Can’t legislate on Women’s Marriage Age: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has rejected a petition seeking a uniform minimum age of marriage for men and women stating that the matter is within the domain of the legislature and not the judiciary.

Central idea: The minimum age of marriage, especially for women, has been a contentious issue.  It was evolved in the face of much resistance from religious and social conservatives.

What laws govern marriage age in India?

Following laws prescribe/mention 18 and 21 years as the minimum age of consent for marriage for women and men respectively:

1. Special Marriage Act, 1954: It allows people from two different faith/religious backgrounds to come together in the bond of marriage
2. Sarda Act, 1978: Named after its sponsor Harbilas Sarda, a judge and a member of Arya Samaj, was eventually amended in 1978 to prescribe 18 and 21 years as the age of marriage for a woman and a man, respectively.
3. Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006: It provides that the minimum age of marriage is 21 years in case of males, and 18 years in case of females.

Evolution of the idea: Age of Consent

• The IPC enacted in 1860 criminalised sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 10.
• The provision of rape was amended in 1927 through The Age of Consent Bill, 1927, which declared that marriage with a girl under 12 would be invalid.
• The law faced opposition from leaders including Lokmanya Tilak, who saw the British intervention as an attack to create rift within family intuitions in the name of equal rights.
• A legal framework for the age of consent for marriage in India only began in the 1880s.

Central idea: Attainment of Majority

• The minimum age of marriage is distinct from the age of majority which is gender-neutral.
• An individual attains the age of majority at 18 as per the Indian Majority Act, 1875.
• The law prescribes a minimum age of marriage to essentially outlaw child marriages and prevents the abuse of minors.

How this confers ‘Unequal Treatment’?

• Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution guarantee the right to equality and the right to live with dignity.
• They are clearly violated by having different legal age for men and women to marry, argue activists.

Supreme Court rulings supportive to this

• NALSA vs. Union of India, 2014: The Supreme Court while recognizing transgenders as the third gender said that justice is delivered with the “assumption that humans have equal value and should, therefore, be treated as equal, as well as by equal laws.”
• Joseph Shine v Union of India, 2019: The Court decriminalized adultery and said that “a law that treats women differently based on gender stereotypes is an affront to women’s dignity.”

Contention over different legal standards

• No rationale behind: There is no reasoning in the law for having different legal standards of age for men and women to marry.
• More of religious decree: The laws are a codification of custom and religious practices.
• Stereotype for male dominance: The Law Commission consultation paper has argued that having different legal standards “contributes to the stereotype that wives must be younger than their husbands”.
• Promotes premature marriage of girl child: Women’s rights activists have argued that the law also perpetuates the stereotype that women are more mature than men and therefore, can be allowed to marry sooner.
• Motherhood complexities: An early age of marriage, and consequent early pregnancies, also have impacts on nutritional levels of mothers and their children, and their overall health and mental wellbeing.
• Other factors: Early marriage age has latent outcomes such as early dropouts from school, deprivation from higher education etc.

Why is the law being relooked at?

• Prevalence of child marriage: Despite laws mandating minimum age and criminalizing sexual intercourse with a minor, child marriages are very prevalent in the country.
• Bring gender-neutrality: From bringing in gender-neutrality to reduce the risks of early pregnancy among women, there are many arguments in favour of increasing the minimum age of marriage of women.
• Protection from abuse: This will essentially outlaw premature girls marriages and prevent the abuse of minors.
• Women empowerment: The decision would empower women who are cut off from access to education and livelihood due to an early marriage.

Policy measures in this regard: Jaya Jaitly Committee

• In June 2020, the Ministry of WCD set up a task force to look into the correlation between the age of marriage with issues of women’s nutrition, prevalence of anaemia, IMR, MMR and other social indices.
• The committee was to look at the feasibility of increasing the age of marriage and its implication on women and child health, as well as how to increase access to education for women.

Key recommendations

• The committee has recommended the age of marriage be increased to 21 years, on the basis of feedback they received from young adults from 16 universities across the country.
• The committee also asked the government to look into increasing access to schools and colleges for girls, including their transportation to these institutes from far-flung areas.
• Skill and business training has also been recommended, as has sex education in schools.
• The committee said these deliveries must come first, as, unless they are implemented and women are empowered, the law will not be as effective.

Criticism of the move to raise the legal ages

• Promote illegal marriages: Such legislation would push a large portion of the population into illegal marriages leading to non-institutional births.
• Ineffectiveness of existing laws: Decrease in child marriages has not been because of the existing law but because of an increase in girls’ education and employment opportunities.
• Unnecessary coercion: The law would end up being coercive, and in particular negatively impact marginalized communities, such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, making them law-breakers.

