<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1603299114179" alt="How gambling is regulated in India. Gambling laws in India, How is Dream 11 leagal?" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

“Yeh main kar leta hu, aap Dream 11 per team bana lo” is one of the most heard and watched catchphrases on the internet since the advent of the thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League. However, considering that gambling and betting is illegal in India, one might question how apps like Dream 11, and MyTeam11, which involve making a fantasy team to earn some money rewards, and sites which offer online Poker, and Rummy are operating in India. One might also argue whether these avenues are used as proxies for online betting.
Gambling is generally considered a taboo from the viewpoint of Indian culture and values. The Hindu epic Mahabharata provides a classic example of what playing a simple dice game can lead to. Even according to the Islamic ideology, gambling is seen to be an addictive practice which can destroy personal lives and family values. If Indian values abhor so much the acts of gambling, then how come Dream 11 can be the title sponsor of IPL, or how can a person place bets on horse races in our country?
To get more clarity on the subject, we will have to look at the prevalent laws in India which deal with betting and gambling.
<ins>How gambling is regulated in India</ins>


<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1603299267400" alt="Gambling laws in India." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Betting and Gambling is administered under the British-era law known as The Public Gambling Act, 1867. This Act prohibits gambling in public forum in India, and prescribes punishment for those who run such places. Some states have adopted this central Act, while others have taken matter into their own hands, and have made laws regarding the same. Betting and gambling is a state subject listed in the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
The Gambling Act, however, distinguishes between a ‘game of chance’, and a ‘game of skill’. While the former is prohibited under the Act, the latter is allowed, and is regulated by the concerned departments. Even most of the states’ anti-gambling laws exempt these games of skill from their purview. However, as per the Supreme Court of India, the ‘skill factor’ must outweigh the ‘chance factor’ for one game/sport to be called a game of skill.
Goa and Sikkim are the only states where gambling is legal. Casinos can be opened after getting an authorised license by the State Governments.
In West Bengal, Poker, Rummy and Bridge are excluded from the definition of gambling. In Andhra Pradesh, online gambling is completely illegal, and can lead to jail terms, however fantasy games are permissible. Assam, Odisha, and Telangana have made it illegal to play game of skill for money. Therefore, no type of betting is allowed.
It is to be clear that except the states of Goa and Sikkim, betting and gambling is indeed illegal and punishable crimes in India.


<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1603299329798" alt="Different gambling laws in different states." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Poker is a major grey area in the eyes of Indian law. Teen Patti (Flash) is banned, whereas Rummy is allowed. It is interesting to know that horse racing, which is one of the easiest games to fix, is legal to wager on because it is a skill game, yet cricket betting which requires the some sort of skill set is banned.
<ins>Dream 11: A game of skill or a game of chance?</ins>
Dream 11, MyTeam11, and other fantasy games are online competitions where you choose a number of players to form a team (let’s say a cricket team). This team of yours is then ranked following the real match involving those players and based on their real performances. If the players who starred in the actual game were on your team, then your team ranks higher, and you become entitled to a sum of prize money or a share of it.
Several High Courts in India have categorised these fantasy games as a game of skill on the basis on the following:-
<ul>
<li>Participants have to choose a team consisting of at least the same no. of players as playing in a real-life sports team (e.g. 5 in basketball, 7 in kabaddi and 11 in cricket/football)</li>
<li>All contests are run for at least the duration of one full sports match</li>
<li>No team changes are allowed by participants after the start of the sports match</li>
</ul>
Moreover, one has to be well informed about the status of the teams, playing form of several players, weather conditions, pitch and ground conditions, and several other things. So, indeed one must show some skill to increase his chances of winning.
<ins>Counter Arguments</ins>
Now, how would you know before a match, which player is going to shine? Is it not predicting or guessing or speculating? Is it really a ‘game of skill’ as they say? Is this really not a ‘game of chance’ because no matter which sort of expert one is, the reality is that nobody actually knows who might hit how many runs or take how many wickets the next day?&nbsp;
Only if it takes some efforts to make a guess, then should it not be considered betting at all? The idea of distinguishing games/sports based on their requirement of ‘luck/chance’ or ‘skill’ is paradoxical, but then what is more intriguing is the fact that these phrases have been produced by the courts of law.&nbsp;
Several judgments by some of the High Courts and the Supreme Court of India have made internet games like Poker, Rummy and Bridge, and fantasy sports like Dream 11 legal in India.
These judgments do not make gambling legal, but subjectively take some games out of its ambit. This is how Dream 11 have not only survived, but also thrived in the Indian market as it is understood to be a ‘game of skill’.
<ins>Internet Gambling</ins>
Sikkim has enacted the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008, with a twofold objective of controlling and regulating online gaming through electronic and non-electronic formats, and to impose tax on the same.&nbsp;
The above mentioned Act was amended in 2015 restricting the offering of "online games and sports games" under the licenses issued under the said Act to the physical premises of the game parlours within the geographical boundaries of the State of Sikkim through intranet gaming terminals. Initially, the phrasing of the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008 provided that the license shall allow the licensee to offer its games across India without restricting it to the territory of Sikkim.
Nagaland has enacted the Nagaland Prohibition of Gaming and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act, 2016. The said Act provides for promotion and regulation of ‘games of skill’ through the issuance of licenses by the State Government. This Act says that the license holders can operate from any State in India where gambling is allowed.
Except for the Sikkim Online Gaming (Regulation) Act, 2008 and Nagaland Prohibition of Gaming and Promotion and Regulation of Online Games of Skill Act, 2016, no other Central or State gambling legislation specifically deals with online gambling which puts online gambling involving a 'game of skill' in a spot of bother.
In the present global world in which everyone is connected through the internet, a person sitting in India can bet through a foreign owned website. There is no law which exclusively regulates/prohibits such activities in India. In the absence of any specific law directly regulating the online gambling through a server located outside the territory of India, these can be regulated only through the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the prevalent laws which pertain to foreign exchange earnings and money laundering.
<ins>Conclusion</ins>
From a societal and cultural perspective, it completely depends upon a person how he understands or exercises gambling. One can do gambling through online games or at offline platforms for fun, and it could actually be relaxing and mood refreshing. However, if one engages in gambling more than what is good, then it can also lead to loss of possessions, anxiety, frustration, quarrels, depression, alcoholism, suicidal tendencies, crimes, and so much more. It is perhaps because of these fearful consequences that our societies, from past times, have made rules to keep us stay away from gambling.
However, gambling is not a standalone issue here; the issue is how gambling is regulated. Gambling is still seen as a taboo, and apparently this assertion has been carried forward by modern nation states who care for their society and citizens, even though these states are fully aware that legalising gambling would also bring rapid economic growth, and job opportunities, but that is altogether a different issue which needs a proper discourse.
Anyway, what are your views on the debate of ‘game of chance’ vs ‘game of skill’? Let us know in comments.

Game of Chance or Game of Skill; how Gambling is regulated in India?

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1602865826416" alt="LGBTQ. Homosexuality. Same-Sex marriage. Marriage. Gay rights." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

In the September of 2018, India took a progressive step towards securing the rights of the LGBTQ community when the honourable Supreme Court came up with a monumental judgement which struck down certain provisions of Section 377 of the IPC and decriminalised homosexuality.
Naturally, since then the gay rights activists and members of the civil society have been preparing for the next step i.e. the legalisation of same-sex marriage in India. Marriage is a sacred and traditional institution in our country, and therefore is governed by personal laws, rather than civil laws. So, the question of same-sex marriage has to be dealt with utmost care maintaining the right balance between tradition and modernisation.&nbsp;
The legislators, in the past, have already dealt with the deadlock between tradition and modernisation when it came to the conduct and legality of marriages in India. The questions then were not about marriage between adults of the same sex, but about marriage between adults belonging to different castes and faiths. Subsequently, we came up with The Special Marriage Act, 1954 to give way to the holy matrimony without having any parties to renounce their religion or alter their faith. Fifteen years later, in 1969, we came up with The Foreign Marriage Act to further safeguard Indian citizens who conduct their marriages outside the territory of India.
Therefore, The Special Marriage Act and The Foreign Marriage Act are two important pieces of legislation which deal with marriages in India which are outside the purview of personal laws. Now, the question came in front of the Delhi High Court regarding the legality of same-sex marriages under the above mentioned legislations.


