The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is set of rules and regulations that is formulated and has to be followed by all, its main intention is to remove various personal laws that have been followed by Hindus (includes various small religions under Hindus, along with Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhist), Muslims and Christians from many years. UCC will be giving justice to all in a common way rather than following separate laws for people, the main aim of it is remove religious differences, and to protect the fundamental rights of everyone. It basically supports “One Nation, One Law”.The State has a duty to implement the UCC as stated under article 44 of the DPSP (Directive Principles of State Policy) for the welfare of its citizens. However, do you think that UCC will be suitable in nation like India, with its diverse set of religions and cultures existing, if it what are the advantages and disadvantages of UCC?

The first ever situation where UCC was thought to be implemented in the nation is in the Shaho Bano case, where the court directed the parliament to implement UCC and have common laws for all, however the decision was nullified by the Supreme Court. Now to know the suitability of UCC to India it becomes essential to evaluates the pros and cons of this particular action. There are many advantages in implementing UCC and they have been discussed as follows:

• Boosts National Integration:  If UCC is implemented it will banish all the small differences existing between people. Everyone will just be considered as a common person and nothing else while receiving justice.
• Equality: There will be no more discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, gender, class, etc.
• Gender Equality. Implementing the UCC will ensure men and women receiving the same protection and laws. They will be considered not to be any different in the eyes of law. This will bring equality by finally treating men and women equal in all perspectives. 
• UCC will bring social changes in the society by removing all the personal codified laws, and will fulfill the motto of common laws to all. Therefore, removing all the differences that are existing in the present day society.
• It also gives various opportunities to our generation to fully utilise our potential towards building the nation, as there would be no differences.

On the other hand there are disadvantages of UCC which have to be considered, and they are:

• India is a secular and diverse country, hence it becomes slightly difficult to frame a common set of rules and regulations for all.
• Religious freedom which is perceived to be a fundamental rights may be violated in the process of implementing UCC. Religions are considered as a protection to the sanctity of the nation, they represent the nation, our history and the efforts of ancestors to build the nation, therefore taking this decision may deteriorate the cultural and secular value of the nation.
• Freedom to choose one’s religion is considered to be a personal matter of a person, hence it is not right for the state to involve into the personal matters.
• As stated above this will majorly affect our communal harmony

Taking into consideration all th pros and cons of implementing UCC we can come to a conclusion that UCC can be implemented, it is tough but its not impossible, this can be fulfilled if authority to do the task is given in the right hands, and there has effective series of discussions in order to decide the correct set of common laws. However by implementing UCC we may compromise on the concept of religion which has been prevailing in India from many generations, India is valued in the international realm for its secularist concepts, hence doing this may act a threat to India’s value worldwide, but only if  UCC is implemented many problems like gender inequality, and underdevelopment can be solved. Therefore I personally feel that may their is an alternative to UCC, instead of applying it to the whole nation, we may apply it in specific situations , its like a partial UCC. As involving into religious matters and totally changing them is not possible in a nation like India, where sometimes politics is influenced by this religion, so we can involve into it whenever any clause seems to disturbing and a change is required.

A dowry is the transfer of property, money or any other such wealth which is transferred by the bride’s family to the groom’s family for marrying the bride. The property has be in respect to marriage, and it shall be transferred between the parties in the marriage. Dowry is considered to be a social evil in the society as it places burden of the family of the bride, and this custom which has been followed through ages which has been causing very cruel crimes against women, one of which is so called “dowry death” which means the death of the wife is caused as they have not fulfilled to give the required amount of dowry, and there have been reported cases of domestic violence with respect to no giving dowry.

Considering the above scenario, the Parliament has passes a Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 to do away with the social evil, it has been further amended by the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1986. The main objective is to banish the practise of taking and giving dowry in the society, which further also aims to prevent crimes against women with respect to dowry and cruelty. The act also states the punishments and penalties for offences related to the act. This act also ensures that there is a list of presents is made which are given in the course of marriage, and they must be either duly signed or thumb impression of both the bride and groom must be placed. The list must be made keeping in the provisions of the act. There are certain exceptions in the act, i.e, there can be be presents given by either party of the marriage, property transferred will be considered as presents when they are given without demand, and for the well being of the future of the marriage. There also an additional provision which is beneficial for the woman in the case of dowry, if in case dowry is given then it has to be transferred to the bride’s name within three months of marriage, if in case she is a minor, will be transferred as soon as she attains the age fo 18, otherwise he will be imprisoned and will have to give a penalty as stated under the act. Every person who accepts or gives dowry, aids in the process of taking dowry, publishes any advertisements encouraging dowry, does not transfer the property to the bride within the specified time will be eligible to be punished under this act. This act aims at seeing a future society which is dowry free. The act enables speedy justice to all the victims under the act.

