1 July 2024

• Law: Three new criminal codes replaced colonial-era IPC, CrPC, and Evidence Act from today. India's criminal justice system gets its biggest overhaul in 150 years.
• History: India marked the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Emergency. The Cabinet approved a "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas" commemoration on June 25 each year.
• Economy: The RBI Financial Stability Report showed gross NPAs at a multi-year low of 2.8 per cent. Remittances to India crossed 120 billion dollars in 2023.
• Science: A Russian satellite fragmented into over 100 debris pieces, raising Kessler Syndrome concerns for orbital operations.

GS area: Polity, Governance

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam came into force on 1 July 2024. They replace the Indian Penal Code (1860), the Code of Criminal Procedure (1973), and the Indian Evidence Act (1872) respectively. The three codes were passed in Parliament in December 2023.

• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita: Replaces the Indian Penal Code. Classifies sexual intercourse with a minor wife as rape. Introduces community service as a penalty for minor offences. Removes the colonial offence of sedition by name while retaining provisions on acts against state sovereignty.
• Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita: Replaces the CrPC. Mandates that judgments be delivered within 30 days of arguments concluding. Introduces trial in absentia for proclaimed offenders.
• Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam: Replaces the Indian Evidence Act. Adopts gender-neutral language throughout. Replaces the term "insanity" with "mental illness."
• Exception: Section 106(2) of the BNS, which deals with hit-and-run cases, was placed on hold after transport workers' protests in January 2024.
• Implementation tools: NCRB modified the CCTNS system for compatibility. The NIC developed eSakshya (electronic evidence), NyayShruti (audio recording), and eSummon (electronic summons) applications.

The reform is the largest in Indian criminal law since independence. Critics note that many substantive provisions from the colonial codes survive under new numbering.

Static linkage: Criminal law (Polity), judicial reforms.

GS area: Modern History, Polity

June 25 marked 50 years since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a national emergency in 1975. The emergency lasted 21 months and ended in March 1977. The Union Cabinet approved June 25 as "Samvidhan Hatya Diwas" to mark what it described as an assault on the Constitution.

• Legal basis: Declared under Article 352 on grounds of internal disturbance. It was the third proclamation of a national emergency (the first two were in 1962 and 1971 on grounds of external aggression).
• Effects: Civil liberties suspended. Press censorship imposed. Mass arrests under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. Habeas corpus suspended. Elections cancelled.
• Forced sterilisation programme: Ran under pressure from state governments, with figures disputed but widely acknowledged as a major human rights violation.
• Constitutional response: The 43rd and 44th Amendments (1977 and 1978) under the Janata government tightened the conditions for future emergencies. "Armed rebellion" replaced "internal disturbance" as the valid ground.
• Minerva Mills case (1980): The Supreme Court held that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution to destroy its basic structure. This judgment is the clearest judicial limit on emergency-era overreach.

Static linkage: Emergency provisions (Polity), constitutional amendments.

GS area: Economy

The Reserve Bank of India released the 29th issue of its Financial Stability Report. The headline numbers show the banking system at its healthiest in years.

• Gross NPA ratio: 2.8 per cent, the lowest in many years.
• Net NPA ratio: 0.6 per cent.
• Capital adequacy: Scheduled commercial banks remain well above the regulatory minimum.
• Macro stress tests: The RBI's scenario analysis showed that even under a severe stress scenario, banks would maintain capital ratios above the minimum requirement.

The report also flagged risks: rising household debt, elevated credit card delinquencies among younger borrowers, and global spillover risks from geopolitical tensions.

Static linkage: Banking sector (Indian economy), RBI functions.

GS area: Economy, International Relations

Two international reports released this week carry data examiners have historically used.

• World Bank Migration Brief: India received 120 billion dollars in remittances in 2023, the highest for any country. The Indian diaspora stands at 18.7 million emigrants. The Mexico-to-US corridor is the world's largest bilateral migration corridor by volume.
• IMF AI Preparedness Index: Singapore ranked first among 174 economies. India ranked 72nd. The index measures digital infrastructure, human capital, innovation capacity, and regulation.
• UNODC World Drug Report 2024: 292 million people used drugs globally in 2022. Cannabis remains the most widely used substance. The Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand) is a major production zone for synthetic drugs entering Asia.

Static linkage: International institutions (Polity/IR), India's external sector (Economy).

GS area: International Relations, Economy

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200 km multimodal route linking St Petersburg to Mumbai via Iran and the Caspian Sea. Russia accelerated use of this route in 2024 as Western sanctions redirected its trade away from European ports.

• Route: Rail and road from Russia through Azerbaijan or Kazakhstan, then Iran, then ship or road to India.
• Strategic value for India: Cuts shipping time between Mumbai and Moscow from 40 days via the Suez Canal to about 25 days.
• Members: India, Russia, Iran, and 10 other states signed the founding agreement in 2000.

The corridor has been discussed for two decades but saw low traffic. Western sanctions on Russia and Iran created the urgency that agreement alone could not.

Static linkage: Trade corridors (Indian geography), India-Russia relations.

• Bhuvan Panchayat Portal v4.0: ISRO's geoportal updated with satellite imagery for rural land records and gram panchayat planning. Complements the SVAMITVA scheme for property mapping.
• Senna spectabilis invasion: An invasive American tree species is suppressing native vegetation in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern globally but it is highly damaging in Indian forest ecosystems.
• Space debris: Russia's RESURS-P1 Earth observation satellite fragmented into over 100 trackable pieces, threatening the International Space Station's orbit. The Kessler Syndrome describes a cascade failure where debris generates more debris, rendering low-Earth orbit unusable.