<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1602866028184" alt="Marriage. special marriage act. foreign marriage act. homosexuality. gay rights. same sex marriage" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Backdrop</ins>
Two same-sex couples submitted pleas in front of the Delhi High Court seeking solemnisation and recognition of marriages under The Special Marriage Act and The Foreign Marriage Act respectively.&nbsp;
The first couple – Kavita Arora, and Ankita Khanna – have been living together as a couple since the last eight years. They both wanted sanctification of their companionship in front of the marriage officer (the sub-divisional magistrate, South East Delhi, Kalkaji) under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, but were denied as they both are of the same sex.
Services like opening a joint bank account, buying family health insurance, or securing address proofs, which are trivial and easily accessible for heterosexual couples, are a struggle for us, the petitioners said.
Another same-sex couple, both men, Vaibhav Jain, an Indian citizen, and Parag Vijay Mehta, an overseas citizen of India who got married in the United States. They wanted their marriage to be recognised in India under The Foreign Marriage Act, but the Indian consulate refused to register their union. They were prevented from travelling to India as a married couple during the Covid-19 pandemic.


<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1602866153105" alt="delhi high court. same sex marriage. LGBTQ community. Gay rights. " style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Possible problem at hand</ins>
The Delhi HC enquired from the counsel of the petitioners whether they have challenged the concept of marriage in their pleas. The HC stated that the word ‘marriage’ is not defined in the 1954 and 1969 legislation.
“Please understand that till the concept of marriage is not challenged, it would not be able to move forward in the matter because marriage is not defined. There is otherwise no question on the maintainability of the pleas but in both the Special Marriage Act and Foreign Marriage Act, the term marriage has not been defined,” said the court.
It was pointed out by advocate Rajkumar Yadav, one of the counsel representing the Centre, that a situation like this has not been faced in the 5000 years old history the Sanatan Dharam. To which Justice Menon replied, “We may shed our inhibition. The laws are gender-neutral. You please try to interpret the law for the citizens of Sanatan Dharma in the country. This is not an adversarial litigation. This is for the right of every citizen of the country.”
The two-judge HC bench consisting of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Justice Asha Menon pushed the matter for next hearing on January 8, 2021, and has asked the Centre’s opinion about the case.
This issue would require a detailed reply, the Central Government standing counsel Kirtiman Singh said.

Delhi HC asks Centre’s opinion on same-sex marriage

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1593780821545" alt="A look at India's Mental Healthcare Act. Suicide. Sushant Singh Rajput" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

The most astonishing trait of the world we live in, the 21st Century World, is the connectedness, often superficial, but nonetheless connectedness. The people of the modern world are always ‘linked’ together, considering the rapid advance of globalisation, social media, multilateralism, and soft power.
One can celebrate 4th of July sitting in New Delhi, another can keep a fast on Navratri while living in Germany. On the other side, we also come together to stand up against matters like global hunger, climate change, and racism, but this connectedness, time and again, goes down the drain when it comes to mental health and peace. The life is fast paced, and people do tend to become a part of the rat-race, but the ultimate reality is, at the end of the day, decent mental health is imperative to healthy functioning in the, and of the society.
Most of the people at some point in their lives can be characterised with a form of mental illness, and it is nothing to be ashamed of, but to be sought professional help about, or at the least be talked about.
Speaking of India, a country where mental illness is widely considered to be a taboo, unrealistic, or just a first-world problem, it comes with no surprise when we see that a substantial number of suicide gets committed in the same country.
Not acknowledging the problem neither helps in the present, nor gives solutions for the future; in contrast, it makes the situation even worse.&nbsp;
Anybody can get diagnosed with mental illness, it is not a first-world problem, but it is prevalent worldwide. Suicide is the highest stage of mental illness where an individual thinks he/she has no alternative left, except to succumb to death.&nbsp;
Released last year, World Health Organisation's Global Health Observatory report suggests that India’s suicide rate (number of suicides per 1,00,000 people) was 16.3 in 2016, ringing alarm bells in the ears of concerned authorities and law-making bodies.

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1593781069612" alt="WHO's report on number of suicides" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

At 16.3 per 1,00,000 people, India's total suicide number more than that of the South-East Asia region, and the world. Female suicide rate at 14.7 is almost double than the world average at 7.7, and male suicide rate at 17.8 is more than that of South East Asia and the world. These are some unfortunate numbers.
In the 21st century, Southeast Asia is regarded to be at the frontline for delivering on the aspirational Sustainable Development Goal of a one-third reduction in the number of suicide deaths by 2030. With around 18 percent of the world's population living in India, addressing suicides in India is imperative to make a global difference in the burden of suicides.
In India, suicide is defined as an act of an unnatural death, the idea of which is originated in the concerned person itself, and the reason for taking one’s own life may or may not be specified. Global Burden of Disease study estimated that there were 2,30,314 death because of suicide in India, and according to the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), suicide accounted for 133,623 deaths in India in 2015.
Attempt to die by suicide is defined as a nonfatal and self-injurious behavior with an intent to die. Attempts to die by suicide can be classified into: (i) severe, leading to incapacity, and (ii) non-severe, with full recovery in the short term.
According to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by the law.” While the Constitution covers the right to life or liberty, it does not include the ‘right to die’. The attempts at taking one's own life are not considered to fall under the purview of constitutional right to life.

<ins>IPC Sec 309 - Criminalisation of suicide attempt</ins>
Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) clearly states, “Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or both.”
Historically, the religious institutions asserted great deal of influence over the matters of the State, especially in the cases of life and death. This led St. Augustine in fourth century BCE to frame legal declaration where suicide attempts were criminalised, considering the suicide being a sin and an act against the will of God.
The modern world - post enlightenment and renaissance - brought major socio-cultural changes in the society, especially after French revolution, which established the modern democratic nation based on liberty, equality, and fraternity. These qualities diversified and modernised the attitude towards suicide and attempted suicide. Nineteenth and twentieth century saw developed countries to repeal criminalisation of attempted suicide, but some countries continue to treat suicide attempt as a criminal offense, or at least as a social offence.
Two major kinds of arguments are generally put forth for criminalisation of suicide attempts, though in the contemporary political and socio-cultural times, these have been challenged.&nbsp;
First is rooted in the religious belief that only God has the right to dictate the end of life of a person, and it is perceived to be a sinful activity, punishment worthy, if a person attempts otherwise. Traditionally, suicide has been deplored by every major religion around the globe, and in Hinduism, the most practiced religion in India, death by suicide does not lead to achievement of salvation (Moksha).
The second argument for criminalisation is the belief that law can act as a deterrent against other such attempts in the society.&nbsp;
The criminal prosecution, and the imposition of custodial &amp; financial penalties on those convicted of suicidal behaviour constitute an insult to human dignity. In a large majority, suicidal behaviour is typically a symptom of psychiatric illness, or is an act of psychological distress, indicating that the person requires assistance in his personal and psychological life, and not punishment by fine and/or imprisonment.&nbsp;
India is carrying the legacy of Indian Penal Code from the times of British Raj Regime, which ironically, Britain itself got rid way back in 1961 after decriminalisation of attempted suicide, but it seems that India is still hooked on to British Raj's archaic laws which were meant to be bounded on natives treated like slaves.&nbsp;
Delhi High court in a landmark judgment of 1985 had commented that “the continuance of Section 309 IPC (criminalising suicide) is an anachronism unworthy of a human society like ours.”
Mentally ill people are incapable to take decisions rationally or on their own, and mental illness lasts for a protracted period leading to a poor quality of life, and in the worst case, suicide.

<ins>The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 - Decriminalisation of suicide attempt</ins>&nbsp;
Taking a progressive step, the Indian Parliament had passed the legislation called the Mental Healthcare Act in 2017 which defines “mental illness” as a substantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly impairs judgment or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, mental conditions associated with the abuse of alcohol and drugs."&nbsp;
This is “an Act to provide for mental healthcare, and services for persons with mental illness and to protect, promote, and fulfill the rights of such mentally ill persons during delivery of mental healthcare services and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
This act rescinds/revoked the existing Mental Healthcare Act, 1987, which had been widely criticised for not recognising the rights of a mentally ill person, and paving the way for isolating such dangerous patients.&nbsp;
This act gives right to every person to access good quality, convenient, affordable, and accessible healthcare services. It protects mentally ill people from inhumane treatment along with access to free legal services. The act also empowers every mentally ill person to make an advance directive towards the way she/he wants to be treated for the requisite illness, and have a right to nominate her/his representative which has to be vetted by a medical practitioner.

