DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the delay in India’s system of child adoption.

What is Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)?

• Statutory body- CARA is enacted under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
• Launched- 1990
• Aim- To oversee child adoption procedures, in the best interest of the child, for Indians and non-resident Indians living abroad.
• Mandate- To monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
• To deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention, 1993.
• Nodal agency- Ministry of Women & Child Development.

CARA became a signatory to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation of 1993 and India ratified the convention in 2003.

What are the functions of CARA?

• Adoption
  • To promote in-country adoptions
  • To facilitate inter-state adoptions in coordination with State Agency
  • To regulate inter-country adoptions
• Regulations- To frame regulations on adoption and related matters from time to time as may be necessary
• Monitor- It regulates bodies like
  • State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA)
  • Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA)
  • Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency (AFAA)
  • Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and
  • District Child Protective Units (DPUs)

Procedure for Adoption

• Adoption – It means a legal process that allows someone to become the parent of a child, even though the parent and child are not related by blood.
• But in every other way, adoptive parents are the child’s parents.
• Legal framework for adoption in India – It includes
  • Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists) and
  • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

• Procedure - A database of children and registration of prospective parents is done on a centralised Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS), which is maintained by CARA.
• Parents register themselves on CARINGS.
• Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA), the first point of government contact for a child, conducts a Home Study Report and completes the referral and adoption process.
• Parents can then take in the child for pre-adoption foster care. SAA is required to file a petition in the court.
• CARA conducts post-adoption follow-up for a period of 2 years.
• Child Welfare Committees play avital role of declaring a child legally free for adoption thereby releasing the child for adoption placement.

What reforms were undertaken by CARA?

• SC’s move- In 2011, Supreme Court criticised CARA for its inefficiency and for not maintenance of records.
• Amendment- In 2015, the Juvenile Justice Act was amended to overhaul the adoption system and curb malpractices.
• CARA was empowered to streamline the process and to introduce transparency in the regulation body.
• CARINGS enabled direct adoption by children institutions and civil society organisations with a no-objection certificate.
• Eligibility was expanded for adoption to include individuals in a live-in relationship.
• Decentralisation- In 2022, the Juvenile Justice Act was further amended to decentralise the adoption process and give more authority to local District Magistrates to issue adoption orders and inspect childcare institutions.

What are the challenges with CARA?

• Delayed adoption- To adopt a child, India’s almost 30,000 prospective parents wait for an average of 3 years.
• Decline in adoption- Despite the legal and procedural changes, the adoption figures have dropped almost 50% from 2010 to 2021.
• Complexity- 2022 amendment in Juvenile Justice Act fostered decentralisation in amendment process but also created confusion and delays in adoption by parents.
• Lack of awareness- Most District Magistrates (DMs) were not aware of the revised changes, and the transfer of cases from courts to DMs would further extend timelines.
• Lack of registration- Many children in need of adoption are not registered by SAA and CWCs due to poor functioning and administrative hiccups.
• Shortage of licensed agencies- A child can be registered on CARA only through a licensed agency, but children find themselves in a loop of transfers and delays due to missing localised adoption channels.
• Procedural flaw- CARA faced difficulties in issuing no-objection certificate for inter-country adoptions and ensuring post-adoption follow-ups.
• Parent-centric- CARA process become tedious as it focuses on parents neglecting the best interest of child.
• Informal placements- Many children are placed directly with the families by hospitals without following legal procedures making them vulnerable to the risks of trafficking, exploitation and abuse.

What lies ahead?

• The need of the hour is to follow the advice of the Parliament Committee to find and adopt the children who beg on the streets as soon as possible.
• CARA should be governed by a “child-centric, optional, enabling and gender-just” special adoption law.

Recently, Adaptation and Loss and Damage (L&D) are in sharp focus due to intensification of climate crisis.

What is the difference between adaptation and L&D?

What is the genesis of L&D fund?

Historic pollution has elevated the world’s average surface temperature by more than 1 degree Celsius.

• Purpose- To provide financial and technical assistance to developing nations that suffer from L&D due to climate change.
• COP 19- At the COP 19 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Warsaw, Poland, in 2013, member countries formally agreed to establish the L&D fund.
• COP 25- Santiago network for L&D was set up, but countries didn’t commit any funds.
• COP 26- Glasgow dialogue on finance for L&D was established to continue discussions over the next three years on the fund.
• COP 27- In 2022, representatives of UNFCCC’s member states agreed to set up the L&D fund and Transitional Committee (TC) to figure out how new mechanisms under the funding mechanisms would operate.

What are the concerns with the L&D fund?

• Hosting the fund- The interest of hosting the fund at World Bank is a major issue as the bank charges an exorbitant overhead fee which dilutes the intent of L&D fund.
• Eligibility- The L&D fund is eligible to all developing nations as per Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), which is a cause of concern for developed nations.

Common But Different Responsibilities (CBDR)

• CBDR was formalized in international law at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.
• The principle balances both the need
  • for all States to take responsibility for global environmental problems
  • to recognize the wide differences in levels of economic development between States

• Voluntary support- Developed nations like US have remained non-committal about being primary donors to the fund and have rejected references to CBDR, equity and liability in the draft.
• Fund size- The indication of the size of the fund was quashed and the current draft simply urges developed nations to provide money.
• Lack of will- The wealthy nations are not willing to fulfil the intended commitments which undermines faith in global climate negotiations and hampers the cooperative spirit to address climate change.

What are the consequences of delayed implementation of L&D fund?

• Vulnerable communities- Delayed implementation of the fund will impact developing nations, as they suffer from climate change.
• Humanitarian crisis- It will increase humanitarian crises, including food shortage, people displacement and conflict.
• It forces communities to cope independently with the worsening climate and its consequences.
• Economic impact- Absence of support will have economic impact for both developed and developing nations.
• Financial crises and economic downturns in one region can have extensive outcomes due to interconnectedness of global economy.
• Biodiversity loss- There will be limited capacity to address environmental degradation and the loss of vital ecosystems, which will further worsen the environmental crises, causing irreversible harm to the earth.
• Security impact- Climate change induced instability will have security implications, as conflicts and tensions in vulnerable nations threaten to spill across borders.

• The Watch and earn initiative is a project to protect the Sinhagad fort, an ancient hill fortress located at Pune in Maharashtra.
• The fort is previously known as Kondhana and it is known for the Battle of Sinhagad.

Battle of Sinhagad was held in 1670 between Tanaji Malusare, a Maratha commander and Udaybhan Rathore, a fort keeper under Jai Singh I.

• Australia has offered refuge to citizens of Tuvalu because of the catastrophic impacts of climate change, in a landmark agreement.
• Under the pact, citizens of Tuvalu will have the right to live, work and study in Australia.
• Tuvalu is a nation of 9 coral islands nestled in the South Pacific, formerly known as the Ellice Islands.

It has been defined by the United Nations as "extremely vulnerable" to the effects of climate change, with most of its landmass less than 5 metres above sea level.

• Union Minister of Science & Technology recently launched the software application "Dashboard" portal.
• It is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven technology dashboard to analyze Parliament Questions on various parameters including member's profile.

It also serve as a dashboard for Cabinet Notes, Acts of Parliament and Gazette Notifications of Govt. of India related to Department of Science & Technology.