Way forward

• Enacting Legislation: Establishing a Uniform Minimum Age of Marriage for Both Men and Women
• Effective Implementation and Enforcement: Preventing Child Marriages and Gender-Based Discrimination
• Addressing Root Causes: Improving Access to Education and Healthcare, Promoting Women’s Participation, and Reducing Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination
• Coordinated Multi-Sectoral Approach: Involving the Government, Civil Society and religious scholars.

Shedding The Colonial Legacy By Promoting Mother Language

Central idea

• Former Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu, has emphasized the importance of shedding the colonial legacy in India by promoting and creating content in mother languages. He has pointed out that during the colonial era, the British rulers-imposed English as the language of administration, education, and communication, which led to the neglect of Indian languages.

International Mother Language Day

• In November 1999, UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day in response to the declining state of many languages all over the world.
• This year’s theme, “Multilingual education a necessity to transform education,” underscores the importance of using multiple languages in framing an impactful system of education.
• It is appropriate, therefore, that revitalising languages that are disappearing or are threatened with extinction is one of the themes of Mother Language Day this year

The International Mother Language Day has added significance: Indian context

• India’s Linguistic heritage: India is an ancient repository of hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects with rich linguistic and cultural diversity. Our languages, which are an integral part of our ancient culture, give us a sense of identity.
• The threat westernisation poses: The International Mother Language Day has added significance in the Indian context because of the threat westernisation poses to the survival of as many as 42 of our dialects and languages which have fewer than 10,000 users.
• Grim situation of not having access to education in their mother tongue: The situation is equally grim all over the world with 40 per cent of the speakers of 6,700 languages not having access to education in their mother tongue.

Highlighting the significance of Mother tongue

• To express deepest feelings: It is in our mother tongue that we express, with authenticity, our, feelings, values and ideals, as also our literary endeavours.
• Homeland of our innermost thoughts: The former UNESCO Director-General, Koichiro Matsura, highlighted the irreplaceable significance of one’s mother tongue when he observed that the languages, we learn from our mothers are the homeland of our innermost thoughts.
• Science must be taught in mother tongue: The Nobel Prize-winning Physicist C V Raman said, “We must teach science in our mother tongue. Otherwise, science will become a highbrow activity. It will not be an activity in which all people can participate.”
• Better performance: A number of studies have shown that children who learn in their mother tongue in their formative years perform better than those taught in an alien language.
• View of Gandhiji: Writing in Young India in 1921, Mahatma Gandhi spoke with concern, of the strain of the foreign medium which turned “our children into crammers and imitators.” Gandhiji foresaw how “the foreign medium has made our children practically foreigners in their own land.

Colonial legacy

• It been 75 years, still carrying the colonial legacy: Even as we celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, to mark 75 years of Independence, we have not been able to shed this colonial legacy of dependence on English.
• Mother tongue as a second language: Educators and parents continue to accord unquestioned primacy to English and, as a result, the child is compelled to study his or her mother tongue as a second/third language at school.
• Building barriers in the path of our progress: Our emphasis on English has, ironically, made the educational system exclusive and restrictive. As a result, while limiting the acquisition of knowledge in technical and professional courses, to a select few, we made it inaccessible to a vast majority of our students.

Shedding the colonial legacy

• The National Education Policy (NEP): The NEP 2020 is a farsighted document which advocates education in one’s mother tongue right from the primary-school level.
• BTech programmes in 11 native languages: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address in 2021, marking the first anniversary of the National Education Policy (NEP), hailed the AICTE’s landmark decision to permit BTech programmes in 11 native languages.
• Promotion of mother tongue education in colleges and universities: The UGC has, in a welcome move, written to governors and chief ministers of various states to give a fillip to measures for the promotion of mother tongue education in colleges and universities.
• For instance: In a survey conducted by AICTE in February last year of over 83,000 students, nearly 44 per cent voted in favour of studying engineering in their mother tongue, highlighting its necessity.
• Initiative to give prominence to native language: The Centre’s initiative to give prominence to native languages in employment and job creation is a welcome step.
• Examinations in native languages: It is also heartening that the Staff Selection Commission has decided to conduct examinations in 13 Indian languages in addition to Hindi and English.
• Supreme court verdicts accessible in all Indian languages: Similarly, the Supreme Court’s decision to make verdicts accessible in all Indian languages is of great significance.

Conclusion

• NEP’s emphasis on mother tongue as the medium of instruction will instil confidence in students belonging to poor, rural and tribal backgrounds. These steps need to be scaled up at all levels. Moreover, we must hasten the process of content creation in mother languages, especially with respect to technical and professional courses. Leveraging technology will drive development in this respect.

