PM IAS JULY 18 CURRENT EVENTS

 Juvenile Justice Board

Context:

Recently, The Supreme Court asked the central government, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) to consider issuing guidelines or directions to assist and facilitate the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) in making the preliminary assessment for determining whether a child of 16 years of age and above can be tried as an adult for a heinous offence.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice and Governance (Issues Related to Children, Governance and Government Policies, Issues Arising Out of Design & Implementation of Policies)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About Juvenile Justice Board
2. What does the law say on trying a juvenile as an adult?
3. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
4. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021
5. What happens when a juvenile is ordered to be treated as an adult?
6. What was the case before the Supreme Court?

About Juvenile Justice Board:

• Juveniles accused of a crime or detained for a crime are brought before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 (amended in 2006).
• The aim of JJB is to hold a child culpable for their criminal activity, not through punishment, but counselling the child to understand their actions and persuade them away from criminal activities in the future.

Structure:

• The JJB consists of judicial magistrate of the first class and two social workers, at least one of whom should be a woman.
• JJB are meant to resolve cases within a four month period.
• Most circumstances the juvenile can be released on bail by the JJB.
• The JJB is a child-friendly space that should not be intimidating or overwhelming for the child.

What does the law say on trying a juvenile as an adult?

• According to Section 15 of The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act), where a child of 16 years of age or above has committed a heinous offence — a crime for which the minimum punishment is seven years imprisonment — the JJB is required to “conduct a preliminary assessment with regard to his mental and physical capacity to commit such offence, ability to understand the consequences of the offence and the circumstances in which he allegedly committed the offence” before taking a decision whether the child needs to be tried as an adult.
• The assessment is required to be done within three months from the date of first production of the child before the JJB.
• The apex court also said that when the JJB does not comprise a practising professional with a degree in child psychology or child psychiatry, it would have to mandatorily seek the assistance of experts.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 replaced the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 to comprehensively address children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection.
• The Act changes the nomenclature from ‘juvenile’ to ‘child’ or ‘child in conflict with law’.
• Also, it removes the negative connotation associated with the word “juvenile”.
• It also includes several new and clear definitions such as orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children; and petty, serious and heinous offences committed by children.
• The 2015 law also included special provisions to tackle child offenders committing heinous offences in the age group of 16-18 years.
• It mandates setting up Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees in every district. Both must have at least one-woman member each.
• A separate new chapter on Adoption to streamline adoption procedures for an orphan, abandoned and surrendered children,
• Also, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) was granted the status of a statutory body to enable it to perform its function more effectively.
• All Child Care Institutions, whether run by State Government or by voluntary or non-governmental organisations are to be mandatorily registered under the Act within 6 months from the date of commencement of the Act.

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021

• Now, “Serious offences” will also include offences for which maximum punishment is imprisonment of more than seven years, and minimum punishment is not prescribed or is of less than seven years. [Serious offences are those for which the punishment under the Indian Penal Code or any other law for the time being is imprisonment between three and seven years.]
• The Juvenile Justice Board inquiries about a child who is accused of a serious offence.
• The Bill amends the present act to provide that an offence which is punishable with imprisonment between three to seven years to be non-cognizable (non-cognizable where arrest is allowed without warrant).
• Presently, the adoption order issued by the court establishes that the child belongs to the adoptive parents. The Bill provides that instead of the court, the District Magistrate (including Additional District Magistrate) will issue such adoption orders.
• The Bill provides that any person aggrieved by an adoption order passed by the District Magistrate may file an appeal before the Divisional Commissioner, within 30 days from the date of passage of such order.

Changes to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC)

• The amendment provides Additional Functions of the District Magistrate as the supervising the District Child Protection Unit, and also mandates the District Magistrate to conduct a quarterly review of the functioning of the Child Welfare Committee.
• The amendments include authorizing District Magistrate including Additional District Magistrate to issue adoption orders under Section 61 of the JJ Act, in order to ensure speedy disposal of cases and enhance accountability.It provides that a person will not eligible to be a member of the CWC if he/she:
  • has any record of violation of human rights or child rights,
  • has been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude,
  • has been removed or dismissed from service of the central government, or any state government, or a government undertaking,
  • is part of the management of a child care institution in a district.

