Draft rules for live-streaming and recording court proceedings

• Draft Rules released by the Supreme Court e-Committee for live-streaming and recording court proceedings propose a 10-minute delay in transmission and exclusion of communally sensitive cases and matters that involve sexual offences and gender violence against women.
• The right of access to justice, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, “encompasses the right to access live court proceedings”.
• The Supreme Court in Swapnil Tripathi v Supreme Court of India (2018) had ruled in favour of opening up the apex court through live streaming.
• Earlier, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based portal ‘SPACE’ in the judicial system aimed at assisting judges with legal research.
• The Rules are part of the National Policy and Action Plan for the implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the judiciary.
• Gujarat High Court was the first high court to livestream court proceedings followed by Karnataka high court.

Provisions:

• The Rules would cover live-streaming and recording of proceedings in High Courts, lower courts and tribunals.
• The Rules intend to balance between access to information and concerns of privacy and confidentiality.
• All proceedings in high courts can be telecast except for cases relating to matrimonial disputes, gender-based violence, those involving minors and “cases, which in the opinion of the Bench, may provoke enmity amongst communities likely to result in a breach of law and order”.
• The final decision as to whether or not to allow the Live-streaming of the Proceedings or any portion thereof will be of the Bench, however, the decision of the Bench will be guided by the principle of an open and transparent judicial process. The decision of the Bench shall not be justiciable.
• The rules allow for objections to be filed against live streaming in specific cases at the stage of filing of the case or at a later stage.
• Matrimonial matters, cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act would also be exempted from livestream.
• The Bench can exempt, for reasons recorded in writing, any case it considers antithetical to the administration of justice.
• Personal information such as date of birth, home address, identity card number, bank account information, and the personal information of related parties, such as close relatives, witnesses and other participants, will be deleted or muted.
• Discussion amongst judges, notes made by judges during hearings or communication between the advocate and her client will neither be telecast live nor archived.
• The rules also prohibit recording or sharing the telecast on media platforms, including social media and messaging platforms, unless authorised by the court.
• Recordings will not be used for commercial, promotional purposes or advertising in any form.

e-Courts Project

• The eCourts Project was conceptualized on the basis of the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005” submitted by eCommittee, Supreme Court of India with a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT enablement of Courts.
• Ecommittee is a body constituted by the Government of India in pursuance of a proposal received from Hon'ble the Chief Justice of India to constitute an eCommittee to assist him in formulating a National policy on computerization of Indian Judiciary and advise on technological communication and management related changes.
• The eCourts Mission Mode Project, is a Pan-India Project, monitored and funded by Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India for the District Courts across the country.
• The Project envisages

1. To provide efficient & time-bound citizen centric services delivery as detailed in eCourt Project Litigant's Charter.
2. To develop, install & implement decision support systems in courts.
3. To automate the processes to provide transparency in accessibility of information to its stakeholders.
4. To enhance judicial productivity, both qualitatively & quantitatively, to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, predictable, reliable and transparent.

China hosts Foreign Ministers of 10 ASEAN Countries

• China is hosting Foreign Ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries, with Beijing pushing for closer economic cooperation and aligning COVID-19 recovery efforts even as it looks to push back against the recent regional outreach of the Quad grouping.
• Chinese officials have in recent weeks stepped up criticism of the Quad — the informal India, Australia, Japan and the United States grouping — and of Washington in particular.
• During recent visits to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, China’s Defence Minister called on both countries to reject “military alliances” — a term that some Beijing are using to describe the Quad, but a label that the group rejects.
• China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a statement the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting, in the city of Chongqing, would mark the 30-year anniversary of relations and also “focus on combating COVID-19, promoting economic recovery, [and] better dovetail[ing] strategic plans.” A vaccine passport connecting China and ASEAN countries is also being discussed.
• China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will hold bilateral meetings with all the visiting Ministers, and also chair a meeting of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Economic cooperation

• Deepening economic cooperation, particularly following the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal, would be China’s focus, analysts in Beijing said, even as it grapples with disputes over the South China Sea.
• Recently, China and the Philippines have clashed over the presence of Chinese vessels near a disputed reef, while Malaysia alleged the intrusion of 16 Chinese aircraft into its airspace.
• The Communist Party-run Global Times on Monday blamed the U.S. for those tensions rather than China’s moves that prompted the protests from the Philippines and Malaysia.
• Countries “see clearly that quarrels on South China Sea are not the biggest threat to regional stability; it is the U.S., whose warships frequently sail through the sensitive waters and try to force ASEAN countries take sides to confront China,” the newspaper wrote.
• After the first Quad leaders’ summit held in March and the announcement of a regional vaccine initiative, many Chinese analysts framed ASEAN as a key space where Chinese and Quad initiatives may rub up against each other.
• The framing of the Quad as “an Asian NATO” by Beijing has been criticised by the group’s members. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in April described the use of words such as “Asian NATO” as “a mind game which people are playing”.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid is the President of UNGA for 2021-22

