01 December 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – National Register of Citizens (NRC): GS I – Indian Polity

About the NRC:

• NRC stands for National Register of Citizens.
• The National Register of Citizens, 1951, is a register established after the Census of 1951 was conducted in each village, showing the dwellings or holdings in serial order and noting the number and names of citizens staying in each house or holding.
• In 1951, the NRC was only published once.

Assam’s NRC:

• Assam saw large-scale illegal migration from the former East Pakistan and, after 1971, from present-day Bangladesh, prompting the need for an update.
• From 1979 to 1985, the Assam agitation for deportation of illegal migrants lasted six years.
• The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) led the movement calling for the NRC to be updated and all unlawful migrants who entered Assam after 1951 to be deported.
• The Assam Accord, signed in 1985, was the culmination of the movement.
• The deadline for deporting unlawful aliens was set on March 25, 1971.
• Because the cut-off date stipulated by articles 5 and 6 of the Constitution was July 19, 1949, the Citizenship Act of 1955 was amended and a new section was added to give effect to the new date.
• It was limited to the state of Assam.
• Following repeated requests from AASU and other Assam organisations to update the NRC, an Assam-based NGO filed a case with the Supreme Court.
• A split bench of the Supreme Court directed that the NRC be updated in a timely way in December 2014.
• Legacy Data includes the 1951 NRC and the 1971 Electoral Roll (up to midnight on March 24, 1971). Indian citizenship is granted to anyone whose names appear on these documents and their descendants.

Impact:

• An revised NRC is likely to put an end to rumours about the true number of illegal migrants in Assam and the rest of the country.
• It will give a verified dataset to facilitate meaningful debates and policy implementation.
• The release of an updated NRC is anticipated to dissuade future Bangladeshi migrants from illegally entering Assam.
• The draught NRC has already created the impression that being in Assam without legitimate documentation will result in incarceration, imprisonment, and expulsion.
• More crucially, illegal migrants may find it considerably more difficult to get Indian identity documents and access all of the privileges and advantages that all Indian citizens are entitled to.
• The inclusion of their names in the NRC will bring relief to all Bengali speakers in Assam who have been suspected of being Bangladeshis up until now.

Challenges:

• Process flaws – People who appeared on the first list, which was published on January 1, 2018, did not appear on the second. The list did not include the family of a past Indian President.
• The parallel operations of the NRC, the Election Commission’s voter list, and the Foreigners’ Tribunals, which are assisted by the Assam Border Police, have resulted in complete confusion, as none of these organisations share information.
• Despite the fact that the draught includes a window for re-verification, physically verifying all of the people on the list will be extremely impossible.
• Because such “non citizens” can seek court remedy to prove their citizenship claim, the judiciary may become overburdened, which is already dealing with a huge number of pending cases.
• The fate of those who were not included on the list remains unknown.
• Expulsion to Bangladesh is not a possibility because Dhaka has never acknowledged that they are its people or that illegal immigration is a problem. India cannot forcibly return illegal migrants to Bangladesh in the absence of a formal agreement.
• Furthermore, bringing this up could jeopardise relations with Dhaka. Such an endeavour would harm bilateral relations as well as the country’s international reputation.
• Apart from deportation, large-scale prison camps are another option, though this is improbable in a cultured democracy like India.
• Another alternative is to implement work permits, which would grant them limited legal rights to work while removing their political voice. However, it is unclear what will happen to such individuals’ children.
• With no end to uncertainty, NRC appears to be an endless process.

Next Steps:

• India, as a country that adheres to the ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ ideal, should not be quick in making decisions that may disenfranchise its inhabitants, as this would be contrary to its centuries-old principles.
• The Union Government must clearly lay out its strategy for dealing with persons who are left out of the final NRC data, and political parties must avoid colouring the entire NRC process with electoral considerations that could lead to communal violence.
• There is a need for a strong legal assistance system for the four million people who must prove their Indian citizenship with little resources.

Source The Hindu

2 – Space Debris: GS I – Space and Technology

What is Space Debris?

• The continuous use of space-based technology that enable key activities such as communication, transportation, weather and climate monitoring, and remote sensing faces a global threat from space debris.
• Predicting the likelihood of collision with these space objects is critical for national security as well as the preservation of Indian public and commercial space assets.

Total amount of space debris:

• Because present sensor equipment cannot detect smaller objects, the true amount of space debris is estimated to be between 500,000 and one million pieces. They all travel at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour (28,162 kilometres per hour), fast enough for a little piece of orbital debris to destroy a satellite or spacecraft.

