Decriminalization of Adultery and the Duty and Discipline

• The Supreme Court of India decriminalized adultery in 2018, but the Union of India sought clarification from the Court concerning its implementation in the armed forces. The court’s observations suggest that the armed forces may still discipline for adulterous acts under their special legislations. However, recent court cases show that an act must have some nexus with the discharge of duties to be considered misconduct, and private affairs cannot be subjected to moral policing under the Service Conduct Rules or Article 33 of the Constitution.

What is mean by Adultery?

• Adultery is a term used to describe a consensual sexual relationship between a married person and someone who is not their spouse.
• It is generally considered to be a breach of marital fidelity and can have legal, social, and religious consequences.
• In some societies and cultures, adultery is considered a crime or a sin, while in others it may not be explicitly prohibited but is still frowned upon or considered morally wrong.

Adultery In the Indian context

• Joseph Shine v. Union of India: Adultery was a criminal offense under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) until September 2018, when the Supreme Court of India decriminalized it in a landmark judgment in Joseph Shine v. Union of India.
• Law applied to men only: Before the judgment, adultery was punishable by up to five years of imprisonment or a fine or both, and the law only applied to men who had sexual relations with someone’s wife without the husband’s consent.
• Law did not consider women as an offender: The law did not consider a woman who had an affair with a married man as an offender or the husband as a victim.

What is Article 33?

• Fundamental rights of armed forces personnel can be curtailed by law for discipline: It empowers the Parliament to restrict or modify the fundamental rights of armed forces personnel, including members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to ensure the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them. This means that the fundamental rights of armed forces personnel can be curtailed or modified by law to the extent that it does not hinder their duties or impact discipline.
• Laws may be different from the general laws: The article gives special powers to Parliament to make laws that may not necessarily be in line with the fundamental rights guaranteed to Indian citizens under the Constitution. These laws may be different from the general laws applicable to Indian citizens, and their enforcement may be specific to the armed forces personnel.
• Application: The article applies not only to the armed forces personnel but also to members of the police force and intelligence agencies involved in maintaining public order. However, the restrictions imposed on these personnel should be in line with the principles of the Constitution and not infringe on their right to privacy or other fundamental rights.

 Decriminalization of Adultery

• Civil wrong: In 2018, The Joseph Shine judgment removed the criminalization of adultery and declared it a civil wrong that can be a ground for divorce.
• State should not interfere in matters of personal relationship: The judgment recognized that the right to choose one’s partner and engage in consensual sexual relations is a fundamental right and that the state should not interfere in matters of personal relationships between consenting adults.
• Violation of fundamental Rights: The provisions were found to be violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Recent Court Cases

• Rajasthan High Court: In Mahesh Chand Sharma versus State of Rajasthan and Others (2019).
• The court set aside departmental proceedings against a police inspector who allegedly had illicit relations with a woman constable and had a child from illicit relations.
• The court held that no employer could do moral policing on its employees beyond the domain of their public life.
• Gujarat High Court: In Maheshbhai Bhurjibhai Damor versus State of Gujarat and 3 other(s) (2022).
• The court quashed and set aside the dismissal order of an armed police constable arising from allegations that he had developed illicit relations with a widow.
• The court held that allegations of misconduct must have some nexus with the duties to be performed by the government servant.
• Private affairs cannot be subjected to moral policing under the Service Conduct Rules or Article 33 of the Constitution.

 Government’s argument

• Sought clarification: The Union of India sought clarification from the Court on implementing the decriminalization of adultery in the armed forces.
• Special legislations must govern: The Union of India argued that special legislations, such as the Army Act, Air Force Act, and Navy Act, should govern promiscuous or adulterous acts among members of the armed forces.

Conclusion

• The recent court cases show that the decriminalization of adultery does not inhibit the parameters of departmental proceedings or enlarge them. Private affairs cannot be subjected to moral policing under the Service Conduct Rules or Article 33 of the Constitution unless it has some nexus with their duties. The sacrosanct right to privacy available to the members of the armed forces cannot be taken away unless it interferes with the discharge of duties.

