Daily Current Affairs : 8th January 2022

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Uniform Civil Code
2. IHS Markit Report
3. First Advance estimates of economic output

1 . Uniform Civil Code

Context : Citizens belonging to different religious and denominations follow different property and matrimonial laws which are an affront to the nation’s unity,” the Centre has informed the Delhi High Court while responding to a plea seeking direction to the government to draft a Uniform Civil Code. The Centre also said it was awaiting the report of the Law Commission of India, which is examining various issues relating to the Uniform Civil Code.

Background

• The affidavit of the Ministry of Law and Justice came in response to a petition filed by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has contended that the government has “failed” to put in place a Uniform Civil Code, as provided under Article 44 of the Constitution.

Details of the Affidavit

• Accoriding to the affidavit the expression ‘Uniform Civil Code’ denotes the field of personal law relating to marriage, divorce, maintenance, custody and guardianship of children, inheritance and succession and adoption,” the Ministry said.
• It said that Article 44 of the Constitution creates an obligation upon the State to endeavour to secure for citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the country. The Ministry said the purpose behind Article 44 is to strengthen the object of “Secular Democratic Republic” as enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution.
• “This provision is provided to effect integration of India by bringing communities on the common platform on matters which are at present governed by diverse personal laws,” the Ministry said adding, “Article 44 divests religion from social relations and personal law”.
• The Ministry said, “as and when the report of Law Commission in the matter is received, the government would examine the same in consultation with the various stakeholders involved in the matter”.
• Responding to the plea which has sought a direction against the Union of India to draft a Uniform Civil Code in sprit of Article 44 of the Constitution within three months, the Ministry said it was against the Constitutional scheme. It reiterated that only the “Parliament exercises sovereign power to enact laws and no outside power or authority can issue a direction to enact a particular piece of legislation”.

Background of UCC

• The Lex Loci Report of October 1840- It stressed the importance and necessity of uniformity in the codification of Indian law, relating to crimes, evidence and contract. But, it also recommended that personal laws of Hindus and Muslims should be kept outside such codification.
• The Queen’s 1859 Proclamation- It promised absolute non-interference in religious matters.
• So while criminal laws were codified and became common for the whole country, personal laws continue to be governed by separate codes for different communities.
• Post independence UCC was included under Directive Principle of State Policy

About Uniform Civil Code

• It is the idea that all citizens, irrespective of faith, should be governed by the same set of laws in ‘personal’ affairs such as marriage, divorce, succession and inheritance, and adoption. Currently, each religion has its own set of personal laws.
• Article 44 of the Constitution says, “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” It is a Directive Principle of State Policy, not mandatory, but a directive towards a desirable end.
• Personal Laws include : Marriage,Divorce, Adoption, Inheritance, Succession & Maintenance

Argument for Uniform Civil Code

• The inconsistency in personal laws has been challenged on the touchstone of Article 14, which ensures the right to equality. Litigants have contended that their right to equality is endangered by personal laws that put them at a disadvantage.
• A uniform civil code will help in integrating India more than it has ever been since independence. A lot of the animosity is caused by preferential treatment by the law of certain religious communities and this can be avoided by a uniform civil code.
• A uniform civil code means that all citizens of India have to follow the same laws whether they are Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Sikhs this will promote secularism
• It can also reduce vote bank politics
• It would address the discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise diverse cultural practices.
• A uniform civil code will also help in improving the condition of women in India. 

Challenges in implementation

• A move against Secularism : Secular character of India has been identified as part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and Article 25 guarantees the freedom to practise, profess and propagate any religion and UCC is seen as invasion into the secular character
• Infringement of personal religious laws : A strong argument which goes against the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code is, the very idea of assimilating all the personal laws into a uniform code will infringe the constituents of personal laws of most of the minority religion. 
• Authority to decide : How will the government decide what laws need to be reformed and what laws are good. It is necessary that govt formulate a code that is acceptable to all the communities.

Case Laws

• The first prominent case founded was Shah Bano (1985) in this case husband gave an irrevocable talaq (divorce) to her which was his prerogative under Islamic law and took up the defence that since Shah Bano had ceased to be his wife and therefore he was under no obligation to provide maintenance for her as except prescribed under the Islamic law which was in total Rs. 5400. In this case Supreme Court ruled that a Muslim woman was entitled to alimony under the general provisions of the CrPC, like anybody else.
• Following protests from Muslim leaders, Rajiv Gandhi’s government in 1986 got the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act passed in Parliament, which nullified the ruling. The Act allowed maintenance to a divorced woman only during the period of iddat, or for 90 days after divorce, according to provisions of Islamic law, but in stark contrast to general provisions under the CrPC.
• In Daniel Latifi vs Union of India (2001), the Supreme Court upheld the Act in so far as it confined the time period of maintenance to the iddat period, but held that the quantum of maintenance must be “reasonable and fair”, and therefore, last her a lifetime. In effect, the verdict did a balancing act between the Shah Bano judgment and the 1986 law.
• In Githa Hariharan vs RBI (1999), the top court adjudicated upon the constitutional validity of certain provisions of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 and the Guardian Constitution and Wards Act, on a petition claiming they violated Articles 14 by treating the father as the natural guardian of a child under all circumstances. The court held that the interest of the child was paramount, and that the letter of law would not override this aspect. It ushered in the principle of equality in matters of guardianship for Hindus, making the child’s welfare the prime consideration.
• The Supreme Court examined the aspect uniformity again in two cases in 2015. The first pertained to seeking the court’s recognition to the Ecclesiastical Court, which operates under the Canon Law for Catholic Christians and not under India’s civil laws. The apex court was upset — wondering angrily whether India would remain secular in the present circumstances, and calling for stamping out religions from civil laws. This case remains pending.
• In the second case, the court dealt with the issue of guardianship of a Christian unwed mother without the consent of the child’s father. While ruling in the woman’s favour, it said: “It would be apposite for us to underscore that our Directive Principles envision the existence of a uniform civil code, but this remains an unaddressed constitutional expectation.”

