Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context:

Mumbai saw black oil-emanating balls lying on the shore. The popular beaches were covered in sticky tarballs that gave off a foul fuel smell.

More in the news

• In August 2021 alone, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) removed over 20,000 kg of tarballs from Juhu and Versova beaches.
• Earlier this month, several popular beaches in Goa were covered with a black sticky carpet.

About the Tarballs

• Tarballs are dark-coloured, sticky balls of oil that form when crude oil floats on the ocean surface.
• Tarballs areformed by weathering of crude oil in marine environments.
• They are transported from the open sea to the shores by sea currents and waves, according to a recent research paper.
• Some of the balls are as big as a basketball while others are smaller globules.
• Tarballs are usually coin-sized and are found strewn on the beaches.
• However, over the years, they have become as big as basketballs and can weigh as much as 6-7 kgs.
• BMC, which has cleared the beaches of the tarballs, said the tarballs stick to the cleaning machinery and are very difficult to wash off.

How are these tarballs formed?

• According to the recent study of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO),
  • Wind and waves tear the oil slick into smaller patches that are scattered over a much wider area.
  • Various physical, chemical and biological processes (weathering) change the appearance of the oil.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context: The latest IPCC report has warned that increasing global warming will result in reductions in Arctic permafrost and the thawing of the ground is expected to release greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.

About Permafrost.

• Defined as ground (soil, rock and any included ice or organic material) that remains at or below zero degree Celsius for at least two consecutive years.
• Permafrost is spread across an area of over 23 million square kilometers, covering about 15% of the land area of the globe.
• These permanently frozen grounds are most common in regions with high mountains and in Earth’s higher latitudes near the North and South Poles.

The immediate effects as permafrost melts due to increasing global temperatures

• The first impacts that are very rapid will affect countries where roads or buildings were constructed on permafrost. 
  • The Russian railways are an example. In the northwest of Canada, now we have a short section of the road where it has been necessary to chill the ground to make the foundation of the road colder than it is, in order to preserve the permafrost.
  • And for the 500 metres of road, the expense was $4 million. Now, this is a large amount of money for a short length of road.
• The potential for organic material, which is now entombed and frozen in the ground. 
  • If the ground begins to thaw, this material will become available for microbiota to break down.
  • In some environments, the biota will release carbon dioxide, and in others release methane which is about 25 to 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
  • So there is a considerable concern.
  • The total quantity of carbon that is now buried in the permafrost is estimated at about 1500 billion tonnes and the top three meters of the ground has about 1000 billion tonnes.
  • The world currently emits into the atmosphere, approximately 10 billion tonnes of carbon a year.
  • So, if the permafrost thaws and releases even only one per cent of the frozen carbon in any one year, it can nullify anything that we do about industrial emissions.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

If stock Market exchanges agree to the proposal for the T+1 settlement system made by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), investors will get money for shares they sold or bought in their accounts faster, and in a safer and risk-free environment.

About T+1 Settlement

• Sebi allowed stock exchanges to start the T+1 system as an option in place of T+2. 
• If it opts for the T+1 settlement cycle for a scrip, the stock exchange will have to mandatorily continue with it for a minimum 6 months. 
• Thereafter, if it intends to switch back to T+2, it will do so by giving one month’s advance notice to the market. 
• Any subsequent switch (from T+1 to T+2 or vice versa) will be subject to a minimum period. 
• A stock exchange may choose to offer the T+1 settlement cycle on any of the scrips, after giving at least one month’s advance notice to all stakeholders, including the public at large.

SEBI’s intention behind

• According to a Sebi, a shortened cycle not only reduces settlement time but also reduces and frees up the capital required to collateralise that risk. 
• T+1 also reduces the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any instant, and thus decreases the unsettled exposure to Clearing Corporation by 50%. 
• The narrower the settlement cycle, the narrower the time window for a counterparty insolvency/bankruptcy to impact the settlement of a trade. 
• Further, the capital blocked in the system to cover the risk of trades will get proportionately reduced with the number of outstanding unsettled trades at any point of time.
• Systemic risk depends on the number of outstanding trades and concentration of risk at critical institutions such as clearing corporations, and becomes critical when the magnitude of outstanding transactions increases. 
  • Thus, a shortened settlement cycle will help in reducing systemic risk.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

The Freedom in the World 2021 report has downgraded India’s status from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’.

