Headlines

SC sets aside release of 11 life convicts in Bilkis case - Page No.1 , GS 2

Karnataka HC bans mining activity near KRS reservoir - Page No.5 , GS 3
An ambitious push for values, ethics in higher education - Page No.6 ,
GS 2
Understanding the EU’s carbon border tax - Page No.7 , GS 3
Exploring India’s diverse cultural heritage through GI tags - Page No.7 ,
GS 1

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 Pg no. 1 GS 2
SC sets aside release of 11 life convicts in Bilkis case
- Page No.1 , GS 2
• The Supreme Court on Monday quashed the order of en masse remission
granted by the State of Gujarat in August 2022 to 11 men sentenced to life
imprisonment for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family,
including a two-month-old infant, during the 2002 riots.

• Terming what befell Ms. Bano, who was pregnant at the time, and her
family as a “grotesque and diabolical crime driven by communal hatred”,
a Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan delivered a
scathing reprimand of the ruling BJP government in Gujarat for acting “in
tandem” with the prisoners to order their early release after “usurping the
power” to do so.

• The court ordered the men to report back to jail in a fortnight, declining
their fervent plea to sympathise with them and not strip their personal
liberty away.
What are the laws available on remissions?

• Under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution, the President and

Governors have the power to pardon, and to suspend, remit, or
commute a sentence passed by the courts.
• Since prisons is a state subject, state governments have powers
under Section 432 of the CrPC to remit sentences.
• Prisoners are often released on the birth and death anniversaries of
prominent leaders and other important occasions.

• States set up a Sentence Review Board to exercise the powers

under Section 432 of the CrPC.
• The Supreme Court has held that states cannot exercise the power
of remission arbitrarily, and must follow due process.
• In ‘Laxman Naskar v. Union of India’ (2000) the SC laid down five grounds
on which remission is considered.
• Whether the offence is an individual act of crime that does not affect the
society
• Whether there is a chance of the crime being repeated in future
• Whether the convict has lost the potentiality to commit crime
• Whether any purpose is being served in keeping the convict in prison
• Socio-economic conditions of the convict’s family

• However, convicts serving life sentences are entitled to seek remission

only after serving a minimum of 14 years.

• The remission policy of Gujarat, 1992 permitted prisoners to apply for

remission on the basis that life imprisonment is an arbitrary or notional
figure of twenty years of imprisonment.
• The accused in the case were arrested in 2004 and the trial was
moved out of Gujarat to Maharashtra after Bilkis Bano received
death threats.
• In 2008, the Special CBI Court sentenced 11 accused to life
imprisonment on the charges of conspiring to rape a pregnant
woman, murder and unlawful assembly under the Indian Penal
Code.
• The court acquitted seven other accused for lack of evidence.
• The Bombay High Court, in 2017, upheld the conviction and life
imprisonment of 11 people in the gang rape case.
• In 2019, the Supreme Court awarded compensation of Rs 50 lakh to
Bilkis — the first such order in a case related to the 2002 riots.
• One of the convicts had approached the Gujarat High Court seeking
remission of the sentence under sections 432 and 433 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure.
• The high court dismissed his plea while observing that the
“appropriate government” to take a decision about his remission is
Maharashtra, and not Gujarat.
• He then filed a plea in the Supreme Court, pleading that he had been
in jail for over 15 years without remission as of 1 April 2022.
• The apex court directed the Gujarat government to look into the
issue of remission of his sentence following which the government
formed a committee.
• The committee took a unanimous decision in favour of remission of
all the 11 convicts in the case.
 Pg no. 5 GS 3

Karnataka HC bans mining activity near KRS reservoir

- Page No.5 , GS 3
• The High Court of Karnataka has banned all types of mining and
quarrying activities within a 20-km radius of the historic Krishnarajasagar
(KRS) dam in Mandya district.

• The ban will apply even for those mining activities within a 20-km radius
for which permissions/licences were already granted by the authorities, or
already operating in the area, or were permitted on the orders of the court
in earlier rounds of litigation, the High Court said.

• The court also said that the ban will be in force till the completion of a
study by experts and the decision taken by the State committee on dam
safety, set up as per the provisions of the Dam Safety Act, 2021.
• The Krishna Raja Sagar Dam was built across river Kaveri for the
Mysore and Mandya districts in Karnataka in 1932.

• The dam is named for the then ruler of the Mysore Kingdom,
Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV.

