Ratsasan: Memorable Thriller and Spellbound Performance.

The entire nation is shocked at the recent news about circumstances surrounding the suicide of a very great and humble actor Shushant Singh Rajpoot. Equally shocked and upset I am and I have a lot to say about the injustice and gamut of nepotism in the Bollywood, which I will express in a much detailed post.

Friends, last week I was suggested by one of my friends to watch a very interesting Tamil psycho-thriller Ratsasan of 2018. Initially, I thought it to be an ordinary murder-mystery based movie. But, believe me, this movie is a rare gem in the treasure of Indian film industry. 

It has been directed by Ram Kumar and it features Vishnu Vishal and Amala Paul in the lead roles, while Saravanan Naan plays the role of the psychopath. Other actors include Kaali Venkat, and Ramdoss in supporting roles.

The plot of the movie is based on the unending murder spree of young school girls by a psychopath. Vishnu Vishal plays the role of a police officer, who also has interest in film direction. 

The plot of the movie and its direction are piece of art. I will keep you stick to your couch. Every moment of the movie pops up a new twist.     

A Memorable Villain.

Before Ratsasan, I had never seen any of the movies starring Sarvanan. I, even hadn't heard his name. But watching his spellbound performance in the movie, my expectations are much high from him. In my opinion, he is one of the actors that can prove to be the legendary Joker (Heath Leger  from the Dark Knight).

In fact the get up of Sarvanan is unbelievable. In the entire movie, you will be wandering where he is. I would not spoil the surprise. However, I can share his real photo in this post.

PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1955: CASES

Section 3

State of M.P. v. Puranchand, Madhya Pradesh High Court held for the purpose of section 3, the person prevented must either be professing the same religion as other persons to whom the place is open.

The object of Section 3 is not to create any new rights in favour of untouchables but it is intended only to put them at par with other caste Hindus.

Parameswaran Moorthy v. Vasudeo Kurup, the Kerala High Court held that Section 3 does not confer unfettered and absolute rights to perform religious services that are supposed to be performed only by priests according to religious tenets or to enter such places where such

rituals are being conducted.

In Hindu Religious Endowment Board v. L.T Swamiyar, (AIR 1954 282) the Supreme Court held that there is no unregulated and unrestricted right of entry in a public temple or other religious institution for persons who are not connected with religious functions.

In the case of Venkatraman Devaru v. State of Mysore, the SC held that denominations had the religious freedom to manage their own religious affairs and could hence exclude outsiders from temple ceremonies.

Section 4

Benudhas Sahu v. State (ILR(1962)Cut256) the court held that Section 4 (iv) does not apply to private wells because the owner of private well is free to regulate the use of well by co-villagers. If the owner of private well permitted other people in the village to draw water from the well, it does not means that every villager has a right of access to or right to use the well.

Section 7: Punishment for other offences arising out of untouchability.

In M. Lakshminarayana Reddy vs The Union Of India (AIR 1987) considering the issue of Constitutional validity of Section 7, the court held that Rights conferred under Arts. 14, 19 and 21 cannot be considered as superior to other rights and obligations created by other articles of the same Chapter. The court held that the petitioner did not have a right to do any act that was forbidden by the same chapter. 

PROTECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, 1955: A LEGISLATIVE HISTORY.

Historical Background. 

People of lower castes for centuries suffered social injustices by the higher castes. Under the traditional Hindu society, people belonging to Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes communities were treated as the untouchables. They were prohibited from using public places and common provisions such as ponds, pools, parks, wells etc. 

They were debarred from Hindu temples, places of worship and from using roads, vehicles, ferries, schools and public convenience. Their very shadows were considered as imminent pollutants and hence they were branded as untouchables.

These disabilities made life miserable for scheduled castes.

In order to tackle the problem of untouchability, Article 17 of the Constitution was incorporated in the Constitution to rescue the Scheduled Castes from the inhuman atrocities being committed against them by the upper castes society of the country. The untouchability has been abolished and any practice of it is an offence under Article 17 of Indian Constitution.

Article 35(a)(ii) provides that only the Parliament shall have the power to make law for prescribing punishment for those acts which are declared to be offences under Part-III. Thus only Parliament is empowered to make laws in respect of offence of untouchability as mentioned under Article17 which is to ensure uniformly throughout the country.

The Parliament passed the Untouchability (Offences) Act 1955, an improved version of the Untouchability Order,

1950, in order to give effect to provision under Article 17.

Object of the Untouchability (Offences) Act 1955.