Bhutan graduated from the LDC status

Bhutan, the mountainous, landlocked country that is consistently ranked one of the happiest in the world, will on 13th December of this year, become the seventh nation to graduate from the United Nations’ (UN) list of Least Developed Countries (LDC.) While this promotion is a cause for celebration, it also raises some concerns, notably how Bhutan will compensate for the loss of certain trade privileges associated with being an LDC.

What is a Least Developed Country (LDC)?

1. The LDCs are developing countries listed by the UN that exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development.
2. The concept first originated in the late 1960s and was codified under UN resolution 2768 passed in November 1971.
3. According to the UN, an LDC is defined as “a country that exhibits the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with low levels of income, human capital and economic diversification, high levels of economic vulnerability, and a population that is disproportionately reliant on agriculture, natural resources, and primary commodities.”

The UN identifies three criteria for a country to be classified as an LDC:

1. First, it must have a gross national income (GNI) per capita below the threshold of USD 1,230 over a three-year average.
2. Second, it must perform poorly on a composite human assets index based on indicators including nutrition, health and education.
3. Lastly, the country must demonstrate economic vulnerability such as being prone to natural disasters and possessing structural economic constraints.
4. Countries must meet a selection from all three criteria simultaneously and are reviewed on a three-year basis by the UN.

5. Currently, the UN lists 46 countries that qualify as LDCs. Of those, 33 are from Africa, nine from Asia, three from the Pacific and one from the Caribbean.

How did Bhutan get off the LDC list?

1. Bhutan was included in the first group of LDCs in 1971. However, over the last few decades, it has made remarkable progress on a variety of socio-economic metrics.
2. Bhutan first fulfilled the requirements for graduation in 2015, and then again in 2018. Bhutan was therefore scheduled to graduate in 2021.
3. However, the UN viewed Bhutan’s request to match the effective graduation date with the conclusion of the nation’s 12th national development plan in 2023 as a legitimate request and thus postponed the delisting.
4. Bhutan has mostly accomplished this by increasing exports of hydropower to India, which now accounts for 20 per cent of its economy.
5. The nation also established Brand Bhutan in an effort to diversify exports while acknowledging the modest size of its local market.
6. The idea was to target high-end markets with specialised exports of high-value, low-volume Bhutanese goods. Their goods come from sectors of the economy including textiles, tourism, handicrafts, culture, and natural resources.

 Centre amends anti-money laundering rules

The government has amended rules under the anti-money law, making it mandatory for banks and financial institutions to record financial transactions of politically exposed persons (PEP). Also, financial institutions or reporting agencies will be required to collect information about the financial transactions of non-profit organisations or NGOs under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

What the amendment said?

1. Under the modified PML Rules, the Finance Ministry defined PEPs as “individuals who have been entrusted with prominent public functions by a foreign country, including the heads of States or Governments, senior politicians, senior government or judicial or military officers, senior executives of state-owned corporations and important political party officials”.
2. The financial institutions will also have to register details of their NGO clients on the Darpan portal of the Niti Aayog and maintain the record for five years after the business relationship between a client and a reporting entity has ended or the account has been closed, whichever is later.
3. Following this amendment, banks and financial institutions will now have to not only maintain records of financial transactions of PEPs and NGOs but also share them with the Enforcement Directorate, as and when sought.
4. The amendments to PMLA rules also include tightening the definition of beneficial owners under the anti-money laundering law and mandating reporting entities like banks and crypto platforms to collect information from their clients.
5. As per the amendments, any individual or group holding 10 per cent ownership in the client of a ‘reporting entity’ will now be considered a beneficial owner against the ownership threshold of 25 per cent applicable earlier.
6. Under the anti-money laundering law, ‘reporting entities’ are banks and financial institutions, firms engaged in real estate and jewellery sectors. They also include intermediaries in casinos and crypto or virtual digital assets.
7. So far, these entities were required to maintain KYC details or records of documents evidencing the identity of their clients as well as account files and business correspondence relating to clients. They are required to maintain a record of all transactions, including the record of all cash transactions of more than Rs 10 lakh.
8. They will now have to also collect the details of the registered office address and principal place of business of their clients.