• The Dam is the creation of one of the greatest engineers that

India had produced, Sir M. Vishweshwaraiah. His birthday, 15th
September is celebrated as Engineers day.

• The reservoir is also the main source of drinking water for all of
Mysore city and almost the whole of Bangalore.

• The water released from this dam is further used as an

important source of water in the state of Tamil Nadu.
 Pg no. 6 GS 2
An ambitious push for values, ethics in higher
education - Page No.6 , GS 2
• The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been issuing regulations,
guidelines and directives at break neck speed that some of the important ones
miss drawing the attention of the higher education community. One such
guideline is Mulya Pravah 2.0, a modified version of Mulya Pravah, which was
notified in 2019.

• It seeks to inculcate human values and professional ethics in higher education

institutions. The stated intention is to build value-based institutions by orienting
individuals and institutions towards developing a deep respect for fundamental
duties and constitutional values and bonding with the country.

• The trigger is the findings of a survey of human resource managers which

highlight unethical practices in various organisations.

• The most prominent of these are “favouritism in hiring, training, pay and
promotion; sexual harassment; gender discrimination in promotion; inconsistent
view on discipline; lack of confidentiality; gender differentiation in compensation;
non-performance factors overlooked in appraisals; arrangements with vendors
for personal gain; and gender discrimination during recruitment and hiring”.
 Pg no. 7 GS 3

Understanding the EU’s carbon border tax - Page No.7

, GS 3
• A concerning development for India is the European Union (EU)’s Carbon Border
Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

• The policy, which intends to tax carbon-intensive products coming into the EU from 2026,
is divided into two phases, with the first phase (transitional phase) kicking in from
October 1, 2023.

• The EU contended, while providing context for the CBAM, that it intends to achieve the
target of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, compared to 1990
levels, under the European Green Deal. The CBAM is part of the package planned to
achieve this.

• Second, there is a threat to EU products being replaced by carbon-intensive imports from

other countries such as India or China. The EU argues that the higher standard of
environmental compliance in its domestic industries will reduce their competitiveness.

• Thus, it intends to impose an import duty on carbon-intensive industries from non-EU

countries to meet both these objectives.
• India has just started working on its own carbon trading mechanism.
In December 2022, it amended the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, to
introduce the Carbon Credit Trading System (CCTS).

• This is proposed to combat climate change by incentivising actions for

emission reductions leading to increased investments in clean energy
by the private sector. The Ministry of Power is still working on the
specifics to operationalise the CCTS, including carbon valuation.

• In India, the obligatory CCTS model is also coupled with the voluntary
market-based mechanism called the Green Credit Programme Rules,
notified by the Ministry of Environment in 2023. The scheme is aimed
to encourage more environmentally proactive actions going beyond
the carbon reduction mandate.
• India is reportedly among the top eight countries that will be
adversely affected by the CBAM.

• As per the Global Trade Research Initiative report, in 2022, 27%

of India’s exports of iron, steel, and aluminum products worth
$8.2 billion went to the EU.

• It is estimated that a few of its core sectors such as steel will be

greatly affected by the CBAM.
 Pg no. 7 GS 1

Exploring India’s diverse cultural heritage through GI

tags - Page No.7 , GS 1
• Last Thursday, 17 products from across six States/Union Territories got the
Geographical Indications (GI) tag. The products ranged from handicrafts such
as the Dongaria Kondh shawl from Odisha, to agricultural products such as
the Sundarban Honey from West Bengal.

• A GI tag is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin

and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.

• Any trader’s body, association, or organisation can apply for a GI tag. The
applicants need to prove the uniqueness of the item with historical records
and a complete breakdown of how the product is made.

• here are over 500 GI tags as of January 7, 2023.

• Handicrafts dominate the list, with over half the GI tags being given to
products crafted by skilled artisans.
• Every State in India has at least one GI tag.

• Tamil Nadu (61) has the highest number of GI tags compared to other States.
Uttar Pradesh has the second highest number of GI tags. (56). These include
leather footwear from Agra, saddles from Kanpur, and the traditional
embroidery art form of Chikankari from Lucknow. Karnataka with 48 GI tags
is ranked third, Kerala with 39 is ranked fourth, and Maharashtra with 35 is
fifth.

• Geographical Indication (GI) is an indication used to identify goods having

special characteristics originating from a definite geographical territory.

• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999

seeks to provide for the registration and better protection of geographical
indications relating to goods in India.

• This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
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