The Project’s Importance:

• The project’s outcome will immediately benefit India’s $7 billion (Rs 51,334 crore) space sector by offering an operationally flexible, scalable, transparent, and indigenous collision probability solution.

Future technologies that can help solve the problem include:

• One approach of avoiding a potential collision is to change an object’s orbit, but the sheer amount of debris necessitates ongoing surveillance and prediction – by whatever means necessary.
• On the International Space Station, NASA’s Space Debris Sensor circles the Earth. In December 2017, the sensor was connected to the exterior of the European Columbus module of the space station. It will detect millimetre-sized pieces of debris for at least two years, delivering data on whatever it encounters, including size, density, velocity, orbit, and whether the striking object is from space or a man-made piece of space trash.
• The REMOVE debris satellite has two cubesats that will discharge simulated space debris so that it may show various methods of retrieval.
• Deorbit mission: The e.Deorbit mission is developing two emerging technologies to grip or catch stray space trash.
• Moving items with a powerful laser beam is another technology. It’s critical to get started as soon as possible because current scientific projections suggest that without active debris removal, certain orbits would become unsuitable in the next decades.

Netra:

• Last December, Isro established a specialised Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Control Centre named “Netra” in Bengaluru to protect its space assets from space debris.
• The primary goal of Netra is to monitor, track, and defend national space assets while also serving as a hub for all SSA activities.
• Only the United States, Russia, and Europe have equivalent tracking and collision warning systems in place.

India’s anti-satellite missile (ASAT):

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have collaborated on Mission Shakti (ISRO).
• An anti-satellite (A-SAT) missile was launched as part of the operation and targeted a decommissioned Indian satellite. Mission Shakti was launched from the DRDO’s Balasore testing range in Odisha.

Significance:

• India is only the fourth country to develop such a sophisticated and modern capability, and the entire work is carried out by Indians. Only the United States, Russia, and China had previously been able to hit a live target in space.

Source The Hindu

3 – National Company Law Tribunal: Prelims Specific Topic

NCLT Facts:

• It is a quasi-judicial organisation in India that decides on issues concerning Indian enterprises.
• It was founded on June 1, 2016. (Companies Act, 2013).
• The Justice Eradi Committee recommended that the group be formed.
• It mostly deals with issues concerning company law and insolvency law.
• Members’ terms of office: Appointments will be for five years from the date of assumption of duty or until the age of 65, whichever comes first, or until further directives are issued.

Source The Hindu

4 – Places of Worship Act: Prelims Specific Topic

Purpose:

• The Act prohibits the conversion of a house of worship, or even a piece of one, into a place of worship of a different religious denomination or segment of the same religious denomination.
• All actions, appeals, or other proceedings relating to converting the character of a place of worship (those were pending on August 15, 1947) would come to a stop when the Act takes effect, and no new proceedings can be initiated, according to Section 4(2).
• However, if the change of status occurred after the cut-off date of August 15, 1947, legal action can be taken (after enactment of the Act).
• The Act also makes the state responsible for maintaining the religious character of every place of worship as it was at the time of independence.
• The Indian Constitution includes a constitutional requirement on the state to safeguard and protect the equality of all faiths, which is an important secular characteristic.

Exemption:

• The Act did not apply to the disputed site of Ayodhya. Because of this exemption, the trial in the Ayodhya case continued even after the law was implemented.
• The Act exempted, in addition to the Ayodhya conflict, any place of worship that is an antique and historical monument or an archaeological site covered under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
• A lawsuit that has been resolved or dismissed.
• Any disagreement between the parties that was settled by acquiescence before the Act went into effect, as well as any conversion of a location.

Penalty:

• Contravening the requirements of the Act is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine under Section 6 of the Act.

The Supreme Court’s Opinion in 2019:

• The Constitution Bench referred to the statute in the 2019 Ayodhya judgement, saying it embodies the Constitution’s secular ideals and firmly bars retrogression.

Arguments for Petition:

• The Act has been challenged on the grounds that it is anti-secular.
• The cut-off date of August 15, 1947, has been argued to be “arbitrary, irrational, and retrospective,” prohibiting Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from approaching courts to “reclaim” their places of worship that were “invaded” and “encroached” upon by “fundamentalist barbaric invaders.”
• The Centre, it is said, has no authority to regulate on “pilgrimages” or “burial grounds,” which are on the state list.
• However, the government stated that it could adopt this law using its residuary jurisdiction under Entry 97 of the Union List.
• Entry 97 gives the Centre residuary legislative authority over issues not covered by any of the three categories.

Source The Hindu