Daily Current Affairs including static notes - 26 MAY

The Hindu -

Law commission and Uniform Civil Code (Gov)

  • The Law Commission of India has started consultations to formulate recommendations for a uniform civil code (UCC).
  • The commission has sought the views of Muslim groups on at least seven key issues including custody of children, inheritance and adoption
Details: 
The panel asked about Muslim personal law not allowing a mother to be the natural guardian and also cited the differences in the interpretation of Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki or Hanbali law.
The panel has also asked various stakeholders to recommend a model Nikahnama and Talaqnama that can be implemented uniformly across the country.
The Commission headed by Justice B S Chauhan is presently holding consultations with over 30 individuals and religious institutions.
On inheritance, the panel is learnt to have sought detailed legal opinions on daughters inheriting half the share of what sons inherit. During the deliberations the panel looking through the lens of “gender justice” asked stakeholders to submit citations from the Quran or Hadees about the circumstances under which daughters and sons can inherit property equally.
The panel has also sought opinions on maintenance and share in the property to the wife and children of a predeceased son. The Commission also asked about the duty of the father and father-in-law in maintenance to a widow and her children.
Referring to the custody of children, the panel asked Muslim groups to cite different precedents where the “best interest of the child would prevail”. The panel has sought opinions on issues related to ‘hizanat’ (custody): the distinction between the legal and natural heir and who can maintain custody of the child without guardianship.
The Commission has cited differences between Shia and Sunni law concerning custody of children. Citing Shia law, where a mother loses custody of the son after two years and Sunni law, in which custody is with the mother till puberty and 7 years of age for boys, the panel asked if there existed a religious source that advises otherwise.
The panel also sought opinions on whether there is dar-ul-qaza (Islamic court) judgments in which the best interest of the child would prevail. It has also asked for religious sources on reasons Muslim personal law does not permit a mother to be a natural guardian.
On the issue of adoption, the panel sought opinions around sections of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, which allows a relative of the child to adopt, and asked if the same could be part of the UCC. The Commission also asked stakeholders to produces religious texts in which Islam specifically allows adoption in specific circumstances and the rights of the adopted child.
About Uniform Civil Code: 
Uniform civil code is the ongoing point of debate within Indian mandate to replace personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common set of rules governing every citizen. Article 44 of the Directive Principles expects the state to apply these while formulating policies for the country. Apart from being an important issue regarding secularism in India & fundamental right to practice religion contained in Article 25, it became one of the most controversial topics in contemporary politics during the Shah Bano case in 1985. The debate then focused on the Muslim Personal Law, which is partially based on the Sharia law and remains unreformed since 1937, permitting unilateral divorce, polygamy in the country and putting it among the nations legally applying the Sharia law. The Bano case made it a politicized public issue focused on identity politics—by means of attacking specific religious minorities versus protecting its cultural identity.
The demand for a uniform civil code was first put forward by women activists in the beginning of the twentieth century, with the objective of women’s rights, equality and secularism. Till Independence in 1947, a few law reforms were passed to improve the condition of women, especially Hindu widows. In 1956, the Indian Parliament passed Hindu Code Bill amidst significant opposition. Though a demand for a uniform civil code was made by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, his supporters and women activists, they had to finally accept the compromise of it being added to the Directive Principles because of heavy opposition.

stom-2 drone to be delivered to armed forces by 2020 (S&T)

  • The Rustom-II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) will be delivered to the armed forces by 2020
  • It is being developed by the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Details: 
Rustom II has completed one test at Chitradurga in Karnataka. At present, the bird (basic UAV system) is being perfected. Attempts are also being made to increase the altitude. By the end of this year, the organization will be ready with the bird, after which the focus will be on the machine systems on it.
The drone is being developed for use by all three services of the Indian Armed Forces, primarily for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. The medium-altitude prototype can fly at over 22,000 feet and is a long-endurance UAV that has a 20 hours approximate flight time.
After perfecting the bird, the manufacturing will be done by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd, as per the contract.
About Rustom II: 
Rustom 2 is part of the Rustom line of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that includes Rustom-I, Rustom-H and Rustom-C. The drone has been modeled on the Rustom-H UCAV with a light airframe. The Rustom 2 is propelled by two 3-bladed NPO Saturn engines. It stands 2.4 meters tall with a wingspan of 20.6 meters and a length of 9.5 meters. The UAV’s tail section comes with a T-type vertical stabilizer and a high-mounted horizontal tail plane.
Rustom 2 can fly missions on manual as well as autonomous modes. The onboard way-point navigation system allows the drone to conduct missions autonomously.