1. To give effect to the provision under Article 17 of Indian Constitution under which untouchability in any form has been abolished and any practice of it has been made an offence.
2. To prescribe punishment for preaching and practice of Untouchability, for the enforcement of any disability arising therefrom and for matters connected therewith.

Constitutionality of State Legislations.

Even before the enactment of the Act, a number of states and Union territories had anti-disabilities laws in force between such as the Removal of Disabilities Act, Removal of Social Disabilities Act and Temple Entry Acts.

Many of these Acts were challenged as being unconstitutional on the ground of lack of legislative competency of the states in the light of Article 35 of the Constitution that empowered only the Parliament to enact laws in relation to Part III. 

In State v. Kishan (AIR 1955 MP 207), the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court held that the powers of state legislatures to make laws prescribing punishment for those acts that were declared to be offences under
Article 17 were withdrawn by Article 35. Such power is now vested only in the Parliament. However the provision has a prospective application and it saved only laws in force in the State before the commencement of the Constitution, until they are altered, repealed or modified or amended by Parliament.
Similarly, state laws have been upheld in P.S Charya v. State of Madras (AIR 1956 Mad. 541) and State of U.P. v. Gulab Singh (AIR 1953 All.483).

Definition of Untouchability.

Neither Article 17 nor the Act defines the term "untouchability". However, broadly speaking, it refers to any social practice, which looks down on certain depressed classes, solely on account of their birth and disables them from having any interaction with people from the so called
higher castes or classes on equal footing.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in its Report on Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes (Saxena Committee Report), has defined it as the practices evolved as social restrictions in sharing food, access to public places and denial of access to drinking water sources etc.

Recently, in the case of Indian Young Lawyers Association vs The State Of Kerala (2018 SCC OnLine SC 1690), the honourable apex court expounded the ambit of Article 17 and observed that "the social exclusion of women, based on menstrual status, is but a form of untouchability which is an anathema to constitutional values".

Punishments under the Act.

The Act:

1. provided punishment for enforcing certain religious, social and other kinds of disabilities on grounds of untouchability.  
2. provided penalties for the refusal of rendering services to Scheduled Castes and 
3. made provision for the use of public places by Scheduled Castes without any distinction of caste.

1976 Amendment

The 1976 Amendment was made due to following reasons:

• 
  

  The Act was not very effective in the eradication of untouchability and giving rise to dissatisfaction as the legislation failed to serve the purpose for which it was enacted.
• The punishments awarded under the Act were inadequate. 
• Few cases had been filed under the Act.
• The compoundable nature of the offences resulted in compromises and the punishments were small.
• Mostly the victims were reluctant to lodge complaints for fear of social reprisal and harmful economic consequences at the hands of their landlords, money lenders and rural oligarchies who would not give them work or full wages for the work done by them.

The Government of India, therefore, appointed a committee in 1965 under the chairmanship of Shri Elayaperumal to study, inter alia problems of untouchability vis-à-vis the working of the Act and to suggest changes therein. The Committee found that:

1. when a Scheduled Caste wanted to quit the traditions of performing menial jobs, he was often confronted with social and economic boycott.
2. the punishments imposed under the Act were too light and without any minimum requirements.
3. instances where cases had been purposely delayed to cause hardship to complainants so that they would not have either the energy or the resources to pursue the case.
4. the upper castes enjoyed the support of law enforcement officials like the police and magistrates, and that the Scheduled Castes would not get any protection from them.
5. Apathetic attitude of magistrates who do not trust the evidence of Scheduled Castes on the ground that they are interested witnesses.
6. there was very little awareness and wide ignorance about the provisions of the Untouchability Offences Act. It also found that distribution of copies of the legislation had been faulty. The Committee noted the ignorance of various officials and authorities about the existence of the Act.

The 1955 Act was comprehensively amended in 1976 on the recommendation of the Elayaperumal committee and its name changed to Protection of Civil Rights Act,1955.

Source

Airlift 2: Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu missions

Vande Bharat Mission

It is one of the largest evacuation exercises since the 1990 Kuwait airlift (in which 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait were airlifted). In this mission the government will operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home thousands of Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown. 