A dowry death is when a married women has either been murdered or forced to suicide by the husband or relatives of the husband, due to various disputes over dowry. There are other legislations which have other provisions of dowry and it’s related crimes, they are section 304B of Indian Penal Code, 1860 deals with Dowry Death and its definition, section 113B of Evidence Act, 1872 deals with prior conditions of dowry death. Along with section 498A which deals with Husband or relatives of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty which indirectly punishes a person for dowry death.

To sum it up, there are many more such social evils which were violating the human rights of women like female foeticide and infanticide, sati which has been banished, child marriage, widowhood, etc. However there have been efforts to change the present condition. Even if the laws are being implemented many of them are not being used especially due to lack of awareness, due to which the women are being easily exploited. We have to find better ways to bring awareness on all the social evils by effective training and awareness campaigns. The development of the society and the nation is dependant on the crimes against women, only if they decrease and totally disappear we can proudly say that we have achieved real development in the nation by bringing change in the society. We might see a day in the future where there is not a single crime related to dowry or general crimes against anyone in the society, especially women. All we have to do is play an important role in the society to bring change through collective efforts.

Children are considered to be weak and vulnerable, and they are innocent asn can easily be exploited, and taken for granted. They are highly dependant on another parents, like parents or the guardians and they are not matured enough, hence it is of vital importance to consider them as a special category in the society and given them extra protection. It is necessary to promote and protect children rights. It is given clearly under article 15(3) which states that special provisions can be provided to women and children. A child is the future of the nation, only their welfare and development can shape the future of the nation. It becomes necessary that a child is raised properly keeping in mind all the child’s interests and it should be encouraged by the care takers. Their physical and emotional needs have to be taken care. Proper care and protection has to be given to them no matter what, even if they are in conflict with law (where a child has committed a crime), this even includes education till the age of 14, all this has to be done as they are incapable of taken care of themself, and the growth of the nation depends on today’s children, they are supreme assets. It is duty of the state and government to protect children which is clearly stated under the article 39(f), the state is responsible of its children.

The UN General Assembly, in the year 1989 has adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and India has become a signatory to it in the year 1992. As India has become a signatory to the above international legislation, India has brought a new legislation named as the Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 in accordance with it. However, this law has been replaced by the new Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and its objectives are to give protection, care and rehabilitation, to comply with the international laws, to perform their duty towards the society. This act applies to all children in need of care and protection, and the children who are in conflict with law, children on both the categories are given different levels of protection as considered necessary, we will be looking from both the perspectives.

A child is said to be in conflict with law when he had committed either a petty, serious or heinous offence and has not completed the age of 18 during the commission of the offence (defined under S.2(13) of JJ Act) . Such a child must be submitted before the Juvenile Justice Board for further enquiry. It is assumed that a child has committed an offence due to lack of proper care and protection, hence the board decides what type of care has to be given till the child attains the age of 18, maybe placed in Observation or special homes for their safety and protection. It is assumed that the child was unable to understand their actions, hence they will be under the government’s custody till they are deemed fit to move around in the society, which is usually when they attain 18 years of age. There are certain functions and responsibilities that the Board needs to follow during the trial of the child.

The second category of child is a child in need of care and protection has been clearly defined under S.2(14) of the JJ Act, 2015, it gives various conditions like where a child is forced to beg, or is employed in a hazardous factory, orphans, etc where a child can be considered that he needs special care and protection and there is a duty on the state to take care of them. There are different committees and homes which take care of the children under both categories to provide them rehabilitation and they are, Child Welfare Committees (CWC), Child Care Institutions like open shelter, children’s home, fit facility, observation home, special homes and Specialised Adoption Agency(SAA). All the above stated institutions and committees have been defined under the JJ Act, the act also gives the responsibilities and roles of each.

