24 August 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Brahmos Missile:- GS III – Science and Technology Related Issues

Background:

• Early in the 1980s, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam established the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, which went on to create a variety of guided missiles with a wide range of capabilities and ranges, including the Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash, and Nag.
• Early in the 1990s, India’s strategic leadership recognised the necessity for cruise missiles, which are guided missiles that travel practically continuously during the majority of their flight path while precisely delivering massive warheads over great distances.
• The requirement became apparent principally as a result of the Gulf War’s usage of cruise missiles.

Signing the Contract:

• In 1998, Dr. Kalam, the chairman of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), and N. V. Mikhailov, the deputy defence minister of Russia at the time, signed an intergovernmental agreement in Moscow.
• As a result, DRDO and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM), a joint venture with the Russians holding 49.5% and India holding 50.5%, created BrahMos Aerospace.
• After receiving funding from the two governments in 1999, DRDO and NPOM laboratories started working on developing missiles.

About:

• The two-stage BrahMos missile has a booster engine that burns solid fuel.
• The missile’s first stage accelerates it to supersonic velocity before separating.
• When in cruise phase, the liquid ramjet or second stage accelerates the missile closer to three times the speed of sound.
• The missile can go in a number of directions and has a very low radar signature, making it stealthy.
• The “fire and forget” type missile may strike the target at an altitude as low as 10 m and a cruise altitude of 15 km.
• Known as “standoff range weapons,” cruise missiles like the BrahMos are launched at a distance that enables the attacker to avoid defensive counterfire.
• In comparison to subsonic cruise missiles, the BrahMos boasts a three times faster top speed, a 2.5 times longer flying range, and a higher range.
• Recently, a Sukhoi-30 MKI was used to test a BrahMos air-launched missile with an enhanced range.
• A sophisticated sea-to-sea BrahMos derivative was recently tested from the recently launched INS Visakhapatnam.

 Future:

The BrahMos is undergoing a lot of improvements as a result of the changing demands of multi-dimensional warfare, and efforts are being made to create variants with increased ranges, manoeuvrability, and accuracy.

• Ranges up to 350 km are included in the versions that are currently being tested, as opposed to the original’s 290 km.
• It is rumoured that versions with hypersonic speed and even larger ranges, up to 800 km, are in the works.
• Additionally, efforts are being made to decrease the size and signature of current versions and increase their functionality.

Source The Indian Express

2 – Benami Property Law in India: GS II Topic Corruption Related Issues

 Benami property: what is it?

• Property purchased under the name of another individual is referred to as benami (without a name) property. The individual who made the purchase is referred to as the benamdar, and the property is referred to as the benami property. The actual owner is the one who provided the financing.

What actions qualify as benami transactions?

• mobile, immovable, tangible, intangible, any right or interest, or legal papers are all examples of assets. Therefore, even gold or financial assets could be considered benami.

What does the 1988 Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act cover?

• The Act forbids benami transactions and establishes procedures for seizing benami assets.
• A benami transaction is one in which a person receives or transfers property that has been paid for or provided for by another person.
• What is the purpose of the 2016 Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act?
• The Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Act of 1988 is amended to:
• Change the definition of “Benami transactions” to enlarge the range of potential legal recourse
• Define the sanctions for engaging in Benami transactions,
• To handle Benami transactions, establish adjudicating bodies and an Appellate Tribunal.
• The Bill gives persons who disclose their benami properties under the income disclosure system exemption under the Benami Act.
• The term “property” as used in the bill will include both moveable and immovable, tangible and intangible properties. If a property is owned jointly, the tax payer will need to provide proof of funding.

Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act of 2016 Important Details:

• Benami transaction violators might receive a fine and up to 7 years in jail.
• False information dissemination is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine.
• Benami properties are subject to government expropriation without payment.
• An order to continue holding property may be issued by the initiating officer, who may then submit the matter to the adjudicating authority, who will review the available information and issue a ruling.
• Appeals against decisions made by the adjudicating authority are heard by the appellate tribunal. Appeals against Appellate Tribunal orders may be heard by the High Court.