What happens when a juvenile is ordered to be treated as an adult?

• The case is transferred before the children’s court.
• As per Section 19 of the amended Act, the court can pass a decision on whether there is a need for trial of the child as an adult, or otherwise.
• A children’s court has to ensure that the child in conflict with the law is sent to a “place of safety” until he reaches the age of 21 years, and is only then transferred to jail.
• The court can also order the conditional release of the child after he attains the age of 21 years.
• Two important protections — protection from disqualification, and erasure of conviction record after a reasonable period — do not extend to a child who has been tried as an adult.
• If the child is tried as an adult, the sentence can go up to life imprisonment, but if the child is tried by the board as a juvenile, the maximum sentence can only be three years in a special home.

What was the case before the Supreme Court?

• In September 2017, a Class 2 student of a prominent school in Gurgaon was found murdered inside the school washroom.
• Haryana Police arrested a conductor of a school bus for the murder and claimed that he had confessed to the crime. However, the CBI, which took over the investigation, arrested a student of Class 11 at the school for the murder.
• In December 2017, the JJB decided to treat the accused as an adult. In October 2018, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the JJB to make a fresh assessment of whether the accused should be treated as an adult or a juvenile. Both the victim’s father and the CBI challenged the High Court’s decision before the Supreme Court.
• In November 2018, the apex court ordered a status quo in the case. The petitions were dismissed on July 13 2022. The accused has remained in an observation home since his arrest by the CBI.

In absence of any guidelines on making the assessment, how does the JJB take a call on whether to try the child as an adult?

• The Supreme Court said that while considering a child as an adult, one should look at his or her physical maturity, cognitive abilities, and social and emotional competencies.
• It rejected the view that if the child has the mental capacity to commit the offence, then he automatically has the capacity to understand the consequences of the offence as well.
• The “consequences” mentioned in Section 15 of the Act would not just be confined to the immediate consequence, “but it would also take within its ambit the consequences which may fall upon not only the victim as a result of the assault, but also on the family of the victim, on the child, his family, and that too not only immediate consequences but also the far reaching consequences in future”, the court said.
• The court also said that children may be geared towards instant gratification, and may not be able to understand the long-term consequences of their actions. “They are also more likely to be influenced by emotion rather than reason,” it said.

Tropical Ozone Hole

Context:

A new ozone hole has been detected over the tropics, at latitudes of 30 degrees South to 30 degrees North, a recent study claimed. But some experts are divided over this.

Relevance:

GS I- Geography

Dimensions of the Article:

1. What is Ozone Layer and what are Ozone Holes?
2. Ozone creation and destruction
3. Tropical Ozone Hole
4. What caused an ozone hole in the tropics?
5. Significance of the finding

What is Ozone Layer and what are Ozone Holes?

• Ozone layer, also called ozonosphere, is a region of the upper atmosphere, between roughly 15 and 35 km (9 and 22 miles) above Earth’s surface which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone molecules (O3).
• Approximately 90 percent of the atmosphere’s ozone occurs in the stratosphere, the region extending from 10–18 km (6–11 miles) to approximately 50 km (about 30 miles) above Earth’s surface.
• The ozone layer effectively blocks almost all solar radiation of wavelengths less than 290 nanometres from reaching Earth’s surface, including certain types of ultraviolet (UV) and other forms of radiation that could injure or kill most living things.

What are Ozone Holes?

• The ‘ozone hole’ is not really a hole — it refers to a region in the stratosphere where the concentration of ozone becomes extremely low in certain months.
• The ‘ozone holes’ most commonly talked about are the depletions over Antarctica, forming each year in the months of September, October and November, due to a set of special meteorological and chemical conditions that arise at the South Pole, and can reach sizes of around 20 to 25 million sq km.
• Such holes are also spotted over the North Pole, but owing to warmer temperatures than the South Pole, the depletions here are much smaller in size.

