Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017

Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation introduced Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in Lok Sabha today 14.03.2017. 

• The Bill proposes a Single Standing Tribunal (with multiple benches) instead of existing multiple tribunals, which shall consist of 
• one Chairperson, 
• one Vice-Chairperson and 
• not more than six other Members.
• While the term of office of the Chairperson is five year or till he attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier, the term of office of Vice Chairperson and other member of tribunal shall be co-terminus with the adjudication of the water dispute.  

• The Bill also provides for the appointment of Assessors to provide technical support to the tribunal. They shall be appointed from amongst experts serving in the Central Water engineering Service not below the rank of Chief Engineer.
• The total time period for adjudication of dispute has been fixed at maximum of four and half years.
• The decision of the Tribunal shall be final and binding with no requirement of publication in the official Gazette.
• The Bill also proposes to introduce mechanism to resolve the dispute amicably by negotiations, through a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) to be established by the Central Government consisting of relevant experts, before such dispute is referred to the tribunal.
• The Bill also provides for transparent data collection system at the national level for each river basin and for this purpose, an agency to maintain data-bank and information system shall be appointed or authorized by Central Government.  

Inter-state river water disputes Resolution Mechanism at present:-

• Inter-state river water disputes are on the rise on account of increase in water demands by the States.
• The Inter State Water Dispute Act, 1956 which provides the legal framework to address such disputes, suffers from many drawbacks.
• This act was further amended in 2002 to include the major recommendations of ‘The Sarkaria Commission’. The amendments mandated a one year time frame to setup the water disputes tribunal and also a 3 year time frame to give a decision.
• Under this Act, a separate Tribunal has to be established for each Inter State River Water Dispute.
• Only three out of eight Tribunals have given awards accepted by the States, while Tribunals like Cauvery and Ravi Beas have been in existence for over 26 and 30 years respectively without any award.
• Delays are on account of no time limit for adjudication by a Tribunal, no upper age limit for the Chairman or the Members, work getting stalled due to occurrence of any vacancy and no time limit for publishing the report of the Tribunal.

• The Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 2017 proposes to streamline the adjudication of inter-state river water disputes and make the present legal and institutional architecture robust.

Some of the River Disputes are:-

• Mahanadi Dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh: Odisha is accusing upstream state Chhattisgarh of building barrages and dams to store and divert too much water.
• Mahadayi Dispute among Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka: Goa opposes the building of upstream dams by the other two states.
• Dispute between Punjab and Haryana over the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal: Punjab has been objecting to the diversion of Sutlej waters to Haryana through SYL.
• Krishna and Godavari water-sharing disputes between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which will also spill over to Maharashtra and Karnataka, among other basin states.

• 	Name of Tribunal	States concerned	Date of constitution	Present Status
  1.	Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal	Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh & Odisha	April, 1969	Award given on July, 1980
  2.	Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -I	Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,	April, 1969	Award given on May, 1976
  3.	Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal	Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra	October, 1969	Award given on December, 1979
  4.	Ravi & Beas Water Tribunal	Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan	April, 1986	Report and decision given in April, 1987. Clarification / explanation sought from the Tribunal by the party States. Also, a Presidential Reference in the matter is before Supreme Court and as such the matter is sub-judice.
  5.	Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal	Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puduchery	June, 1990	Report and decision given on 5.2.2007. A Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by party States in Hon’ble Supreme Court, as such the matter is sub-judice.
  6.	Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal -II	Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra	April, 2004	Report and decision given on 30.12. 2010.  The matter is sub-judice.
  7.	Vansadhara Water Disputes Tribunal	Andhra Pradesh &Odisha	February, 2010	Report and decision not given by the Tribunal. The matter is sub-judice.
  8.	Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal	Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra	November, 2010	Report and Decision not given by the Tribunal.

  
  
  Other Inter-State Water disputes
  Apart from the above mentioned disputes, the following are the other Inter-State water disputes
  • Indirasagar (Polavaram) Project, Andhra Pradesh
  • Babhali Barrage Issue
  • Mulla Periyar Dam Issue

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015

The Code seeks to create a unified framework for resolving insolvency and bankruptcy in India. 