• Earlier, Sweden-based V-Dem Institute was harsher in its latest report on democracy. It said India had become an “electoral autocracy”. 
• India was also described as a “flawed democracy”, slipped two places to 53rd position in the latest Democracy Index published by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
• The report sparked outrage in the Indian government, which sought to challenge the rating. 
• Indian officials had sought details on the sample size; the other aspects of the methodology; the details of agencies/authors or contributor; and consultations with government agencies, if any.
• EIU informed Indian government officials that the scoring for the index was done on the basis of political opposition to certain new laws.

Reasons for India are downgrading:

• Increased pressure being put on human rights organisations and press freedom:
  • EIU has reportedly asserted that incidents like the shutdown of Kashmir in 2019 and the Citizenship Amendment Act have brought about this demotion. 
  • The Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Report has placed India 167th out of 183 countries. 
  • Freedom House has also given India a score of 2 out of 4 in terms of press freedom, and has stated that the Indian press is “partially free”. 
• Hate and polarisation are rampant. The most worrying trend has been the government’s crackdown on freedom of speech, with statistics showing a 165 per cent increase in sedition cases between 2016 and 2019.
• The rejection of global democratic indexes is a pathetic move to hide the country’s downslide on most parameters.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India launched the Account Aggregator Framework aimed at making financial data more easily accessible.

Under it, a number of fin-tech entities have been granted the licence to operate as account aggregators.

Eight large banks have also agreed to share various financial data about their customers with account aggregators.

What is an Account Aggregator?

• According to the Reserve Bank of India, an Account Aggregator is a non-banking financial company engaged in the business of providing, under a contract, the service of retrieving or collecting financial information pertaining to its customer.
• It is also engaged in consolidating, organising and presenting such information to the customer or any other financial information user as may be specified by the bank.
• The Account Aggregator framework was created through an inter-regulatory decision by RBI and other regulators including Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) through and initiative of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
• The licence for Account Aggregator is issued by the RBI, and the financial sector will have many AAs.
• The Account Aggregator framework allows customers to avail various financial services from a host of providers on a single portal based on a consent method, under which the consumers can choose what financial data to share and with which entity.

How will an account aggregator work?

• The framework will allow financial data to be exchanged between the holders of data and its users.
• The RBI has allowed a number of companies like PhonePe to act as account aggregators to facilitate this process.
• Account aggregators will act as intermediaries who will collect data from one financial entity and exchange it with another.
  1. For example, a bank which is processing a loan application from a potential borrower may want to access a variety of financial data about the borrower.
  2. The lending bank can access details of the borrower’s savings, past loan repayment record, mutual fund holdings and insurance holdings through an account aggregator.
• The borrower, however, will have to grant consent for the sharing of his data with the lending bank.

What purpose does it serve?

• According to iSpirt, a think tank for the Indian software products industry, an Account Aggregator framework creates secure, digital access to personal data at a time when Covid-19 has led to restrictions on physical interaction.
• It reduces the fraud associated with physical data by introducing secure digital signatures and end-to-end encryption for data sharing.
• These capabilities in turn open up many possibilities. For instance, whereas physical collateral is usually required for an MSME loan, with secure data sharing via AA, ‘information collateral’ (or data on future MSME income) can be used to access a small formal loan.

Benefits of having Account Aggregator Framework:

• At the moment, the various financial data of an individual is scattered across the databases of several financial institutions.
  1. So, a person’s savings and loans data may be with a bank, his investments data maybe with a mutual fund, while his insurance data may be with another financial entity.
• Under the account aggregator framework, all this data can be easily collated and shared through account aggregators with the consent of the individual.
• Proponents of the framework believe that the easier availability of data will have significant benefits for the economy.
• They believe the framework will help financial institutions make a better assessment of the creditworthiness of individuals, and thus make better loan decisions.
• Even though mechanisms such as CIBIL already exist to assess the creditworthiness of individual borrowers, their scope is limited.
• An individual’s PAN number, for instance, captures only a limited number of transactions that are of value higher than a certain minimum threshold amount.
• It is said the framework will offer a wider array of data to financial firms, making them more willing to serve creditworthy populations that they earlier ignored.
• Account aggregators can also make life easier for creditworthy customers by allowing them to share their financial data digitally with ease, it is believed.
• The availability of wider financial data may also help financial institutions offer better products tailored to the needs of individual customers.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India launched the Account Aggregator Framework aimed at making financial data more easily accessible.

