JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT AMENDMENT
The government introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha on July 12, 2014 to amend the Juvenile Justice Act that will allow treating 16-18-year-olds as adults when involved in heinous crimes. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection Children) Bill 2014 was introduced by Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.
The amendment will empower Juvenile Justice Boards to take a call on whether to treat 16-18-year-olds as adults if they are involved in heinous crimes. Such juveniles may face a jail term, if convicted, but will not be awarded life terms or the death penalty.
• The Bill would enable other changes in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, including bringing in more clarity in the role and procedures of statutory structures such as Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards, and strengthening punitive measures for offences committed against children.
• New offences such as corporal punishment, ragging and using a child for vending, peddling, carrying, supplying or smuggling any intoxicating liquor, narcotic drug or psychotropic substance and streamlining and strengthening measures for adoption, including providing statutory status to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) have also been added.
• The amended law makes it mandatory for all child care institutions to get registered or pay a stringent penalty in case of non-compliance.
Who is a Juvenile?
A Juvenile or Child means a person who has not completed 18 years of age. Section-2 (k) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 defines "Juvenile" or "Child" as a person who has not completed eighteenth year of age.
What does the existing act lay down?
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2010 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on November 16,2010 by the then Minister of State Krishna Tirath for the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Bill amended the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill 2014 is still pending.
It also fails to provide for procedural guarantees like right to counsel and right to speedy trial.
It does not take into account the orders and directions of the Supreme Court and High Courts relating to determination of the age of the child.
It empowers the Juvenile Justice Board to give a child in adoption; even though, it is the Child Welfare Committee that deals with children in need of care and protection.
The Act is also silent on issues like child labour, primary education, sexual abuse, adoption, disabilities and health.
With the enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act in 2000, India's juvenile justice legislation was brought in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and international standards, focusing on some of the key principles of juvenile justice .The UN CRC (Article-40.1) states that children who are accused of offences should be tried separately from adults "in a manner consistent with the child's sense of dignity and worth". This is further supported through international standards like the Beijing
Rules and the Riyadh Guidelines laying out procedures for the administration of juvenile justice and prevention of juvenile delinquency.
Other Countries' Stand
United Kingdom
Anybody who has attained the age of 17 is an adult.
Separate 'youth court' without a jury tries people under 18.
A person under 17 can be tried as an adult in a limited number of serious offences like sexual assault and child sex offences committed by children.
When a youth offender is jointly charged with an adult, the charge is heard and tried by a regular court.
USA
Special juvenile courts to deal with under-18 delinquents.
Around 20 States allow them to be tried and sentenced as adults to life imprisonment.
In June, 2012, Supreme Court again barred mandatory life sentence without parole to juveniles.
France
Anyone under 18 can only be tried by special juvenile courts.
A separate Juvenile Assize court tries serious offences, committed by minors aged 16-18 years.
In 2002, a law was enacted to provide tougher criminal response to juvenile delinquency.
Beijing Rules
Rule-17 of the Beijing Rules, in turn, provides that the reaction shall be in proportion to the circumstances and the gravity of the offence as well as the circumstances and needs of the juvenile and the needs of society. Furthermore, personal liberty may be deprived if the juvenile is adjudicated guilty of a serious offence involving violence against another person or persistence in committing other serious offences. Unlike the UN Convention, the Beijing Rules do not fix 18 as the age of a juvenile. Instead, the Beijing Rules provide for rules applicable to persons between the age of 7 and 18.
No country has a provision of death penalty for juveniles. The US discontinued it after 2005. The sentence in other countries is more than three years.
Criticism
Child rights and human rights activists have been opposing the demand for amendment in the Juvenile Justice Act on the ground that the law should not be amended to deal with a particular case. They forget that there have been a growing number of criminal cases in which juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 are involved.
By arguing for such boys and girls, they are undermining the very purpose of the law. There is scientific evidence that juveniles now reach maturity earlier than was the case a few decades ago. There is considerable merit in the argument when someone says that if a person can commit rape, he can also be punished for rape. Even in many Western countries juveniles accused of rape and murder are not shown any leniency if they have crossed the age of 16. What matters is the level of maturity of the person concerned.
By leaving the decision to the Juvenile Justice Board, which will go into a whole gamut of issues like the person's maturity level and whether the crime was premeditated or not, the government has tried to strike a balance. By
ensuring such persons will not be given death penalty or life sentence, the government has also conceded the point that they need to be treated differently.
What is the need to amend the existing law?
