Jammu and Kashmir state to two UTs
Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Polity
- The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been officially bifurcated into the Union Territories of J and K and Ladakh on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Key highlights
- October 31 will mark the beginning of the functioning of the two UTs at a bureaucratic level. This was the date chosen after the bifurcation was announced in Parliament on August 5.
- The two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh came into effect under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act.
- While Jammu and Kashmir will have an elected Assembly and council of ministers headed by a chief minister, Ladakh will be under the Lieutenant Governor’s rule.
- This is the first time that a state has been reorganised into union territories. India now has 28 states and nine union territories.
- Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will increasing from its current strength to 114. It will have a
term of five years, instead of the state Assembly’s term of six years. - The Legislative Council of Jammu and Kashmir will stand abolished. Jammu and Kashmir was one of the seven states to have a legislative council.
- Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have five Lok Sabha MPs and four Rajya Sabha MPs. Ladakh will have one Lok Sabha MP.
- The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) have also ceased to exist now from JK and Ladakh. Indian Penal Code provisions will now be applicable.
- Central probe agencies like the National Investigation Agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation will now be able to take up investigations in the state on their own.
- The two union territories will have a common high court.
- While Jammu and Kashmir will be have a Public Service Commission, Ladakh will come under the Union Public Service Commission’s ambit.
The Advocates Act 1961
Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: Judiciary
- In a public notice last week, the Bar Council of Delhi said errant lawyers contravening Bar Council rules would be prosecuted under the provisions of The Advocates Act, 1961.
News in detail
- Last week, the Bar Council of Delhi in a public notice said that it had issued notices of misconduct to lawyers found publishing advertisements on social media, including on Facebook and WhatsApp.
- The notice also said that errant lawyers contravening Bar Council rules would be prosecuted under the provisions of The Advocates Act, 1961.
- Rules in India do not allow advocates to publicise their services.
- Subsection 1(c) of Section 49 of The Advocates Act, 1961 (‘General power of the Bar Council of India to make rules’) empowers the Bar Council of India to make Rules on ‘the standard of professional conduct and etiquette to be observed by advocates’.
- An advocate who contravenes these Rules can be prosecuted under Section 35 of The Advocates Act, 1961. Under it, a state Bar Council can dismiss the complaint, reprimand the advocate, suspend the advocate from practice for a limited period, remove the advocate’s name from the state roll of advocates.
Mechanism towards avoiding Borewell deaths
Why in news?
- The intensive operation in Tamil Nadu to rescue a child who slipped into an abandoned borewell in Manapparai, Tiruchi district, ended in spectacular failure.
What are the major issues?
- There is no breakthrough method has emerged, whether in terms of technology or protocols, when it comes to rescuing small children who have fallen into deep holes that are less than a foot wide.
- The disaster that befell the Tamil Nadu farmer’s family last week is no different from the one that took the life of another two-year-old in Punjab’s Sangrur district earlier this year.
- The agency deployed its teams no less than 37 times until 2018, mostly in Maharashtra, but also in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka.
- More such disasters are bound to occur, since there are many disused and uncovered well holes scattered in farms in several States.
- No time can be lost in implementing the safety rules relating to wells issued in the past, to save children at risk.
Existing laws
- Tamil Nadu issued, under its Panchayats Act, the Regulation of Sinking of Wells and Safety Measures Rules 2015, incorporating measures ordered by the Supreme Court in 2010.
- Among the many steps prescribed for orderly well-digging, there is a provision requiring the holder of a permit or well to fill up an abandoned hole up to the ground level using clay, sand or boulders (the court also mentions pebbles and drill cuttings).
Way ahead
- To meaningful implementation of this provision, the onus should rest with the local body, and not the owner of the borewell who is often a farmer of poor means.
- Under a normative system, closing an abandoned well would no longer be seen as a wasteful expenditure by farmers, since they would not be charged for it, and panchayat personnel would execute the closure rather than merely certify that action has been taken.
- Besides avoiding the ghastly human toll, time-bound capping of open wells will eliminate the intensive, high-cost rescues that the NDRF has to attempt;
- Deep borewell accidents have also occurred in cities that rely heavily on groundwater, and as the Supreme Court pointed out, it should be the task of the municipal and public health authorities to eliminate the lurking danger.
- In the court’s view, the District Collector bears responsibility for enforcement.
Conclusion
- Now that another life has been lost to neglect, it is time the State governments took safety seriously, came up with a census of well structures in need of attention, and capped the problem forever.