Insolvency is a situation where individuals or organisations are unable to meet their financial obligations. 

The Code will apply to companies, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, individuals and any other body specified by the central government.

Resolution process for companies and limited liability partnerships: 

The resolution process will have to be completed within a maximum period of 180 days from the date of registration of the case. This period may be extended by 90 days if 75% of the financial creditors agree. The process will involve negotiations between the debtor and creditors to draft a resolution plan. 

The process will end under two circumstances, (i) when a resolution plan is agreed upon by a majority of the creditors and submitted to the adjudicating authority, or (ii) the time period for negotiation has come to an end. In case a plan cannot be negotiated upon, the company will go into liquidation. 

There will be provision for a fast track insolvency resolution process for companies with smaller operations. The process will have to be completed within 90 days, which may be extended if 75% of financial creditors agree. 

Resolution process for individuals and partnerships: 

Before going in for insolvency resolution, the debtor may apply for forgiveness of a specified amount of debt, provided that his assets are below a limit set by the central government. This process will have to be completed within six months. 

In case of insolvency resolution, negotiations between the debtor and creditors will be supervised by an insolvency professional. If negotiations succeed, a repayment plan, agreed upon by a majority of the creditors, will be submitted to the adjudicator. If they fail, the matter will proceed to bankruptcy resolution. 

Insolvency professionals and agencies: 

The IRP will be managed by a licensed professional. The professional will also control the assets of the debtor during the process. The Code also proposes to set up insolvency professional agencies. These agencies will admit insolvency professionals as members and develop a code of conduct and evolve performance standards for them. 

Insolvency regulator: The Code seeks to establish the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, to oversee insolvency resolution in the country. 

The Board will have 10 members, including representatives from the central government and Reserve Bank of India. It will register information utilities, insolvency professionals and insolvency professional agencies under it, and regulate their functioning. 

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Fund: The Code creates an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Fund. 

Deposits to the Fund will include: 

• (i) grants made by the central government, 
• (ii) amount deposited by persons, and
•  (iii) interest earned on investments made from the Fund. 

Any person who has contributed to the Fund may apply for withdrawal, in case of proceedings against him.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency Adjudicators: 

The Code proposes two separate tribunals to adjudicate grievances related to insolvency, bankruptcy and liquidation of different entities under the law: 

• (i) the National Company Law Tribunal will have jurisdiction over companies and limited liability partnerships, and
• (ii) the Debt Recovery Tribunal will have jurisdiction over individuals and partnership firms. Appeals against orders of these tribunals may be challenged before their respective Appellate Tribunals, and further before the Supreme Court.

Source: PRS Legislative Research

CEDAW and India

CEDAW:-

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it was instituted on 3 September 1981 and has been ratified by 189 states.

The Convention is structured in six parts with 30 articles total.

·         Part I (Articles 1-6) focuses on non-discrimination, sex stereotypes, and sex trafficking.

·         Part II (Articles 7-9) outlines women's rights in the public sphere with an emphasis on political life, representation, and rights to nationality.

·         Part III (Articles 10-14) describes the economic and social rights of women, particularly focusing on education, employment, and health. Part III also includes special protections for rural women and the problems they face.

·         Part IV (Article 15 and 16) outlines women's right to equality in marriage and family life along with the right to equality before the law.

·         Part V (Articles 17-22) establishes the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women as well as the states parties' reporting procedure.

·         Part VI (Articles 23-30) describes the effects of the Convention on other treaties, the commitment of the state’s parties and the administration of the Convention.

Steps Taken by India:-

1.      Article 14 of the Indian constitution, Equality before Law, states, “the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”

2.      Article 15 Prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children)

3.      In 1994, India ratified the Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) treaty.

4.      The purpose, as outlined in Article 1 of the treaty, is to focus on the forms of discrimination that women face and to help eliminate discrimination that either intends to, or has the effect of, limiting women from participating equally in public life.

