Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM)

Electronic Voting Machines (EVM)

• EVMs were used in India for the first time in 1982 for conducting the by-election to the North Paravur Assembly constituency in Kerala.
• The EVMs were used in the general election for the first time during the Goa state assembly election of 1999.
• They allow the citizens to vote electronically which reduces the time and effort required for the Election Commission of India to count the votes.
• EVMs comprises of two units, control unit and balloting unit, both of which are connected using a cable.
• It can even be used in areas that have no electricity since due to the presence of an onboard 6-volt single alkaline battery.
• The control unit is kept with the polling officer selected by Election Commission for safety and to prevent tampering.
• Currently the EVMs used by the Election Commission of India has the ability to record a maximum of 2,000 votes.
• Post 2013 EVMs have the capacity to have a maximum of 384 candidates including NOTA.
• The EVMs were designed by the Technical Experts Committee (TEC) of the Election Commission in association with Bharat Electronics Ltd. Bangalore and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd. Hyderabad.

Remote EVM (RVM)

• Remote EVMs are created to handle multiple constituencies from a single remote polling booth.
• Its aim is to allow migrant voters to cast their vote through remote voting.
• RVM has the ability to handle a maximum of 72 different constituencies from a single remote polling booth.

Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)

• VVPAT is essentially a printing machine which prints a slip with the poll symbol and candidate name, once the voter presses the key on the EVM.
• This slip is visible to the voter on the VVPAT’s glass screen for seven seconds after which it gets dropped into a box within the VVPAT.

Concerns about EVM

• The ECI has stated that Indian EVMs are standalone, not connected to the internet, and have a one-time programmable chip, which makes tampering through the hardware port or through a Wi-Fi connection impossible.
• However, this still raises the concern of ‘side-channel’, insider fraud, and trojan attacks.
• Another major concern is that ECI sends the EVM software to two foreign chipmakers to burn into the CPU. This means that the manufacturers cannot read back the contents of the software to ensure its integrity.

UNSC 1267 Committee

UN Security Council

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six main organs of the United Nations.
• The primary responsibility of Security Council under the UN Charter, is to maintain international peace and security.
• The powers of UNSC include establishing peacekeeping operations, enacting international sanctions, and authorizing military action.
• Under the Charter, all Member States have to mandatorily comply with Council decisions.

Membership of UNSC

• UNSC consists of 15 Members out of which 5 are permanent and 10 are non-permanent members.
• China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States are the permanent members of UNSC.
• Permanent members have the ability to veto (block) any substantive Security Council resolution.
• The General Assembly elects five non-permanent members of the Security Council each year for a two-year term.

The non-permanent members of the Council are elected according to the following pattern;

• Five from African and Asian States;
• One from Eastern European States;
• Two from Latin American States;
• Two from Western European and other States.

UNSC 1267 Committee

• It was initially established under UNSC resolution 1267 in 1999 to impose a limited air embargo and assets freeze on the Taliban.
• However, its mandate evolved and the measures became a targeted assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo against designated individuals and entities.
• It is currently known as ISIL (Da’esh)and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

Procedure of Listing a terrorist organisation/individual

• Any member state are allowed to submit a proposal for listing an individual, group, or entity.
• The proposal must include acts or activities indicating the proposed individual/group/entity is linked to “ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof”.

Acts or activities which indicate that an individual, group, undertaking or entity is associated with ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida include:

• Participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of;
• Supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to;
• Recruiting for; or otherwise supporting acts or activities of, ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida or any cell, affiliate, splinter group or derivative thereof.

Decisions on listing and de-listing are adopted by consensus

 

Supreme Court to hear petitions for Criminalization of Marital Rape

The Supreme Court is set to begin hearing a series of petitions seeking to criminalize marital rape from March 14.

What is Marital Rape?

• Marital rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one’s spouse without her consent.
• It is no different manifestation of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
• It is often a chronic form of violence for the victim which takes place within abusive relations.

