium fuels the

reactors.

• The thorium transmutes to U-233 as in the second stage, which

powers the reactor. Fresh thorium can replace the depleted
thorium in the reactor core, making it essentially a thorium-
fuelled reactor even though it is the U-233 that is undergoing
fission to produce electricity.
Significance of PFBR Core Loading
• The PFBR is a machine that produces more
nuclear fuel than it consumes.

• Its core-loading event is being hailed as a

“milestone” because operationalisation of the
PFBR will mark the start of stage II of India’s
three-stage nuclear power programme.
3. Pg 6 – GS I (Social Issues)
4. Pg 6 – GS II (IR)
5. Pg 7 – GS II (IR)
6. Pg 13 – GS II (IR)
Prelims Tidbits
7. Pg 5 – Security
 Mains Practice Questions
1. The Supreme Court has upheld the edifice of the Parliament by overruling its
earlier verdict in the JMM Bribery Case. Elucidate. (250 words; 15 marks)

2. Evaluate the significance of the recent core loading at the Kalpakkam nuclear
reactor with regard to India’s 3-stage nuclear program. (250 words; 15 marks)