To sum up, we can say that children play an important role for the development of the nation, hence they should be given proper care and protection, as the mental and physical health of the child determines the health of the nation. There have been efforts put by the government to decrease the rates of child labour, explotation, offences against them, sexual offences against them (POCSO Act, 2012) and other such actions. There will be a day where every child in the nation will receive the proper care and protection, when there is zero rate of child labour and protection, and there won’t be a child in distress. I’m sure these goals can be achieved through collective participation by the government and the people in the society. There is quote which has been said by the famous Nelson Mandela, ” History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children”. Therefore a good present will lead to a good future.

Covid-19 is a pandemic, due to which there has been a crisis for movement, locking everyone in their homes and disabling them to work, and education has also come to a halt due the situation. Due to this there has been a rapid decrease in the economy and development in the world, and to solve this challenge we have taken the help of technology and have become more tech-savvy. Technology not only helped in the fields of work and education but also played a major role to adopt ways to fight against the pandemic.

We have been seeing that people are not being able to worf, therefore to prevent it various work from home policies have been drafted and software are being used for conducting any important meeting. Due to this situation users for mobile paying applications like Paytm, Google Pay, etc are rapidly increasing, as it is a safer and easier way to pay without any contact, and due to various shopping sites , shopping is also being done a careful way, by using all necessary precautions. Robots and other artificial intelligence tools are being used in hospitals to give the patient a no-contact service, there are even robots being used in some nations for testing the virus and for sanitising the respective areas. Now for the Government members to have a discussion to frame policies and programmes , it is being done via video conferencing applications. Education is being carried out by various computer softwares and this is termed as “virtual education”. Therefore there has been no delay in the education which is being carried out. Technology has become the weapon against relaxing the situation.

The main use of technology is that it given news and bringing awareness about the pandemic, especially applications like Arogya Setu which has been launched by the government of India, to track and inform about the Covid-19 cases, it is basically a bluetooth based tracker. This application is available in all languages and contains all the data and information regarding Covid-19. This app gives awareness about the precautions to be taken, and also informs us all the Covid-19 cases in our local proximity, it gives all the helpline numbers necessary and educates the user about do’s and don’ts. This can also be used as an e-pass to travel from one place to another during this situation.

Nothing is totally perfect in todays world, hence technology also has its pros and cons. Despite the above efforts taken to technologically raise the economy and for the development of the nation, there are many problems that we have been facing. In India, there are areas where there is no access to any network, there are many entrance exams like NEET, JEE Mains , and CLAT which has come to a halt and in this posed as a challenge to technology, and it couldn’t make any difference, these entrance exams have to be conducted in public areas ad in pen paper mode. Therefore we can come to a conclusion that technology has and has not solved many problems. Technology is not as safe as it looks it can also be a threat to human life with the rise of various cyber crimes, hence we must be careful.

Cyberbullying and cyber stalking mostly occur to the people who go to school or college as they are the target group which uses the most social media. Every day they go to school in hope of learning lessons and values from their teachers or professors but not always everything turns out to be good, there are certain events like bullying or stalking which may negatively affect the mindset of the child, but there are teachers who can correct the situation by helping the child out. Children who bully others often do it as it acts like a way to show their frustration. When these ae done through social media sites, chat rooms, and other forms of technology there is no one to take care. However, these are difficult to control ace they are not face-to-face interactions like those in the past . It is becoming tough for the parents to understand their child’s situation as children these days are stuck to technology 24/7 and they tend not to share their thoughts with them. There can be different ways in which a person becomes a victim , it can either be through social network sites, message applications, etc. In the case of cyberbullying and cyberstalking it has been found through research that girls and boys are equally being prone to the above crimes. Anyway there are ways where this can be prevented.

When a person seeks to harm another person, intimidate them or coerce them to do a certain activity is called bullying. This is majorly done in schools and college, but when this process is done using technology in the digital space then it is termed as “cyberbullying” which comes under “cyber harassment”. This is entirely different from traditional bullying. The use of technology to make someone afraid about their safety, this is defined as “cyberstalking”. This usually involves invading the right to privacy of a person by conducting fear inducing actions and repeatedly doing the same. The people who cyber stalk do this action with the help of internet like social media or and any other online resource. They follow people to cause them fear and terror. There can be different types of stalkers and different risks os stalking.

