The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, designed to curb black money and passed by parliament in August, came into effect on November 1, 2016. The new law amends the 1988 Benami Transactions Act.
Highlights of the Act:
- The law provides for up to seven years’ imprisonment and fine for those indulging in such transactions.
- The law prohibits recovery of the property held benami from benamdar by the real owner. As per the Act, properties held benami are liable for confiscation by the government, without payment of compensation.
- An appellate mechanism has been provided under the act, in the form of an adjudicating authority and appellate tribunal. According to the government, the four authorities who will conduct inquiries or investigations are the Initiating Officer, Approving Authority, Administrator and Adjudicating Authority.
The Act provides that the Central government, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the respective High Courts, will establish special courts through notification. Such courts are to be constituted to ensure that the trials are conducted “as expeditiously as possible”.
However, the required special courts have not been set up yet. Therefore, despite the fact that investigations in almost 100 cases have been completed by the I-T Department in different States, including confirmation of attachment of properties by the Adjudicating Authority, the prosecution of accused persons has not started.
adultery law :
Adultery means voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person other than with spouse. The legal definition of adultery however varies from country to country and statute to statute. While at many places adultery is when a woman has voluntary sexual intercourse with a person other than her husband, at other places adultery is when a woman has voluntary sexual intercourse with a third person without her husband’s consent.
Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
In India the offence of adultery is punishable under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860. As it stands, this Section makes only men having sexual intercourse with the wives of other men without the consent of their husbands punishable and women cannot be punished even as abettors.
The Report of the Malimath Committee on Criminal Justice Reforms and the 42nd Report of the Law Commission of India recommended redefining Section 497 to make women also punishable for adultery.
- Section 497 in the Indian Penal Code, which defines adultery, says that a man could be punished up to five years in jail if he has sexual intercourse with another man’s wife. However, it is not an offence if the sexual intercourse is with the “consent or connivance” of the husband of the woman.
- The above IPC Section treats a married woman as “chattel” (a personal possession) of the conniving husband, which is “absurd”. When a woman is treated as chattel, her right to dignity is affected, SC said.
- India’s e-tail business, estimated to be worth around $25 billion. Over the coming decade, it is expected to swell to $200 billion, fuelled by smartphones, cheaper data access and growing spends.
- First eight months of 2017-18, over 50,000 e-commerce grievances were made to the Consumer Affairs Ministry helpline.
- Traditional retailers seeking level playing field.
Provisions under Draft National Policy on E-commerce:
- The draft policy proposes the creation of a single national regulator to oversee the entire industry.
- It also provides for consumer protection norms to guard online shoppers from possible frauds.
- There is a sunset clause on discounts that can be offered by e-commerce firms and restrictions on sellers backed by marketplace operators.
- Foreign direct investment restrictions on players who can hold their own inventory are sought to be lifted, but there must be a majority Indian partner and all products have to be made in India.
Drawbacks:
- Licensing and price controls can depress the sector. Government deciding on who can offer how much discount and for how long, instead of letting consumers exercise informed choices, would be a regressive step for the economy.
- The local procurement diktats that are not easy to meet or monitor, may cause rise in e-tailer costs.
- Stipulating payments via Rupay cards will raise questions from both consumers and firms.
Note: Draft policy is in the nascent stage. Keep following further developments.
The draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018
- It has provisions to protect personal data as an essential facet of information privacy.
- The objective of the Bill is to balance the growth of the digital economy and use of data as a means of communication.
- The Bill applies to the personal data which have been processed within India, by persons or agencies governed by Indian Law.
- The Bill also brings within its ambit the processing of personal data by data fiduciaries or data processors located abroad in connection with business or profiling of data principals within the territory of India.
- The proposed law defines personal data as information relating to a natural person.
- Breach of personal data involves unauthorised or accidental processing of personal data that compromises the confidentiality, integrity or availability of personal data to a data principal.
- Data fiduciaries should retain personal data “only as long as may be reasonably necessary to satisfy the purpose for which it is processed”.
- The Bill allows processing of personal data for “prompt action” only if it is necessary for any function of Parliament; or any State Legislature to render service or benefit to citizens; or in response to any medical emergency to the data principal; or in cases of epidemic, outbreak of disease, disaster or breakdown of public order.
- The Bill includes the ‘right to be forgotten’, which is the right of a data principal to restrict or prevent continuing disclosure of personal data by a data fiduciary.
- The Bill calls for a copy of user data to be mandatorily localised in India, it will “boost” law enforcement efforts to access data necessary for investigation and prosecution of crimes.
Criticism on Data localization:
- The Indian law enforcement relies on an out-dated Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process to obtain data stored by U.S. This scenario will not change even after technology companies relocate Indian data to India.