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1593781829161" alt="The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Section 115(1) of The MHCA says, “Notwithstanding anything contained in section 309 of the Indian Penal Code any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished under the said Code.”
The act also constitutes the directives for law enforcement agencies; police officer in-charge shall report to the magistrate, if the officer has reason to believe that a mentally ill person is being ill-treated or neglected. It also imposes a duty on a police officer to take under protection any wandering person, who will further get examined by medical authorities. Based on the authority’s report, the person either gets admitted in a mental health establishment, or be taken to her/his residence or to an establishment for homeless persons.
Under the act, a person with mental illness shall not be subjected to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) therapy without the use of muscle relaxants and anesthesia. Furthermore, ECT therapy will not be performed for minors.
Part 2 of Section 115(2) of MHCA 2017 states that “The appropriate Government shall have a duty to provide care, treatment, and rehabilitation to a person, having severe stress and who attempted to die by suicide, to reduce the risk of recurrence of an attempt to die by suicide.”

<ins>Guidelines to Healthcare Insituions</ins>
Healthcare professionals in any hospital can use the following steps to manage a person who has attempted to die by suicide:-
<ol>
<li>Assessment and triaging in the emergency room</li>
<li>Stabilise the patient medically and/or surgically by providing necessary treatment</li>
<li>Medico-legal case registration, and depending on the severity, admission if required</li>
<li>Mandatory psychiatric referral for required assessment (making a diagnosis and assessing the severity of stress and suicidal intent), and treatment</li>
<li>Inform the patient regarding Section 115 of MHCA 2017</li>
<li>Inquiry by the health team and police regarding Sections 108, 109, and 116 IPC</li>
<li>Discharge planning and follow-up care with medical, surgical, and psychiatric teams as per guidelines.</li>
</ol>

Once a patient is admitted in a general hospital following an attempt to die by suicide, emergency triaging and necessary medical or surgical management are mandatory to stabilise the person wherever required. The psychiatric team have to ascertain whether the event is a deliberate self-harm, or injury, or an attempt to die by suicide. To ascertain the severity of stress and the intent objectively, the psychiatric team may administer the perceived stress scale and the suicide intent scale on a patient, irrespective of the lethality of the incident. The psychiatric team has to inform the person and the caregivers about Section 115 of MHCA 2017. The police will get involved to ascertain the application of abetment laws.
The Section 94 of the MHCA 2017 allow the person who has attempted suicide to be treated at a general hospital for emergency purposes, but the person has to shift to mental health establishment within 72 hours.

The steps towards the decriminalisation of suicide in India are commendable, but were long overdue. Decriminalisation will reduce the trauma and potential prosecution in the aftermath of a suicide attempt. The new Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 is supposed to change the fundamental approach on mental health issues. It will provide for a sensible patient-centric health care, instead of a criminal-centric one. It cost us the death of a famous actor to start a conversation regarding mental illness, but it is never too late to talk about the things that matter.

Mental health & suicide; a look at India’s Mental Healthcare Act

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1586782715721" alt="How technology is used to curb the Covid-19 menace." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

In the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic, a lot of countries around the globe have turned to the technology companies for providing necessary information and services which would eventually help them in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. The technologies such as big data, cloud computing, supercomputers, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing, thermal imaging, and 5G are proving their worth and efficiency to the world in coping up with the 7.8 billion people on the Earth. Moreover, the traditional methods of increased hygiene, self &amp; forced quarantines, and enforced global travel bans also rely on technology, but how technology is doing its magic?
The AI-powered helmets that can automatically record the temperatures and display information of the pedestrians on a virtual screen using facial recognition. This high-tech headgear is also equipped with an infrared camera which produces sound if anyone has a fever in the 16ft radius of the police officer in China.&nbsp;
Death proof Robots are also landing in the battlefield against coronavirus, saving lives of medical workers by delivering medications, patrolling &amp; cleaning infected areas, leading patients in exercises, and even performing dance numbers to give a dose of entertainment to quarantined patients in China.
To limit the spread of coronavirus effectively, Danish company UVD Robots are going to ship self-driving disinfection Robots to Chinese hospitals which are capable of disinfecting and killing viruses and bacteria autonomously, using ultraviolet light without exposing medical staff to the risk of infection.
“As members of the global community, it will be irresponsible of us to sit on the fence, panic, ignore facts, or fail to act. We need to take action now'&nbsp;
These words by the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma suggest that the private sector should perform its social duty in the welfare of society alongside the Government, especially in the times of global pandemic, thus keeping aside their profiteering motives.
The worst corona outbreak outside China has been experienced by Italy which is also battling the pandemic with the help of technology, or to be precise, Additive Manufacturing, better known as 3D printing. Lonati Spa, a local 3D printing firm redesigned a Venturi Valve utilising a 3D printer which connects oxygen masks to the respirators used by the coronavirus patients suffering from respiratory difficulties.&nbsp;
The White House Office of Science and Technology is also seeking assistance from more than 60 tech companies including Facebook, Twitter, Google, IBM, Apple, Uber in harnessing data related to location and movement of the users to effectively track the coronavirus patients and the ones who seem to develop symptoms of the disease using the health information available in their smartphones. By integrating location data with disease, researchers can estimate the rate of community transmission and anticipate about where the disease might spread next. The appropriate data obtained from researchers would allow the health officials to allocate the human and economic resources at the next hot-spot of the coronavirus outbreak.&nbsp;
Facebook has launched co-location maps which use data about mobility to forecast where different groups of people are likely to cross paths. Subsequently, the researchers can rank which communities are most at risk, and therefore make recommendations.&nbsp;
We are living in a highly globalised world where information flows at the speed of 5G across the continents. Unfortunately, fake news also travels at the same speed or even faster in the time of crisis. To combat the spreading of fake news or misinformation regarding Covid-19, many tech companies are introducing new tools to share reliable information to encounter myths. Chinese tech giant, Tencent, launched a myth-busting platform called ‘JiaoZhen’ which helps in discerning the fact from myth. Ping An's ‘AskBob’ is a doctor's AI assistant which offers a one-stop portal for virus related updates and advice.
Facebook rolled out a new coronavirus information centre on top of the news feed that would give regular updates on Covid-19 directly from credible sources such as WHO and CDC. Every post related to the coronavirus will be scrutinized through the network of 55 fact-checking websites which would also downgrade the feed if the claim is found false. Twitter also updated its safety policy by banning the tweets which could place people at higher risk of transmitting Covid-19 because of encouraging 'false or ineffective treatments, preventions and diagnostic techniques'.
The first thing most countries are doing or have done in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic is to lockdown the affected areas, and limit the mobility of people as much as possible. This has affected the production in factories badly, disrupting the whole supply chains in the world, and thereby leading to a shortage of essential medical equipments. In China, the private sector corporations such as Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi came ahead to fill the vacuum of supply chain logistics of materials including surgical masks, disinfectant, protective suits, and safety goggles for the front line medical workers. Many corporations have donated large amounts of healthcare, edible, and other kinds of supplies to the affected areas along with setting up the makeshift assembly lines to produce additional masks and disinfectants.&nbsp;
Chinese companies did some extraordinary work in developing infrastructure for the infected patients when the number of patients increased suddenly. Notable examples were the construction of two - 1000 bed and 1600 bed - hospitals in under 10 days in Wuhan. The State owned corporations made sure that there will not be any disruptions in power supply to key facilitates. Huawei, a telecom company which is alleged of spying the foreign nationals for the Chinese government through its newly developed 5G technology, according to US Department of State, has jointly set up a 5G-enabled remote video diagnostic centre with Chinese telecom companies, enabling medical professionals to conduct remote online consultations with potential patients.&nbsp;
Alibaba is committed to a policy of reaching to every house possible in the affected areas at the time of crisis with its grocery chain HEMA (Freshippo), which is opened for ‘only business’ and not ‘profiteering’ from the consumers, hence keeping the prices of commodities at the lowest and the stocks available. Its logistics arm teamed up with dozens of others to create a 'Green channel' for fast and safe delivery of medical items. Its foundation donated testing kits, surgical masks, protective suits, and face shields to the poor countries hit with the Covid-19.
The Distilleries in the western world are adding sanitizer to their ranges of rum and whiskey, and handing it out free. The Scottish brewery, BrewDog has also gone into sanitizer production whereas Pernod Ricard, a French beverages company, donated pure alcohol.