Cyber bullying and cyberstalking have caused serious issues in todays world. In the traditional era there was scope for controlling it as it used to happen in open eye but know with the addition of technology it has been very difficult to prevent these crimes. Some recommendations or measures which can be taken to prevent them maybe in the form of giving knowledge regarding these crimes and how to prevent them to the teachers, parents,and to members in the society. There has to be anti-bullying programmes which can be conducted, parents have to spend more time with their children enabling them to share their thoughts and emotions, and last but not the last whatever it is take decisions fast before you fall into trouble and the parents shall not panic if their child is facing it and they should not make the worst of the situation, think calm as there is always a solution to a problem.

At a conclusion I would like to say that we are the ones creating problems by making a phone a very essential item in our daily life, and we are the ones who are supposed find a solution it may be a little difficult but we will always find one. We are in a very big threat as we are revolving around the trap of digital space, we should always remember that everything has its own good and bad and we should be careful about it. If you have experienced any of the above cybercrimes always stay confident and try raising awareness by telling your situation, this can avoid others to fall into the same trap as you did. Think before you do anything, yes life is a hard trail difficulties are bound to come, but try overcoming them and you will see yourself becoming a better person than before.

Crime is a combination of actus rea (physical action) and mens rea (mental intention). It affects the society in general, as it gives them fear, however their are various legislations and punishments that have been implemented by the Parliament to protect the society from such crimes and criminals. As there have been changes going on in the world especially with respect to technology, criminals have got their ways to do crimes, and when they are committed using the help of technology and software it is said to a “cyber crime”. Cyber crimes are on the rise in the 21st century, there have been legislations implemented to prevent cyber crime, shockingly no legislation ever defined what a cyber crime is. Cyber crime can be defined from common people’s point of view as the crimes which are either targeted to a computer network or use the help of a computer network in commission of a crime, which may lead to threat to an individual or something as large as the nation’s security. Hence, cyber crime is a deadly combination of crime and computer.

The cyber laws in India is not separately defined anywhere, it is a part of various legislations like the Information Technology Act, 2000 and even the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The IT Act, 2000 addresses the modern and new age cyber crimes whereas the IPC addresses all the traditional crimes like defamation,theft, forgery,etc which are being committed with the help of technology. The objectives of IT Act, 2000 are to provide legal recognition not only to cyber crimes but even to the transactions, and activities that take place in the cyber space, it also recognises digital signatures. It also specifies procedures on how to dispense such sort of crimes. This act is structured with totally 13 chapters with 90 sections, and the last four sections contain the amendments from four other acts which are the IPC,1860, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 and the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act 1891. This Act contains various definitions, applicability, crimes and its consequences.

There has been an amendment to the IT Act,2000, which has taken place in 2008, the main objectives of the amendmnet act are to focus on data privacy, give recognition to cyber cafe’s, focus on cyber security and the role of intermediaries, recognise the role of Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, including additional cyber crimes such as child pornography and cyber terrorism, and even appointinf special officers to deal with cyber crimes. The different types of cyber crimes that have been recognised in India with specific punishments are hacking, identity theft, cyberbullying, cyber harassment, cyberstalking, copyrights, cyberterrorism, defamation, and where freedom of speech is utilised wrongly.

To sum up, cyber laws play an important role in today’s world of tech-savvy. Technology is a sword with two sides it can be used for your well being and even against it, we have become so dependant on technology in this generation, therefore there cannot be a world free of crimes, but the only way of preventing it is through effective and efficient legislations, which can be done with good leaders and lawmakers. Only if collective efforts are put, technology can grow in a legal and ethical way. Everything needs to have limits and boundaries even when it comes to technology.

According to the assessment conducted by the United nations development programme and according to the study published at Lancet -the popular science journal India’s population is set to peak in the year 2047. At its peak India is to arise its population around 1.61 Billion and after hitting this peak population is set to decline .By the end of this century (Around 2100) India’s population is expected to fall and become around 1.03 Billion. The study also goes on to say that if India manages to achieve all its sustainable Development goal Targets , then its population could fall to as low as 929 Million But still India would have worlds largest population by the end of this century.