Status in India

• Historically considered as right of the spouses, this is now widely classified as rape by many societies around the world.
• In India, marital rape is not a criminal offense (as protected under IPC section 375).
• India is one of fifty countries that have not yet outlawed marital rape.

Reasons for disapproval of this concept

• The reluctance to define non-consensual sex between married couples as a crime and to prosecute has been attributed to:

1. Traditional views of marriage
2. Interpretations of religious doctrines
3. Ideas about male and female sexuality
4. Cultural expectations of subordination of a wife to her husband
5. It is widely held that a husband cannot be guilty of any sexual act committed by himself upon his lawful wife on account of their mutual matrimonial consent.

Why it must be a crime?

• Associated physical violence: Rape by a spouse, partner or ex-partner is more often associated with physical violence and sexual mutilation.
• Mental harassment: There is research showing that marital rape can be more emotionally and physically damaging than rape by a stranger.
• Compulsive relationship: Marital rape may occur as part of an abusive relationship.
• Revengeful nature: Furthermore, marital rape is rarely a one-time event, but a repeated if not frequent occurrence.
• Obligation on women: In the case of marital rape the victim often has no choice but to continue living with their spouse.

Violation of fundamental rights

• Marital rape is considered as a violation of FR guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian constitution which guarantees the equal protection of laws to all persons.
• By depriving married women of an effective penal remedy against forced sexual intercourse, it violates their right to privacy and bodily integrity, aspects of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.

Problems in prosecuting marital rape

• Lack of awareness: A lack of public awareness, as well as reluctance or outright refusal of authorities to prosecute is common globally.
• Gender norms: Additionally, gender norms that place wives in subservient positions to their husbands, make it more difficult for women to recognize such rape.
• Acceptability of the concept: Another problem results from prevailing social norms that exist.

Present regulations in India

• Indian Penal Code criminalizes rape in most cases, although marital rape is not illegal when the woman is over the age of 18.
• However, until 2017, men married to those between 15 and 18 could not be convicted of rape.
• Marital rape of an adult wife, who is unofficially or officially separated, is a criminal offence punishable by 2 to 7 year in prison; it is not dealt by normal rape laws which stipulate the possibility of a death sentence.
• According to the Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act (2005), other married women subject to such crime by their husband may demand for financial compensation.
• They also have the right to continue to live in their marital household if they wish, or may approach shelter or aid homes.

However, marital rape is still not a criminal offense in this case and is only a misdemeanor.

Arguments against criminalization

• Subjective: It is very subjective and intricate to determine whether consent was acquired or not.
• Prone to Misuse: If marital rape is criminalized without adequate safeguards it could be misused like the current dowry law by the dissatisfied wives to harass and torture their Husbands.
• Burden on Judiciary: It will increase the burden of judiciary which otherwise may serve other more important causes.

Way forward

• Sanctioning marital rape is an acknowledgment of the woman’s right to self-determination (i.e., control) of all matters relating to her body.
• In the absence of any concrete law, the judiciary always finds it difficult to decide the matter of domestic rape in the absence of solid evidence.
• The main purpose of marriage is procreation, and sometimes divorce is sought on the ground of non-consummation of marriage.
• Before giving a final interpretation, the judiciary must balance the rights and duties of both partners.

Amul Model of Good Cooperative and Farmer Empowerment

Why in the news?

• This article is published in Indian Express covers the controversy associated with R S Sodhi’s departure and explains Amul as a Cooperative.
• Amul was founded in 1946 as a cooperative brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF).
• The Amul model has been about farmer empowerment as well as valuing professional management in organizations controlled by and working for producers. The article published in Indian Express “The Good Cooperative” talks about the same.

Cooperatives in India

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) defines a cooperative as “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.”