FASTag set for a revamp with Korean help ( S&T)

  • The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is in talks with Korea Express Highway Information Corporation (KEHIC) for a technological tie-up for revamping the RFID tags initiative.
Details:
 A seamless ride on the national highways with the help of the latest radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags or FASTag has hit a hurdle as the technology that was to facilitate it has suffered hardware glitches. The system now needs to be rebooted for it to become operational. The National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) introduced FASTag that uses radio frequency identification technology and allows cars to pass tolls without stopping for payment. A RFID-enabled sticker is linked to a pre-paid account from which the payment is deducted every time one passes a toll. Digitizing toll collection on the highways through RFID tags has suffered hiccups due to hardware issues. Only 2.5 million tags have been sold till now over the past two years, mostly for passenger vehicles.
The ministry has invited KEHIC for a joint venture, which will give a fillip to the FASTag project. It may be a technological tie-up of sorts where the Union government would seek KEHIC’s expertise in executing the project.
The government has made it mandatory for every new four-wheeler to have a tag from this December. Big banks such as ICICI and non-banking entities like Paytm have also entered the arena. According to estimates provided by payments processor Worldline, which works on FASTag implementation with eight banks, over 1.5 million tags have been issued already — 800,000 in the past four months. Revenue collection through FASTag clocked ~25 billion last month.
FASTag are currently offered by about 10 entities; these include ICICI, State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB). Among these, eight are also in the business of acquiring and operating toll plazas. According to the current revenue sharing arrangement, an acquirer gets 1.25 per cent of the toll value as commission while an issuer pockets 1.5 per cent.
The SBI executive said 80 per cent of the bank’s issuances were for passenger vehicles. This is something the industry is looking to change, as it is the commercial vehicles which travel a lot more through toll plazas. Their business gets impacted due to delays in travel time.
Customers reported hiccups such as double deductions from their account or they have to pay in cash despite money getting deducted from the FASTag.

Bangladesh PM’s India visit ( IR)

  • The Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina is on a visit to India.
  • Hasina’s ‘informal visit’ widely seen as part of India’s renewed efforts to improve ties with neighbors on the subcontinent, is expected to throw up some unlikely topics for discussion.
Details: 
Ms. Hasina and Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in two events at Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan — the convocation of the university and the inauguration of the Bangladesh Bhavana —and laid emphasis on the shared cultural heritage.
The Bangladesh Bhavana is a cultural complex with a museum narrating the history of the 1971 Liberation War, on the campus of Visva Bharati.
Ms. Hasina also urged for “cooperation from all to put pressure” on the government of Myanmar so that over one million Rohingya, who had taken shelter in Bangladesh, could return to their country.
Assam’s National Register for Citizens is another issue that may emerge during the informal summit between Modi and Hasina. Dhaka may seek assurance from Modi that there will be no attempts for deportation.
Bangladesh and India have a lot to benefit from each other from ties in infrastructure, power, and connectivity, a key element of which is the proposed Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN) transport corridor. While the corridor could allow India’s North East greater connectivity via Bangladesh’s infrastructure, it would allow Bangladesh access to Nepal and Bhutan via India. That Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, and Nepal went ahead with the project despite Pakistan creating obstacles; it’s only pertinent that the project moves forward smoothly.
During her last visit in April, India-Bangladesh signed around 22 deals and India extended a credit line of $5 billion to Dhaka. A major component of this was $500 million line of credit to for procurement of defense equipment for the Bangladesh military forces. The sore point during Hasina’s April visit was the lack of progress made in the Teesta water dispute.
The Bangladesh prime minister is likely to bring the topic back on the table, especially with elections in Dhaka right around the corner. A timely resolution of the issue could be a win-win for both New Delhi and Dhaka. The only bottleneck would be West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been reluctant to take any step towards resolving the issue.
The Teesta water sharing negotiations have been going on for decades, but yet to reach anywhere close to a settlement.

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