 Three years since Covid-19 as a pandemic

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared the Covid-19 outbreak to be a ‘pandemic’. A pandemic is a disease outbreak that spreads across countries or continents. It affects more people and takes more lives than an epidemic. The Covid-19 pandemic would go on to fundamentally alter the lives of many Indians, from the thousands who suffered from the disease to those who were impacted by its economic fallout.

First pandemic to affect the country

1. Arguably, the first major pandemic to affect India was the Third Plague Pandemic.
2. Beginning in Yunan, China, in 1855, according to the WHO, the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to under 200 per year.
3. In this period, it killed anywhere between 12-25 million people across the world, with 75 per cent of recorded deaths occurring in British India alone (1896 onwards).
4. It was a truly global pandemic, affecting cities like Hong Kong and Bombay in the same breath as San Francisco, Glasgow and Porto.

What is plague?

1. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. It is transported by flea-bites — they transfer the disease from infected rodents to human beings.
2. It first presents flu-like symptoms — fever, chills, and a headache — followed by an inflamed, dry, extremely painful region developing around the bitten area.
3. As the infection spreads in the body, it causes fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, excruciating pain and generally kills the infected person due to multiple organ failure within a week after infection.
4. The modern understanding of the disease developed only after 1896, when the Third Plague Pandemic was causing havoc in India.
5. By January 1897, scientists identified that plague first affected rats, serving as a warning sign for an approaching human epidemic. In 1898, the role of fleas would be ascertained.

Integrated-Disease-Surveillance-Programme

Recently ,the Union Health Ministry gave a statement that it is keeping a close watch on the Seasonal Influenza situation, through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme network on a real-time basis.

About Integrated-Disease-Surveillance-Programme :-

• The Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) was initiated with assistance from the World bank, in the year 2004.
• The Programme continued during the 12th Plan (2012–17) under National Health Mission
• It works under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The Central Surveillance Unit (CSU) at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), receives disease outbreak reports from the States/UTs on weekly basis.
• The surveillance data is collected on three specified reporting formats, namely “S” (suspected cases), “P” (presumptive cases), and “L” (laboratory confirmed cases) filled by Health Workers, Clinicians, and Laboratory staff respectively.

Objective:-

• To strengthen/maintain a decentralized laboratory-based IT-enabled disease surveillance system for epidemic-prone diseases.
• to monitor disease trends and to detect and respond to outbreaks in the early rising phase through trained Rapid Response Teams (RRTs).

Key Features:-

• Integration and decentralization of surveillance activities through the establishment of surveillance units at the Centre, State, and District levels.
• Human Resource Development – Training of State Surveillance Officers, District Surveillance Officers, Rapid Response Team, and other Medical and Paramedical staff on principles of disease surveillance.
• Use of Information Communication Technology for collection, collation, compilation, analysis, and dissemination of data.
• Strengthening of public health laboratories.
• Inter sectoral Co-ordination for zoonotic disease

About H3N2 Flu :-

• The flu is a respiratory illness that’s caused by the influenza virus.
• There are four types of influenza viruses: A, B, C, and D.
• Influenza A, B, and C can spread to humans.
• However, only influenza A and B cause the seasonal epidemics of respiratory illness that occur every year.
• Influenza A viruses are classified according to both their HA and NA subtypes.

• Some influenza A subtypes include H1N1 (sometimes known as swine flu) and H3N2.
• The H3N2 virus was first discovered in humans in 1968.

Symptoms of H3N2: Cough, runny or congested nose, sore throat, headache, body aches and pains, fever, chills, fatigue, diarrhea AND vomiting.

Treatment:-

Common antiviral prescriptions for Influenza A include:

• zanamivir (Relenza)
• oseltamivir (Tamiflu)
• peramivir (Rapivab)

Vaccine for H3N2:-

• An H1N1, H3N2, and influenza B strain are included in the trivalent vaccine, while an extra influenza B strain is included in the quadrivalent vaccine.