29 July 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Contempt of Court: GS II – Internal Security

What the term “court’s contempt” means:

• A legal word used to describe a violation of the law is “contempt of court.”
• A court’s capacity to maintain its own grandeur and respect is referred to as “contempt of court.” The 1971 Contempt of Courts Act regulates this power but does not place any restrictions on it.
• The phrase “contempt of court” is not defined in the US Constitution.
• On the other hand, Article 129 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the authority to penalise itself for contempt.
• The High Courts are given the same authority by Article 215 of the Constitution.
• Both civil and criminal contempt are defined under the 1971 Contempt of Courts Act.
• Willful disregard of a court’s ruling is referred to as civil contempt.
• Criminal contempt may be used if an action has the potential to defame or damage the legitimacy of the court.
• It tends to prevent any court action from being conducted properly.

Laws governing judicial contempt:

• Section 5 of the Act provides that “reasonable criticism” or “fair comment” on the merits of a final decision should not be deemed to be contempt.
• But it is up to the judges to decide what they deem to be “fair.”
• The freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19 is periodically endangered by this vague interpretation.
• Judges may appear to be working in their own best interests, infringing on natural justice principles and endangering the public trust that the legal system is meant to preserve.

Way Ahead:

• The most fundamental of all fundamental rights is the freedom of speech, so any limitations on it should be kept to a minimum.
• Only those restrictions are permissible under the law of contempt of court that are necessary to preserve the integrity of judicial institutions.
• Therefore, it is necessary to develop rules and guidelines that specify the procedure superior courts must use while conducting criminal contempt proceedings while keeping the principles of natural justice and fairness in mind.

Source The Indian Express

2 – United Nations Security Council: GS II – International Organizations

About:

• Six primary United Nations bodies, including the UN Security Council, were formed under the UN Charter (UNSC)
• Decisions made by the Security Council may thereafter be implemented by member states in accordance with the Charter.

Members:

• There are 15 members of the UNSC, 5 of whom are Permanent and 10 of whom are Non-Permanent.
• Five non-permanent members are chosen by the General Assembly each year to serve terms of two years.

About the UNSC Presidency:

• According to the titles of the Member States in English, each member of the Council takes the presidency for a month in turn.
• Every month, it alternates among the 15 council member states.
• The leader of the delegation is referred to as the President of the UN Security Council.
• The president serves to coordinate council activities, resolve policy disagreements, and occasionally acts as a mediator or diplomat between opposing factions.

UNSC reforms proposals:

• Regional representation, the problem of the veto held by the five permanent members, the size of an enlarged Council and its working procedures, and the connection between the Security Council and General Assembly are the five main concerns covered by UNSC reform.

India’s case for permanent membership in the UNSC:

• India was one of the UN’s original members.
• Most notably, India has nearly twice as many peacekeepers on the ground as do the P5 nations.
• India is the second-most populated nation and has the largest democracy.
• India is a natural candidate for membership as a permanent member because it gained the status of a Nuclear Weapons State (NWS) in May 1998, making it similar to the other permanent members who are also all Nuclear Weapon States.
• India is without a doubt the most powerful nation in the Third World, as evidenced by its leadership in the G-77 and Non-Aligned Movement.

Source The Indian Express

3 – Tiger Conservation in India: GS III – Environmental Conservation

Project Tiger Initiative:

• In 1973, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change formed Project Tiger in order to provide government support to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves in India. The initiative is supervised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

NTCA:

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory organisation, is housed inside the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change.
• The recommendations of the Tiger Task Force resulted in its formation in 2005.
• It was created in accordance with the powers and responsibilities granted to it by the enabling clauses of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006. To improve tiger conservation, this was done.

Why Tiger Conservation is crucial:

• Since tigers are one of the principal predators in the environment, ensuring their preservation also ensures the ecosystem’s balance.
• Numerous other species, including ungulates, pollinators, and other tiny animals, are ultimately conserved as a result of tiger protection.
• On the IUCN Red List, tigers are categorized as an endangered species.
• The tiger population has severely dropped during the past 100 years, making it essential to prevent further decline.

Challenges in Tiger Conservation:

• Despite our progress in safeguarding more and more tigers, the following problems continue to hinder our conservation efforts:
• Three of India’s tiger reserves—the Dampa reserve in Mizoram, the Buxa reserve in West Bengal, and the Palamau reserve in Jharkhand—no longer contain any tigers.
• The ability of the tiger population to exchange genes is severely constrained because of the poor connection across tiger reserves.
• Conflicts between humans and tigers have arisen as tiger conservation efforts have risen, as tigers seek refuge in human settlements since their native habitats are already becoming more and more limited.
• Tiger poaching is considered a form of pride, and as every part of a tiger has a market worth, they are hunted indiscriminately for both personal and professional gain.
• The indigenous people’s narrow outlook on tiger conservation, which sees tiger poaching as their only source of revenue, is a big barrier.
• Linear developments like roads and railroads have a significant impact on how people acquire a conservation mindset.

How to Proceed Ahead:

• Regulations and technical expertise alone are insufficient; local communities must also recognise the importance of their participation.
• For these local communities to have a better source of income than tiger hunting, better economic opportunities must be made available.
• To ensure that the environment and development coexist and cooperate, we must plan our future developmental goals in a way that preserves our environmental objectives.
• community movement of their own free will, while also safeguarding the environment and giving them justice in terms of pay and employment.
• Conservation efforts for tigers need to be more flexible and responsive to any future climatic changes.

Source The Hindu

4 – Environmental Performance Index: Prelims Specific 

About:

• The Environment Performance Index (EPI), a global ranking system, evaluates a country’s environmental health and sustainability.
• The World Economic Forum introduced the Environmental Sustainability Index (EPI), a biennial index, in 2002 in collaboration with the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy and the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network.

Framework:

The 2022 EPI employs 40 performance indicators, which are broken down into 11 issue categories:

• The three policy goals of ecosystem health, climate change, and environmental health are then merged from these problem areas.
• These indicators allow countries to measure how close they are to achieving their national environmental policy goals.
• The EPI team transforms the raw environmental data into indicators that, on a scale of 0 to 100, evaluate the performance of the various countries from worst to best.
• What key points are there?
• Denmark tops the 2022 rankings with outstanding leadership in programmes to develop a clean energy future and sustainable agriculture, an accomplishment based on strong performance in nearly all categories reviewed by the EPI.
• The United Kingdom and Finland, who both recently reduced their greenhouse gas emissions, are in second and third place, respectively.
• The United States ranks 22nd among wealthy democracies in the Global West and 20th overall.
• India receives a pathetic 18.9, placing it 180th overall, behind Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
• India scored poorly on EPI’s government performance, anti-corruption efforts, and upholding of the law scales.
• India finished the EPI-2020 with a score of 27.6, which put it in position 168.
• In EPI-2020, Denmark ranked first for both environmental sustainability and human health.

Uses of EPI:

• Thanks to EPI, decision-makers can pinpoint the elements that lead to top-tier performance.
• The EPI data analysis demonstrates that a nation’s potential to increase its sustainability is influenced by its financial resources, effective governance, level of human development, and regulatory standards.
• The EPI promotes sustainable development in support of a future that is both ecologically safe and egalitarian by drawing attention to these connections.

Source The Hindu