2 . IHS Markit Report

Context : India is likely to overtake Japan as Asia’s second-largest economy by 2030 when its GDP is also projected to surpass that of Germany and the U.K. to rank as the world’s No.3, IHS Markit said in a report

Details of the Report

• India’s nominal GDP is forecast to rise from $2.7 trillion in 2021 to $8.4 trillion by 2030
• This rapid pace of economic expansion would result in the size of Indian GDP exceeding Japanese GDP by 2030, making India the second-largest economy in the Asia-Pacific region.
• By 2030, the Indian economy would also be larger in size than the largest Western European economies of Germany, France and the U.K.
• The long-term outlook for the Indian economy is supported by a number of key growth drivers.
• An important positive factor for India is its large and fast-growing middle class, which is helping to drive consumer spending,
• Country’s consumption expenditure is forecasted to double from $1.5 trillion in 2020 to $3 trillion by 2030.
• For the full fiscal year 2021-22, India’s real GDP growth rate is projected to be 8.2%, rebounding from the severe contraction of 7.3% year-on-year in 2020-21
• The Indian economy is forecast to continue growing strongly in the 2022-23 fiscal year, at a pace of 6.7%.
• The rapidly growing consumer market as well as its large industrial sector have made India an increasingly important investment destination for multinationals in many sectors, including manufacturing, infrastructure and services.
• Currently, India is the sixth-largest economy, behind the U.S., China, Japan, Germany and the U.K.

3 . First Advanced Estimate of GDP

Context : On Friday, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the First Advance Estimates (FAE) for the current financial year (2021-22 or FY22).

According to MoSPI, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) — the total value of all final goods and services produced within the country in one financial year — will grow by 9.2 per cent in 2020-21. Last financial year, FY21, the GDP had contracted by 7.3%.

What are the First Advance Estimates of GDP?

• The FAE, which were first introduced in 2016-17, are typically published at the end of the first week of January. They are the “first” official estimates of how GDP is expected to grow in that financial year. But they are also the “advance” estimates because they are published long before the financial year (April to March) is over.
• It is important to note that even though the FAE are published soon after the end of the third quarter (October, November, December), they do not include the formal Q3 GDP data, which is published at the end of February as part of the Second Advance Estimates (SAE).

What is their significance?

• Since the SAE will be published next month, the main significance of FAE lies in the fact that they are the GDP estimates that the Union Finance Ministry uses to decide the next financial year’s budget allocations.
• From the Budget-making perspective, it is important to note what has happened to nominal GDP — both absolute level and its growth rate. That’s because nominal GDP is the actual observed variable. Real GDP, which is the GDP after taking away the effect of inflation, is a derived metric. All Budget calculations start with the nominal GDP.
• Real GDP = Nominal GDP — Inflation Rate
• However, from the perspective of the common people, real GDP is what matters. The difference between the real and nominal GDP shows the levels of inflation in the year.

How are the FAE arrived at before the end of the concerned financial year?

• The FAE are derived by extrapolating the available data. According to the MoSPI, the approach for compiling the Advance Estimates is based on Benchmark-Indicator method i.e. “the estimates available for the previous year (2020-21 in this case) are extrapolated using relevant indicators reflecting the performance of sectors.”
• For instance, for these FAE, the MoSPI has extrapolated sector-wise estimates using indicators such as Index of Industrial Production (IIP) up to October, inflation — both retail and wholesale — data up to November, sale of commercial vehicles data up to September, so on and so forth.

What are the main takeaways?

• Real GDP Growth: At 9.2%, the real GDP growth rate for FY22 is slightly lower than most expectations, including RBI’s, which pegged it at 9.5%. What’s more, these estimates are based on data before the rise of the Omicron variant. As such, there is a possibility that the final rate may be revised further downwards by May-end when the full financial year’s “provisional” estimates will be published. However, in times of such massive upheavals, it is always better to look at the absolute levels instead of growth rates.
  • As things stand, aggregate GDP in FY22 is estimated to cross the pre-Covid level. This also holds true for the absolute level of Gross Value Added (GVA).
  • While the GDP maps the economy from the expenditure (or demand) side — that is by adding up all the expenditures, the GVA provides a picture of the economy from the supply side. GVA maps the “value-added” by different sectors of the economy such as agriculture, industry and services.
• Role of High Inflation: For FY22, while real GDP (that is, GDP calculated using constant 2011-12 prices) will grow by 9.2%, nominal GDP (that is GDP calculated using current market prices) will grow by a whopping 17.6%. The difference between the two growth rates — about 8.5 percentage points — is essentially a marker of inflation (or the rate at which average prices have increased in this financial year).
• Low Private Consumption: An analysis of the three main contributors to GDP — private consumption demand, investments in the economy, and government expenditures — shows that while the latter two are expected to claw back to the pre-Covid level, the first engine will continue to stay in a slump.
• Average Indian is much worse off: While aggregate GDP and GVA numbers may recover the same cannot be said about an average Indian. In other words, an average Indian has lost 2 years in terms of income levels and 3 years in terms of spending levels. What’s more, even these average numbers do not capture the acute pain because of the growing inequalities in the country. For the bulk of the Indian population, thus, aggregate data recovering to pre-Covid levels may be largely academic.