• The government will facilitate the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.
• Priority will be given to compelling cases in distress, including migrant workers, labourers who have been laid off and those faced with expiry of short term visas, persons with medical emergency, pregnant women, elderly, those required to return to India due to death of family member, and students.
• The government  will operate of 64 flights to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19 lockdown. 
• Air India and its subidiary Air India Express will operate these flights.
• India will operate flights to following 12 countries 
1. the UAE (10 flights), 
2. the US  (7 flights), 
3. the UK (7 flights), 
4. Saudi Arabia (5 flights), 
5. Singapore (5 flights) 
6. Qatar (2 flights)
7. Malaysia 
8. Bangladesh, 
9. Kuwait 
10. Philippines, 
11. Oman and 
12. Bahrain.
• Approximately, 2,000 people be repatriated daily from abroad.
• Passengers will bear the cost of tickets.

Samudra Setu

It is the name of operation launched by the Indian Navy to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas. 

• Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar are enroute to the port of Male (Republic of Maldives) to evacuate people from May 8. 
• Only those who test Covid-19 negative would be allowed to travel.
• The evacuated personnel will be disembarked at Kochi and entrusted to the care of State authorities.
• This operation is being progressed in close coordination with Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Home Affairs, Health and various other agencies of the Government of India and State governments.

Source: Indian Express

April 2019: Developments, Schemes and Issues Concerning Society, Environment, Technology.

Tribal Welfare/Forest Dwellers:

1. Forced Eviction of tribals. The SC ordered forced eviction of tribals and forest dwellers from forest lands of 16 states, after their claim as forest dwellers under Forest Rights Act, 2006 were rejected.

Agriculture/ farmers.

1. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN): a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India to augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all landholding farmers’ families across the country, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs. 
2. Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) Scheme to provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
3. A new rainfed agriculture atlas has been released by Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network. It reveals:
1. There has been “negligence” toward rainfed areas which is leading to lower incomes for farmers in these areas.
2. Flagship government schemes, such as seed and fertiliser subsidies and soil health cards, are designed for irrigated areas and simply extended to rainfed farmers without taking their needs into consideration.
4. Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) for developing marketing infrastructure in Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and Grameen Agricultural Markets (GrAMs). 
5. Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for specified agriculture products to provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce.

Labour/workers.

1. The Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana (PM-SYM), a mega pension scheme for unorganised sector.
2. Seven centenary initiatives as part of the 100th Anniversary of ILO. Major initiatives are:
1. The end to poverty initiative 
2. The women at work initiative 
3. The green initiative

Consumer protection.

1. Parliament has passed the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 to ban unregulated deposit schemes and protect the interests of depositors.

Unemployed.

1. Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS) to provide vocational training to non-literate, neo-literate, as well as school dropouts by identifying skills as would have a market in the region of their establishment.
2. Industry 4.0, also the fourth industrial revolution, it is a name given to the current trend of automation, interconnectivity and data exchange in manufacturing technologies to increase productivity.
3. Credit linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) facilitates technology upgradation of small scale industries.

Education 

1. Operation Digital Board to leverage technology in order to boost quality education in the country
2. Rajasthan Assembly passed Bills which seek to end the minimum education criterion for panchayat and civic poll candidates.

Environment.

1. Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) for sustainable management of groundwater with community participation in seven States, viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
2. Super-Efficient Air Conditioning Programme for promoting energy efficiency, energy security and sustainability.
3. Circular economy. In this process almost everything is reused, remanufactured, recycled back into a raw material or used as a source of energy. It is restorative or regenerative by intention and design.

Poors.

1. Global Housing Technology Challenge. The challenge is undertaken under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) to fast-track the construction of affordable housing and meet the target of constructing 1.2 crore houses by 2022.

Gender Equality/ Gender Issues.

1. Women’s livelihood bond. The World Bank, UN Women and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched it to help rural women in the country’s poorest States to set up or scale up their own enterprises.

वो फ़नकार क्यों अलविदा कह गया

यह कविता भारत एवं विश्व में एक विख्यात कलाकार, श्री इरफ़ान खान जी को, जिन्हे हम ने कुछ वर्ष पहले खो दिया,  एवं उनके अभिनय के लिए समर्पित है। 

रूपहले परदे पे छाप थी जिसकी,

अनगिनत ही एक परिमाप थी जिसकी,

जिसने था सबको ही कायल बनाया,

जीने का हर फ़लसफ़ा था दिखाया,

वो फ़नकार क्यों अलविदा कह गया। 

वो फ़नकार क्यों अलविदा कह गया। 

नाटक हो या हो छोटा परदा,

उसने है सबको भावुक बनाया।  

कभी गुदगुदाया, 

कभी था रुलाया। 

अभिनय भी ऐसा कि क्या भूल पाएं,

ताली औरआँसू कभी रुक न पाएं। 

उसकी चमक भी कोई क्या छुपाये,

जब पश्चिम में भी उसने परचम लहराया। 

हो 'मक़बूल', 'हैदर', 'चंद्रकांता' या 'हासिल',

उसका हुनर था तारीफ़ के काबिल।      

कभी बाग़ी बनके बन्दूक थामी,

कभी वो  दरोगा, कभी छात्र नेता।

कभी था वो क़ातिल, कभी मसखरा था ,

हर किरदार में वो हमेशा खरा था।    

वो बहरूपिया अब कहाँ रुक गया ,

वो फ़नकार क्यों अलविदा कह गया। 

Thoughts are Warheads

Don't ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs.