5.      To control female feticide, the Government of India enacted the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994, which restricts the determination and revelation of gender of the foetus through amniocentesis as well as specifies the code of conduct for medical practitioners.

a.       Under the PNDT Act, an individual/ institution found guilty of advertising prenatal determination of gender in any form is subject to imprisonment and/or a fine. The PNDT Act was amended in 2002 and 2003, owing to innovation in technologies for sex determination through ultra sounds that impede the implementation of the Act.

b.      Section 318 in The Indian Penal Code

                                                              i.      318. Concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body. — “Whoever, by secretly burying or otherwise disposing of the death body of a child whether such child die before or after or during its birth, intentionally conceals or endeavours to conceal the birth of such child, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both”.

6.      In 1956 India passed the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) which has severe penalties ranging from seven years’ to life imprisonment.

7.      From a national level, in 1992, India established the National Commission for Women, which is the national mediator for women.

8.      In 1997 India established a parliamentary committee on the empowerment of women, and in January 2001, India announced its commitment to the empowerment of women through the launching of a new National Policy on Women’s Empowerment.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.

·         The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under a state's own domestic legislation.

AFSPA

Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance was promulgated by the British in 1942 to suppress the quit India movement.

Modeled on these lines, four ordinances—the Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the Assam Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces)Ordinance; the East Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the United provinces Disturbed Areas(Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance were invoked by the central government to deal with the internal security situation in the country in 1947 which arouse out of Partition of India.

Armed Forces Special Powers (Assam and Manipur) Act, 1958

In 1951, the Naga National Council(NNC) reported that it conducted a "free and fair plebiscite" in which about 99 per cent Nagas voted for a ‘Free Sovereign Naga Nation’.^[7] There was a boycott of first general election of 1952 which later, extended to boycott of government schools and officials.^[8] In order to deal with the situation, the Assam government imposed the Assam Maintenance of Public Order (Autonomous District) Act in the Naga Hills in 1953 and intensified police action against the rebels. When the situation worsened, Assam deployed the Assam Rifles in the Naga Hills and enacted the Assam Disturbed Areas Act of 1955, providing a legal framework for the paramilitary forces and the armed state police to combat insurgency in the region.But the Assam Rifles and the state armed police could not contain the Naga rebellion and the rebel Naga Nationalist Council(NNC) formed a parallel government "The Federal Government of Nagaland" on 23 March 1956.^[9] The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance 1958 was promulgated by the President Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 22 May 1958. It was replaced by Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) special Powers Act, 1958 on 11 September 1958.

Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers (Amendment) Act, 1972

The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act,1958 empowered only the Governors of the States and the Administrators of the Union Territories to declare areas in the concerned State or the Union Territory as 'disturbed'. The reason for conferring such a power as per "Objects and Reasons'" appended to the Bill was that, "Keeping inview the duty of the Union under Article 355 of the Constitution, inter alia, to protect every State against internal disturbance, it is considered desirable that the Central government should also have power to declare areas as 'disturbed', to enable its armed forces to exercise the special powers".^[10] The territorial scope of Act also expanded to the five states of the North-East, - Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and to the Union Territories Arunachal Pradesh andMizoram. 

In addition, the words, "The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958" were substituted by "Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958", getting the acronym of AFSPA, 1958.

RTE

The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.

Article 21-A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010.

 The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’.

‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. 

‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group. 

With this, India has moved forward to a rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act provides for the:

(i) Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighborhood school.

(ii) It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.

(iii) It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authority and parents in providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.

(iv) It lays down the norms and standards relating inter-alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours.

(v) It provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil teacher ratio is maintained for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or District or Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in teacher postings. It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.

(vi) It provides for appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.

(vii) It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment; (b) screening procedures for admission of children; (c) capitation fee; (d) private tuition by teachers and (e) running of schools without recognition,

(viii) It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child cent red learning.

Pupil teacher ratios that need to be adhered to, the minimum for classes 1 to V being 30:1 in schools below 200 children and in those above 200 children the pupil teacher ratio must not exceed 40:1.

The areas or limits of neighborhood within which a school has to be established by the State Government shall be as under - 

(a) In respect of children in classes I - V, a school shall be established within a walking distance of one km of the neighborhood. 

(b) In respect of children in classes VI - VIII, a school shall be established within a walking distance of 3 km of the neighborhood. 