Under it, a number of fin-tech entities have been granted the licence to operate as account aggregators.

Eight large banks have also agreed to share various financial data about their customers with account aggregators.

What is an Account Aggregator?

• According to the Reserve Bank of India, an Account Aggregator is a non-banking financial company engaged in the business of providing, under a contract, the service of retrieving or collecting financial information pertaining to its customer.
• It is also engaged in consolidating, organising and presenting such information to the customer or any other financial information user as may be specified by the bank.
• The Account Aggregator framework was created through an inter-regulatory decision by RBI and other regulators including Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) through and initiative of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
• The licence for Account Aggregator is issued by the RBI, and the financial sector will have many AAs.
• The Account Aggregator framework allows customers to avail various financial services from a host of providers on a single portal based on a consent method, under which the consumers can choose what financial data to share and with which entity.

How will an account aggregator work?

• The framework will allow financial data to be exchanged between the holders of data and its users.
• The RBI has allowed a number of companies like PhonePe to act as account aggregators to facilitate this process.
• Account aggregators will act as intermediaries who will collect data from one financial entity and exchange it with another.
  1. For example, a bank that is processing a loan application from a potential borrower may want to access a variety of financial data about the borrower.
  2. The lending bank can access details of the borrower’s savings, past loan repayment record, mutual fund holdings and insurance holdings through an account aggregator.
• The borrower, however, will have to grant consent for the sharing of his data with the lending bank.

What purpose does it serve?

• According to iSpirt, a think tank for the Indian software products industry, an Account Aggregator framework creates secure, digital access to personal data at a time when Covid-19 has led to restrictions on physical interaction.
• It reduces the fraud associated with physical data by introducing secure digital signatures and end-to-end encryption for data sharing.
• These capabilities in turn open up many possibilities. For instance, whereas physical collateral is usually required for an MSME loan, with secure data sharing via AA, ‘information collateral’ (or data on future MSME income) can be used to access a small formal loan.

Benefits of having Account Aggregator Framework:

• At the moment, the various financial data of an individual is scattered across the databases of several financial institutions.
  1. So, a person’s savings and loans data may be with a bank, his investments data may be with a mutual fund, while his insurance data may be with another financial entity.
• Under the account aggregator framework, all this data can be easily collated and shared through account aggregators with the consent of the individual.
• Proponents of the framework believe that the easier availability of data will have significant benefits for the economy.
• They believe the framework will help financial institutions make better assessment of the creditworthiness of individuals, and thus make better loan decisions.
• Even though mechanisms such as CIBIL already exist to assess the creditworthiness of individual borrowers, their scope is limited.
• An individual’s PAN number, for instance, captures only a limited number of transactions that are of value higher than a certain minimum threshold amount.
• It is said the framework will offer a wider array of data to financial firms, making them more willing to serve creditworthy populations that they earlier ignored.
• Account aggregators can also make life easier for creditworthy customers by allowing them to share their financial data digitally with ease, it is believed.
• The availability of wider financial data may also help financial institutions offer better products tailored to the needs of individual customers.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

 It has been reported that the government continues to work on its stated position that most of the public sector banks will be eventually privatised.

• Banking will be one of the sectors where a bare minimum of the public sector will remain. This is the government’s stated policy.
• Earlier the government announced a Public Enterprise Policy, where it identified areas where public sector presence will be there. 
  • Under the New Policy: Strategic: Atomic energy, space, defence, trans and telecom, power, petro, coal, other minerals, banking, insurance and financial services will be classified as strategic sectors.

