Age of Adolescent Consent

• The Karnataka High Court (HC) recently stated that the Law Commission of India would have to reconsider the age criteria in the case of age for consent in order to take into account the ground realities.

Important Points

HC's Position:

• A case filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012, was dismissed by the Karnataka High Court.
• It stated that if it is an offense under the Indian Penal Code and/or the POCSO Act, consent by a girl of 16 years but under the age of 18 years must be considered.

The following are the terms of the POCSO Act:

• The offender was frequently charged under Section 366 of the IPC, Section 6 of the POCSO Act, and Section 9 of the 2006 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
• According to the POCSO Act of 2012 and several provisions of the IPC, anyone under the age of 18 who commits a penetrative sexual assault on a child can be "imprisoned for a term not less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to [a] fine."
• Even if the girl is 16, she is considered a "child" under the POCSO Act, so her consent is irrelevant, and any sexual intercourse is treated as rape, subjecting her to harsh punishment.

Concerns About the Age of Consent Aspect

• Misuse of the Law: In recent years, the courts have quashed criminal proceedings for rape and kidnapping after concluding that the law was being manipulated to benefit one or both parties.
• The Karnataka High Court stated in its order, and several other courts have passed similar judgments, that the effect of such criminal prosecution of a minor girl or boy is causing severe distress to all concerned, including the families.
• Disgruntled parents may file a case to prevent a relationship between two adolescents.

2021 Vijaylakshmi vs State Rep case

• While dismissing a POCSO case, the Madras High Court stated that the definition of "child" under Section 2(d) of the POCSO Act can be redefined as 16 rather than 18.
• The court recommended that the age difference in consensual relationships not exceed five years.
• This will protect a young girl from being taken advantage of by "a person who is much older."

Adolescent Realities and Socio-Legal Responses in India: Why Girls Run Away to Marry

• In 2019, Partners for Law in Development published a study.
• It argued that the age of consent should be lower than the age of marriage in order to decriminalize sex among older adolescents and protect them from the misuse of the law, which can occur when parents want to control whom their daughters or sons marry.
• According to the study, in many cases, a couple elopes due to parental opposition, resulting in a situation in which families file a case with the police, who then charge the boy with rape under the POCSO Act and abduction with the intent to marry under the IPC or the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

Ahead of the game

• The government should investigate the issue with the courts and rights activists who are requesting an amendment to the age of consent criteria.
• In the meantime, adolescents must be made aware of the strict provisions of the POCSO Act as well as the IPC.
• Even as activists call for changes to the POCSO Act and raise awareness about its provisions.
• Evaluating the Impact of Raising the Marriage Age:
• A parliamentary committee is investigating the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which would raise the minimum marriage age for women to 21 years.
• Raising the age, according to rights activists, may force vulnerable women to remain under the yoke of family and social pressures rather than benefiting the community.

2022 Provisional State of the Climate Report

• The provisional State of the Global Climate report, 2022, was recently published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• In April 2023, the complete and final report is anticipated to be released.

What are the Report's Highlights?

Greenhouse gas concentrations rising:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (NO2) concentrations—the three principal greenhouse gases—were all at record highs in 2021.
• In fact, methane emissions surged at the quickest rate ever. Methane is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at causing global warming.
• Countries made commitments to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 at the Glasgow climate change summit.

Temperature:

• According to estimates, the average global temperature in 2022 will be 1.15 °C higher than it was between 1850 and 1900.
• Most likely, the eight warmest years on record will occur from 2015 to 2022.
• La Nia conditions, which are characterized by a cooling of sea-surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, have dominated since late 2020 and are predicted to last through the end of 2022.
• La Nia has continued for the previous two years, keeping global temperatures relatively moderate, albeit higher than the last large La Nia in 2011.

Ice & Glaciers:

• In 2022, glacier melt records in the European Alps were broken. The Alps had average thickness losses of between 3 and over 4 meters, which is significantly higher than the previous record year of 2003.
• Initial data show that 6% of the glacier ice volume in Switzerland was lost between 2021 and 2022.
• Even at the highest measurement locations, no snow survived the summer for the first time ever, and no fresh ice accumulated as a result.