Ozone creation and destruction

• The production of ozone in the stratosphere results primarily from the breaking of the chemical bonds within oxygen molecules (O2) by high-energy solar photons. This process, called photodissociation, results in the release of single oxygen atoms, which later join with intact oxygen molecules to form ozone.
• The amount of ozone in the stratosphere varies naturally throughout the year as a result of chemical processes that create and destroy ozone molecules and as a result of winds and other transport processes that move ozone molecules around the planet.
• Over the course of several decades, however, human activities substantially altered the ozone layer.
• Ozone depletion, the global decrease in stratospheric ozone observed since the 1970s, is most pronounced in polar regions, and it is well correlated with the increase of chlorine and bromine in the stratosphere.
• Those chemicals, once freed by UV radiation from the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other halocarbons (carbon-halogen compounds) that contain them, destroy ozone by stripping away single oxygen atoms from ozone molecules.
• As the amount of stratospheric ozone declines, more UV radiation reaches Earth’s surface, and scientists worry that such increases could have significant effects on ecosystems and human health.

Tropical Ozone Hole

• According to the study, the ozone hole is located at altitudes of 10-25 km over the tropics.
• This hole is about seven times larger than Antarctica, the study suggested.
• It also appears across all seasons, unlike that of Antarctica, which is visible only in the spring.
• The hole has become significant since the 1980s. But it was not discovered until this study.

What caused an ozone hole in the tropics?

• Studies suggested another mechanism of ozone depletion: Cosmic rays.
• Chlorofluorocarbon’s (CFC) role in depleting the ozone layer is well-documented.
• The tropical stratosphere recorded a low temperature of 190-200 Kelvin (K).
• This can explain why the tropical ozone hole is constantly formed over the seasons.

Significance of the finding

• The tropical ozone hole, which makes up 50 percent of Earth’s surface, could cause a global concern due to the risks associated with it.
• It is likely to cause skin cancer, cataracts and other negative effects on the health and ecosystems in tropical regions.

About Kala Azar

Context:

Eleven districts of Bengal reported at least 65 cases of black fever or ‘Kala-Azar disease in the last couple of weeks, a senior official of the health department said, based on state-administered surveillance.

Relevance:

GS III- Health, Prelims

About Kala Azar

• Kala-azar is a slow progressing indigenous disease caused by a protozoan parasite of genus Leishmania.
• In India Leishmania donovani is the only parasite causing this disease.
• The Kala-azar is endemic to the Indian subcontinent in 119 districts in four countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal).
• This disease is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world. Elimination is defined as reducing the annual incidence of Kala Azar (KA) to less than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.
• It is a neglected tropical disease affecting almost 100 countries.
• Neglected tropical diseases are a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions in 149 countries.

There are three types of leishmaniasis

• Visceral leishmaniasis, which affects multiple organs and is the most serious form of the disease.
• Cutaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores and is the most common form.
• Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin and mucosal lesions.

The Visceral leishmaniasis, which is commonly known as Kala-azar in India, is fatal in over 95% of the cases, if left untreated.

Symptoms of Kala azar

• It is associated with fever, loss of appetite (anorexia), fatigue, enlargement of the liver, spleen and nodes and suppression of the bone marrow.
• It also increases the risk of other secondary infections.

Diagnosing Kala azar

• The first oral drug found to be effective for treating kala-azar is miltefosine.
• The most common method of diagnosing kala azar is by dipstick testing. However, this method is highly problematic.

Where has kala-azar been detected in India?

• In West Bengal, the districts where the maximum number of cases were registered include Darjeeling, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Kalimpong.
• The districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia, and Murshidabad have also reported a few cases, while none have been detected in Kolkata yet.
• The disease is endemic in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
• An estimated 165.4 million people are at risk, according to data from the National Centre for Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NCVBDC).
• In the country as a whole, there has been a significant decline in cases over the years.
• In 2014, around 9,200 cases were reported while in 2021 the number fell to 1,276 cases.

What does the treatment include?

• Anti-leishmanial medicines are available for treatment.
• Vector control is also recommended by the WHO, which means reducing or interrupting the transmission of disease by decreasing the number of sandflies in surroundings through insecticide spray, use of insecticide-treated nets, etc.
• The government aimed to eliminate the disease in India by 2015, but that deadline was missed.
• However, the number of cases has been brought down significantly through the National Kala-Azar Elimination Programme.
• Medicines, insecticides and technical support were given by the central government, while state governments provided for costs involved in implementation.
• The program was implemented through State/District Malaria Control Offices and the primary health care system.