Government's decision to amend the Juvenile Justice Act to deal strongly with those who commit heinous acts like rape and murder has a lot to commend itself. The proposed amendment in the law will allow the Juvenile Justice Board hearing such cases to decide whether an accused who is above 16 years should be tried by a regular court or by the Board itself. The amendment might have been necessitated by the large-scale public outrage over the mild punishment given to a juvenile accused in the December, 2012 gang-rape case in Delhi and the Shakti Mills gangrape cases. Also, all five accused who were involved in the broad day light killing of a 19-year-old boy in Madangir area in south east Delhi recently, were all juveniles!
Glasgow Commonwealth Games and India
The 2014 Commonwealth Games (officially the XX Commonwealth Games} were held in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 23-August 3, 2014. This year's motto was "Bring it on". It was the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland with around 4950 athletes from 71 different nations and territories competing in 18 different sports, outranking the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
England finished top of the medals tally for the first time since the 1986 Commonwealth Games, also held in Scotland. Kiribati also won its first ever medal at a Commonwealth Games, a gold in the 105 kg men's weightlifting competition.
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 England 58 59 57 174
2 Australia 49 42 46 137
3 Canada 32 16 34 82
4 Scotland 19 15 19 53
5 India 15 30 19 64
6 New Zealand 14 14 17 45
7 South Africa 13 10 17 40
8 Nigeria 11 11 14 36
9 Kenya 10 10 5 25
10 Jamaica 10 4 8 22
Total 261 261 302 824
The official logo for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was unveiled on Commonwealth Day, 8 March 2010. Designed by Marque Creative, it was inspired by three factors - time, data and measurement. Its rings are proportioned to represent the 20 th Commonwealth Games, across 18 sports, over 11 days in 1 city. An animated version of the logo has also been produced. Clyde, an anthropomorphic thistle named after the river which flows through the centre of Glasgow, was the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The mascot was designed by Beth Gilmou.
A total of 18 sports and 261 medal events were contested at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. A record 22 para- sport events were contested in five different sports (athletics, cycling, lawn bowls, swimming and weightlifting) and para track cycling was held for the very first time.
India at CWG
India has competed in fourteen of the eighteen previous Commonwealth Games; starting at the second Games in 1934, and hosted the Games once. India ended its Glasgow Commonwealth Games campaign with a total of 64 medals (15 Golds, 30 Silvers, 19 Bronzes).
India's first ever Commonwealth medal was won by Rashid Anwar who won a bronze in welterweight category of wrestling in British Empire Games in 1934.
Gold Earners for India in Glasgow CWG
Name Event Sanjita Khumukchan Men’s Weightlifting (48 kg) Sukhen Dey Men’s Weightlifting (56 kg) Abhinav Bindra Men’s Shooting (10 metre air rifle) Apurvi Chandela Women’s Shooting (10 metre air rifle) Rahi Sarnobat Women’s Shooting (25 metre pistol) Sathish Sivalingam Men’s Weightlifting (77 kg) Jitu Rai Men’s Shooting (50 metre pistol) Amit Kumar Men’s Wrestling (57 kg) Vinesh Phogal Women’s Wrestling (48 kg) Sushil Kumar Men’s Wrestling (74 kg) Babita Kumari Women’s Wrestling (55 kg) Yogeshwar Dutt Men’s Wrestling (65 Kg) Vikas Gowda Men’s Discus Throw Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Women’s Double Squash Kashyap Parupalli Men’s Singles Badminton
Indians who Created History
Parupalli Kashyap clinched a gold medal in men's badminton (singles) event defeating Derek Wong (Singapore) in the final. He became the first Indian male shuttler in 32 years to win gold in the Commonwealth Games. Badminton legend Syed Modi won gold in 1982 Games in Australia.
Vikas Gowda gave India its first athletics gold medal of the 20th Commonwealth Games by winning the Men's Track events. Gowda pocketed the gold with an effort of 63.64 m distance in men's discus throw. This ended India's 56-year gold medal drought in men's athletics at the Commonwealth Games.
Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman gymnast of the country who won a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa created history by winning the first-ever gold medal in squash in the Commonwealth Games. They beat Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro of England in the women's doubles squash final.