As per various population estimates India is set to overtake china very soon and it is expected to hit its peak by 2047 and here onward its population is set to decline and it will set to settle around 1 Billion at the end of this century.These estimates are based on the assumption that all woman will have access to contraception and sex education which will directly have an impact on reducing the current fertility rate .Total fertility rate is a Key metric indicator that is used in Human geography in order to project a countries population growth .TFR by definition means average number of children that a woman will have over her lifetime .If the TFR rate stands at 2.1 , the a country is set to witness a decline in population because a TFR of 2.1 helps in replenishing the population and hence this fertility level is referred as replacement level fertility .At TFR level of 2.1 the population stabilizes and its provides the replacing the deaths with newer births. So a TFR below 2.1 the population is set to decline whereas at TFR above 2.1 population is set to expand. Countries like North America,Europe and South east Asia TFR stands just at 1.75 which is way below the replacement level fertility so this regions are witnessing a decline in population.

A countries TFR is a factor of its development status , In developed countries where there is better access to contraception ,sex education and socio-economic factors is above average we find that TFR factor is always below 2.1 .Whereas in under developed and developing countries with a weak economic profile we always find that TFR rate is always above 2.1 .Same concept is applied within a county as well , TFR exposes the regional development divide .If you look within India the developed states that are located in the south and the west such as Maharashtra, Gujrat ,Tamil nadu and Karnataka, they register a lower TFR as compared to the states in North and east such as UP, Bihar , orissa etc .The study has also suggested that the global population will hit its peak in 2061 at around 9.73 Billion and from this peak the global population is set to fall around 8.79 Billion at the end of century.At the end of this century India is set to be the most populous country.

Coco Chanel once said, “I don’t do fashion. I am fashion.” as defined by the Cambridge dictionary fashion is a style that is popular at a particular time, especially in clothes, hair, make-up, etc. Fashion has greatly changed over the years, when in the olden times clothes were all about providing warmth and covering your body, now it’s much more, there are trends and series of pattern in each generation and every year is a mark of new fashion styles. Fashion is now a self-expression of who you are and the reflection of your self-image. Everyone has their own unique attire and their different style Fashion trend, alters at a very dynamic rate and have a great impact on the society and the individual. Fashion thus is an Armour that helps us survive in this judgmental universe.

The youth of today are a crazy worshiper of the fashion industry. These are the people who have taken this area to a new horizon and have revolutionized the traditional ideologies. The younger s fashion taste has been influenced by the environment, they try to imitate their role models and celebrities in their clothing, peer group, society or media. From the traditional straight ‘A-line’ jeans to the new ‘ripped baggy boyfriend’ jeans everything has been transformed and modified. As the patterns and trend in fashion keeps on changing, people try to keep up with it, and as far as it may sound interesting, it’s a crazy idea as they mostly spend too much of money and energy in it, there is a huge amount of wastage of resources and time. Therefore, fashion is such a beautiful way of taking out the artist in you, but not in the cost of losing your own identity. 

In India, there are people of different creed and caste, being a very diversified area, every part of this region is different and unique not only in their culture but also in the way they look or dress up. The north-eastern is a home to a whole bunch of people, it is a small diverse region in itself. Being in the outskirts of the Indian mainland their clothing is mostly influenced by the other western lands. They try to imitate the look of the foreigner’s as; they are a major hub for tourism. They wear shirts with a wrapper along shawl, with light makeup. Being in the temperate region, climate also play a huge role in their way of clothing and mostly changes over seasons.

Whereas, the people of north are simple dressed, as most of their time is focused on work and duty. They have a very sharp traditional attire and they like to dress up heavy in the period of puja’s and festival. Being in the tropic region, hot weather prevails and they mostly wear light summer clothes. In this area people are more resistant to change.

Thus, we can see how the fashion industry has evolved in India with increase in fashion designers and job offers in this industry, no doubt India will occupy a new horizon in this area. Fashion should take out the artist in you and should help you grow, because as Edith Head said, “You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.”

