Validity of Child Gang-Rape Law

A 29-year-old man who is currently serving a life sentence for the gang rape of a nine-year-old in Maharashtra has filed a petition in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a statute that sentences a convicted man to death or life in prison for gang raping a child under the age of 12 without giving him the opportunity to repent or change.

The issue highlighted in the petition:

Limit the trial judge's options:

• It was argued that Section 376DB of the Indian Penal Code (gang rape of a child under 12 years of age) limited the trial judge's options to the death penalty or a sentence for the balance of the person's natural life. for more Laws regarding rape
• The minimum obligatory punishment under the law is, however, life in jail.

Anomaly in 2018 Amendment:

• The petitioner additionally stated that the sentence framework created by the criminal amendments implemented in August 2018 had an anomaly.
• When the penal code was revised in 2018 to establish stronger punishments for the crime of rape, Section 376DB was added.

Arbitrariness:

• Section 376-AB mandated a 20-year minimum punishment for anyone found guilty of raping a child under the age of 12.
• While Section 376-DB mandates a minimum sentence of life in prison for each of the individuals participating in the gang rape of a child under the age of 12.
• The death sentence was the harshest punishment offered in both parts.
• A person in his twenties who receives a life sentence without the possibility of parole could spend 60–70 years in prison.

Violation of the right to life:

• Under Section 376DB, the trial court was only given the choice of the life sentence or the more severe punishment of the death sentence.

• The petition claimed that Section 376DB violated the Constitution's Articles 21 (right to life) and 14 (right to equality).

Global Scenario:

• In the case of Winter v. the United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights determined that a life sentence without the possibility of release violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
• It was decided that life sentences could not be regarded as just punishment since they offered the prisoner no chance to atone and were incompatible with respect for human dignity.
• The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that in exceptional circumstances, a disproportionate sentence violated the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment.

View of the Supreme Court

• The SC bench stated that this issue needed to be taken into consideration because the SC had previously declared the mandatory death penalty provision to be unconstitutional.
• Additionally, it requested that the petitioner and a second solicitor general submit written arguments and suggestions regarding the matter.

Historical Overview:

• Additionally, the SC had held in Mithu Vs. Punjab in 1983 that Section 303 of the IPC was unconstitutional to the degree that it mandated the death penalty for murderers who were already serving life sentences in prior cases.
• Courts were required by Section 303 to inflict the death penalty as the only sanction in these situations.

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Period Poverty

Scotland has become the first nation in the world to legally protect the right to access free period products and has made period products free for all by passing the Period Products Act.

One of its central objectives is to “end the silence and stigma” that surrounds menstruation and also aims to remove “gendered barriers”. The bill aims to ensure that those who menstruate have “reasonably convenient” access to period products free of charge.

Period poverty is when those on low incomes can't afford, or access, suitable period products.

Development in Scotland

• Period poverty is defined as a circumstance that makes menstruation a “difficult experience” for women. These include homelessness, coercive, controlling, and violent relationships, and health conditions such as endometriosis. “Some trans people may also experience difficulties in accessing sanitary products".
• According to the Period Products Act, public institutions like schools, colleges, and universities as well as municipal governments are required to provide free access to a variety of period products in their restrooms.
• Scotland's local communities must work with each municipality to choose the optimum access point for menstruation products.

Accessibility:

• PickUpMyPeriod is a mobile phone software that directs users to the closest location where they can pick up period goods, such as their local library or community centre.
• Libraries, swimming pools, public gyms, community centres, town halls, pharmacies, and doctor's offices would all carry the period products.

State of Menstrual Hygiene in India

2011 research by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that just 13% of Indian girls are aware that menstruation occurs before menarche.

• 60% of girls skipped school because of their periods.
• 79% of menstruating women experienced low self-esteem, and 44% felt embarrassed and degraded because of the restrictions.
• Menstruation so negatively affects women's access to education, equality, and mother and child health.

National Family Health Survey 5

• Women aged 15 to 24 years who use period products.
• Ninety percent or more of women used period products in seventeen states and union territories (UTs).
• The percentage was 99% in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry.
• Seventy percent or less of women used period products in Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
• Only Bihar reported a number that was less than 60%.
• Top three states where the proportion of women using period products increased from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5:
• Bihar: 90%
• Odisha: 72%
• Madhya Pradesh: 61%

Initiatives are taken by the Indian Government for Menstrual Hygiene

Shuchi Scheme.

• Teenage females are encouraged to practice good menstrual hygiene through the Shuchi Scheme.
• It was initially a Centrally-sponsored one that began in 2013–2014.
• However, the Center requested that States take up the program starting in 2015–16.

Menstrual Hygiene Program:

• In 2011, the Menstrual Hygiene Program will promote good menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls (10 to 19 years old) in rural parts of particular districts.

The SABLA program

• Initiated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

• It emphasizes diet, fitness, hygiene, and sexual and reproductive health (linked to rural mother and childcare centers).

National Rural Livelihood Mission

• Under this assistance is provided to small producers who make sanitary pads as well as self-help organizations.

Swachh Bharat Vidyalaya (SB:SV) and the Swachh Bharat Mission:

• Each educational institute has a separate restroom for girls and adequate sanitary provisions for girls.
• The Swachh Bharat Mission also includes control of menstrual hygiene.

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

• Developed guidelines for gender issues in sanitation to guarantee gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls with regard to sanitation.

• For adolescent girls and women, managing menstrual hygiene safely and effectively is a catalyst for healthier and more robust development.

National Guidelines for the Management of Menstrual Hygiene:

• The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation issued it in 2015.
• It aims to deal with every aspect of menstrual hygiene, including raising awareness, dealing with behaviour modification, creating a market for better hygiene products, capacity building, etc.