<ins>India's case - Start-ups at the forefront</ins>
In India’s case, the graph of infected patient has now started to grow upwards and these trends definitely do not signal for a pleasant future in anyway. The demand for testing kits is rising and the Government has already sought help of the private sector in producing kits on a large scale. Government resources are already crumbling in the initial stages of the pandemic with the problems like heavy shortages of ventilators, irregular supplies of mask, personal prevention equipments for doctors, face shields, &amp; other medical supplies, not having sufficient infrastructure such as appropriate number of beds and quarantine centers for suspicious patients, under production of thermal scanners and testing kits.
To reduce the burden on the public health care system, ICMR had narrowed down the testing criteria to just those who travelled from affected areas, and the relatives of those people who have come in contact with them but this process is not proving sustainable in fighting the pandemic. In the country of 48,000 ventilators, majority of them already occupied, private resources and private sector involvement is not only a requirement but a necessity.
Country's progress can be measured by how easily new innovations can come up in the market during the time of crisis. A slew of Indian homegrown startups came up to the surface in the market providing the range of solutions from prevention mechanisms and testing to monitoring and manufacturing medical equipment in their efforts to combat Covid-19.
OneBreath, a Bengaluru - based startup has developed some affordable and portable ventilators, targeting the rural area where these facilities are not still readily accessible. To keep the diagnosed patients engaged at home and quarantine facilities, startup named DayToday has developed a care management programme that would cater their post-diagnostic activities such as health checks, diets, and follow up tests, thus reducing the burden on the healthcare system.
Dozee’s device can perform medical-grade remote monitoring of a vulnerable patient's heart health and respiratory rate along with other vital parameters at their homes, in make-shift ICUs, or also in hospitals that are short of health workers. Backed by Bill Gates foundation, the startup is going to produce around a lakh pieces per week to meet the demands from the health industry which is its highest priority.&nbsp;
A tool developed by Sequoia-backed Qure.ai can automatically read and interpret chest X-ray scans for Covid-19 in seconds which would help the clinicians to measure how much the patient's lungs have been affected and enable them to monitor disease progression more effectively. Another startup, Log 9 backed by Sequoia is on the government's E-marketplace, made a device that can completely neutralize Covid-19 pathogens from the surface of masks, hospital PPE, and medical equipment in just 10 minutes.&nbsp;
Bengaluru based Vee Technologies and Sona College of Technology together are developing two apps; first, 'Corona-scan' which would help health officials to map the individuals who are in close proximity with an infected person, and second, 'Corona-support' which helps the health authorities to get the accurate information about positive cases.
In the fight against pandemic, the most crucial thing is to save the lives of health workers and doctors who are combating at the forefront and protect them from getting infection. For that, Sawai Mansingh Hospital in Jaipur is conducting trials on a humanoid robot which would perform activities like delivering medicines and food, measuring temperature, sanitising the hospital premises where Covid-19 patients are getting treated, screening the people entering quarantine facilities and collecting garbage from patients rooms.
Kerala-based startup Asimov Robotics developed a three-wheeled robot that can be used to assist the patients in quarantine facilities and isolation wards.&nbsp;
Reliance foundation, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has developed India's first state-of-the-art facility, a 100 beds Centre at Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai, fully dedicated to the treatment of positive Covid-19 patients. It is also producing around a lakh masks per day and personal preventive equipment. Reliance also announced to provide free fuel at its petrol pumps for emergency vehicles.&nbsp;
Personal Care and hygiene products giants like Hindustan Unilever, Godrej, and Patanjali are reducing prices and ramping up the productions of goods to meet the demands. Automobile manufacturer Mahindra &amp; Mahindra is using its assembly lines to produce ventilators instead of automobiles.&nbsp;
Diageo India is going to produce hand sanitizer in massive scale in its 15 manufacturing units in order to fill up the supply line along with donating 1.5 lakh face masks to five state governments.&nbsp;
Testing the sufficient amount of samples is the biggest challenge for India right now which has to be increased in the next few days which requires testing kits on a mass scale. India's first indigenous Covid-19 testing kit developed by Mylab Discovery Solutions got validated by National Institute of Virology, Pune last month and it is planning to ramp up the production of testing kits taking upto 2 Million per week which will reduce the shortage of kits in the country.
In the hour of need, both State-owned and private companies, whether a giant or a start-up, have joined hands to combat the spread of the Coronavirus.&nbsp;

Private firms lead the fight as technology comes to rescue

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1584706500388" alt="Mask for corona virus" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

In the wake of Covid-19, which has created a situation of strain in the market as the prices of masks and sanitisers are touching sky, the Government has included masks (N95), and hand sanitiser in the in the ‘essential commodities list’. Due to the shortage of these items, their prices soared which led to a situation that demanded an intervention by the Government.
The Government has acquaint this decision under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 to declare masks (2/3 ply surgical masks, N95 mask) and hand sanitizer as essential commodities up to June 30, 2020 i.e. for the next 100 days.
Moreover, the prices of the alcohol and other raw materials used in the production of hand sanitisers are also capped under the same act. States can now ask the manufactures of these alcohols not to increase the prices of their produce without concurrence of the Central Government.
Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce &amp; Industry has also amended the country’s Export Policy to prohibit the export of ventilators, surgical/disposable masks (2/3 ply), and textile raw material used for masks and coveralls with immediate effect.

<ins>Essential Commodities Act, 1955</ins>
The EC Act empowers states to regulate production, distribution, and prices of ‘essential’ items. For smooth sale and availability of these products, and to keep a check on black marketing and hoarding of such products, the State updates the list of essential items from time-to-time. The Consumer Affairs Ministry said, “Government has notified an order under the Essential Commodities Act to declare these items as essential commodities up to June 30, 2020, by amending the schedule of the Essential Commodities Act 1955.”
Under EC Act, the State can ask the manufactures to enhance production of these items to strengthen the supply chain and can also fix the MRP for the same. They can now notify the central order in their official gazette and issue their own order depending on the situation. The states\UT can take actions against the offenders under the EC Act and the Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, (PBMMSEC Act. They are notified to monitor the distribution of mentioned items by the manufacturers, stockists, and retailers.
An offence under EC act can lead to imprisonment up to 7 years, or fine, or both; and under PBMMSEC Act, detention for maximum 6 months can be awarded.
The consumer can also lodge complaints in this matter with the National Consumer Helpline No. 1800-11-4000, and online complaints at www.consumwehelpline.gov.in.
The step has been taken in view of the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 and concerns of the logistic for COVID-19 management, particularly during last couple weeks. It has also been found that the masks which are usually sold at INR 40 and sanitizer at INR 100 are now being sold at INR 100 and INR 1200 respectively.

Govt’s bid to strengthen supply of ‘essential commodities’ in wake of Covid-19

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582095222757" alt="Nihali language. Critically endangered." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Nihali</ins>
<ul>
<li>Nihali is the spoken language of the tribe Nihal, which is situated in Jalgaon Jamod Tehsil on the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.</li>
<li>According to UNESCO, it is among the 42 critically endangered languages in India with around 2,000 speakers.</li>
<li>Nihali is considered to be a language isolate which means that it does not belong to any of the major language families, making it one of the most unique languages in the Indian subcontinent.</li>
<li>Though the people of Nihali tribe have rich folklore with their own versions of Panchatantra and songs that tell the story of Ramayana, the language does not have a script, making the preservation of the language a difficult task.</li>
<li>Due to less exposure among children, it faces threat of extinction. Moreover, Nihali speakers often mingle with and marry speakers of Korku, Marathi, and Hindi. There is a possibility that Nihali will be lost in the next two generations.&nbsp;</li>
<li>The language is protected under the Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India scheme as it has less than 10,000 speakers.</li>
<li>A tri-lingual dictionary with Nihali-English-Hindi translations of up to 2,000 words is being prepared by the linguistic department of Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute in Pune.</li>
</ul>

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582095618019" alt="Tulu language. Vulnerable." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Tulu</ins>
<ul>
<li>Tulu is a Dravidian language whose speakers are concentrated in two coastal districts of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district of Kerala.</li>
<li>Kasaragod district is called ‘Sapta bhasha Samgama Bhumi (the confluence of seven languages)’, and Tulu is among the seven. The Census 2011 reports more than 1.8 million native speakers of Tulu in India.</li>
<li>The Tulu-speaking people are larger in number than speakers of Manipuri, Bodo, and Sanskrit, but still it does not find a place in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.</li>
<li>According to UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, Tulu belongs to the vulnerable category as it is spoken by children as mother tongue but only in their homes.</li>
<li>The oldest available inscriptions in Tulu are from the period between 14th and 15th century AD.</li>
<li>There used to be some confusion regarding the script of Tulu language which closely resembles Malayalam, but according to new research it was found that Tulu language possessed its own script before Malayalam script even existed. It is now believed that Malayalam script got developed from Tulu script as the latter language predates the former one by more than a thousand years.</li>
</ul>

