TH_Delhi_13_May_2022.pdf

TH_14_May_2022.pdf

💢💢The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 13th MAY

The importance of consent: On marital rape

A split verdict in the Delhi High Court on the question of criminalising marital rape has reignited the controversy over legal protection for disregard of consent for sex within marriage. On Wednesday, while Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who headed the Bench, struck down as unconstitutional the exception to Section 375 of the IPC, which says that intercourse by a man with his wife aged 18 or above is not rape even if it is without her consent, Justice C. Hari Shankar rejected the plea to criminalise marital rape pointing out that any change in the law has to be carried out by the legislature since it requires consideration of social, cultural and legal aspects. With the judges differing on key points such as difficulty in getting evidence, the importance of consent, whether the state’s concerns about safeguarding the institution of marriage were valid, and if other laws against sexual violence protected married women, the issues involved may have to be ultimately adjudicated with the help of a third judge or a larger Bench of the High Court or the Supreme Court. The Union government has been opposing the removal of the marital rape exception. In 2016, it had rejected the concept of marital rape, saying it “cannot be applied to the Indian context” due to various reasons, not least because of the “mindset of society to treat marriage as a sacrament”. However, in the final hearing, the Union government did not take a stand on the issue.

Justice Shakdher’s opinion goes to the heart of the matter, inasmuch as it treats the absence of consent as the core ingredient of rape. He says what is defined as rape in law should be labelled as such, irrespective of whether it occurs within or outside marriage. He finds that the marital exception violates equality before law, as well as deprives women of the right to trigger a prosecution for non-consensual sex. Besides, it also discriminates among women based on their marital status and robs them of sexual agency and autonomy. In contrast, Justice Hari Shankar’s opinion, somewhat disconcertingly, de-emphasises the element of consent and lays much store by the importance of preserving the institution of marriage to such an extent that he holds that any legislation that keeps rape out of a marital relationship “is immune to interference”. If marriage is regarded as a partnership between equals, an exception in a 162-year-old law should have had no place. While there are other laws governing civil relationships that legitimise conjugal expectations, these cannot be seen as giving a free pass for violence within marriage, which is essentially what sex without consent is. Whether the legislative route is more appropriate in making marital rape a criminal offence is a matter of detail. What is important is that sexual violence has no place in society, and the institution of marriage is no exception.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
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1. Consent (N)- permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. सहमति

2. Struck Down (Phrasal Verb)- (of a court) to decide that a law or rule is illegal and should be ignored.

3. Adjudicate (V)- make a formal judgement on a disputed matter. न्यायनिर्णय

4. Sacrament (N)- (in Christianity) an important religious ceremony, such as marriage, baptism, or confirmation.

5. Deprive (V)- to take something, especially something necessary or pleasant, away from someone.

6. Prosecution (N)- the institution and conducting of legal proceedings against someone in respect of a criminal charge. अभियोग

7. Conjugal (Adj)- relating to marriage or the relationship between a married couple. वैवाहिक

💢💢The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 14th MAY

Full circle: On cutting fuel taxes

As the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party marks the eighth anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, retail inflation has accelerated close to the 8.3% level last seen in May 2014, when Mr. Modi assumed office in the last week of the month. For a government that prided itself on its inflation taming successes in the first five years, a combination of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, high crude oil prices and now the war in Ukraine have created a perfect storm that sent the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation racing to a 95-month high of 7.79% in April. Food and fuel were the biggest culprits fanning last month’s furious pace of price gains that seem unabating. Food inflation as measured by the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) quickened to a 17-month high of 8.38% last month, with rural consumers experiencing it at 8.5%, a pace that was 41 basis points faster than that experienced by their urban counterparts. Ten of the 12 items in the food and beverages basket of the overall CPI registered sequential acceleration as well. Of concern are the prices of cereals and products, which constitute almost a tenth of the CPI and account for the key staples of wheat and rice that are essential for ensuring food security. Inflation in cereals accelerated by more than 100 basis points to 5.96% last month.