Land Monetisation

To expedite the monetisation plans for government-owned land assets across the country, the National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) has decided to rope in international property consultancy firms to help strategize and implement transactions from start to finish.

About Land Monetisation:

• Land Monetisation means transferring the revenue rights of the asset (could be idle land, infrastructure, PSU) to a private player for a specified period of time.
• In such a transaction, the government gets in return an upfront payment from the private entity, regular share of the revenue generated from the asset, a promise of steady investment into the asset, and the title rights to the monetised asset.
• In the case of land monetisation of certain spaces like offices, it can be done through a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), a company that owns and operates a land asset and sometimes, funds income-producing real estate.
• Assets of the government can also be monetised through the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) model.

Benefits of Land Monetisation:

• The monetisation of several lakh acres of the land pool with various central government agencies is expected to give a fillip to the Rs 111-trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) in five years through FY25 and Gati Shakti connectivity projects, as well as the housing sector.
• The monetisation process aims to capture the real estate value of public land lying idle in monetary terms to improve or strengthen the finances of government bodies and local authorities.
• The 13th Finance Commission of India also underlined the importance of monetisation of land which has the potential for generating additional revenues from under-utilized prime lands of Public Sector Undertakings, Port Trusts, Airports, Railways, municipal corporations, etc.
• There is an estimate of the extent of land held by various government agencies in excess of 5 lakh hectares, of which, over 160,000 hectares are held across various airports, seaports, and railways.
• It allows certain State/ Centre funded projects to be created and financed from otherwise defunct assets or under-utilized land parcels.

Challenges faced in Land Monetization

• Complex legal and regulatory framework: The legal and regulatory framework for land ownership, land use, and land development is often complex and varies by region, making it difficult for CPSEs to navigate the process of monetising their land.
• Lack of fast Dispute Resolution Mechanism: More than 60% of the litigation in India is land-related and these disputes need to be resolved in a time-bound manner for timely land monetisation.
• Meeting disinvestment targets: The success of NLMC will depend on the government’s ability to meet its disinvestment targets.
  • The government has not been able to meet its targets in the past, which could affect the performance of the NLMC.
• Mapping the vacant lands: The estimation of surplus land may be a contentious issue in the absence of a clear land title, ongoing litigation, and encroachments.
• Ensuring adequate investment: Private players must invest adequately in the asset to ensure its growth and sustainability.
  • The government needs to ensure that the private players are fulfilling their investment commitments.
• Market conditions: The value of land is dependent on market conditions, which can be volatile, and subject to fluctuations.
  • Moreover, the vast difference between the state gazette valuation and market rate valuation can create problems.
• Use of PPPs: The use of PPPs as a monetisation model can pose challenges, as seen in the case of the Railways’ PPP initiative, which did not see much interest from private players.

Suggestive Measures:

• Digitization of land records: It will bring transparency to the land records maintenance system, digitize maps and surveys, update all settlement records, and minimize the scope of land disputes.
• Ensure transparency and fairness: The selection of private players should be through a competitive bidding process to avoid the creation of a monopoly or duopoly in operating surplus government land.
• Improve the disinvestment process: The government needs to streamline its disinvestment process and meet its disinvestment targets to generate more revenue.
  • This can be achieved by providing certainty to investors, and by setting realistic targets for disinvestment.
• Do it in phases: Multi-phased land monetization creates value for developers and investors and increases market appetite.
  • This will make the land more attractive to potential buyers, resulting in higher value and better returns.
• Partner with the government: Partnering with the government in a PPP model to help cover the holding costs of the land and streamline project clearances.
  • This will speed up the process and make it more efficient.

While privatisation of PSBs and PSUs has faced challenges, monetisation of idle government land requires specialised skills and expertise. Thus, NLMC will have necessary technical expertise to professionally manage and monetize land assets on behalf of CPSEs and other government agencies.

About National Land Monetisation Corporation:

• Introduced in the Union Budget 2021-22, NLMC is a wholly owned Government of India.
• The Board of Directors of NLMC will comprise senior Central Government officers and eminent experts to enable professional operations and management of the company.
• It falls under the Ministry of Finance and has been set up with an initial authorised share capital of Rs.5,000 crore and a paid-up capital of Rs.150 crore.
• NLMC is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that owns, holds, manages, and monetizes surplus land and assets of CPSEs under closure and the surplus non-core land assets of Government CPSEs under strategic disinvestment.

India’s fortified food programme

 Recently, a report “Do India’s Food Safety Regulator (FSSAI) and Indian Citizens Need Saving from (Foreign & Indian) Private Players Behind Food Fortification Initiatives?” was released.