Case for privatising banks

• Non-performing assets: The major problem faced by banks is on account of non-performing assets, which is common for both the private and public sector banks.
• Capital Adequacy ratio: The government also has difficulty in providing additional capital to the government banks on account of fiscal constraint.
  • The banks are in need of additional capital to maintain Capital Adequacy Ratio for continuing their lending operations. 
  • Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is the ratio of a bank’s capital to its risk.
  • It is decided by central banks and bank regulators to prevent commercial banks from taking excess leverage and becoming insolvent in the process.
  • The Basel III norms stipulated a capital to risk-weighted assets of 8%.
  • In India, scheduled commercial banks are required to maintain a CAR of 9% while Indian public sector banks are emphasized to maintain a CAR of 12% as per RBI norms.

Concerns with privatisation of banks:

• Equitable growth: As an institution, PSBs are vehicles of the Indian economy’s growth and development, and they have become the trustees of people’s savings and confidence. 
  • The PSBs played a huge role in making the country self-sufficient by supporting the green, blue, and dairy revolutions. 
  • They have also contributed significantly to infrastructural development.
• Financial Inclusion:: The nationalisation of private banks in 1969 resulted in the opening of tens of thousands of branches in remote corners of the country. 
  • Forty-two crore ordinary people have opened bank accounts as a result of the immense contribution of state-owned banks in opening the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana account.
• Employment generation by PSBs: Banks were used to bring about a revolution in agriculture and to carry out activities related to it. 
• Generated employment: Nationalised banking improved the working conditions of employees in the banking sector, as the state ensured higher wages, security of services, and other fringe benefits.
• Neglected areas prioritized: Neglected areas like agriculture, employment-generating productive activities, poverty alleviation plans, rural development, health, education, exports, infrastructure, women’s empowerment, small scale and medium industry, and small and micro industries, became priority sectors for these banks.
  • Bank loans were available to the weaker sections and small entrepreneurs.
• Market risks: While improving efficiency has been cited as the reason for privatisation of banks, it is not clear whether privatisation brings efficiency or reduces associated risks.
  • Around the world, innumerable private banks have failed, thus challenging the notion that only private banks are efficient.
  • Already we have a substantial presence of new generation private sector banks which are giving enough competition to the government banks.
• Monopolisation: It could lead to denial of convenient and economical banking services to the common man; the risks of monopoly and cartelisation may only complicate the issue.
• Large NPAs: Private corporate entities have large volumes of NPAs.
• Comfort level: Banks owned by the sovereign government provides tremendous comfort level to depositors. In his subconscious mind the common man feels that a government bank cannot fail and his money is safe.
• Wilful default by large corporate borrowers and subsequent recovery haircuts, imposed through the ill-conceived Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, has resulted in a heap of write-offs.
  • This has not only affected the profitability of the banks, but has also become an excuse to allege inefficiency.
• Risks of failure: Banks operate with a small portion of shareholders’ funds with a disproportionately higher outlay of common man’s deposit. Banks basically lend depositors’ money.
  • Any failure of banks will have a tremendous contagion effect and will derail the economy. 
  • We should keep in mind the historical factors that had led to bank nationalisation in 1969.
  • After the formation of Reserve Bank of India in 1935, up to the period of our getting Independence (1947) there were 900 bank failures in our country. From 1947 to 1969, 665 banks failed.
  • The depositors of all these banks lost their deposited money. Even after 1969, 36 banks failed but these were rescued by merging them with other government banks.
  • Recently, we have seen the failure of old generation Lakshmi Vilas Bank and new generation YES Bank.
  • The 1,926 town cooperative banks in 2004 have shrunk to 1,551 in 2018, as per an RBI report. 
• Profit motive: Private Banks often operates for profit only. But state-owned banks, while trying to be profitable on the one hand, provide many services in public interest. Only government banks provide services to the common people at affordable cost.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

• The resumption of North Korea’s largest fissile material production reactor, after operations were ceased in December 2018, has sparked speculation about its real and symbolic significance. 
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has underlined that the restart of activity in Yongbyon constitutes a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Background

