Mains Q & A 15 December 2022
Despite the uproar, our nation still lacks a quick and effective way to try rape cases while causing the survivors’ feeling of privacy and dignity the least amount of harm. Comment. (250 words)
Paper & Topic: GS II Government Policies and Interventions
Introduction
The history of violence against women in India is still being practised now. The recent gangrap of an MBA student in Mysuru’s Chamundi Hills shocked the country. The foundation of delivering justice is the rapid trial, which is the centre of criminal justice. Justice is denied when it is delayed.
When someone who has been harmed is given legal recourse but does not use it quickly away, it has the same result as getting no recourse at all. The victim of the horrifying rape has both physical and emotional pain. Article 21 of the Constitution, which ensures “the right to life and personal liberty” for everyone, including the right to live in dignity, is broken by this conduct.
Body
Rape case trials lack an effective and timely framework
It is a social fact that the criminal justice system frequently does nothing more than reorganise an illegality system. Rape victims, for instance, are regularly pressured into entering into an illegal “compromise” and become belligerent in court; if they refuse, they run the risk of being injured or even killed.
Despite the fact that the Indian court system is plagued by case delays and the employment of outdated practises, issues with nominations and open seats continue to dominate discussions about judicial reform. Additional sources of case latency, such as infrastructural problems, organisational challenges, and judicial procedures, need to be determined.
In order to assess the nearly 2.8 crore cases that are currently outstanding in district and subordinate courts around the world, there are only 16,874 judges available, or around 1,540 cases per judge.
The judiciary’s gender disparity is another problem. According to a groundbreaking study by the Delhi-based Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, only 28% of lower court judges in the nation are female.
The lower judiciary is not the only area lacking in gender diversity. Only six women have served on the Supreme Court in its six decades of existence, and only one of its 25 members is a woman at the moment.
Just over 10% of the judges in the 24 High Courts spread out around the nation are female. The Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1955, the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 are a few of the sources that offer details on Indian criminal law.
Concerns of preserving the survivors’ dignity and privacy
According to the most recent information available from the National Crime Records Bureau, rapes happen in India every 16 minutes despite the severe restrictions that are in place, notably in the wake of the 2012 Nirbhaya case in Delhi.
Following horrible attacks against women, sexist, misogynist, victim-blaming remarks and ineffective solutions are always presented, which only serves to deepen problems.
Girls who stay up late and wear ill-fitting clothing are made fun of.
People from particular social groups frequently claim that the victim might have stopped the offenders if they had followed traditional values, such as dressing modestly, avoiding parties, and returning home before nightfall.
Parents are criticised for neglecting to instil “Indian values” in their young daughters.
A similar pattern appeared after the rape in Mysuru. The Karnataka home minister made “jokes” about rape, while the opposition party was accused of “politicising” the crime. Later, he apologised for his offensive comments.
Even the University of Mysore received criticism for upholding a rule that forbade women from leaving the house after 6:30 o’clock.
An idea to improve rape case trials
We should establish a separate criminal bench in the high court, similar to the commercial bench that hears rape cases.
The judicial branch, legislative branch, and executive branch all need to have an intention.
It is reasonable to assign prominent judges to rape cases that need to be resolved quickly.
the creation of specialised courtrooms where judges can receive training in the criminal justice system.
Fast-track courts should be immediately under the supervision of the High Courts, and adjournments should not be allowed.
Instead of irresponsibly criminalising behaviour, the state should concentrate on creating a guiding concept for reclassifying crimes. This is due to the fact that unlawful criminalization frequently results in the invention of brand-new crimes based on arbitrary criteria and the use of discretion by the criminal justice system.
the division of the police force in charge of inquiries.
Law enforcement officials who shoot criminals in the heat of the moment while characterising the circumstance as a confrontation have regularly come under fire from the Supreme Court.
Conclusion
By fighting for their rights in the face of patriarchal attitudes and other social problems, women have made considerable progress. Society and the government should ensure that women are protected in both public and private settings rather than restricting their rights. A woman who has been raped is left with little choice but to knock on the doors of the courts since justice can only be given through a drawn-out legal procedure, and even then, she still won’t obtain it. The constitutional right to swift justice must be upheld because it actually exists, not just in principle.