Way Forward

• The Indian government ought to adopt Scotland's strategy and make the historical goods accessible or offered at a fair discount.
• To increase access to affordable pads, the government might also support small-scale sanitary pad production facilities. This will also aid women by providing them with a source of income.
• The government must fund initiatives to promote public understanding of menstruation and menstrual hygiene, access to products that are safe, and effective water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure.
• Menstrual health cannot be attained solely by governmental initiatives; rather, it must be addressed as a social issue that calls for interventions at the societal, local, and family levels.

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Quantum Key Distribution Technology

By releasing a commercial Request for Proposal, the Indian Army has begun the process of acquiring Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology created by a cybersecurity firm based in Bengaluru (RFP).

About QKD:

It is a secure communication technique that makes use of a cryptographic protocol involving a number of quantum mechanical elements.

Process:

• The technique enables two communicating sides to generate random secret keys that are known only to them and shared by the two of them.
• This ensures that only the communicating sides can use the keys to encrypt and decode messages, resulting in very highly secure communication.
• Critical data, sound, or video between the endpoints is encrypted using unhackable encryption keys created using QKD to help construct a non-hackable quantum channel.

Key exchange:

• The fundamental element in this is how encryption keys are distributed. Sharing keys across wireless or wired connections necessitates encryption, which in turn necessitates pre-sharing of encryption keys.

Agencies in India dealing with QKD:

• The DRDO has launched numerous efforts to advance this technology.
• India is prepared to join the league of world leaders with its own, more sophisticated quantum communication technology to provide its armed forces with high-end defence as the nation celebrates "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”.

Significance

• Security agencies will be able to design an appropriate quantum communication network with an indigenous technology backbone thanks to this technology.
• Currently, highly secure military grade communications are possible.

Secure communications are essential for several civilian applications as well as for global defence and strategic organizations.

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Bioengineered Cornea Implants

A successful alternative bioengineered cornea implant comprised of collagen derived from pig skin has recently been developed by Swedish researchers.

About the recent research

According to estimates, 12.7 million individuals worldwide are blind as a result of their corneas.

Medical-grade collagen:

• The researchers employed medical-grade collagen obtained from pig skin, a by-product of the food industry that is already utilised in medical equipment for glaucoma surgery, as a substitute for human corneas.
• Collagen, a protein, makes up the majority of the cornea.

Important advantages:

• In addition to being less expensive and more accessible than donated corneas, this can also be kept for up to two years in storage and requires a much less invasive operation.
• While bioengineered corneas can be preserved for up to two years before use, donor corneas must be used within two weeks.
• Economically advantageous:
• Because the pig skin is a byproduct of the food business, it is simple to get and cost-effective.
• Treatment for life:
• The researchers discovered that two years following surgery, none of the patients were still blind.
• The findings indicate that it is feasible to create a biomaterial that satisfies all requirements for usage as human implants, which can be mass-produced and kept in storage for up to two years, reaching even more people with visual issues.

Method

• The researchers created a minimally invasive technique that doesn't require stitches and involves making a small incision in the patient's eye and inserting the implant over the natural cornea.
• High-precision lasers or easily accessible surgical equipment can be used for this.

Leading causes of blindness:

• Around 12.7 million individuals worldwide are blind due to damage to the cornea, the transparent outermost layer of the eye. This condition is more common in developing nations where there is a shortage of donated human corneas.
• Researchers assert that there is a significant corneal shortage, with only one cornea accessible for every 70 patients.
• People who live in low- and middle-income nations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are additionally burdened by logistical and storage issues in addition to pricey surgical equipment.

Keratoconus:

• In India and Iran, the implant was used to successfully treat 20 patients with keratoconus, a condition that causes the cornea to thin and often results in blindness.

About Cornea:

• The Cornea is the translucent, avascular portion of the eye that surrounds the iris and pupil and permits light to enter the inside.

In two ways, it benefits the eye:

• It aids in protecting the remainder of the eye from contaminants like dust and bacteria. Together with the eyelids, the socket, tears, and the sclera, or the white component of the eye, the cornea performs this protective function.
• It serves as the outermost lens of the eye. Similar to a window, it directs and concentrates light as it enters the eye. Between 65 and 75 per cent of the eye's entire focusing power comes from the cornea.

What happens when the cornea is harmed?

• The ability of your eye to focus on objects both close up and far away is influenced by the curvature of this outer layer.
• The scars or discolouration that develop from disease, infection or injury to the cornea can impair vision by obstructing or distorting light as it enters the eye.

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STEVE Phenomenon

After a severe solar storm struck Earth, the astronomical phenomena known as "Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE)" made an unexpected appearance

About STEVE phenomenon

• STEVE first emerged in the skies in 2017, and since then, he has returned frequently.
• The assertion that the phenomena have been visible in the sky since 1705 is supported by evidence.
• It is an extremely uncommon, enigmatic, luminous purple arc that appears nearer to the equator and extends from east to west.

Why does it happen?

• The phenomenon is thought to be created by a 25 km wide ribbon of hot plasma travelling at an altitude of 450 km at a speed of 6 km/s (compared to 10 m/s outside the ribbon).
• Between October and February, it has been seen in New Zealand, Canada, Alaska, and the United Kingdom, which has led NASA experts to conclude that its prevalence is tied to seasons.

What distinguishes it from the Aurora Borealis?

• Auroras are brought on by changes in the Earth's magnetosphere brought on by the solar wind.
• Due to the acceleration of the solar wind brought on by coronal holes and coronal mass ejections, these disturbances take place.
• While STEVE, the Auroras, and the skylights may appear to be identical, they are quite different.
• To start, STEVE is a phenomenon that occurs nearer the equator than on the poles.
• Although STEVE is not like a typical aurora, it is powered by the auroral system and is formed of light.

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