• In June 2008, in order to buttress its denuclearisation commitment to the U.S. and four other countries, Pyongyang blew up the cooling tower at the Yongbyon complex. 
• The move did little to assuage the concerns of critics, either regarding the plutonium stockpile the regime had amassed or its engagement in clandestine nuclear proliferation.
  • But it nevertheless led former U.S. President George W. Bush to ease some sanctions against North Korea, which he had in 2002 dubbed part of the “axis of evil”. 
• More controversial was Washington’s decision to revoke, less than two years after Pyongyang’s first nuclear explosion of 2006, the designation of “state sponsor of terrorism”. 
  • North Korea was placed on the terrorism list after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airplane.
• A few months after blowing up the cooling tower in 2008, Pyongyang barred IAEA inspectors access to its reprocessing plant in the Yongbyon complex and eventually expelled them

More in News

• The above is the same reactor that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in a bilateral summit in 2019 with then U.S. President Donald Trump, offered to fully dismantle in exchange for securing complete relief from international economic sanctions, but to little avail. 
• The ageing five-megawatt reactor at the Yongbyon complex has been central to the North Korean reprocessing of spent fuel rods to generate plutonium, besides the production of highly enriched uranium for the development of atomic bombs. 
• Indeed, the opaque nature of Pyongyang’s nuclear programme partly accounts for the current confusion over the motives behind the restart of the reactor. 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

Facebook has released its first “smart glasses” in association with Ray-Ban.

Background:

• Facebook’s first ‘smart’ glasses capitalise on the iconic Wayfarer design that has been associated with the iconic eyewear brand. 
• Facebook’s smart glasses will let users record the world around them, and take pictures. 
• For now, users can record 30-second videos or take photos by using either the capture button or going hands-free with Facebook Assistant voice commands.
• Facebook’s glasses also come with built-in “open-ear speakers” and a three-microphone audio array, which will ensure that users can take calls as well.
• According to Facebook, these glasses can capture and sync up to 50 videos or up to 200 photos per full charge. 

Augmented Reality

• Augmented Reality (AR) is the technology that superimposes an image onto a user’s view of the real world and enhances it with sound, touch, and even smell. It is a combination of the real scene viewed by the user and a virtual scene generated by the computer. AR is a technology that is going to blur the lines of reality.
• Augmented Reality has moved beyond headsets and gaming and permeated into numerous industries. In general terms, Augmented Reality is increasingly being adopted for a variety of uses like assembly, maintenance, repair, education, training, retail showcasing, and diagnostics.
• AR makes workers more efficient by providing them with an additional layer of knowledge and insights. The workforce is already being enhanced in industries such as Pharmaceuticals, Oil and Gas, military, aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing. Augmented Reality remote assistance can improve training in situations where new hires need assistance. This tech enables real-time collaboration between field personnel and remote experts.

Applications of Augmented Reality

Defence

It helps in improving the situational awareness of the soldiers using AR technology. The tech is named Tactical Augmented Reality (TAR). This tech has an eyepiece that assists soldiers on the battlefield to precisely locate their positions in addition to the location of others (friends and enemy soldiers).

Impact of this technology

• TAR will one day replace night vision goggles, as this technology can help soldiers in the dark.
• It will replace the handheld GPS that soldiers carry today to locate their positions.
• The eyepiece is wirelessly connected to a thermal site on the soldiers’ rifle or carbine. When the soldier is pointing the weapon, the image of the target, plus other details, such as the distance to the target can be seen through the eyepiece.

Advertising

For example, Jaguar Land Rover put prospective car buyers in the virtual driver’s seat of its latest models without visiting the dealership. Consumers could launch the AR capability directly from a banner ad without any need to install an app. Customers can see the outside view seated at the driving seat through transparent windows.

Healthcare

Traditionally handheld ultrasound scanners are used in reconstruction surgery for locating blood vessels, and bones. However, AR technology has the potential to replace ultrasound scanners as it will help in locating the blood vessels very accurately and in a shorter period.

Pharmaceuticals

Augmented Reality tools can help scientists to picture the structure of complex molecules. Drug developers usually work with static models. The AR will help the developers to step inside the molecule and see how it moves and responds to different stimuli and situations. This will reduce errors and reduce the years-long drug development cycle.