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582120366125.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Jarawa</ins>
<ul>
<li>Jarawa is an Ongan (South Andamanese) language spoken by the Jarawa tribe of the Andaman &amp; Nicobar Islands.&nbsp;</li>
<li>The language has been tagged as critically endangered by UNESCO under its Atlas of Endangered Languages.</li>
<li>About 99% percent of its speakers are ethnic and have an estimated population of not more than 400.</li>
<li>It enjoys the status of an official language in the Andaman Islands.</li>
<li>The term Jarawa means ‘stranger’. The tribal people call themselves Aong which means ‘people’.</li>
<li>The language does not have a script, and has existed orally since the ages.</li>
<li>There are no dialects or varieties, though it is closely related to its neighbouring language, Onge.</li>
<li>It is an agglutinative language. It has a system of 9 vowels and 26 consonants.</li>
<li>The syntax follows Subject-Object-Verb pattern and the noun is always placed before an adjective.</li>
<li>It doesn’t have tenses so the tribal people manage to understand it by judging the context of the conversation.</li>
</ul>

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582184603373.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Toda</ins>
<ul>
<li>Toda language belongs to the Dravidian language family. Dravidian family includes 73 languages spoken by a population of 222 million spread across southern India, Sri lanka, parts of Pakistan, and Nepal.</li>
<li>Toda language is indigenous to Toda tribe, who reside in Nilgiri and Kundra Hills in Tamil Nadu. Todas are traditionally pastoralists and breed a kind of water buffalos.</li>
<li>Although the phonology of the language is the most varying among the Dravidian languages, Toda is a non-literary language, meaning that it does not have a script.</li>
<li>Toda has 14 vowels and 37 consonants which is most in the Dravidian language family.</li>
<li>The language is spoken by almost 3000 people, and comes under the critically endangered category according to UNESCO report.</li>
<li>There is a high possibility of the language becoming extinct as it faces cultural oppositions from assimilating into social environments.</li>
<li>The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore is engaged in the protection, preservation, and documentation of languages spoken by less than 10,000 people across the country, under the Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India scheme, which includes Toda also.</li>
</ul>

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582200410953.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Rangkas</ins>
<ul>
<li>Rangkas is one of the extinct languages of India that was spoken by the Rangas community of Uttarakhand. The language belonged to the family of Sino-Tibetan and West-Himalayish languages.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Rangkas is one of the five languages hailing from the Himalyan belt that were declared extinct by UNESCO. The other four are Ahom, Andro, Sengmai, and Tolcha.</li>
<li>Its prominence lied in the nearby areas of Indo-Nepal border (Mahakali Valley) and in Dharchula, Munsyari, Johar Valley, and Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. It was declared extinct in the early 20th century.</li>
<li>There are no proves of any script and dialects related to the language.</li>
<li>Some alternate names of the Rangkas are as Canpa, Johari, Saukas, Chyanam and Kyonam.</li>
<li>About 1000 people belonging to the Rangas community still live in the villages of Pithoragarh, but they no longer speak their mother tongue.</li>
<li>It is believed that the Rangas community joined the Kumaoni people, and subsequently adapted the Kumaoni language and culture.</li>
</ul>

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582210667136.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Kolami</ins>
<ul>
<li>Kolami is a tribal language which belongs to the Kolami-Naiki sub family of Central Dravidian languages.</li>
<li>It is mostly spoken in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. Census 2011 boasts a speaker base of around 1,28,500 people for this language.</li>
<li>It is spoken by Kolam tribe which is a scheduled tribe in India and listed in Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.</li>
<li>According to UNESCO, children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in their homes, therefore it has been classified as a definitely endangered language.</li>
<li>It is believed to be heavily influenced from Telugu, a South-Central Dravidian language spoken in Andhra Pardesh, Telangana, and Puducherry.</li>
<li>Kolami is also known as Kolme, Kolamboli, Kulmi, and Kolamy.</li>
<li>There are notably three dialects of the Kolami language, which are Eastern Kolami, North Western Kolami, and Central Kolami.</li>
<li>Prof. Sathupati Prasanna Sree, an Indian linguist, has been working for preserving minority tribal languages within India and created a unique script for the Kolami language that consists a total of 74 characters.&nbsp;</li>
<li>One can find folk songs, poems, and stories related to the tribal language on the internet.</li>
</ul>

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582274367138.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

<ins>Bonda</ins>
<ul>
<li>Also knows as Remo, Bonda language is spoken by the people of the Bonda tribe in Jeypore Hills, west of Machkund River in the Malkangiri district of the state of Odisha.&nbsp;</li>
<li>It is a Munda language and belongs to the Austro-Asiatic language family.</li>
<li>The language does not have a script.&nbsp;</li>
<li>According to linguist George Van Driem, in 2007 there were around 2,500 native speakers of Bonda.</li>
<li>According to the UNESCO report, the language is considered to be severely endangered which means that the language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves</li>
<li>Due to the absence of a script, the children of the tribe are not exposed to Bonda, instead they learn Odia in schools and as a result use it for daily communication as well.</li>
<li>As per the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Bonda tribe is a part of particularly vulnerable tribal groups.</li>
</ul>

More to follow

The endangered languages of India

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582031684077" alt="The legality of sex work in India" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

The legal status of prostitution in India exists in a bit of a conundrum due to the reluctance of the legislators to rework archaic laws that govern the practice of sex work that puts the life of many under duress and unnecessary risk.
Widely known as the world’s oldest profession, sex work has a rich history in India that spans right back to the ancient times. While sex work was richly respected as a profession back then, it seems like the tides of modernity haven’t been washing uniformly for the profession now.
Heavily stigmatised, dangerously mismanaged, and threatening to most parties involved, sex work in India is in a place that begs a curious and in-depth examination.

<ins>Legality</ins>
Although the exchange of sexual pleasure for financial benefits and otherwise is legal in India, the related activities that surround the ecosystem of sex work are rendered illegal by the Indian judicial system, putting the whole activity in a legal flummox.
These illegal activities include soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning and operating a brothel, and pimping. Considering more often than not these activities are deeply intertwined with sex work, it makes most sex workers de-facto criminals as it is difficult to undertake sex work without indulging in the aforementioned processes.
An important piece of legislation to study while talking about sex work in India is the Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act of 1956.
The Act essentially prohibits sex workers from practising their profession within 200 metres of a public place. Although the act does contain clauses that entitle sex workers normal worker benefits such as calls for rescue, and calls for rehabilitation, it is rarely ever exercised as most sex workers are stuck inside oppressive and often abusive brothels which prevent them from seeking any legal aid that might be available.

<ins>Sex Work: Motivation and Incidence</ins>
The extent and number of sex workers — voluntary, coerced, or under-age — in India is difficult to ascertain because of a lack of research and data, although there have been several estimates. The Ministry of Women and Child Development estimated in 2008 that there were around three million sex workers across India of which approximately 40 per cent were children, as young as 10 years old, and 35.47 per cent had entered the sex trade before the age of 18 years. Human Rights Watch estimated the figure at 15 million in 2012, however, other reviewers have set the figure much lower at between 300,000 and 700,000&nbsp;
There is certainly a perception, reflected in the media, that there has been a sharp rise of sex work in recent years; however, this may only reflect increasing visibility. Regardless of the exact number of sex workers, it is a thriving industry. A person may sell sex full time, part-time, or occasionally to meet specific economic needs such as education costs, or to deal with a family budgetary crisis.

<ins>Possible Routes Forward</ins>
There have been calls to decriminalise sex work in India owing to the prevalence of exploitation and rampant rise of sexually transmitted diseases within these rotten ecosystems, but before taking any step forward in advocating possible reforms to the legality of sex work in India, there are a number of things to consider.
Firstly, there needs to be substantial effort to educate the society about the supposed moral folly associated with sex work that often relegates people in the profession to the outskirts of the society, taking away the opportunity to seek not just societal support, but also essentials like proper healthcare and insurances related to profession related hazards.
Secondly, there needs to significant institutional investment into executing plans to take minors and economically disenfranchised people away from the industry as even in the case of adults voluntarily signing up for sex work, such consent is often manufactured by the lack of alternatives forcing them into a corner.

The legality of sex work in India

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582015924566.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

The Indian sub-continent has been a crucible of civilisations where numerous people have left their cultural mark. All the cultural systems are embodied by a significant common factor that is Language. Language is intrinsic to the expression of culture. It is not only a medium to share thoughts, but also a way to present one's traditions and beliefs.
A potpourri of different cultures, religions, and ideologies, India is home to not just one or two, but more than 19,500 languages, most of which are dialects. <a href="https://policharcha.com/article/social/7970ea15-99ee-402e-80aa-f3161174dfe2/the-endangered-languages-of-india" target="_blank">These are restricted to specific regions and many of them are on the verge of extinction.</a>&nbsp;
The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India pertains to the official languages of the Republic of India. It recognises 22 languages which are obligatory for the Government to promote and safeguard. These languages are called scheduled languages, which are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
According to Census 2011, apart from these 22 scheduled languages, there are 99 other languages which are spoken by at least 10,000 people respectively. These 99 languages are called non-scheduled languages.

