25 June 2024

• Polity: NHRC issued notice to Odisha on unpaid custodial death compensation. Over 660 custodial deaths in India between 2017 and 2022.
• International: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina on a two-day state visit to India. 54 transboundary rivers and CEPA negotiations at the centre.
• Governance: UN released Global Principles for Information Integrity to combat disinformation. India's IT Rules 2021 provide the domestic framework.
• Culture: Kozhikode officially observed its first anniversary as India's first UNESCO City of Literature (designated October 2023).

GS area: Polity, Governance

The National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Odisha government over unpaid compensation in a custodial death case, drawing attention to India's wider record.

• Scale: over 660 custodial deaths were recorded in India between 2017 and 2022. Gujarat recorded the highest at 80 cases; Maharashtra was second.
• NHRC's record: the National Human Rights Commission has registered over 17,000 cases since establishment. It has awarded monetary relief exceeding 200 crore rupees in custodial death cases between 1993 and 2021.
• NHRC establishment: set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993. Headed by a former Chief Justice of India. It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Home Affairs but is functionally independent.
• Constitutional safeguards: Article 14 (equality before the law) and Article 21 (right to life) are the primary constitutional anchors for custodial protection.
• Legal framework: Section 330 IPC (now BNS equivalent) prescribes punishment for voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession. Sections 175A and 176 CrPC required magisterial inquiry in custodial deaths. The NHRC 1993 guidelines require reporting of custodial deaths to the NHRC within 24 hours.
• DK Basu guidelines: the Supreme Court laid down binding guidelines in DK Basu vs. State of West Bengal (1997) on arrest procedures to prevent custodial abuse. These include requirements for documentation, medical examination of arrestees, and intimation to family.

Static linkage: polity (fundamental rights), governance.

GS area: International Relations

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina undertook a two-day state visit to India. Key outcomes focused on trade, water sharing, connectivity and digital cooperation.

• Trade: bilateral trade reached 14 billion US dollars in 2023-24. Bangladesh is India's largest South Asian trade partner and India is Bangladesh's second-largest Asian trade partner.
• CEPA negotiations: a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and Bangladesh is under negotiation. It would go beyond FTA (tariff reduction) to cover services, investment and standards.
• Ganges Water Sharing Treaty: renewed. The 30-year Ganga Water Sharing Treaty was signed in 1996 and expires in 2026. Discussions on renewal terms were a key agenda item.
• 54 transboundary rivers: India and Bangladesh share 54 transboundary rivers. The Teesta river water-sharing treaty (allocating flows from the Teesta in West Bengal) has been pending since 2011 due to West Bengal government opposition.
• BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement: the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal MVA, which would allow commercial vehicles to cross borders directly without transshipment. Bangladesh's ratification was discussed.
• Defence exercises: Exercise Sampriti (Army-to-Army) and Exercise Bongo Sagar (Naval) are the two regular bilateral defence exercises.
• Rohingya and illegal migration: Bangladesh hosts over 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. India faces concerns about Rohingya movement across the Bangladesh-India border.

Static linkage: international relations, India's foreign policy.

GS area: Governance, International Relations

The United Nations released the Global Principles for Information Integrity, a framework for combating disinformation and hate speech while protecting media freedom.

• Key principles:
  • Combat disinformation and hate speech on social media platforms.
  • Protect media freedom and the safety of journalists.
  • Technology companies must incorporate safety and privacy by design.
  • Ethical AI development and deployment.
  • Reform advertising business models that incentivise sensational or false content.
  • Data transparency and independent auditing of platforms.
  • Special protections for children online.
• India's framework: IT Rules 2021 require social media intermediaries to remove content flagged by PIB's Fact Check Unit (this provision is under judicial challenge). Section 66D of the IT Act 2008 regulates false electronic communications.
• Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA): a group of 14 digital publishers with a self-regulatory fact-checking mandate.
• Article 19 (Universal Declaration of Human Rights): guarantees freedom of opinion and expression. The UN principles try to balance this against the harm caused by disinformation.