Logistics

AR will benefit logistics industries at multiple levels of their operations.

• Optimizing warehouse operations
• Optimizing transportation
• Last-mile delivery
• Enhanced value-added services

Other applications of Augmented Reality

• Various filters on Snapchat and Instagram are an example of Augmented Reality.
• Scanning your QR code using your phone’s camera provides additional information on the screen.
• Google Glass and other Head-up Displays (HUD) put Augmented Reality directly into the glasses. These glasses could be used as reminders for patients undergoing medication.
• Retail companies use it to help customers envisage aesthetics when new furniture is placed to redesign the interiors of their homes.
• Gaming – Pokemon is one of the most famous games to hit a big chord with the public.
• AR is used in the field of language translation
• Law enforcement agencies can use AR tech to recognize criminals in huge crowds.
• If a car breaks down people can fix their cars using AR tech, repair and maintenance can be carried out without the help of mechanics. This tech will recognize the vehicle parts via object recognition, describe and picture all required repair and maintenance steps in detail, and in real-time, along with information about any equipment requirements.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context:

Marital rapes has not been criminalised in India

Background:

• In 2017, the Supreme Court, in Independent Thought v. Union of India, refused to delve into the question of marital rape of adult women.
• SC examined an exception to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which allows a man to force sex on his wife. 
• Recent rulings by High Courts have been contradictory — one backed marital rape as a valid ground for divorce, while another granted anticipatory bail to a man while concluding that forcible sex is not an “illegal thing”. 
• Recent rulings by High Courts pointing out that any sexual act between a man and his wife, even if it involves force, is not rape.

Marital Rape

• Marital rape, the act of forcing your spouse into having sex without proper consent
• It is an unjust yet not uncommon way to degrade and disempower women. 

Recommendation of committees regarding Marital Rape

• In 2013, the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recommended that the Indian government should criminalize marital rape. 
• The JS Verma committee set up in the aftermath of nationwide protests over the December 16, 2012 gang rape case had also recommended the same.

Indian Law on Marital Rape?

• One of the most horrifying and repressive issues with the Indian legal regime is that marital rape is perfectly legal
• Section 375 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) defines the offence of rape with the help of six descriptions. One of the exceptions to this offence is “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not rape”.

Criticism of India’s Law on Marital Rape

• Against International Norm: Today, it has been impeached in more than 100 countries but, unfortunately, India is one of the only 36 countries where marital rape is still not criminalized
• Concerns of Implied Consent: The concept of marital rape in India is the epitome of what we call an “implied consent”. Marriage between a man and a woman here implies that both have consented to sexual intercourse and it cannot be otherwise. The Indian Penal Code, 1860, also communicates the same.
• Against Right to Life and Right to Equality: The Supreme Court has included sanctity of women, and freedom to make choices related to sexual activity under the ambit of Article 21. Therefore, this exception clause is violative of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
• Patriarchal outlook of Laws: Rape laws in our country continue with the patriarchal outlook of considering women to be the property of men post marriage, with no autonomy or agency over their bodies. They deny married women equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Indian constitution.
• Differentiates Married & Unmarried women: A married woman has the same right to control her own body as does an unmarried woman. Unfortunately, this principle is not upheld in Indian rape laws.
• Marital Rape is more dangerous to Women’s life: Rape is rape, irrespective of the identity of the perpetrator, and age of the survivor. A woman who is raped by a stranger, lives with a memory of a horrible attack; a woman who is raped by her husband lives with her rapist.
• Colonial Hangover:  Our penal laws, handed down from the British, have by and large remained untouched even after 73 years of independence. But English laws have been amended and marital rape was criminalised way back in 1991. No Indian government has, however, so far shown an active interest in remedying this problem.
• Violative of UN Convention: Section 375 (Exception) of IPC is inconsistent with and violative of these principles of United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
• Does not pass the test of “intelligible differentia”: Essentially, Section 375 (Exception) creates a classification not only between consent given by a married and unmarried woman, but also between married females below 15 years of age and over 15 years old. Such a classification does not pass the test of “intelligible differentia