<ins>Mother Tongue and Language</ins>
Mother tongue is the language in which a mother converses with a person in his/her childhood. Since a household may consist of persons related by blood or of unrelated persons, or a mix of both, the mother tongue of each member of a household need not necessarily be the same.
Moreover, mother tongue may take the form of many varieties spoken in a particular region. Among these varieties, only some are standard, while the others are non-standard. The standard varieties are noted as a language.
The 2011 census has recorded 19,569 mother tongues from all over the country. These raw returns were subjected to thorough linguistic scrutiny, edit, and rationalisation. As a result, there were 1,369 rationalised mother tongues, and 1,474 names which were treated as ‘unclassified’ and relegated to ‘other’ mother tongue category.
The 1,369 rationalised mother tongues were further classified following the usual linguistic methods for rational grouping based on available linguistic information.
Thus, an inventory of classified mother tongues returned by 10,000 or more speakers are grouped under appropriate languages at the all India level. The total number of languages arrived at is 121 (22 scheduled and 99 non-scheduled)

The 1,474 dialects which belong to the ‘other’ category are the languages which are spoken by less than 10,000 people each. These languages need protection and promotion from the government and civil society.
Moreover, Article 29, which is a part of the Fundamental rights, provides that a section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture have the right to conserve the same.

According to UNESCO, there are 197 endangered languages in India which need special safeguard in order to be revived. With every extinct language, a system of culture also goes extinct.
UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger 2010 talks about the severity of endangerment of these 197 languages. The degree of endangerment is classified from the following table.

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1582015841141.jpg" alt="undefined" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

To celebrate International Mother Language Day (21st February), which is about promoting awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, we will bring to your notice the most <a href="https://policharcha.com/article/social/7970ea15-99ee-402e-80aa-f3161174dfe2/the-endangered-languages-of-india" target="_blank">endangered languages of India.</a>&nbsp;

#PolyglotIndia - The linguistic diversity of India 

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1581402961065" alt="Government to Clamp Down On Child Pornography" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

The Government is leading yet another charge to strengthen the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) ecosystem, and in turn making the country a better and more secure place for children under duress.
The move is spearheaded by the 14 member Rajya Sabha ad-hoc committee with Mr. Jairam Ramesh as its chairman. On 3rd February, 2020, the committee put out its report titled ‘The alarming issue of pornography on social media and its effect on children and society as a whole’.
Consulting with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the committee undertook an extensive study about the pressing matter and assigned Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for the execution of the same.
Representatives from various NGOs like HERD Education and Medical Research Foundation, Centre for Child Rights, and Internet Freedom Foundation were also included in the drafting of this report.
<ins>Key Legislative Takeaways</ins>
<ul>
<li>A new clause was proposed to be added in POSCO Act that makes passing any written material, visual representation, or audio recording, which advocates or counsels sexual activity with a person under the age of eighteen years, an offence.</li>
<li>According to the report, it will be the intermediaries’ (online platforms) responsibility to maintain child safety online, ensure age appropriate content, and curb the spread of children pornographic content.</li>
<li>The report also directs online platforms to identify and remove any Child Sexual Abusive Material (CSAM), and report to authorities, both domestic and international, regarding the same.</li>
<li>Proposing amendments to the IT Act 2000 to plug gaps related to CSAM, the committee had the following two suggestions :-</li>
</ul>
<ol>
<li>Adding a new section (67B) that prescribes punitive action against people responsible for providing children with access to pornographic material, and those who transmit, carry, or produce CSAM.</li>
<li>To provide Union Governments the authority to block websites that carry CSAM.</li>
</ol>

<ins>Other Measures</ins>
<ul>
<li>To permit the law enforcement agencies to break the end-to-end encryption to trace distributors of child pornography.</li>
<li>To prohibit online payment portals and credit cards from processing payments for any pornographic website. Ministry of Home Affairs and MeitY be able to consult with Blockchain analysis companies to trace identities of users engaging in crypto currency transactions to purchase child pornography online.</li>
<li>The committee suggested that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) should get an updated mandate that makes it the Nodal Agency to deal with the issue of Child Pornography.</li>
<li>By providing the NCPCR with capabilities of cyber policing and prosecution, and making them closely work with other related bodies and ministries, the committee feels the issue would be dealt more efficiently.</li>
<li>The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) should record and report the cases of child pornography annually with a National Tipline number for the same have been suggested.</li>
<li>State level e-Safety commissioners to be appointed to ensure that the implementation of social media and website guidelines related to flagging of content and the removal of it, much like the Australian model which has seen glaring success.</li>
</ul>
These are the major takeaways to what seems like a monumental step into the direction of child safety in our country, it remains to be seen whether the implementation is on the same lines.

Government to clamp down on child pornography

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1581344376677" alt="Treatment for certain Rare diseases" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Acting on the directive from the Delhi High Court, Ministry of Health has drafted a national policy for the treatment of 450 Rare Diseases. A policy was considered necessary after Writ petitions were filled in the Delhi high court regarding free treatment of such diseases.&nbsp;
<ins>What is a Rare Diesease?</ins>
Though there is no official definition of a Rare Disease in India, it refers to the diseases that affect a small percentage of the population. Treatment of such diseases are not easily available, and if available, the costs of are seldom affordable.
Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle cell anaemia and Primary Immuno Deficiency in children, Lysosomal storage disorders such as Pompe disease and Gaucher’s disease are some of the rare diseases found in India.
In the US, rare diseases have been classified as the ones which affect fewer than 2 lakh people. In the UK, it is also known as Orphaned Disease because pharmaceutical companies are not interested in adopting them to develop drugs to treat them.
<ins>About National Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases (NPTRD)</ins>
The policy recognizes rare diseases under three categories:-
<ol>
<li>Diseases requiring one-time curative treatment [Osteopetrosis, Tyrosinemia, and Fabry’s disease, and immune deficiency disorders]&nbsp;</li>
<li>Diseases that demand a long-term treatment, but the cost of treatment is low [Phenylketonuria, Galactosemia]</li>
<li>Diseases which need a long-term treatment with higher costs.</li>
</ol>
Central government will provide an assistance of Rs 15 lakh to patients suffering from rare diseases that comes under category 1. The treatment will be made available to beneficiaries of the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi scheme and will be limited to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
For the diseases under Cateogary 2 and 3, the government is devising to set up a digital platform where it will invite voluntary and corporate donations in order to gather the funds.
The Government is planning to notify certain medical institutes like New Delhi’s AIIMS, Chandigarh’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Lucknow’s Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, and four others as the Centres of Excellence for Rare diseases.
According to the policy, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will maintain a registry of rare diseases.
Moreover, the scheme only covers certain treatable diseases under category 1. Due to lack of adequate resources no financial assistance will be given to treat rare diseases that require lifelong treatment. These diseases include Gaucher’s Disease, Hurler Syndrome, Wolman Disease, among others. Treatment for some of these diseases may vary from ₹10 Lakhs to more than ₹1 crore per year.
<ins>Background</ins>
In 2017, the Government had approved a national policy for the Rare Diseases, but it was scrapped later that year in the month of December because of failure in allocation of funds.
In 2018, the Government returned with another policy, but the policy was under the umbrella of the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN). The RAN 1997 scheme catered only to the people living below the poverty line and promised them treatment under the Arogya Nidhi Fund in the super speciality medical institutes which have now been branded as the Centres of Excellence for the Rare Diseases in the present draft.&nbsp;
However, the government received criticism for the inclusion of the policy under RAN since it only catered to the BPL population, unlike the previous one that had no such eligibility bar.
Hence, the Union Government, after much reviewing, has come up with a little different policy, that would not be limited to BPL population. The present scheme will also accommodate beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat which covers over forty percent of the population.
India has over 72 million of people suffering from Rare diseases and yet it is still waiting for a proper definition to be announced for these diseases. As these diseases are neglected by pharmaceutical companies because of their low economic value, the Government must incentivize drug manufacturing companies to produce medicines for such diseases.