Static linkage: governance, international relations.

GS area: Indian Culture, Geography

The Ambubachi Mela at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati was held in June 2024. It is one of the largest religious gatherings in northeast India.

• Ambubachi Mela: also known as Ameti or the Tantric Fertility Festival. An annual Hindu festival held in the Assamese month of Ahaar (mid-June), corresponding to the monsoon's onset.
• Significance: the festival celebrates the annual menstruation of Goddess Maa Kamakhya. The temple remains closed for three days and then opens for pilgrims.
• Kamakhya Temple: located on the Nilachal Hills in Guwahati, Assam. The temple was reconstructed in the mid-16th century by the Koch dynasty (King Naranarayana). It is one of the 51 Shakti Pithas.
• Shakti Pitha: sites associated with body parts of Goddess Sati (Parvati). According to mythology, Shiva carried Sati's body after her death, and Vishnu's Sudarshana Chakra cut it into pieces. The Kamakhya site is associated with the goddess's yoni (generative organ).
• Tantric significance: Kamakhya is a major centre for Tantric worship, attracting ascetics and practitioners from across India. It is also associated with the Kamarupa region of ancient Assam.

Static linkage: Indian culture, geography.

GS area: Culture, Governance

23 June was Kozhikode's official City of Literature Day, marking its designation as India's first UNESCO City of Literature (October 2023).

• UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN): established in 2014. Creates a global network of cities designated in seven creative areas: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music.
• Kozhikode's heritage: historical name Calicut. Located on the Malabar coast, Kerala. The city has over 1,500 years of literary and trading history. It was a major medieval ruler's port (Zamorins/Samoothiris).
• Historical visitors: Ibn Battuta, the 14th-century Moroccan traveller, visited Kozhikode. Vasco da Gama's first landing in India was at Kozhikode (Kappad beach) in 1498.
• Literary infrastructure: over 500 libraries and 70 publishers. Designated the City of Sculptures in 2012.
• Other Indian UCCN cities: Jaipur (Crafts/Folk Arts, 2015), Varanasi (Music, 2015), Chennai (Music, 2017), Mumbai (Film, 2019), Hyderabad (Gastronomy, 2019), Srinagar (Crafts/Folk Art, 2021).
• Implications for tourism and culture policy: UCCN designation is used to promote creative industries, literary tourism and cultural diplomacy.

Static linkage: Indian culture, international relations.

GS area: International Relations, Security

Russia's approval of the draft RELOS completed the logistics agreement framework India has been building with its major defence partners.

• India's logistics network:
  • USA: GSOMIA (2002), LEMOA (2016), COMCASA (2018), BECA (2020).
  • France: maritime intelligence and exercise cooperation.
  • Australia: MLSA (2020).
  • Japan: ACSA (2020).
  • Russia: RELOS (draft approved 2024).
• COMCASA: the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement with the US, allowing secure communication equipment on US military platforms shared with India.
• BECA: the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation. Gives India access to US military-grade satellite imagery and mapping data for precision navigation.
• Strategic balance: India's simultaneous logistics agreements with the US-led Quad countries and Russia reflects its multi-alignment policy, maintaining relationships with competing great powers.
• Russia's defence share: historically 60 to 70 per cent of India's military hardware was of Russian origin. India is diversifying to France (Rafale fighters), Israel (UAVs), and domestic development (Tejas, Arjun).

Static linkage: international relations, security.

• Draft RELOS benefits for India: access to Russian ports in the Arctic for the INS-series submarines and research vessels. India's Himadri Arctic research station in Svalbard would benefit from enhanced Arctic route logistics.
• Skin Bank at Army Hospital: India's Armed Forces Medical Services established their first skin bank at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, New Delhi. It harvests, processes, preserves and supplies human skin allografts for burn treatment and polytrauma management.