 -Hamza Yusuf.

In our day today life there has not been a single day when we don't come across the news of discord between two nations. Before the current epidemic of Corona, we were more or less concerned about nuclear warheards and missiles. 

But we often forget about the warheads that are within our minds, i.e., our thoughts. We often undermine its impact. Our thoughts, delivered by our words can go both sides. 

But there is just one difference between our warheads and nuclear warheads. While nuclear warheads merely tend to destroy our civilization, our thoughts tend to impact others, either ways, negatively or positively.

So, this is my message to students, who are devoid of motivation and whose patience is wearing thin. Dear friends, you are warriors of 21st century and use this warhead of your thought to spread happiness or to positively effect the society.

Nisha Priya Bhatia v. Union of India: On Sexual Harassment and Legality of Rule 135 of RAW Rules.

The SC in the present judgment dealt with the constitutionality of Rule 135 of the Research and Analysis Wing (Recruitment, Cadre and Services) Rules, 1975.

Rule 135 of the RAW (Recruitment, Cadre and Services) Rules, 1975 gives power to the Central government to voluntary retire RAW Officers whose identity is exposed or compromised.

In the present case, an ex-female employee of RAW was compulsorily retired after she made allegations of sexual harassment against two senior officials of RAW.

Constitutionality of the Impugned Rule.

Appellant argued that Rule 135 is in direct contravention of Article 311 of the Constitution, which deals with “dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil capacities under the Union or the State”. The court held the Rule 135 of the RAW (Recruitment, Cadre and Services) Rules constitutional, because:

1. Until and unless the action taken against a public servant is in the nature of punishment, the need for conducting an inquiry coupled with the grant of an opportunity of being heard, as envisaged under Article 311, does not arise at all.

1. The Rule has been carved out as a special provision and is premised on the doctrine of necessity. It forms a small subset of the genus of Article 309 deals strictly with cases of “exposure” of “intelligence officers” who become unemployable in the Organisation for reasons of security.”

The Court concluded that the effect of any action taken under Rule 135 does not entail any penal consequence for the employee and, therefore, it cannot be put at the same pedestal as an action of dismissal or removal, and no inquiry or opportunity of hearing as envisaged under Article 311 is required while taking an action under this Rule.

Order for Compensation for Violation of Fundamental Rights.

The bench ordered the Respondent, (Union of India) to pay compensation worth Rs.1,00,000/-­ to the Petitioner for violation of her fundamental rights to life and dignity caused by improper handling of her complaint of sexual harassment.

The bench observed that time taken to process the stated complaint and improper constitution of the first Complaints Committee (intended or unintended) in violation of the Vishaka Guidelines, constituted undignified treatment and violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioner, more particularly Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

Widening the ambit of law regarding sexual harassment, the bench observed that apart from the actual commission of acts of harassment, the approach of law also covers situations wherein the woman employee is subjected to prejudice, hostility, discriminatory attitude and humiliation in day to day functioning at the workplace. 

Important Legal News: May 2019

Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India.

• In petitions, challenging the Scheme, filed by the NGOs Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms(ADR) and CPI (M), the SC declined to stay the controversial Electoral Bonds Scheme observing that the question could not be determined on the basis of a short hearing.
• But the bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed all parties to furnish by May 30 information as to the donations received by way of Electoral Bonds (including the identity of the donors, amounts received, details of payments, bank accounts etc) to the Election Commission in sealed covers. 

Satish Chandra Verma v. Union of India.

• The SC held the right to travel abrod as an important basic human right as it nourishes independent and self-determining creative character of the individual, not only by extending his freedoms of action, but also by extending the scope of his experience. 

Important Legal News: April 2019.

• Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019.

• Objective: To ban Unregulated Deposit Schemes and to protect the interest of the depositors.
• It aims to prevent such unregulated deposit schemes (not registered with any government regulators like RBI or SEBI) or arrangements at their inception.
• It also makes soliciting, inviting or accepting deposits pursuant to an unregulated deposited scheme as a punishable offence.