India comes up with new Rare Diseases policy

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1581001863679" alt="discriminatory advertising." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Advertisements sway consumers towards a particular product and affect their consumption patterns, but due to the intensity of competition in the market, companies often tend to use false narrative to sell their products.
Introduced on 3rd February by the Health Ministry, draft of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 seeks to the address the problem of discriminatory advertising.
From promising a miraculous cure for AIDS, or changing an unborn baby’s sex, to treating heart ailments, cancer, or ‘magic remedies’ for changing the colour of one’s skin, these advertisements have been inciting discrimination in the viewers’ minds.
The draft bill proposes to amend certain provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954 regarding the extent of punishment for such advertising.
<ins>Proposed amendments:-</ins>
<ul>
<li>An act of deceitful advertising can now be slapped with a fine of Rs. 10 lakh and two years of prison for first-time offenders, and a fine of Rs 50 lakh and up to five years of prison for second-time offenders. The current penalty mentioned in the act provides for a six months and one year jail term, with or without fine, for first-time and second-time offenders respectively.</li>
<li>The Draft bill includes 78 diseases, disorders, or conditions, and prohibits the advertisement of medicines and ‘magic remedies’ to cure any of these diseases, disorders, or condition. Earlier, the Act talked of 54 such disorders.</li>
<li>The Bill also expands the definition of advertisement to “any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement made by means of light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet or website and includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice, banner, poster or such other documents, provided that label or wrapper is an advertisement only if it contains any information or claim other than provided in the rules.”</li>
</ul>
<ins>Need for the amendments:-</ins>
False advertising, especially for beauty products that promise to brighten one’s skin or change its colour tone to a lighter shade, has been a problem for years now. Such ads directly come out of the society’s fetishisation for fair skin. These ads continue to be showcased through a lot of advertisement platforms, sometimes subtly or sometimes even directly, implying beauty is equivalent to white and clear skin which is highly problematic and racial in nature.
Since more than six decades ago, when the original bill was passed, hardly anyone has been booked under this law. We know that this problem is not a new phenomenon, and most of us have seen such ads throughout our childhood, but there was no substantial action taken in this regard by the law makers, or the executives.
Will amending a non performing law solve the problem of discriminatory advertisement and problematic narratives?
Amending a law is one thing, but acting on it is another.
What are your views? We would love to hear from our readers.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Tightening the noose on discriminatory advertising

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1580889514597" alt="Two rural women taking part in their daily lives. Women business and law index by the world bank." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Women, Business and Law Index by the World Bank talks about how the existing laws and policies affect women’s inclusion in the economic sphere. It studied about participation of women in 190 countries. It tracks how the law affects women at various stages in their lives, from the basic of transportation to the challenges of starting a job and getting a pension.&nbsp;
Composed of eight indicators which revolves around women’s interaction with the law as they operate in a market economy, the indicator aligns different areas of the law with the economic decision women make at various stages of their lives. The indicators are :- &nbsp;
<ol>
<li>Mobility - examines constraints on freedom of movement</li>
<li>Workplace - analyses laws affecting women’s decision to work</li>
<li>Parenthood - examines laws affecting women’s work after having children</li>
<li>Workplace - analyses laws affecting decision to work</li>
<li>Pay - measures laws and regulations affecting women’s pay</li>
<li>Marriage - accesses legal constraints related marriage</li>
<li>Entrepreneurship - analyses constraints on women starting and running business</li>
<li>Assets - considers gender differences in property and inheritance, and</li>
<li>Pensions - accesses law affecting the size of women’s pension</li>
</ol>
<ins>How did India fare?</ins>
While there was an increase in the average score from 73.9 in 2017 to 74.4 in 2019, the score is less than the world average of 75.2.

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1580890042093" alt="India's score in women business law index by the world bank." style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

India didn’t score well in the indicators of pay and parenthood. Thus, discriminatory laws continues to threaten women economic security, career growth, and work life.
To come to think about the performance of the world’s largest democracy, India’s score is at par with scores of Benin and Gambia, and below the scores of least developed countries like Rwanda (78.1) and Lesotho (75.6).
Among BRICS nation, India's score is only greater than that of Russia. South Africa tops the chart with 88.1 points, followed by Brazil and China.

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1580890187898" alt="India's comparison with BRICS nation" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

In South Asia, though, India came out on the top, leaving Maldives (73.8) at number two. The South Asia nation list consists of India, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. With a score of 38.1, Afghanistan scored the lowest in South Asia.

<ins>How did the world fare?</ins><ins> </ins>
The global average score in 2019 has increased to 75.2 from 73.9 in 2017. Although 40 economies have enacted 62 reforms enhancing gender equality since 2017, on an average, women have just three-fourths of the legal rights that men have. The economies that improved the most are Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, South Sudan, Bahrain, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Jordan and Tunisia. With a recent reform to parental leave, Canada joins seven other economies that score 100 on women, business and the law index, namely Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden.&nbsp;
Regional distribution patterns remained same as in 2017. When classified by income level, high-income economies score the highest, with an average score of 84.9, followed by upper middle-income economies with 74.9 on average. Lower-middle and low income economies have almost similar average scores of 68.8 and 67.2 respectively.&nbsp;
However, one noteworthy finding is that low-income economies outperformed both middle and high income economies on the workplace and pension indicators. The report also suggests that the retirement ages are more equal between men and women in lower-income economies.

How Indian women fare in market economy

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1580638435234" alt="Union government keeps social, cultural, and environmental needs of India in mine" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Addressing <a href="https://policharcha.com/article/economy/5dc74117-7154-401c-b9e3-df97dd4c0f72/union-budget-what-to-expect" target="_blank">the uncertainty among common people</a> about the mobilisation of resources when tax collections have taken a serious hit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a series of far reaching reforms in the speech of the decade’s first budget.
While the ​​objective was to boost the Indian economy on the back of <a href="https://policharcha.com/article/economy/f8d3bbe8-e90b-4b93-aaf9-c855e74dbb65/government-aims-to-revive-economy-on-the-back-of-infrastructure-building" target="_blank">physical infrastructure building</a> , the Union Government paid attention to the social, cultural, and environmental needs of the country.
Budget for FY21 revolves around three prominent themes - Aspirational India which aims for a better position in standards of living, health, good jobs and education, Economic Development for all, and Caring Society that is humane and compassionate.
Dwelling on the third scheme i.e. the Caring Society, the FM allocated Rs 35,600 crore, an increase of 22% from last year, for nutrition-related programs for this financial year. A sum of Rs 28,600 crore was proposed to cater programmes relating to women’s welfare.
The Government’s flagship Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme has yielded incredible results, which include an increase in the gross enrollment ratio of girls in all levels of education, she reported. Girls’ enrolment rate is 94.32%, 81.32%, and 59.7% in elementary, secondary, and higher secondary level respectively.
“Women are a priority, especially pregnant, and lactating women. 6 lakh anganwadi workers are equipped to upload nutrition status of more than 10 crore households. This scale is unprecedented,” the FM said. She also suggested setting up a task-force to look into the matter of lowering the maternal mortality.
Public health experts call severe malnourishment a silent emergency. According to International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI) Global Hunger Index (GHI), India slipped from 95th position in 2010 to 102nd in 2019. “India’s child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8%,” the report informed. At 37.9%, India’s child stunting rate is categorised as very high in terms of its public health significance, and just 9.6% of the children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum accepted diet, according to the index.
Pegging for an inclusive growth, FM has announced that Rs 85,000 crore would be allotted for the betterment of scheduled castes and other backward classes, where as an additional sum of Rs 53,700 crore was proposed for scheduled tribes. Rs 9,500 crore was allocated for the Senior citizens and differently-abled citizens.
In line with the diverse culture of India, an Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under the aegis of Ministry of Culture is going to be set up. It was also reported that Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 3,150 have been allocated to the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture respectively. The budget has been increased from the previous year.
Big boost for tourism sector was there to be seen in the budget. The plan for developing on-site museums at five archeological sites, namely Rankhigargi [Hrayana], Hastinapur [Uttrar Pradesh], Shivsagar [Assam], Dholavira [Gujarat], and Adichanallur [Tamil Nadu], was announced. A tribal museum in Ranchi was also proposed.
Highlighting improved tourism revenues due to better rank, the FM said, “India had moved from rank 65 in 2014 to 34 in 2019 in the Travel and Tourism Competitive Index by World Economic Forum."
The allocation of budget for the Environment Ministry has been increased from the last fiscal by nearly 5% with no change in amount allotted to pollution abatement and climate change action plan. On environment, states that are formulating and implementing plans to ensure cleaner air in cities with population above one million to be encouraged. Parameters for the incentives to be notified by the Ministry, forest and Climate Change and the allocation for this purpose is Rs 44,000 crore.&nbsp;