FC (R) Act, 2010

It is an Act to consolidate the law to (regulate the acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain individuals or associations or companies) and (to prohibit acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality for any activities detrimental to the national interest) and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Section 3 of FCRA specifies that the following persons cannot receive foreign contribution:

(a) candidate for election;
(b) correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper;
(c) Judge, Government servant or employee of any corporation or any other body controlled or owned by the Government;
(d) member of any Legislature;
(e) political party or office-bearer thereof;
(f) organisation of a political nature as may be specified under sub-section (1)
of section 5 by the Central Government;
(g) association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes through any electronic mode, or any other electronic form as defined in clause (r) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 or any other mode of mass communication;
(h) correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner of the association or company referred to in clause (g).

The above mentioned person cannot receive foreign contribution subject to certain exceptions specified in section 4 which are as under:

(a) If they receive foreign funds by way of salary, wages or remuneration for services rendered.
(b) If they receive payment in ordinary course of business transaction in India by such foreign organisation or source.
(c) If the funds are received in the course of international trade or commerce or in the ordinary course of business transacted outside India.
(d) Payment is received as an agent of a foreign source or organisation in relation to any transaction made by such foreign organisation with the governance.
(e) If the payment is received by way of gift or presentation as a part of any Indian delegation within the norms of acceptance described by Central Government.
(f) Payment is received from relative staying abroad.
(g) Payment is received through official channel, post office or any authorized dealer in the ordinary course of business”.
(h) by way of any scholarship, stipend or any payment of like nature

Case of NGOs or Charitable Organisation:-

All NGOs or Charitable Organisations having a definite cultural, economic, religious or social program are eligible for registration under FCRA. Once a FCRA registration is obtained, such organisation can receive foreign funds with obtaining any further approval subject to other formalities of FCRA.

Organisation of Political nature:-

Organisation of political nature cannot register itself under FCRA and they are not eligible to receive foreign contribution. The Central Government has published a list of organisations which are considered as organisation of political nature. 

Anti Defection Law

The 10th Schedule to the Constitution, popularly referred to as the ‘Anti-Defection Law,' was inserted by the 52nd Amendment in 1985.The grounds of disqualification are specified in Paragraph 2 of the 10th Schedule. A member would incur a disqualification under paragraph

•          2 (1) (a) when he “voluntarily gives up his membership of a party” and
•         2 (1) (b) when he/she votes (or abstains from voting) contrary to the directive issued by the party.

As per the 1985 Act, a 'defection' by one-third of the elected members of a political party was considered a 'merger'. Such defections were not actionable against. 

The Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms, the Law Commission in its report on "Reform of Electoral Laws" and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) all recommended the deletion of the Tenth Schedule provision regarding exemption from disqualification in case of a split.

Finally the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, changed this. So now at least two-thirds of the members of a party have to be in favour of a "merger" for it to have validity in the eyes of the law. "The merger of the original political party or a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger," states the Tenth Schedule.

Coal Mining

• Under the Mines and Minerals Act (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, the power of allocation of all minerals, including coal, is with State Govt. For some scheduled minerals, such as coal, the State Govt. is required to get the consent of the Centre.

• As per the Coal Nationalization Act. 1973, the centre can decide what kind of industries or companies will be allowed to get coal. As per section 3 of the Act, Coal can be allocated to companies engaged in the production of steel or cement or any other industry that the govt. may notify.

CNT Act

• The Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act enacted in 1908 after the Birsa Movement to govern land issues and prevent land alienation is supposed to be MagnaCarta for tribals.  
• The blueprint of the act was prepared by John Hoffman, a missionary social worker.
• Under the CNT Act, land belonging to SC/ST/BC can be mortgaged only for five years, so banks will lose the right to recover loans after five years. Since, housing loans are for larger terms >5, it creates problems for housing schemes.
• CNT Act has been listed in the 9^th Schedule of the Constitution, which implies that it is beyond Judicial Review.
• A tribal can transfer his land through sale/gift/transfer to a fellow ST member and resident of his own police station only.
• It is applicable in North Chotanagpur, South Chotanagpur and Palamau divisions.