Baishali Gurung

As the Covid -19 shutdown schools and colleges and disrupted learning ,Most of the schools and colleges shifted to online learning through digital education.But this sudden shift to online learning raised a number of concerns such as the issues of accessibility ,Health impact on students due to their prolonged exposure of screens of their computer and Laptops ,smartphones etc. Inorder to address this concern and establish a set of guidelines for digital education the ministry of Human resources has come out with Pragyata guidelines for digital education.This guidelines have been framed by NCERT for the schools and colleges.

But since education and learning falls under the domain of the state government ,they have been given the flexibility to customize the rules and built upon the guidelines prescribed by the NCERT based upon Local needs and demands. Accessing the digital resources requires two key resources communication device and high speed internet ,But every student may not have access to the resources thus creates unequal access to the technology and therefore inequality in education .This major concern has been pointed by the NCERT and MHRD ministry and has been covered under the pragyata guidelines.It recognizes that student with same class have different access to technology for example a few students have access to smart phones/computer along with 4G internet connections while a few students might have communication device but their access to internet is limited , some have access to TV/radio and dish cable and finally some don’t have any communication device and they might be completely cutoff from the internet .This unequal access is the result of their family economic status and their remote locations,But this factors should never be allowed to create inequality and hindrance in education.

The guidelines states that every school should conduct the survey to address the kind of digital infra accessed by its students and teachers and then decide upon the mode of teaching based on the survey. The guidelines presume that synchronous communication (face to face learning) is not the only mode of communication because in such case both the teacher and the student should have access to communication device with high speed internet.So the guidelines has recommended synchronous as well as the asynchronous mode of learning based upon the survey conducted. Asynchronous mode includes the availability of recorded videos for readily downloaded ,Radio shows and TV programs ,self learning activities carrying out creative projects .Such activities can be promoted by schools by sending messages via text based messages or whatsapp .So overall a mix of Synchronous learning and Asynchronous learning will help in reducing the impact of the unequal access to technology

Freedom of Press is when one is free to express their thoughts and opinions through the medium of press. Press is a set of news industries which deliver information about what’s happening in the world in the from of news to the general or targeted public. In India there has not been any specific legislation about the freedom of press, it has been enshrines under the article 19(1)(a) in the Indian Constitution which is the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. It is a way where the government is promoting the public to know what the elected representatives are doing for the well being of the society, anyway it is meant to serve a wider purpose than that. The freedom of press also indirectly promotes the right to information. The press in general is a very strong way to deliver the news, as it plays a major role in shaping the society, hence the freedom of press is of vital importance. Therefore, the 16th of November is celebrated as the National Press Day as symbol of free and responsible press in India

The freedom of press in India has evolved with a series of cases, it took a lot of efforts to achieve the current state of freedom. In the cases of Brij bhushan V. State of Delhi and Romesh Thappar V. State of Madras, it has been stated that the Freedom of Speech and Expression does give the freedom of press ,however there have been reasonable restrictions put on this which has been clearly stated in the article 19(2) , which states that freedom of speech and expression can be invoked if the information is affecting the sovereignty and integrity of the State, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency and morality, contempt of court, defamation, incitement to an offence. Sedition is also considered a crime, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. When information is published which brings hatred towards the government, inciting them to go against the present government due to disaffection towards it is called sedition. Sedition has been given under S.124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, it is considered as one of the reasonable restrictions. However there have been debates and still goin on that sedition as a crime is violating the fundamental right of Freedom to speech and expression. In the Indian express newspaper V. Union Of India case they have given further information on what freedom of press can include, it has been states that the combination of freedom of publication, circulation, and access to all sorts of information is the freedom of press.

Freedom of press acts as a perfect mediator between the government and its people. Press is considered to be the watchdog of the executive judiciary and legislature, it gives information about all the daily events happening in all the three organs, to the general public. Currently the freedom if press is in operation in India, however there are some difficulties it has faced in certain situations and cases there has been a suppression of this right. Despite of all the difficulties it is has been proved to be successful in the present, as it is giving information about the Covid-19 situation, and what is happening all over the world. Personally I feel that in the recent times this right is being misused, nowadays the press is involving into people’s personal matters, and there has been a total commercialization of the media, they are operating only to increase the so called TRP rates. They are operating solely for the purpose for profit making, and not genuinely to give the right information to it’s public. It is the responsibility of the media, to not make the public lose hopes on it, and to operate efficiently and effectively. There have been cases where the media has given final verdicts, and has framed someone as a murderer even before the court heard the matter, does anyone think that there was being defamation to the person who was framed as a murder, and what if he has been decided innocent in the court. Therefore, the media has to look into the after effects of their news, and must operate safely without affecting anyone, and they should self monitor their own actions.