Glasgow CWG: Quick Facts
India fielded a strong 215 member contingent, their second largest ever. Flag Bearers for the Opening and Closing Ceremony were Vijay Kumar and Seema Punia respectively. The Sports Ministry cleared the 215 athletes from 14 sporting disciplines, including seven para-athletes, at government cost, along with a contingent of 90 officials, coaches and support staff. The Glasgow Games had 18 sports and 261 medal events. India did not field athletes only in three disciplines-Netball, Rugby sevens and Triathlon. Vikas Gowda won gold in the Men's Discus throw event, thus winning the first gold medal for India in men's athletics in 56 years. Joshana Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal scripted history by winning the first gold for India in Squash at Commonwealth Games. Kashyap Parupalli won a gold in Badminton men's singles, becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 32 years to win a gold medal in the singles event at the Commonwealth Games.
UNDP Human Development Report
According to the 2014 UNDP Human Development Report released on July 24, 2014, India's Human Development Index (HDI) has improved very slightly but remains among the median countries in terms of human development, just seven places above Bangladesh. With an HDI value of 0.586 out of a maximum possible 1, India is ranked 135 th . India's human development index improved slower in the 2000s than it did in the 1980s despite much faster economic growth.
The 2014 Human Development Report titled "Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience" provides a fresh perspective on vulnerability and proposes ways to strengthen resilience.
The slowdown in human development is a result of the lingering global economic crisis that has caused a dip in income growth in Europe, Arab countries, and Central Asia.
Top and Low Scorers
In the current report, the top five countries ranked in terms of the HDI are Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Netherlands and the USA. The bottom five in this ranking is Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Chad and Sierra Leone.
India is ranked at 135, among the 'medium development' countries like Egypt, South Africa, Mongolia, Philippines and Indonesia. Among India's neighbors, Bhutan and Bangladesh too figure in this category. Pakistan (146) and Nepal (145) are in the 'low development' category, while Sri Lanka (73) is in the 'high development' category. When inequality is factored in, India loses nearly 30% of its HDI value. India's human development indicators are also substantially different for men and women; the HDI for men alone is much higher at 0.627, while the HDI for Indian women alone is just 0.519. A comparison of India with its South Asian neighbors is shown below:-
Country Human Development Gender Development % Population Poor (Multi- Index Rank Index Rank Dimensional Poverty Index)
Sri Lanka 73 66 Not available
Maldives 103 90 Not available
India 135 132 55.30%
Bhutan 136 Not available 29.40%
Bangladesh 142 107 49.50%
Nepal 145 102 41.40%
Pakistan 146 145 45.60%
Loss on Account of Inequality
Sri Lanka 14.2% Maldives 24.2% India 27.7%
Bhutan 20.2% Bangaldesh 28% Nepal 27.8%
Pakistan 28.7%
The report also includes estimates for a newer Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, but since India has not collected new health statistics since 2005, the Index could not be updated. India lags far behind all other BRICS nations on the HDI.
The report makes a strong push for universal social protections, noting that countries like Costa Rice, Ghana and South Korea as well as Scandinavian nations enacted social security legislation at lower levels of income per capita than India is at right now.
The UNDP's push for universalism applies to jobs too; it is advocating for countries to return to the goal of 'full employment', a goal that it notes has disappeared from the global agenda since the 1970s. With one year to go before the Millennium Development Goals lapse, the UNDP report argues that while progress has been rnade, it is on shaky ground on account of economic crises, social unrest, conflict and climate change.
HDR 2014 introduced a Gender Development Index (GDI) for the first time, which measures gender development gaps among 148 countries. While the overall gender gap is an 8% deficit for women, the income gap is shockingly high-per capita income for men are more than double that for women!
Recommendations
The report urges a three-fold policy path to get the world out of the morass it is stuck in: universal provision of social services, stronger social protection and a return to full employment policies. All these would require a strong and active role of the state. Citing recent estimates of giving universal basic old age and disability pension, basic childcare benefits universal healthcare, social assistance and 100-day employment guarantee, the report stated that India would need to spend just 4% of GDP to achieve all this.
EBOLA
In a recent development, Guinea (a country in West Africa), officially declared a public health emergency over the sporadic rise of Ebola epidemic. The evil effect of Ebola has killed more than one thousand lives in three West African states and is now sending competent health workers to all the affected border points to curtail the situation. According to official Guinea Government reports, approximately 377 persons have died mercilessly of Ebola, since the worst outbreak of this dreaded disease began in March in remote parts of border region next to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Despite the fact the situation is under control now, the international medicine fraternity has raised alarming concern for Ebola and hopes to discover new measures to prevent this dreadful disease. In Nigeria too, a public health emergency was declared, when 11 cases of Ebola were discovered. Its symptoms mainly include internal and external bleeding, diarrhea and vomiting. The natural hosts of Ebola virus are presumed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family. As Ebola is a contagious hemorrhagic disease, health experts believe that governments should take preventive measures in transmitting this disease as it could induce panic among people and can damage the economic infrastructure of any nation.