Great Indian Bustard

Context:

Only four Female Great Indian Bustards (GIB) are left in Gujarat.

• According to a 2018 count, India has fewer than 150 GIBs, of which 122 are in Rajasthan.

Relevance:

Prelims, GS-III: Environment and Ecology (Species in News, Conservation of Biodiversity)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. About the Great Indian Bustard
2. About the Habitat of Great Indian Bustard
3. On the brink of extinction
4. SC’s recent hearing on Power Lines threatening the GIB

About the Great Indian Bustard

• The Great Indian Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world often found associated in the same habitat as blackbuck.
• GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican and the Bengal florican.
• The GIB is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, and comes under the Appendix I of CITES, and Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Threats to the GIB include widespread hunting for sport and food, and activities such as mining, stone quarrying, excess use of pesticides, grassland conversion and power projects along with the expansion of roads and infrastructures such as wind-turbines and power cables.

About the Habitat of Great Indian Bustard

• The Great Indian Bustard’s habitat includes Arid and semi-arid grasslands with scattered short scrub, bushes and low intensity cultivation in flat or gently undulating terrain. It avoids irrigated areas.
• GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 per cent of it.
• Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats. Being terrestrial birds, they spend most of their time on the ground with occasional flights to go from one part of their habitat to the other.
• GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland and hence barometers of the health of grassland ecosystems.
• They feed on insects, lizards, grass seeds etc.

On the brink of extinction

• In 2020, the Central government had told the 13th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) held in Gandhinagar, that the GIB population in India had fallen to just 150.
• Of the 150 birds in 2020, over 120 birds were in Rajasthan, some were in Kutch district of Gujarat and a few in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• Pakistan is also believed to host a few GIBs.
• Due to the species’ smaller population size, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorised GIBs as critically endangered, thus on the brink of extinction from the wild.
• Scientists of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have been pointing out overhead power transmission lines as the biggest threat to the GIBs.

SC’s recent hearing on Power Lines threatening the GIB

• A bench of the Supreme Court will examine on a priority basis whether overhead power cables can be replaced with underground ones to save one of the heaviest flying birds on the planet.
• The CJI suggested that: wherever there is high voltage power lines, they can use flight bird divertors even if the recurring costs are high, and wherever there are overhead low voltage lines, these lines can be placed underground.
• The SC was informed that only low voltage lines can go underground but not the high voltage ones.
• The court found further that an alternative mechanism — to install flight bird divertors — to guide the birds away from the power lines would be expensive. In fact, the court discovered that the divertors, with their recurring costs, would end costing more than installing and maintaining underground lines.

Wildfires Intensifying in Europe

Context:

Europe is battling intense wildfires with countries like Spain, Greece and France struggling to stamp out fires and contain the damage.

Relevance:

GS I- Geography

Dimensions of the Article:

1. What is wildfire?
2. What causes Wildfire?
3. How dangerous is inhaling wildfire smoke?

What is wildfire?

• A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire that burns in the wildland vegetation, often in rural areas. 
• Wildfires can burn in forests, grasslands, savannas, and other ecosystems, and have been doing so for hundreds of millions of years.
• They are not limited to a particular continent or environment.

What causes Wildfire?

• Wildfires require right climatic conditions, burnable fuel and a spark.
• Rising temperatures suck moisture out of plants, creating an abundance of dry fuel.
• Drought and high heat can kill plants and dry out dead grass, and other material on the forest floor that fuel the fire once it starts sweeping through a patch.
• While dry vegetation is the burnable fuel that serves as kindling for fires, the spark is sometimes caused by lightning, at other times by accident or recklessness of the local population.

Wildfire in Europe:

• As for Europe, the region has been hit by an early fire season due to an unusually dry, hot spring that left the soil parched.
• Authorities attribute this to climate change. They add that the fires are being fanned by earlier-than-usual extreme temperatures and drought conditions in some parts.
• Wildfire experts agree as they see clear climate change signatures in the dryness, high heat and early fire season.

How dangerous is inhaling wildfire smoke?

• While fire poses a direct risk to people’s life and property, wildfire smoke, and particularly the concentration of PM 2.5, or particles smaller than 2.5 microns, can also affect the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
• For those already suffering from cardiovascular or respiratory illnesses, there is a risk of flare-ups.