Once Mahatma Gandhi said that “The sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper press is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole country sides and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy“. Press plays a very important role in the nation, and only if they fulfill their duties in the right way, without exploiting the right, it will lead to the development of the nation. Press is the most powerful weapon in the nation, which can bring change in the society, hence it should be in good hands, and it’s importance and trust which the public kept on it must not be deteriorated. The right information has to be informed to the public in the right way.

The word “adultery” derives its origin from the French word “avoutre”, which has evolved from the Latin verb “adulterium” which means “to corrupt”. The dictionary meaning of adultery is when a married man has sexual intercourse with a woman with whom he has not entered into wedlock. Adultery means having voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse, it is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. This concept has different perspectives in different nations, some places where it is a crime, whereas in some places they act as a ground for divorce. Some may think that there is nothing wrong in doing it as they may have the opinion that the sanctity in their marriage is already lost, hence they wouldn’t bind by it, but on the other hand there are many out there who value the vows of marriage and fully respect it by following it. In this case men and women are equally wrong for this but there have been some cases especially in that of India where the man was charged for adultery as the wife was considered as a property of the man, but things have changed and this situation has also changed in India, but in some places adultery is still considered not an offence, the degree of treating this as an offence varies from state to state, and culture to culture. It is also considered that adultery violates women’s right on an international level i.e. violating the human rights, but when we see it from a worldwide angle it is clearly indicating that very few nations continue to treat adultery as a crime, while most nations consider it to be a grounds for divorce.

Now let’s look at adultery form India’s perspective , the sections 497 IPC and 198(2) CrPC deal with the procedure for filing a complaint in relation to the offence of adultery and the punishment for the offence, S.497 defines adultery as “Whoever has sexual intercourse with a person who is and whom he knows or has reason to believe to be the wife of another man, without the consent or connivance of that man, such sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape, is guilty of the offence of adultery, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both (2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), no person other than the
husband of the woman shall be deemed to be aggrieved by any offence punishable under S.497 or S. 498 of IPC (Indian Penal Code, 1860) They have been regarded as violative of Articles 14, 15(1) and 21 (since sexual privacy is important and it comes within “righ to privacy”’) of the Constitution, and are therefore struck down as being invalid, through the Joseph Shine v. Union of India case . It violates Art 14 of the constitution as it deprives women of the right to prosecute an adulterous husband. Section 497 IPC does not bring within its purview an extra marital relationship with an unmarried woman, a widow or a divorced woman, and the purpose why this section 497 was framed in history does no longer apply in the present- day modern society. This provision was challenged before this Hon’ble Court on three occasions, firstly in Yusuf Abdul Aziz v. State of Bombay and Another , secondly in Sowmithri Vishnu v. Union of India and finally, in V. Revathi v. Union of India. However in all the three occasions adultery was till considered a crime and the court justified it by giving various reasons. These were very significant cases where efforts were put to decriminalise adultery, this issue has existed since a long time but only after 70 years of fighting the result has been attained. Therefore, in India there was indirect discrimination as men and women were not considered equal in the case of adultery and onlt the man was considered to be the offender.

Therefore by the above sections and cases we can come to a conclusion they treat the husband as the person aggrieved and never considers the wife as the adulterer, they are considered as the property of the husband, hence they were charged for adultery. This more likely acts as a indirect discrimination against women, as they aren’t equally treated even in a crime put them in an advantaged position. Discrimination means not treating them equally, and hence the rights of women are being violated in regards with adultery, not only that but there are no provisions where the women can file a case against the husband who has committed adultery, but nothing of such sort for a man, but things have changed and a series of cases brought up this issue and finally decriminalisation of adultery has been done, but is still acts as a ground for divorce, the only change brought was that from now on men will not be punished or charged for adultery.