With both output and government procurement of wheat set to be lower than estimated earlier and exporters seeking to corner a greater share of the crop to tap the recent surge in global demand for the grain, domestic prices have already hardened and could pose a challenge to household budgets in the coming months. Edible oil is another constituent of the food basket meriting close monitoring on the prices front. While inflation in the price of the cooking medium slowed by 151 basis points from March, the pace was still a dizzying 17.28%, with the sequential rate also a sizeable 2.52%. With the war in Ukraine having shut the tap on sunflower oil supplies from the largest global source of the commodity, unless Indonesia rescinds its ban on palm oil exports in the near future, the immediate outlook for edible oil prices is far from reassuring. Ultimately though, with inflation now having turned far more broad-based and logging a strident pace in excess of 8% for four of the six sub-groups in the CPI, policymakers have their task cut out. While the RBI must continue to tighten monetary policy in order to protect the vast majority who have no hedge against inflation, the pass-through of high oil costs, reflected in double-digit price gains in the transport and fuel and light categories, leaves the Government with little option but to cut fuel taxes if it is serious about taming inflation so as to ensure overall macroeconomic stability.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
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1. Tame(v): make less powerful and easier to control.

2. Fan(v): stimulate , ignite, inflame, encouraging

3. Furious( तीव्र): full of anger or energy; violent or intense.

4. Unabating(बेरोकटोक): not weakening or losing intensity.

5. Cereals(N): a grain used for food, for example wheat, maize, or rye.

6. Procurement(N): the action of obtaining or procuring something.

7. Surge: a sudden and great increase:

8. Constituent: component, elemental, basic

9. Dizzying(adj:): causing someone to feel unsteady, confused, or amazed.चकित कर

10. Strident:  loud and harsh; grating.

11. Hedge(N): a way of protecting oneself against financial loss or other adverse circumstances.

14_May_2022_Hand_Written_Notes.pdf

TH_Delhi_15_May_2022.pdf

TH_Delhi_16_May_2022.pdf

💢💢The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 16th MAY

Fuel to fire: On Finland joining NATO

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 apparently to stop NATO’s further expansion into its neighbourhood. But in less than three months, the same invasion has pushed two countries in that neighbourhood to consider NATO membership. Last week, the Prime Minister and President of Finland, which has stayed neutral since the end of the Second World War, said they hoped their country would apply for NATO membership “without delay”. Sweden, which has stayed out of military alliances for 200 years, stated that NATO membership would strengthen its national security and stability in the Baltic and Nordic regions. If these two countries now formally apply for membership, it would be the biggest strategic setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin whose most important foreign policy focus has been on weakening NATO. Particularly alarming for Russia is the case of Finland, with which it has a hostile past. Stalin invaded Finland in 1939 demanding more territories. Though the Red Army struggled in the initial phase of the war, it forced Finland to sign the Moscow Peace Treaty, ceding some 9% of its territory. But a year later, the Finns, in an alliance with the German Nazis, attacked the Soviet troops. Peace was established along the 1,340-km Finnish-Russian border after the Nazis were defeated in the Second World War. Now, Ukraine appears to have deepened the security concerns of Finland and Sweden.

It is still not clear whether these countries would be inducted into NATO any time soon. Within the alliance, decisions are taken unanimously. Turkey has already expressed its opposition to taking the Nordic countries in. While the U.S. and the U.K. are pushing for NATO’s expansion, Germany and France have taken a more cautious line. Hungary, which has deep ties with Russia and has already held up the EU’s plan to ban Russian oil imports, has not made its views clear. But the mere declaration of intent by Finland and Sweden to join NATO has sent tensions in Europe soaring, with Russia threatening ‘military and technical’ retaliation. Normatively speaking, Finland and Sweden are sovereign countries and free to take decisions on joining any alliance. It is up to NATO to decide whether they should be taken in or not. But a bigger question these countries as well as Europe as a whole face is whether another round of expansion of NATO would help bring in peace and stability in Europe, particularly at a time when the continent is facing a pre-First World War-type security competition. It would escalate the current crisis between nuclear-armed Russia and NATO to dangerous levels. Already the several rounds of NATO expansion and Russia’s territorial aggression have brought the world to its most dangerous moment since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Russia should immediately halt the war and all the stakeholders should focus on finding a long-term solution to the crisis.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
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1. Stay Out (Phrasal Verb)- to refrain or forbear from involving oneself in something.

2. Setback (N)- a reversal or check in progress. नाकामयाबी

3. Unanimously (Adv)- without opposition; with the agreement of all people involved. एक मत से

4. Cautious (Adj)- (of a person) careful to avoid potential problems or dangers. सतर्क

5. Soaring (Adj)- rising very quickly to a high level.

6. Retaliation (N)- the action of returning a military attack; counter-attack. प्रतिशोध

7. Escalate (V)- make or become more intense or serious. गहरा बनाना, तीव्र करना