• In a first for the Maldives, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected the President of the UN General Assembly for 2021-22, winning 143 votes or nearly three-fourths of the 191 countries that voted in the annual election, while his rival, former Afghanistan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, won 48.
• Mr Shahid’s win was welcomed in particular in New Delhi, where Indian diplomats had been active behind the scenes in helping the Maldives canvass for him after the Maldives announced its candidate for the 76th General Assembly Presidency a year ago.
• Sources confirmed that given the close cooperation between both countries, Maldives is in discussions with the Indian mission for India’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN Nagaraj Naidu to officiate as Mr Shahid’s Chef de Cabinet.
• Maldives President Ibrahim Solih called the election win “resounding” and a “great honour for the Maldives”, while former President and Maldives speaker Mohammad Nasheed said it was a “great day” for small island states and for “climate vulnerable countries everywhere”.
• India had made it clear to Afghanistan’s government that it would be unable to support Mr Rassoul as it had declared its support for the Maldives publicly in November, long before Afghanistan announced its candidature in January this year.
• The announcement had caused an awkward tussle within the Asia Pacific group, whose turn it is to take the Presidency of the General Assembly, and especially for India, which has close ties with both countries.
• Both Maldives and Afghanistan have excellent ties with India and both candidates are friends of India. However, since India had already committed its support to the Maldives at a time when no other candidate was in the fray, India voted in favour of the Maldives.

About United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)

• The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN.

• All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation.
• The President of the General Assembly is elected each year by the assembly to serve a one-year term of office.
• The presidency rotates annually between the five geographic groups: African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States.
• Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly.
• Decisions on other questions are by simple majority.
• The Assembly has no binding votes or veto powers like the UN Security Council.

According to the Charter of the United Nations, the General Assembly may:

• Consider and approve the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of Member States.
• Elect the non-permanent members of the Security Council and the members of other United Nations councils and organs and, on the recommendation of the Security Council, appoint the Secretary-General.
• Consider and make recommendations on the general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security, including disarmament.
• Discuss any question relating to international peace and security and, except where a dispute or situation is currently being discussed by the Security Council, make recommendations on it.

Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen – Phase 2

About Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

• SBM (1st phase) was a nationwide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the street, roads and infrastructure of cities towns, urban and rural cities and area in India.
• The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism for monitoring toilet use.
• Run by the Government of India, the mission aims to achieve an "open-defecation free" (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 100 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of Rs.1.96 lakh crore (US$28 billion).
• The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), established by the UN in 2015.
• The campaign was officially launched on 2 October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi by PM Modi. It is India's largest cleanliness drive to date with three million government employees and students from all parts of India participating in 4,043 cities, towns, and rural communities. PM Modi has called the campaign Satyagrah se Swachhagrah in reference to Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha launched on 10 April 1916.
• The mission has two thrusts:
  1. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("Gramin" or "rural"), which operates under the Ministry of Jal Shakti; and
  2. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ("urban"), operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Phase one

• The rural sanitation programme was started on October 2, 2014, when the sanitation coverage in the country was reported at 38.7 per cent. More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission and as a result, rural areas in all states have declared themselves open defecation-free (ODF) as of October 2, 2019.

Implementation of the second phase

• The second phase will be implemented on a mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25 with an estimated central and state budget of Rs 52,497 crore.
• The second phase will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM).
• The ODF Plus programme will converge with MGNREGA, especially for grey water management, and will complement the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission.
• The programme will also work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.
• The 15th Finance Commission has proposed earmarking Rs 30,375 crores for rural water supply and sanitation to be implemented by rural local bodies for the upcoming financial year.
• The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti has, however, advised all the states to reconfirm that there are no rural households that still don't have access to a toilet.
• The department has also said that to provide the necessary support to any such identified households to build individual household toilets in order to ensure that no one is left behind under the programme.
• The fund-sharing pattern between the Centre and States will be
  1. 90:10 for the North-Eastern States and the Himalayan States and UT of J&K
  2. 60:40 for other States; and
  3. 100:0 for other Union Territories, for all the components.
• The Jal Shakti ministry said the Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen continue to generate employment and provide impetus to the rural economy through the construction of household toilets and community toilets, as well as infrastructure for waste management such as compost pits, soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, material recovery facilities, etc.

As part of the campaign, volunteers, known as Swachhagrahis, or "Ambassadors of cleanliness", have promoted indoor plumbing and community approaches to sanitation (CAS) at the village level. Other non-governmental activities include national real-time monitoring and updates from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as The Ugly Indian, Waste Warriors, and SWaCH Pune (Solid Waste Collection and Handling) that are working towards its ideas of Swachh Bharat.

The government has constructed 11 million toilets since 2014. Many people continue to not use toilets despite having them. The campaign has been criticized for using coercive approaches to force people to use toilets. Many households have been threatened with a loss of benefits such as access to electricity or food entitlements through the public distribution system. However, a report by UNICEF shows promising improvements with sanitation coverage reaching 90 per cent.