Ebola virus disease (EVD), earlier acknowledged as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a fatal illness in humans. It is caused by the Ebola virus and its symptoms start two days to three weeks after coming in contact with virus and it is reflected in fever, sore throat, headaches and stringent muscular pain. It starts off with a typical nausea and vomiting which is followed by decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys. There are also few cases reported where the infected persons have suffered from external or internal bleedings. There is a huge probability of death among those who are severely infected from this disease. Generally speaking, EVD outbreak has been significantly more in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests. According to medical reports, EVD is transmitted to people from wild animals and subsequently spreads in the human population through human-to- human transmission and has shown a case fatality rate of up to 90 per cent. The Ebola virus is acquired when the humans have bodily contact with blood or bodily fluids of infected animals, commonly fruit bats or monkeys. It is contagious in nature and spreads sporadically among other people.
To proceed and authorize properly for the diagnosis, the blood samples are tested for viral antibodies, viral RNA or the virus itself. As per laboratory reports, the infected person has low white blood cells and platelet counts and elevated liver enzymes. The individuals are considered to be infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. This virus was isolated from semen 61 days after beginning of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory. The development period, which is, the time interval from infection with the virus to commencement of symptoms, is assumed to be 2 to 21 days. Before the diagnosis of EVD, the probabilities of other diseases like malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis, cholera, leptospirosis, plague, rickettsiosis, relapsing fever, meningitis, hepatitis and other viral haemorrhagic fevers should be ruled out. There are many laboratory tests which are used definitively for the diagnosis of EVD. These tests include antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), antigen detection tests, serum neutralization test, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, electron microscopy, virus isolation by cell culture. The testing of the infected persons should be conducted under maximum biological conditions as samples from patients can be of a great biohazard risk.
As far as vaccine and treatment is concerned, no licensed vaccine is available for EVD, despite the fact that many vaccines are being tested. The patients who are severely infected require intensive supportive care and they are frequently dehydrated and so they require oral rehydration with solutions which contains electrolytes or intravenous fluids. However, there is no specific treatment available, though new drug therapies are being tried and evaluated for the treatment.
Ebola is considered to be one among "neglected diseases" of our times as drug industry hasn't come up with an amiable cure. The deadliest outbreak of this disease in recent times has been one of the major challenges in public health world.
According to Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director general of the World Health Organization, Ebola is a disease of poor people in poor countries and therefore there is a market failure for its curing drugs and treatments. In many reported current cases of Ebola, the drug manufacturers lack adequate economic incentives to devote resources of making drugs for people who lack the ability to afford it. In hot pursuit of discovering a potential cure for Ebola, the modern scientists have discovered that Ebola virus disables the body's immune response. Furthermore, American institutions have discovered that Ebola carries a protein which is acknowledged as VP24. This protein VP24 interferes with a molecule called interferon which is vital to immune response. On the other hand, the victims of Ebola in Lagos, commercial capital of Nigeria, will receive an experimental drug called Nano Silver, and also an untested treatment which can fight against the Ebola outbreak in many West African countries.
On an optimistic note, World Health Organization (WHO) provides expertise and documentation to support control and support disease investigation processes. WHO has provided recommendations for infection control while providing care to patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola haemorrhagic fever in "Interim infection control recommendations for care of patients with suspected or confirmed Filovirus (Ebola, Marburg) haemorrhagic fever". This document is regularly updated. Besides this generous move, WHO has also created an aide-memoire on standard precautions in health care, which is also updated with present medical and health problem scenarios. The standard precautions prescribed help in reducing the risk of transmission of bloodborne and other pathogens, and if applied universally, it can help prevent most transmission through exposure to blood and body fluids. The precautions primarily include basic level of infection control like hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment to avoid direct contact with blood and body fluids, prevention of needle stick and injuries from other sharp instruments, and also a set of environmental controls.
Union Budget 2014 -15
In his first Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley walked a fine line between prudence and promises. He insisted on the new government's commitment to fiscal consolidation, saying the fiscal deficit for 2014-15 would be the same 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) laid out by P Chidambaram in February's interim budget. For this, he relied on tax revenue growing 17.7 per cent, in a drought year - though it grew only 11.8 per cent in last financial year. Meanwhile, he nevertheless found money for a laundry list of incentives and sops - in particular, for manufacturing companies, market participants, and taxpayers.