Sea Level Rise:

• Over the 30 years (1993–2022) of the satellite altimeter record, the global mean sea level has increased by an estimated 3.4 0.3 mm per year.
• Between 1993 and 2002 and 2013 and 2022, the rate doubled, and between January 2021 and August 2022, the sea level rose by nearly 5 mm.
• 90% of the heat accumulated from greenhouse gas emissions by humans is stored in the ocean.
• In 2021, the ocean's upper 2000 meters continued to warm to unprecedented levels.
• At least one marine heatwave affected 55% of the ocean's surface in 2022.
• In comparison, a marine cold spell affected only 22% of the ocean's surface. Unlike cold waves, marine heatwaves are occurring more frequently.

Extreme weather:

• Rainfall in East Africa has been below average for the longest stretch of four consecutive rainy seasons (40 years), and there are signs that the current season may also be dry.
• Massive floods occurred in Pakistan in 2022 as a result of record-breaking rain in July and August.
• The intense heatwave that both India and Pakistan experienced in March and April was closely followed by the flooding.
• The northern hemisphere's major regions were unusually hot and dry.
• China experienced the second-dryest summer on record and the largest and longest heatwave in the country's history.
• Numerous periods of high heat wracked large portions of Europe.
• On July 19, 2022, the temperature in the United Kingdom broke a previous record and reached greater than 40°C for the first time.

What actions have been taken to combat climate change?

National:

National Action Plan on Climate change (NAPCC)

• India unveiled its National Action Plan to Combat Climate Change to counter the growing challenges of climate change (NAPCC). There are 8 sub-missions inside it, such as the National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission etc
• India Cooling Action Plan: It offers a comprehensive strategy for cooling and related issues, such as lowering cooling demand. By lowering emissions, this would aid in the fight against global warming.

Global: The Paris Accord:

• It aims to keep the increase in global temperatures from pre-industrial times "far below" 2°C while "pursuing measures" to keep it at 1.5°C.

U.N. SDGs:

• These 17 overarching objectives will help civilization flourish sustainably. Goal 13 specifically focuses on combating climate change.
• At the COP26 meetings in 2021, 197 nations eventually agreed to accept the Glasgow Pact.
• It has stressed the importance of taking more decisive action in the coming decade to meet the 1.5-degree target.

The WMO State of the Global Climate report is what?

• The sixth IPCC Assessment Report, which gave the most recent long assessment cycle, is supplemented by the report on an annual basis.
• Using important climate indicators and reporting on extreme occurrences and their effects, the report lends an authoritative voice to the current state of the climate.

About The World Meteorological Organization (WMO): An intergovernmental organization, the WMO has 192 Member States and Territories as members.

• India is a WMO member.

• The International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded following the Vienna International Meteorological Congress in 1873, is where it got its start.
• The WMO became the United Nations specialized organization for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology, and allied geophysical sciences on March 23, 1950, when the WMO Convention was ratified.
• The WMO's main office is in Geneva, Switzerland.

Way Forward

• The emphasis should be on innovative ideas and policies that can drastically alter how resources are created and used.

Law Commission of India

• Retired High Court Chief Justice Rituraj Awasthi has been named Chairperson of India's 22nd Law Commission, which was established in 2020.

What is the Indian Law Commission?

• The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body established from time to time by the Government of India.
• The first independent Indian Law Commission was established in 1955 for a three-year term.
• The first Law Commission, chaired by Lord Macaulay, was established during the British Raj era in 1834 by the Charter Act of 1833.
• It serves as an advisory body to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
• The Law Commission conducts legal research and reviews existing laws in India in order to reform them and enact new legislation, either on the recommendation of the Central Government or on its own initiative.
• The commission will have four full-time members, including a member-secretary, in addition to a full-time chairperson.
• Ex-officio members of the commission will be the Law and Legislative Secretaries in the Law Ministry.
• It will also have a maximum of five part-time members.
• The Commission will be led by a retired Supreme Court judge or a Chief Justice of a High Court.

What are the Commission's Key Recommendations?

• In its 262nd Report, the Law Commission advocated for the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes except terrorism-related offences and waging war against the state.
• It proposed simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in its electoral reform report (1999) to improve governance and stability.
• The Law Commission of India also proposed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022, to replace the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920.
• In its 2018 recommendation, the 21st Law Commission stated that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage."
• The centre has now requested that the 22nd Law Commission of India investigate various issues related to the matter.