- Localisation can provide data only for crimes that have been committed in India, where both the perpetrator and victim are situated in India.
- Transnational terrorism, cybercrimes and money laundering that the committee rightly highlights will often involve individuals and accounts that are not Indian, and therefore will not be stored in India.
The data protection bill is an opportunity for India to be a partner under the CLOUD Act
What is CLOUD Act?
Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, passed by the U.S. Congress seeks to de-monopolise control over data from U.S. authorities.
The law will for the first time allow tech companies to share data directly with certain foreign governments having an executive agreement with the U.S.
Such foreign country have to certify that the state has robust privacy protections, and respect for due process and the rule of law.
Why India need to partner with US?
- The Justice Srikrishna Committee in its report accompanying the draft Personal Data Protection Bill released on July 27 notes that eight of the top 10 most accessed websites in India are owned by U.S. entities.
- The CLOUD Act creates a potential mechanism through with countries such as India can request data not just for crimes committed within their borders but also for transnational crimes involving their state interests.
Conclusion:
The Bill, while recognising principles of legality, necessity and proportionality for data processing in the interest of national security and investigation of crimes, fails to draw procedural rules necessary for actualising these principles. By improving on short comings of our Data Protection policy we can partner with US under CLOUD Act to have access to data stored with and processed by US fiduciaries and other global partners.
123rd COI(A)BILL,2017 :
- 123rd Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to grant constitutional status to National Commission for Backward Classes.
- A constitutional amendment under Article 368 needs to be passed by both Houses separately with a special majority.
- The bill if passed will insert Article 338 B in the Constitution, which provides for a Commission for the socially and educationally backward classes with a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other members, all of whom shall be appointed by the President of India.
Powers of the President: It states that the President may specify the socially and educationally backward classes in the various states and union territories. He may do this in consultation with the Governor of the concerned state.
The duties of the NCBC include investigating and monitoring how safeguards provided to the backward classes under the Constitution and other laws are being implemented and probe specific complaints regarding violation of rights.
Report: The NCBC will be required to present annual reports to the President on working of the safeguards for backward classes. These reports will be tabled in Parliament, and in the state legislative assemblies of the concerned states.
Powers of a civil court: Under the Constitution Amendment Bill, the NCBC will have the powers of a civil court while investigating or inquiring into any complaints. These powers include: (i) summoning people and examining them on oath, (ii) requiring production of any document or public record, and (iii) receiving evidence.
Concerns:
A widely welcomed move to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has also brought with it a whiff of controversy over whether it amounts to encroaching on the domain of the States.
- Several Opposition parties, which in general welcome the grant of constitutional status to the BC Commission, have said the Bill, if enacted, would undermine federalism, as it amounts to usurping the power of State governments to prepare their own BC lists.
- The Centre has sought to allay these fears, saying the powers of the States would remain unaffected. In any case, the list for every State will be prepared only in consultation with the State government.
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DAY ADDons:
- Andhra Pradesh Government has approved Mukhyamantri Yuva Nestam, an unemployment allowance scheme to provide Rs 1000 per month unemployed youth in state.
- Invest India under Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in partnership with energy companies has launched Integrate to Innovate Programme (i2i) for startups in energy sector. It is three-month programme for startups in the power sector aims to foster collaboration between startups and large corporations of the energy sector.
- NITI Aayog has launched global mobility hackathon Move Hack to crowdsource solutions aimed at future of mobility in India. It is envisaged as one of largest hackathons globally. It is first platform in the world that has enmeshed public transport, private transport, road safety, multimodal connectivity and new age transport technologies such as zero emission vehicles and intra city aerial transport spearheaded by Government.
- 141st birth anniversary of freedom fighter and designer (architect) of Indian National Flag Pingali Venkayya was observed on August 2, 2018.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted successful tested supersonic endo-atmospheric interceptor missile developed under Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Air Defence (AAD) System from Abdul Kalam Island (earlier known as Wheeler Island) Odisha.
- August 1 to 7 every year is observed as World Breastfeeding Week.Organized by: World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), WHO and UNICEF.Goal: To promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life which yields tremendous health benefits, providing critical nutrients, protection from deadly diseases such as pneumonia and fostering growth and development.
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locating on map :
- J&K Governor seeks Navy’s assistance to save Dal Lake
- Assessments show that the size of the water body has come down by half
- Encroachments of water channels and clogging have diminished the circulation and inflows into the lake, leading to the extensive growth of hyacinth.
Important lakes in Jammu and Kashmir. (mark the following in map)
- Dal lake
- Pangong Tso
- Wular lake
- Tso moriri
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