About Food Fortification:

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) defines fortification as “deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients in a food so as to improve the nutritional quality of food and to provide public health benefit with minimal risk to health”.
  • For example, adding iodine and iron to edible salt.

Recent developments food fortification:

• The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had launched a centrally sponsored pilot scheme on “Fortification of Rice and its Distribution under Public Distribution System (PDS)” for a period of three years beginning 2019-20 with a total budget outlay of Rs.174.64 crore.
• The pilot scheme focuses on 15 districts in 15 states.
  • Under the scheme, the blending of rice is done at the milling stage.
• Maharashtra and Gujarat have started distribution of fortified rice under PDS in the Pilot Scheme.
• The Scheme is funded by the Government of India in the ratio of 90:10 in respect of North Eastern, hilly and island states and 75:25 in respect of the rest.

Need of food fortification:

• According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4):
  • 4% of children (6-59 months) are anaemic
  • 1% women in the reproductive age group are anaemic
  • 7% of children under 5 are underweight
  • Also, It is estimated that 50-70% of these birth defects are preventable. One of the major causes is deficiency of Folic Acid.
• India has slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries, from its 2020 position of 94th.
• Thus, fortification is necessary to address deficiency of micronutrients or micronutrient malnutrition.

Fortification of food in India: Currently government is promoting fortification in following 5 food items:

• Rice: Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has been running a “Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice & its distribution through Public Distribution System”. The scheme was initiated in 2019-20 for a three-year pilot run.
  • This scheme will run till 2023 and rice will be supplied to the beneficiaries at the rate of Re 1 per kilogram.
• Wheat: The decision on fortification of wheat was announced in 2018 and is being implemented in 12 states under India’s flagship Poshan Abhiyaan to improve nutrition among children, adolescents, pregnant mothers and lactating mothers.
• Edible oil: Fortification of edible oil, too, was made compulsory across the country by FSSAI in 2018.
• Milk: Fortification of milk was started in 2017 under which the National Dairy Development Board of India (NDDB) is pushing companies to add vitamin D.

Benefits of food fortification:

• Prevent nutritional deficiency-induced ailments: A nutritional deficiency occurs when your body doesn’t get enough nutrients, such as rickets due to vitamin D deficiency, anaemia osteoporosis or reproductive and nervous system ailments due to zinc deficiency.
  • The fortified food helps reduce rates of nutrient deficiency-related diseases.
• Beneficial in pregnancy: There is a link between zinc deficiency and high mortality and morbidity rates in mothers and new-borns.
  • Folate deficiency can cause faulty neural development in babies in the womb.
  • Consuming fortified food during pregnancy can lower the risks of numerous congenital deformities in babies and improves the mother and baby’s health.
• Fulfill dietary requirements: People who are strict vegetarians, vegans, lactose-intolerant, or other diet-related conditions have poor micronutrient levels, which causes various ailments.
  • Adding fortified foods to your diet can fulfill your nutrients requirement and improves your overall health.
• Help in children’s growth and development: It is an evident-based fact that deficiency of iron, zinc, and vitamins A and D causes growth problems.
  • Including fortified foods or micronutrient supplements in the growing phase have a positive physical and mental growth response among children.
• Helpful for elderlies: With aging, our digestive system absorbs fewer nutrients, causing a nutritional deficiency.
  • Adding fortified food to the diet help maintain healthy nutrient levels for stronger bones, better digestion, and healthy organ functioning.

Issues with food fortification:

• Loss of natural protective substances: Sometimes, fortification can have the opposite effect.
  • Natural foods contain protective substances such as phytochemicals and polyunsaturated fat that are adversely affected by the process of blending micronutrients.
• Impact on foetal development: Consumption of excess iron by pregnant women can adversely affect foetal development and birth outcomes.
  • These children have increased risk of contracting chronic diseases.
• High cost: The fortification expenditure of only the rice delivered through the social safety networks will cost the public exchequer about Rs 2,600 crores annually.
• Market-driven solution: The researchers are worried that the push towards fortification is more to help the industry than the people and is an international market driven solution and without any scientific logic.
• Impact on small industries: Fortification creates an assured market for multinationals. It could threaten the livelihoods of small units across India. Like, in case of rice and oil processing.
• No direct link between anaemia and iron deficiency: There is no direct link between anaemia and iron deficiency.
  • Anaemia is high among poor children in the rural areas but iron deficiency is more among the urban and rich across the country.

According to stalwarts of nutrition, food fortification is a cost-effective complementary strategy to address multiple micronutrient deficiencies. Thus, given its proven efficacy and cost-effectiveness, food fortification can help us in reducing micronutrient deficiencies and address overall health benefits. The intervention, carried out with precautions, is the key to the malnutrition issue which the nation continues to grapple with.