Status of GI Tagged products

Recently 17 products across various sectors were awarded the GI tag.

• The GI Tag is valid for ten years.
• Every State in India has at least one GI Tag.
• The products in the GI registry fall under five major categories such as Agriculture, Foodstuff, Handicrafts, Manufactured products, and natural products.
• Handicrafts have the most number of GI tagged products when compare to other sectors.
• Tamil Nadu has the maximum number of GI tagged products, followed by the state of Uttar Pradesh.
• The first product in India to be accorded with GI tag was Darjeeling Tea in the year 2004-05.
• A total 504 items from different parts of the country have had the tag so far since 2004.

Criteria for Scheduled Tribes (STs)

Centre asks to study delisting Kukis, Zomis from ST list.

• The criteria used by the government to declare communities as STs were decided upon by the Lokur Committee in 1965 and continue to be in use today.
• These are: primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large, and backwardness.
• Nearly 6 decades ago the Lokur Committee defined the criteria to include a new community in the Scheduled Tribe list.
• The Office of the Registrar-General of India (RGI) is still following the set of criteria set out by the Committee.
• The RGI’s office permission is mandatory for the inclusion of any community in ST lists.

The process

• The process of adding tribes to the ST list starts with a recommendation from the State governments.
• It is sent to the Tribal Affairs Ministry, which reviews and sends them to the Registrar General of India, Under the Home Ministry for approval.
• After approval, it is sent to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes and then sent to the Cabinet for a final decision.
• Once the cabinet finalizes it, then it introduces a bill in the parliament to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
• After the amendment bill is passed by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the President’s office takes the final decision under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution.

Dark Fibre or Unlit Fibre

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has quashed SEBI’s order against the National Stock Exchange (NSE), in the dark fibre case.

• The Dark fibre or unlit fibre is an unused optical fibre without active electronics, carrying no data flow.
• The actual fibre is leased or bought from a network owner or telecoms provider.
• It is a single mode optical fibre that runs from end to end with no active equipment in-between.
• A Dark Fibre network provides reliable and secure optical infrastructure.
• It enables the potential for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), which splits the fibre in to individual wavelengths across the spectrum allowing greater capacity to be achieved.

Lakshadweep Islands

A diplomatic row has erupted following derogatory remarks against PM Modi by Maldivian ministers after PM’s visit to the Lakshadweep islands to promote tourism there.

• Lakshadweep, the group of 36 islands is known for its exotic and sun-kissed beaches and lush green landscape.
• The name Lakshadweep in Malayalam and Sanskrit means ‘a hundred thousand islands’.
• India’s smallest Union Territory Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 36 islands with an area of 32 sq km.
• It is a uni-district Union Territory and is comprised of 12 atolls, three reefs, five submerged banks and ten inhabited islands.
• The capital is Kavaratti and it is also the principal town of the UT.
• All Islands are 220 to 440 km away from the coastal city of Kochi in Kerala, in the emerald Arabian Sea.
• Lakshadweep has a tropical climate and it has an average temperature of 27° C – 32° C.
• As the climate is equitable during monsoons, ship-based tourism is closed. October to March is the ideal time to be on the islands.
• Annual rainfall decreases from South to North.
• The entire indigenous population has been classified as Scheduled Tribes because of their economic and social backwardness.
• According to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes list (modification orders), 1956, there are no Scheduled Castes in this Union Territory.
• In 2020, the Lakshadweep Islands administration established the world's first conservation area for sea cucumbers, the Dr. KK Mohammed Koya Sea Cucumber Conservation Reserve.

Remission Laws in India

The Supreme Court quashed the order of remission granted by the State of Gujarat in 2022 to 11 men sentenced to life imprisonment for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

• Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution - The President and Governors respectively have the pardoning powers and can remit a sentence passed by the courts.
• Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) - Since Prisons is a State subject, State governments have powers under Section 432 of the CrPC to remit sentences by setting up a Sentence Review Board.
• In ‘Laxman Naskar v. Union of India’ (2000) the SC laid down 5 grounds on which remission is considered.
  • Whether the offence is an individual act of crime that does not affect the society
  • Whether there is a chance of the crime being repeated in future
  • Whether the convict has lost the potentiality to commit crime
  • Whether any purpose is being served in keeping the convict in prison
  • Socio-economic conditions of the convict’s family
• Jail manuals contain rules that allow certain days of remission in every month for good behaviour of convicts.