What does bio fortification mean exactly? In view of India’s efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2, consider the viability of bio fortification (SDG-2). (250 words)
Paper & Topic: GS III Biotechnology
Introduction
Bio fortification, according to the WHO, is the process of enhancing the nutritional value of food crops by agronomic practises, traditional plant breeding, or contemporary biotechnology. Contrary to conventional fortification, which involves manually adding nutrients after the crops have been processed, bio fortification aims to improve nutrient levels in plants while they are still developing. Therefore, bio fortification might offer a solution to reach those for whom dietary supplements and traditional fortification methods might not be practical or simple to use.
Body
Bio fortification, according to the WHO, is the process of enhancing the nutritional value of food crops by agronomic practises, traditional plant breeding, or contemporary biotechnology. Contrary to conventional fortification, which involves manually adding nutrients after the crops have been processed, bio fortification aims to improve nutrient levels in plants while they are still developing. Therefore, bio fortification might offer a solution to reach those for whom dietary supplements and traditional fortification methods might not be practical or simple to use.
India must strengthen its bio defenses
India’s development paradox is that 14% of its population, or 189.2 million people, are estimated to be undernourished despite having one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Additionally, among children under the age of five, stunting, wasting, or underweight conditions respectively affect 38.4, 21.0, and 42.5 percent of the population.
In addition, anaemia affects 53.1% of reproductive women between the ages of 15 and 49.
These numbers show how common chronic undernourishment is among women, girls, and children in India.
The potential for bio fortification in India
Malnutrition and covert hunger can be decreased with the aid of bio fortification, an agricultural-based method for the manufacture and distribution of meals high in micronutrients.
The problem mostly affects the poor and rural populations who grow, eat a lot of staple foods, and give a lot of their surplus items to their communities.
Because the poor have a propensity to consume less higher-value foods that are naturally rich in micronutrients amid economic crises, the technique enriches staple crops with essential micronutrients to decrease people’s nutritional vulnerability.
Bio fortified seeds might be distributed all throughout the nation using the current seed distribution infrastructure with a one-time expenditure in research and development.
Since they can save some of their produce as seeds for the following year, farmers can grow bio fortified crops even with limited resources and market access, avoiding the need to buy seeds repeatedly.
Additionally, if seeds are adopted more widely through effective seed distribution techniques, growers will earn financially.
Consumers must be informed of the connected health benefits, and the product must be easily accessible and reasonably priced.
The research currently available supports the claim that bio fortification can enhance nutritional results.
Examples include the increase in serum ferritin and total body iron seen in iron-deficient adolescent boys and girls in Maharashtra, India after consuming bio fortified pearl millet flatbread twice daily for four months, as well as the improvement in haemoglobin and total body iron seen in Rwandan women after consuming bio fortified iron bean.
It has been proven that improving food using biological techniques is easy, affordable, and sustainable.
Therefore, to minimise stunting, under nutrition, anemia, and low birth weight, bio-fortified crops can be directly distributed to the nearly 10 crore people that India’s ambitious POSHAN Abhiyaan is targeting.
Moving ahead
Put the mother’s education front and center
Children’s wellbeing and mothers’ education are intertwined.
Promoting targeted programmes that improve female students’ academic standing and lower dropout rates is crucial.
According to the Global Nutrition Report, the returns on an effective nutrition programme are estimated to be 16 dollars for every dollar spent (2014).
Increase the innovation of bio fortified foods by promoting policies.
Bio fortified food innovations can only reduce malnutrition if they are scaled up in conjunction with favourable policies.
More funding for agri-R&D would be required to achieve this, and farmers would also need to be rewarded with access to lucrative markets via moral value chains and distribution networks.
The government may also work with business to develop a market for upmarket biofortified goods.
As an illustration, trusts managed by the TATA group are assisting numerous states in beginning to fortify milk with vitamin A and D.
Wide-ranging educational endeavour
Poshan for Everyone’s goals might be greatly aided by a broad awareness campaign modelled after the “Salt Iodization Programme” that the government established in 1962. Branding, awareness campaigns, social change projects, and behaviour modification programmes can influence children and the poor to select local, nutrient-dense, affordable foods.
Conclusion
A stride forward in India’s transition from food accessibility and availability to nutrition security and ending hidden hunger is the emphasis on bio-fortification. Using research to address the complicated problem of malnutrition may be beneficial, particularly for low-income and vulnerable groups in society.
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