Civil union in Special Marriage Act

GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, began hearing a batch of petitions seeking legal recognition of same sex marriage. While the Centre, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, contested the maintainability of the petitions, and also the judiciary’s right to confer legal recognition on the “socio-legal institution” of marriage, the CJI clarified that the hearing’s scope would be limited to developing a notion of a “civil union” that finds legal recognition under the Special Marriage Act.

What is a civil union?

1. A “civil union” refers to the legal status that allows same-sex couples specific rights and responsibilities normally conferred upon married couples.
2. Although a civil union resembles a marriage and brings with it employment, inheritance, property, and parental rights, there are some differences between the two.

How is a civil union different from marriage?

1. In the year 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) legalised same-sex marriages across the nation with its landmark ruling in “Obergefell v. Hodges”.
2. Prior to the 2015 ruling, a majority of the US states had civil union laws that allowed same-sex couples to marry, without providing them formal recognition of the same.
3. These civil unions would be accompanied by rights such as inheritance rights, employment benefits to spouses, joint parenting or joint ownership rights, and the right to abstain from testifying against one’s partner — similar to the spousal privilege given under Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act, when it comes to disclosure of communication between two spouses.
4. A big difference between civil unions and marriages was that the former was recognised solely by issuing states and not by federal law.
5. This created a situation where such couples could not enjoy the benefits of being in a civil union, uniformly, across all states. Since the US had a system where states had to determine their own marriage laws, this disparity of recognition existed.
6. In the wake of the legalisation of same sex marriages, several civil unions were converted into marriages.

What other countries allow civil unions?

1. The United States is just one of the countries that allows same sex unions. Before 2009, the year that Sweden legalised same sex marriages, LGBTQ couples there could apply for civil unions and enjoy benefits such as the right to adopt.
2. Similarly, from 1993, couples in Norway enjoyed the right to enter into civil unions, which gave way to a new law 15 years later, allowing such couples to marry, adopt and undergo state-sponsored artificial insemination.
3. In Austria, same-sex couples could form civil partnerships between the years 2010-2017. However, this changed with a court ruling that deemed civil unions discriminatory in January 2019, when such marriages were legalised.
4. Similarly, countries like Brazil, Uruguay, Andorra, and Chile had also recognised the right of same sex couples to enter into civil unions, even before they formally recognised their legal right to marriage.

National Quantum Mission Approved

GS Paper -3 (Technology)

The Union Cabinet approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM), putting India among the top six leading nations involved in the research and development in quantum technologies.

More about the news:

• NQM period is from 2023 – 2031; it is worth Rs. 6,003.65 crore and will mainly work towards strengthening India’s research and development in the quantum arena.
• DST (Department of Science and Technology) will lead this national mission, supported by other departments.

Objectives of the mission:

• It will promote indigenously building quantum-based (physical qubit) computers which are far more powerful to perform the most complex problems in a highly secure manner.
• The National Quantum Mission will help India take a quantum leap and will have wide-scale applications ranging from healthcare and diagnostics, defence, energy and data security.
• Presently, R&D works in quantum technologies are underway in the US, Canada, France, Finland, China and Austria.
• NQM will entail development of satellite-based secure communications between a ground station and a receiver located with 3,000kms during the first three years.
• For satellite-based communication within Indian cities, NQM will lay communication lines using Quantum Key Distribution over 2,000kms. For long distances quantum communication, especially with other countries, tests will be conducted in the coming years.
• The mission will focus on developing quantum computers (qubit) with physical qubit capacities ranging between 50 – 1000 qubits developed over the next eight years.
• Computers up to 50 physical qubits will be developed over three years, 50 – 100 physical qubits in five years and computers up to 1000 physical qubits in eight years.
• Under NQM, there will be four broad themes such as Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum Sensing and Metrology and Quantum Material and Devices.
• Thematic hub for each will be established at research institutes and R&D centres who are already working in this field of research.

India’s first Satellite

GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)

The Aryabhata spacecraft was India's first satellite, was completely designed and fabricated in India and launched by a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar on 19 April 1975. The satellite was named Aryabhata after the famous Indian astronomer.