• Wildlife First & Ors. Vs. Ministry of Environment & Forests & Ors. 


• SC ordered eviction of nearly one million persons from forest lands across states, who failed to establish their claims as forest-dwellers under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006(Forests Rights Act).

International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019.

• Objective: to set up a unified authority to regulate all financial services in IFSCs in the country.
• An IFSC caters to customers outside the jurisdiction of the domestic economy. Such centres deal with flows of finance, financial products and services across borders. 
• The authority will exercise powers and perform functions of RBI, SEBI, IRDAI And PFRDA.

Govt of NCT of Delhi v. Union of India.

• The SC held following: 
1. Control of services: bench differed. Hence decided to refer it to a larger bench.
2. Power of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB): ACB is under exclusive authority of LG & Delhi government has no power in this regard.
3. Appointment of Special Public Prosecutor: LG is bound by aid and advise of Council of Ministers.

Rolls Royce: History

Rolls Royce Journey by LEX-57 the lex engine on Scribd

General Studies: April 2019 PDF

Lexengine_ General Studies ... by anoopuni4u on Scribd

COVID-19: Measures and Mantras.

Aarogya Setu: Multilingual Mobile App.

• Object: alert a person wherever he comes close to COVID-19 infected person within a distance of 6 feet.
• Developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• It is a tracking app available on Google Play Store.
• It helps tracking coronavirus infection by using Smartphones GPS and Bluetooth system.
• App has access to government's database of known cases.
• Data of the person will be shared only with the government and not with 3rd parties.

Corona Kavach 

• An app to  map location of a COVID-19 positive patient through GPS.
• Alerts a person if he has crossed a Corona Positive patient.
• Jointly developed by MeitY and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

PM Modi's 7- point Mantras during lockdown extension.

1. Take care of the family members who have history of health issues and elderly.
2. Lock-down and social distancing must be strictly followed.
3. Follow AYUSH ministry's advisory in order to increase immunity.
4. Download Arogya setu App to stop spread of COVID-19. Encourage others to do so as well.
5. Try to help poor as much as possible.
6. Don't lay off employees during the lock-down.
7. Salute the COVID warriors and help them.

COVID-19: Technology at Service of Justice System

Case Name: IN RE: GUIDELINES FOR COURT FUNCTIONING THROUGH VIDEO. CONFERENCING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Even as the world is going through turbulent situation, the institution of justice delivery system can never afforded to be brought to a halt. It has been rightly remarked by Martin Luther King Jr., 

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".

Hence, the current situation calls for a robust justice delivery system across the world. In this regard, the Supreme Court of India has left no stone unturned to ensure speedy justice delivery to every segment of the society.

Guidelines:

Given that social distancing is the need of the hour to prevent communication of COVID-19, the apex court exercised its power under Article 142 (inherent powers) to balance the public health and justice delivery.

It issued a slew of guidelines to streamline functioning of courts via video conferencing during national lockdown.

These guidelines are:

1. The measures that have been and that shall be taken by this Court and by the High Courts, to reduce the need for the physical presence of all stakeholders within court premises and to secure the functioning of courts in consonance with social distancing guidelines and best public health practices shall be deemed to be lawful.
2. The Supreme Court of India and High Courts have been authorized to adopt measures required to ensure the robust functioning of the judicial system through the use of video conferencing technologies;
3. In light of the peculiarities of the judicial system in every state, every High Court is authorised to determine the modalities which are suitable to the temporary transition to the use of video conferencing technologies;
4. The concerned courts shall maintain a helpline to ensure that any complaint in regard to the quality or audibility of feed shall be communicated during the proceeding or immediately after its conclusion. No grievance can be raised afterwards. 
5. The District Courts in each State shall adopt the mode of Video Conferencing prescribed by the concerned High Court.
6. The Court shall duly notify and make available the facilities for video conferencing for such litigants who do not have the means or access to video conferencing facilities. 
7. Until appropriate rules are framed by the High Courts, video conferencing shall be mainly employed for hearing arguments whether at the trial stage or at the appellate stage. 
• But evidence shall not be recorded without the mutual consent of both the parties by video conferencing. 
• If it is necessary to record evidence in a Court room the presiding officer shall ensure that appropriate distance is maintained between any two individuals in the Court.

Calendar 2020: Rolls Royce clicked by Moto G 5 Plus eyes.