Case Study of Amul Cooperative

• Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative society based in Anand, Gujarat, India.
• It is a brand overseen by the Gujarat Co-usable Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), and is today mutually claimed by 36 lakh (3.6 million) milk producers in Gujarat.
• Amul sparked India’s White Revolution, transforming the country into the world’s largest producer of endlessly milk items.
• It is the farmer’s organization. The AMUL allows farmers to charge their own prices, which was previously impossible. This organization was established on December 14, 1946.
• The organization provides its members with services such as higher pay, lower costs, insemination, medical assistance, group insurance, cow food confessional cost, and so on.

Has GCMMF provided value to its “shareholders”?

• According to all indications, it has provided value to its shareholders.
• Between 2001-02 and 2021-22, GCMMF’s sales turnover increased from Rs 2,336 crore to Rs 46,481 crore, and average daily milk procurement increased from 47.32 lakh litres to 263.66 lakh litres, including 42.68 lakh litres from outside Gujarat.
• However, for the farmer-owner, the price paid for the milk is as important as the share price of a company is for the investor-owner.
• Over the last two decades, the average procurement price paid to producers by GCMMF’s district milk unions has risen from Rs 184 to Rs 820 per kg of fat.
• In Delhi, Amul full-cream milk with 6% fat costs Rs 63 per litre. At Rs 820/kg fat and 1.03 kg per litre, the producer’s share comes to about Rs 50.7, or more than 80%.
• GCMMF not only helps farmers process and market their milk, but it also ensures that they receive the highest possible share of the consumer rupee.

How is this possible?

• The answer to this is professional management.
• From Verghese Kurien to B M Vyas and R S Sodhi, the Amul organizational model has been based on an elected board of directors operating through a chief executive and his team, which includes marketing and finance professionals, project engineers, veterinarians, agronomists, and nutritionists.
• This model distinguishes GCMMF from other state dairy cooperative federations, whose managing directors are typically Indian Administrative Service officers reporting to secretaries of animal husbandry and dairying departments.
• It’s not surprising that neither their boards nor their managers are accountable to farmers; these are milk producers’ cooperatives only in name.

Resignation of RS Sodhi

• Sodhi’s recent resignation as MD of GCMMF raises troubling questions in this context.
• These aren’t about party politics, which is nothing new. Gujarat’s milk unions were traditionally controlled by the Congress, which has now effectively passed to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
• However, a golden rule established by Amul’s founder, Tribhuvandas Patel, who also happened to be a Congressman, was not to allow political calculations to intrude into cooperative business operations, let alone affect the interests of their farmer-members.
• There was a lakshman rekha that protected the professional manager and encouraged him to do his job.
• During his 12 years as CEO, GCMMF’s revenue went up nearly six times (from Rs 8,005 crore in 2009-10) and milk procurement almost tripled (from 93.02 lakh litres per day).
• Under his leadership, the federation began purchasing from farmers in other states, and Amul became the liquid milk market leader even in Delhi-NCR (where it now sells around 40 lakh litres per day, compared to Mother Dairy’s 30 lakh litres).

Issues Faced by the Cooperative Sector

• Excessive Cooperative Legislation: In India, cooperatives operate in a variety of sectors. Cooperatives are a state subject under the Indian Constitution, and state cooperative laws and their implementation vary greatly.
• Irresponsibility and Unaccountability: Serious governance deficiencies, including those related to Board roles and responsibilities. Many inconveniences are not held accountable by those on the board.
• Lack of Recognition: There is a general lack of understanding of cooperatives as economic institutions among policymakers and the general public. Inability to attract and retain competent professionals.
• Lack of Capital Formation: A lack of capital formation efforts, particularly those aimed at increasing member equity and stake.
• No Information: People are not well informed about the Movement’s objectives, as well as the rules and regulations of co-operative institutions.