Why were these changes necessary?

• To successfully outlaw Benami transactions and so deter law-breaking through unethical behaviour
• enabling the Union Government to seize Benami property through proper channels
• In order to combat domestic black money, the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill was created.

 source Indian Express

3 – Plea of Remission: GS II Topic Judiciary Related Issues

 Context:

• Recently, a commission established by the Gujarat government freed all 11 defendants in the Bilkis Bano case, using the 1992 remission policy rather than the 2014 policy.

Remission and the Laws that Control it:

• Remission is a system of “rules for the time being in force controlling the award of marks to, and the resultant shortening of sentences of, inmates in imprisonment,” according to the Prison Act of 1894.
• The management and administration of prisons fall under the purview of State governments as a matter under the State List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
• The laws for remission are essentially the State’s efforts to defend human rights and reform the criminal justice system.
• According to the legislation, there are three different types of remissions: statutory, constitutional, and those acquired in accordance with jail manuals.
• The President is given the authority to grant pardons by Article 72 of the Constitution, whilst the Governor is given the same authority under Article 161.
• The “relevant government” may postpone or reduce a prisoner’s sentence under Section 432 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
• A prisoner who was found guilty of a crime carrying a death sentence and whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment under Section 433 shall not be freed before 14 years, according to Section 433A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
• According to Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the States must consult with the Central government before taking any action in cases looked into by the Delhi Special Police Establishment or by any other agency that has looked into an offence under a Central Act other than the CrPC.
• In D. Krishna Kumar v. State of Telangana, the High Court ruled that the appropriate authority “may” also request the presiding judge’s opinion regarding whether the application should be granted or denied, along with his justifications for such opinion, before making a decision on the remission plea.

About the Bilkis Bano Case:

• Bilkis Bano, who was 21 years old and five months pregnant, was viciously gang-raped while attempting to flee with her family during the post-Godhra communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.
• Her three-year-old daughter and 14 other family members were killed in the mob attack on her.
• The crowd left Bilkis Bano naked and unconscious because they believed she had died, but she lived to fight back against the abuse she had to endure.

 Source The Indian Express

 4 – Defamation in India: GS II Topic Indian Laws

Exactly what is defamation?

• Defamation is the spread of a false statement that harms the reputation of a certain person, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation.
• In India, defamation is a civil wrong as well as a criminal offence.
• The two are different from one another due to their respective objectives.
• A civil law often allows for the remedy of wrongs by the award of compensation, whereas a criminal law seeks to punish an offender and discourage future misconduct.

Legal prerequisites:

• Criminal defamation is categorically defined as a crime in Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Tort law is the foundation for civil defamation (an area of law which does not rely on statutes to define wrongs but takes from ever-increasing body of case laws to define what would constitute a wrong).
• Defamation may take the form of spoken or written words, signs, or other visible representations, as stated in Section 499:
• Also listed in Section 499 are exceptions. These include “imputation of truth” on the actions of public officials, the actions of everyone concerned in a public problem, and the calibre of the public performance, all of which must be publicised because they are required for the “public welfare.”
• According to Section 500 of the IPC, anyone defames another person shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Law enforcement abuse and associated concerns:

• The only time the criminal provisions have ever been used was to harass people.
• Because Indian legal procedures are so drawn out, regardless of the case’s merits, the process itself ends up becoming a form of punishment.
• Detractors claim that civil defamation alone suffices to redress such wrongs and that laws against defamation undermine people’s fundamental freedoms of speech and expression.
• Criminal defamation harms society because it allows the state to utilise self-censorship and self-restraint against the media and political opponents.

What decision was reached by the Supreme Court?

• In the 2014 case of Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, the court upheld the constitutionality of Sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, emphasising that no one’s fundamental right to a life of dignity and reputation “cannot be ruined solely because another individual can have his freedom.”
• In August 2016, the court issued severe cautions to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa for exploiting the criminal defamation legislation to “suffocate democracy” and declared that “public individuals must face criticism.”

Source The Indian Express