Socio-cultural side of decade’s first budget

<img src="https://discussion.policharcha.in/1580419256334" alt="Pregnant woman can have abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in India" style="float:none;height: auto;width: auto"/>

Taking a progressive step towards the empowerment of women, the Union Cabinet has accepted the extension of upper limit for permitting abortions from 20 months to 24 months. With this extension, the Centre has moved away from its previous stance that State's interest in protecting a foetus' life outweighs the right to reproductive autonomy.
There have been demands to raise the foetal gestation period for abortion beyond 20 weeks. The present abortion law, Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, which is almost 50 years old, permits abortion up to a maximum foetal gestation period of 20 weeks.
The amendments, once finalised, will provide greater reproductive rights to women as abortion is considered as a significant factor that affects the reproductive health of women. Deaths and injuries from unsafe abortions are largely preventable, provided services are performed legally and by trained practitioners.
The Parliament will take up the matter when The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill (2020) will get introduced in the next session.&nbsp;

Following are the planned amendments:- 
<ul>
<li>To increase the upper limit for termination of a pregnancy from 20 weeks to 24 weeks</li>
<li>To extend the contraceptive-failure clause for termination to include “any woman or her partner” from the present provision for “only married woman or her husband”.</li>
<li>The bill proposes that opinion of one registered medical practitioner (RMP) for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks, and two RMPs in case of pregnancy between 20 weeks and 24 weeks, is required.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;&nbsp;
What about similar laws in other countries?
<ins>Around 60 odd countries in the world prescribe gestational limits.</ins>
Countries like the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Ethiopia, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, and even Nepal allow for termination beyond 20 weeks on the diagnosis of foetal abnormalities.
Countries that allow abortion at any time of the pregnancy on the request of the mother are Canada, Germany, Vietnam, Denmark, Ghana, and Zambi.&nbsp;

Cabinet relaxes time limit for having abortion

What do we really love more or want more?&nbsp;
A piece of land with all of its resources or the people it houses?

We need to ask this question to ourselves in order to solve a really big issue that exists in our country.

Land or People?

Will religions become forgotten thoughts one day?

Please put your thoughts on Atheism and its future.&nbsp;

How fast are we moving towards Atheism? or are we even moving?

We cannot afford to fail as democracy but we can as humanity. Why not capital punishment for certain criminals?

Capital punishment for Rapists

Women have always been at the suffering end.&nbsp;

Talking of Hinduism, there was this insane practice Sati pratha where the wife was told to sit on fire and die while breathing and burning with her dead husband on his Chhitaa. But yeah this wasn't much prevalent one.&nbsp;
Somewhere Jauhar was practised where women self-ablaze them when their husbands die in war and this act of theirs was glorified as a sacrifice.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Women are told to not enter Temples during menstruation.
Then there is parda and ghoongat (veil) pratha...the veil one is still widely practised.&nbsp;

Talking of Islam, I think it is the worst performer. I must say that in today's world, it is the worst religion for a woman. Even Hindus are growing with the modernism and so are other religions. But Islam still looks to be in the last position in this race. Wearing Burqa, I don't understand how the hell some intellectuals consider it a religious choice and not a sign of religious or male's imposition. How it is not thinking that says 'nobody gotta see mah woman'.&nbsp;
&nbsp;' Women are treated as a man's property! And the restrictions are much more in number when compared to other religions. Their situation is the worst.&nbsp;

There have always been too much of restrictions on women. And these restrictions were not always inspired by religions but also from the insecurities developed under a male-dominated society. Even today People don't want their women's to wear jeans, follow their passion in arts or sports, have a boyfriend or male friends, drink or smoke and many other things that men can and usually do.
Then there is violence against them. The women are not considered strong and wise enough.

I must agree that irrespective of religion and other parameters, woman are coming out and the society is transforming itself towards that modernism. It is accepting modern values and granting women more freedom. But I think this is just a part of the beginning.&nbsp;

Women in Religion

The Covid-19 (Coronavirus), started in Wuhan, China has now crossed the borders; American, European and Asian countries.

Today Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan presented the official count of 28 people who have been found infected with the virus. Just 40 mins before when I am writing this, it has been reported that 36 people have been tested positive in Hyderbad. There have been other cases reported in other parts of the country too.&nbsp;

Are we prepared for this?&nbsp;

India is already infamous for it's huge population, over-burdened healthcare system which is in itself inefficient and the kind of governments which don't take care and responsibility of their citizen's health. If that's a false claim then below are the examples.

Children dyeing in Rajasthan and Bihar's Acute Encephalitis are the latest example of our government's responsible behavior.

The thing is India is a poor country. We have population density of a mind boggling 420 people per square kilometer. Also there is internal migration everyday in huge numbers. (Indian railways alone carry 23 million passengers everyday, that's like the entire population of Austrailia)

Some experts say that India maynot be a favourable place for the virus, given the hot and humid climate. FYI Coronavirus turns inactive at 38 degree celsius and dies at 50 degrees celsius.

And better if it doesn't find the atmosphere hospitable here. But what is concerning is the present situation and these upcoming 30 days after which we officially welcome summers.

Coronavirus in India

Few months back and also recently I have met a few people who have a mindset in a particular direction like right wing or left wing oriented. Die hard fan of any celebrity or sportstar etc.&nbsp;
&nbsp;The worst thing which i find is people believe it is right to have opinion and choices even if you are with the wrong ones. Someone who has done any crime is roaming free on bail and the supporters say that its the verdict given by the court and hence they are out on bail or so. But the reality is totally different because people are just not ready to accept the fact that the ones they find attractive, are in reality criminals.&nbsp;
What is it, that is missing and who will show the right path , is there any way of reforming these people who are in huge numbers? People who have been thought of being visionaries or path makers themselves have blundered, so what is real and who is not? WHERE ARE WE HEADING TO ?

Perception, Opinions or ???

Vodafone, Idea and Bharti Airtel were enjoying life till Jio took breath. Jio came with offering free 4G internet and unlimited voice calls. It was such a step that for initial 2-3 months many users thought it was a scam. But then the graph of Jio's hold over showing constant acceleration. All the other telecom companies were recording losses and negative growth. What ensued was price drop by every other telecom company; ofcourse they had to survive.&nbsp;
Then came the time when Jio wasn't free anymore and people had to pay around 300Rs for 84 days. But this didn't see any drop in market growth as people were ready to pay this sum. Infact Jio's impact benefitted the Chinese mobile manufactureres the most. The likes of Xiaomi and the BBK Group (Vivo, Oppp, One Plus and Realme) with budget smartphones were selling their devices in the number of millions!&nbsp;
Irrespective of the global recession or dent in economy this was one of those very-very few sector which has since then enjoyed a healthy run.

But now is the payback time!

Except Jio, all other companies have humongous amounts of dues (AGR plus Losses) left to pay. And they've decided to absorb these amounts from none other than their customers. The prices were raised by all the telecom companies in December 2019 by 40%. How this raise affected the market is yet to be found out but it is speculated that not much harm was done.&nbsp;

But what is next on the way, it's effects will surely be visible.

Recently telecom operators have asked the Gov TRAI to set a standard known as floor price for companies. These floor prices will determine how much can be charged by our telecom operators for the services provided.&nbsp;

For example: Right now we pay 3-5 Rs per GB of Data and 0.6 Rs per minute calling to our service providers. But if the TRAI agrees to the proposals made by telecom companies then we may have to pay at least 7-8 times of our current recharging amount. Reportedly, the proposed rates were as Vodafone-Idea (35 Rs/GB), Airtel (30Rs/GB) and Jio (20Rs/GB). Jio, acting like a saint said that they don't intend to shock the 'price sensitive' customer and would like it if the floor price is raised gradually every three-six months from 15 to 20 Rs.&nbsp;
On the other hand, lying dead like Bheesma of Mahabharata, BSNL has proposed that floor prices shouldn't encompass the operators who serve not more than 15% of total customers.

Now it is certain that we are to witness a huge price surge in the coming months and these profit making companies will leave no stone unturned to lure and loot us. Yep, they'll do both together.

An advice: just recharge with an yearly pack in advance so that you will be unaffected from this price surge for at least a year.

It is payback time

Italy has done that and we can see what happened there.
Several studies suggest that the virus will take its due course and reach peak in India also. We must work together (by not being together in this case) to minimise the virus' peak affect in India.

We can(must) not take Corona lightly.  Specially in a country like India

Yes, they might have favored the Chinese a bit initially but they had also brought out guidelines in February.&nbsp;
And the TIMELINE tells us a different story and one which was not broadcasted much as well.&nbsp;
SPAIN and ITALY unprepared or so. America - no comments.
India - ??