Key points of the Union Budget 2014-15 are as under:-
Personal Income-tax exemption limit raised by 50,000/- that is, from 2 lakh to 2.5 lakh in the case of individual taxpayers, below the age of 60 years. Exemption limit raised from 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh in the case of senior citizens.
No change in the rate of surcharge either for the corporates or the individuals, HUFs, firms etc.
The education cess to continue at 3 percent.
Investment limit under section 80C of the Income-tax Act raised from 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh.
Deduction limit on account of interest on loan in respect of self occupied house property raised from 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh
To boost domestic manufacture and to address the issue of inverted duties, basic customs duty (BCD) reduced on certain items.
To encourage new investment and capacity addition in the chemicals and petrochemicals sector, basic customs duty reduced on certain items.
Non-plan Expenditure of 12,19,892 crore with additional provision for fertilizer subsidy and Capital expenditure for Armed forces.
5,75,000 crore Plan expenditure – increase of 26.9 per cent over actuals of 2013-14.
Total expenditure of 17,94,892 crore estimated.
Gross Tax receipts of 13,64,524 crore estimated.
Fiscal deficit of 4.1% of GDP and Revenue deficit of 2.9% estimated.
Allocation of 50,548 crore under SCSP and 32,387 under TSP.
Allocation for women at 98,030 crore and for children at 81,075 crore.
Government to promote FDI selectively in sectors.
The composite cap of foreign investment to be raised to 49 per cent with full Indian management and control through the FIPB route.
The composite cap in the insurance sector to be increased up to 49 per cent from 26 per cent with full Indian management and control through the FIPB route.
PSUs will invest through capital investment a total sum of 2,47,941 crores in the current financial year.
A sum of 7060 crore is provided in the current fiscal for the project of developing “one hundred Smart Cities”.
1000 crore provided for “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna” for assured irrigation.
Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission for integrated project based infrastructure in the rural areas.
500 crore for “Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana” for feeder separation to augment power supply to the rural areas.
Allocation for National Housing Bank increased to 8000 crore to support Rural housing.
New programme “Neeranchal” to give impetus to watershed development in the country with an initial outlay of 2142 crores.
An amount of 50,548 crore is proposed under the SC Plan and 32,387 crore under TSP.
For the welfare of the tribals “Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna” launched with an initial allocation of 100 crore.
Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) to be revived for a limited period from 15 August, 2014 to 14 August, 2015 for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above.
Government notified a minimum pension of rupees 1000 per month to all subscriber members of EP Scheme. Initial provision of 250 crore.
Government would strive to provide toilets and drinking water in all the girls school in first phase. An amount of 28635 crore is being funded for Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) and 4966 crore for Rashtriya madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
An amount of 100 crores set aside for “Agri-tech Infrastructure Fund”.
To meet the vagaries of climate change a “National Adaptation Fund” with an initial sum an amount of 100 crore will be set up.
A sustainable growth of 4% in Agriculture will be achieved
To provide institutional finance to landless farmers, it is proposed to provide finance to 5 lakh joint farming groups of “Bhoomi Heen Kisan” through NABARD.
A target of 8 lakh crore has been set for agriculture credit during 2014-15.
100 crores provided for setting up a National Industrial Corridor Authority.
Time bound programme as Financial Inclusion Mission to be launched on 15 August this year with focus on the weaker sections of the society.
Individual taxpayers got five big presents. Foreign investors had their fears allayed, and market participants were given a few incentives. Jaitley assured investors the government would not "ordinarily bring about any change retrospectively which creates a fresh liability", while asserting the sovereign right to write retrospective legislation. Various amendments to problematic transfer-pricing rules, to bring those in line with international best practices were also proposed.
The Budget contained some major reformist endeavours, though these were not linked together in Jaitley's speech. The scheme of "advance rulings" for indirect taxes, currently available only to foreign companies, will be extended to domestic ones, too, as suggested by the Tax Administration Reforms Commission. A commitment to the goods and services tax (GST) and the direct taxes code, was re-emphasised - though there was no timeline for GST rollout.
However, there were some major misses for those expecting a big-bang Budget. For one, there was little movement on subsidy reform. Petroleum subsidies were about 25 per cent less than earlier promised, and food subsidies about 25 per cent more - but the overall figure did not change. There was a promise to eventually
formulate a new urea policy, but no timeline. An Expenditure Management Commission was promised "to look into various aspects of expenditure reform". It will produce an interim report this financial year. Presumably, subsidy control will have to wait until Budget 2015-16 next February.