Role of Amul in the White Revolution

• The Amul trinity of Verghese Kurien, Shri Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel, and Harichand Megha Dalaya were instrumental in making this initiative a success. Amul played a critical role in the operation’s success.
• Amul sparked India’s White Revolution, transforming the country into the world’s largest producer of milk and milk products.
• The success of Amul has sparked similar movements in other agricultural commodities in India.
• Such industries excel in areas such as marketing and management, branding, and technology, and set standards for businesses all over the world to follow and adapt to.
• Furthermore, Amul has gradually established itself as a laboratory, producing significant inventions and inventing technologies that have improved its competitiveness against global firms.

National Milk Day Every year on November 26th, the country observes National Milk Day. It is observed to commemorate Dr. Verghese Kurien’s birth anniversary (Milk Man of India). The day commemorates the significance of milk in a person’s life. And to promote the benefits of the milk and milk industry, as well as to raise public awareness about the importance of milk and milk products. Companies and Cooperatives Companies are investor-owned entities that exist primarily to maximize their return on capital. This is reflected in the value of their shares, whether or not they are traded on an exchange. The investor-owner eventually seeks capital appreciation and the highest possible price for the shares he may wish to sell or pledge in order to raise additional funds. Cooperatives are organizations owned by members who may be producers or consumers. These members may own shares, but they value the cooperative primarily for the services it provides. If it is a producer-owned cooperative, such services would include purchasing, processing, and marketing their produce, as well as supplying them with inputs for production. In this case, success metrics are not earnings per share or dividend payout ratios, but the procurement price of produce and the timeliness of payment, or the provision of quality cattle feed, farm extension and animal healthcare support, fertilisers, and credit at the lowest possible cost.

Conclusion

The Amul model has emphasized both farmer empowerment and the importance of professional management in organizations controlled and run by producers. The National Dairy Development Board, which spearheaded India’s White Revolution, has probably faded into insignificance. It currently lacks a full-time chairman, despite having IAS officers lead it after 2014.

ISRO pushing Venus Mission ‘Shukrayaan’ to 2031

Recently, P. Sreekumar, the Satish Dhawan Professor at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and advisor to its space science program, said that the organization is yet to receive approval from the Indian government for the Venus mission and as a result that the mission could be postponed to 2031.

Background

• Shukrayaan I, the ISRO Venus mission, was scheduled to launch in December 2024.
• The concept was conceived in 2012; five years later, after the Department of Space got a 23% increase in the 2017–2018 budget.
• ISRO started preliminary studies. In April 2017, the organization requested payload proposals from research institutions.

Reasons for delay

• ISRO had originally scheduled to launch Shukrayaan I in mid-2023 but the pandemic pushed the date to December 2024.
• Manufacturing setbacks and commercial launch obligations have also impacted other ISRO projects, such as Aditya L1 and Chandrayaan III.
• Shukrayaan I was originally scheduled for a 2023 launch but “right now the 2031 window is very good.
• The mission is “waiting for formal approval and money” required before spacecraft assembly and testing.
• The budget for 2022–2023 allocated ISRO 13,700 crore, a small increase from the previous year.
• The majority was diverted to the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.
• Optimal launch windows from Earth to Venus occur once every 19 months.
• There are even more optimal windows every eight years, which further reduce the amount of fuel required at liftoff.
• ISRO has ‘backup’ launch dates in 2026 and 2028 if it misses the 2024 opportunity.
• A wishlist has been created by a number of industry groups in advance of the upcoming budget announcement and in response to recent reforms in the private spaceflight sector, including increases in local production and procurement.

About Shukrayaan I

• Shukrayaan-I will be an orbiter mission.
• Its scientific payloads currently include ground-penetrating radar and high-resolution synthetic aperture radar.
• It is expected to study Venus’s geological and volcanic activity, emissions on the surface, wind speed, cloud cover, and other planetary features from an elliptical orbit.
• The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus.
• Venus presents different difficulties from Mars because of its complex surface activities and thick atmosphere.
• Global: VERITAS and EnVision, the missions planned by the American and European space agencies, respectively, for 2031, while China could launch at any time in 2026 or 2027.