More about the Satellite

1. From this satellite India entered the space age. The agreement between India and the Soviet Union directed by U.R. Rao in 1972 allowed the USSR to use Indian ports for tracking ships and launching vessels as a token for launching Indian satellites.
2. The satellite had its data receiving centre in Bangalore, where a toilet was converted to serve the purpose.
3. Aryabhata weighed 794 pounds (360 kg) and was instructed to explore conditions in Earth’s ionosphere, measure neutrons and gamma rays from the Sun, and perform investigations in X-ray astronomy.
4. It had a real-time data transmission rate of 256 bits/sec with an internal temperature ranging from 0 to 40 degrees Celsius.

Flashback

1. The historic event was celebrated by the Reserve Bank of India and the satellite's image appeared on the reverse of Indian 2 rupee banknotes between 1976 and 1997.
2. To commemorate the event, both India and Russia released commemorative stamps and first day covers.

UN population report 2023

GS Paper -3 (Economy)

India is now the most populous country in the world, having overtaken China in population, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in its State of World Population (SOWP) report, ‘8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities’,.

More about the news:

In November 2022, the UN had announced that the world’s population had crossed the 8 billion mark.

Highlights of the report:

• It said the population of the world is 8,045 million, of which the largest share (65%) is of people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, followed by those in the 10-24 years group (24%). 10 percent of the population is above 65 years of age.
• According to the UN’s 2022 report, the world’s two most populous regions are Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, with 2.3 billion people, representing 29 per cent of the global population; and Central and Southern Asia, with 2.1 billion (26 per cent). Central and Southern Asia is expected to become the most populous region in the world by 2037.
• China and India accounted for the largest populations in these regions, with more than 1.4 billion each in 2022.
• The latest UN projections suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.

What is the outlook for population growth?

• The latest projections suggest that the rate of global population growth has fallen, and has been at less than 1 per cent since 2020.
• The decline is largely due to declining fertility; around two thirds of people live in a country or area with a total fertility rate at or below 2.1 children per woman (widely considered the “replacement fertility” rate, also called “zero-growth fertility” rate). In 1950 the global fertility rate stood at 5.
• The UN has said that already 60% of the world’s population lives in a region where the fertility rate is below replacement level, up from 40% in 1990.
• It is international migration that is now the driver of growth in many countries, with 281 million people living outside their country of birth in 2020. Migration has also occurred due to war, famines, and other catastrophes.
• According to the report, South Asia clocks some of the highest emigration trends, with India seeing an estimated net outflow of 3.5 million between 2010 and 2021. Pakistan has the highest net flow of migrants of 16.5 million during the same period.

Life expectancy contribution to the global population growth:

• The 2023 report finds that life expectancy among men now stands at 71 years while among women it stands at 76 years.
• Due to increasing life expectancy, the population is increasing, also mortality rates is decreasing all over the world, due to better access to health care and improving standards of living.
• The share of the global population aged 65 years or above is projected to increase from 10 per cent in 2022 to 16 per cent in 2050.
• Once fertility rates drop in high fertility regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, the global population will start to decline.

India’s population picture:

• The UN report states that India now has 1,428.6 million people and is the most populous country in the world, outstripping China’s population.
• As much as 68% of India’s population belongs to the 15-64 years category, and 26% in the 10-24 years group, making India one of the youngest countries in the world.
• The fertility rate in India has been steadily dropping. The National Family Health 5 Survey (2019-21) found that India attained a Total Fertility Rate of 2.0 for the first time; less than the replacement level of 2.1, falling from 2.2 in NFHS 4 (2015-16), and the country’s population is likely to start its decline closer to 2050.

Why the rate of growth of population slowing in India:

• India’s growth rate stood at 2.3 per cent in 1972, which has dropped to less than 1 per cent now. In this period, the number of children each Indian woman has during her lifetime has come down from about 5.4 to less than 2.1 now.
• It means that we have attained the Replacement Fertility Rate, at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next.
• Due to the increased use of contraceptive methods, spacing of pregnancies, access to health care and the impetus to family planning, besides increasing wealth and education, has contributed to the rate of growth of population slowing.
• Life expectancy for men in India is the same as the global life expectancy of 71 years, while it is marginally lower for women at 74 years.