Answers: Mains Marathon – UPSC Mains Current Affairs Questions – April 16, 2018

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Q.1) Inter-spousal child removal is one of the most unfortunate outcomes of breaking up of cross-border marriages. What is inter Spousal child removal? How can Protection of Children(Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill, 2016 safeguard the rights of affected children? (GS – 1)

Introduction:

• Inter-spousal child removal can be termed as most unfortunate as the children are abducted by their own parents to India or to other foreign jurisdiction in violation of the interim/final orders of the competent courts or in violation of parental rights of the aggrieved parent.
• The child is taken to a State with a different legal system, culture and language.
• The child loses contact with the other parent and is transplanted in an entirely different society having different traditions and norms of life.

The Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention) Bill, 2016:

• The Bill defines ‘wrongful removal or retention’ as an act in breach of custody to a person or an institution or any other body under the law of the country in which the Child was habitually resident immediately before the removal or retention.
• The court can order the return of a child who has been wrongfully removed or retained in India and if a period of one year has not elapsed from the date of removal or retention.
• The court can order return if it is established that the child is not settled in his/her new environment.
• It can refuse to order return if returning would expose the child to harm or if the child, on attaining an age and level of maturity, refuses to go back, among other conditions.
• The Bill also recommends the setting up of a Central Authority tasked with discovering the whereabouts of the child.

The Central Authority will perform the following functions:

• The authority will help in preventing harm to the child
• Secure the voluntary return of the child to his or her habitual residence.
• Exchange state, institute judicial proceedings in the High Court concerned to secure the return of the child.
• Provide free legal aid advice and make administrative arrangements for the return of the child.

Conclusion:

• The problem of child abduction is real, and India, with its diaspora spread over the globe, needs to work on the issues through strict law and order.

Q.2) With a short note on DNA Fingerprint, discuss the shortcomings of India in implementing DNA based investigations.

Introduction:

• DNA fingerprinting is a method used to identify an individual from a sample of DNA.
• It simultaneously detects lots of minisatellites in the genome to produce a pattern unique to an individual.
• The probability of having two people with the same DNA fingerprint that are not identical twins is very small.

DNA fingerprinting can be used as a tool in investigating crime in the following ways:

• DNA fingerprinting as a tool of investigation is very accurate.
• It extends to the way it can separate through crime scene evidence.
• Advanced DNA fingerprinting can make separate prints of various individuals even from a sample mixture found at the crime scene.
• For example: In a gangrape case, DNA fingerprinting can identify each of the individuals involved in the act through one sample.
• In such cases, it becomes the clinching evidence against the accused, and also helps vindicate those whose samples do not match.

Problems in implementing DNA based investigations in India:

• The state police forces are yet to be trained in conducting such scientific investigations.
• There is also a serious scarcity of capacity for DNA fingerprinting in the country.
• Advanced practices in the technology are limited to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) in Hyderabad.
• There are also several private labs that offer DNA testing, but all work under an unregulated environment.
• Though DNA testing is done in criminal cases in India, the instances were very low compared to other countries.
• It breaches the Right to Privacy, personal information if leaked, could potentially complicate insurance processes, health care and job prospects for an individual.

Way ahead:

• Government and police should increase the use of DNA testing in solving crimes.
• There should be adequate and high-level training sessions for DNA investigation.
• They should set up a board which will lay down procedures and standards.
• There are recommendations for amendments in Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and Indian Evidence Act, 1872, to include scientific investigation in crimes.

Q.3) Write short notes on:

a) Herfindahl-Hirschman index in Economics (GS – 3)

b) Payout ratio in Economics (GS – 3)

a) Herfindahl-Hirschman index in Economics (GS – 3)

• Herfindahl-Hirschman index is a measure of the degree to which production in a market is either concentrated or dispersed.
• A market in which production is divided among several producers is considered to be less concentrated than one in which all production is in the hands of just one producer.
• The Herfindahl-Hirschman index is used by anti-trust agencies which possess the mandate to promote competition.
• It is calculated by squaring the market share of each producer in the market and then comparing the sum to a scale.
• Critics of the idea say that the lack of legal barriers to entry is a better measure to gauge competition in any market.

b) Payout ratio in Economics (GS – 3)

• Payout ratio is a financial metric used to express the proportion of earnings that a company pays out to its shareholders in the form of cash dividends.
• It is calculated by dividing the cash dividend paid during the year by the total amount of earnings.
• Growth companies that spot several opportunities to reinvest their earnings generally have a lower payout ratio than mature companies with fewer reinvestment opportunities.
• Some companies might even pay out more than they earn during the year as dividends by plunging into their cash pile or adding more debt to their balance sheet.