The Citizenship Act, 1955 was amended several times and the Citizenship Amendment Bill was the latest amendment which was done to the act, before we go any further it is is important to understand the objective of the Citizenship act, 1955, this act was brought into operation to give title or confer a person the citizenship in India. A person is said to be a citizen of India if they were a resident of india during the commencement of the constitution, however due to further amendments there were extra clauses that were being introduced. This process of conferring the citizenship is governed by part II of the Indian Constitution. This act gives the conditions that one has to fulfill to become a citizen of India, i.e, by birth, by registration or by naturalization (it is the process where a foreign citizen attains national citizenship through a particular process). Therefore according to the present law citizenship is given to those people who are either born in India or have resided in India for a minimum of 11 years.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 , was passed by the parliament of India on December 11, 2019. This bill amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by not giving citizenship to illegal immigrants who are Sikhs, Jains ,Buddhists ,Hindus ,Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who have entered India after December 31, 2014 , and it exempts tribal areas in Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya stated under the sixth schedule of the Constitution from the above stated clause. This Bill further reduces the period six to five years from the attaining citizenship through naturalization. This legislation applies to the people who were “forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion”. The objective of this Bill is to protect such people from legal proceedings of illegal migration. This Bill has been highly criticised for some of its clauses which were termed as discriminatory which has been discussed further. Many people confuse it with the NRC (National Register of Citizen) in Assam where they had to prove that their ancestors were staying in India on or before March 24, 1971, otherwise they were considered as illegal immigrants, however this amendment aimed to protect them.

The consequences of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 are stated as follows:

1. The bill states that migrants who fulfill four conditions will not be termed as illegal migrants, and the conditions which were laid were on the basis of caste and religion which is clearly violating Article 14 of the Constitution by denying them the Right to Equality. It is clearly stated in Article 14 that it guarantees equality to all persons, including citizens and foreigners, but on the other side it is discriminating them by providing differential treatment on the basis of their country of origin, religion, date of entry into India, and place of residence in India.
2. There is alot of criticism when discrimination is being done on the basis of date of entry into India. Why is there discriminatory treatment whether they entered into India before 31 december , 2014 or not.
3. It doesn’t take into consideration, that what if the there were illegal migrants in the areas that have been excluded as stated in the sixth schedule of the Constitution, It is highly unclear why the Inner Line areas have also been excluded, if there is an illegal migrant in the above excluded areas wouldn’t he be subjected to the same restrictions as others?.
4. The fourth consequence is that it does not take into account all religious minorities that have faces religious persecution and have illegally migrated to India.  It is doubtful why illegal migrants from only six specified religious minorities have been included in the Bill. 

In India the parliament has the supreme power to make laws, but the legislations made with respect to citizenship were highly considered to be discriminatory, but also benefited some on the other side. In my opinion there is a loophole to everything, nothing is perfect, but if we start making the imperfections perfect it can lead to societal well-being and happiness. Therefore, the parliament thought it was doing good to the nation with the above amendment but more bad (discrimination and chaos) has been done than good. Hence it is still not too late to make a change.

A couple of days ago , Reported by The New york times that Iran and China have come very close to sign a land mark agreement that involves a massive economic and strategic partnership between the two countries.As per this proposed agreement China is expected to invest Billions of dollars in the Iranian economy specially in Oil and energy sector and the port and Infra sector which has been the hardest hit because of the American sanctions .

So this economic partnership between the Iran and china promises to dilute the American sanctions on the key sector of the Iranian economy .China has the capability to deliver on this commitments , since it has the capacity to bypass American sanctions Iran might be looking to handover strategic infra structure projects such as the chabahar port project and the chabahar railway project to china .This could possibly explain as to why Iran has decided to drop India out of the project .It not just the chinese factor which led to this developments but its also the result of India’s failure to protect its national interest. Apart from massive economic partnership ,china has offered close military and strategic partnership to Iran under which both the countries are expected to take up joint training , joint exercises between the two armed forces. China has even proposed joint research and development to the defence sector as well as intelligent sharing which could help Iran to counter terror groups that are hostile to it and also to counter countries such as United states and Israel which are hostile towards Iran .So within days after the proposed economic and strategic partnership between Iran and china ,India has been dropped out by Iran from the chabahar railway project and there could be very well connection between this two developments.