“Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong; it’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength”

– G.D. Anderson 

Women and Islam

In Islam, men and women are moral equals in God’s sight and are expected to fulfil the same duties of worship, prayer, faith, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca. Islam by and large improved the status of ladies contrasted with before Arab societies, restricting female child murder and perceiving ladies’ full personhood. Islamic law stresses the authoritative idea of marriage, necessitating that a dowry is paid to the woman and not her family, and ensuring women’s rights of inheritance and to claim and oversee the property. Women were additionally allowed the option to live in the marital home and get monetary maintenance during marriage and a holding up period following demise and separation. 

Historical records show that Muhammad counselled ladies and gauged their opinions seriously. Umm Waraqah was selected imam over the family unit by Muhammad. Women contributed altogether to the canonization of the Quran. A lady is known to have adjusted the definitive decision of Caliph Umar on the endowment. Women prayed in mosques unsegregated from men, were involved in hadith transmission, gave sanctuary to men, engaged in commercial transactions were encouraged to seek knowledge, and were both instructors and pupils in the early Islamic period. Muhammad’s last wife, Aishah, was a well-known authority in medicine, history, and rhetoric. Caliph Umar named ladies to fill in as authorities in the market of Medina. Life stories of recognized ladies, particularly in Muhammad’s family unit, show that ladies acted moderately independently in early Islam. In Sufi circles, ladies were perceived as educators, followers, “otherworldly moms,” and even inheritors of the profound privileged insights of their fathers. 

No woman held religious titles in Islam, but many women held political power, some jointly with their husbands, others independently. The best-known women rulers in the premodern era include Khayzuran, who governed the Muslim Empire under three Abbasid caliphs in the eighth century; Malika Asma bint Shihab al-Sulayhiyya and Malika Arwa bint Ahmad al-Sulayhiyya, who both held power in Yemen in the eleventh century; Sitt al-Mulk, a Fatimid queen of Egypt in the eleventh century; the Berber queen Zaynab al-Nafzawiyah (r. 1061 – 1107 ); two thirteenth-century Mamluk queens, Shajar al-Durr in Cairo and Radiyyah in Delhi; six Mongol queens, including Kutlugh Khatun (thirteenth century) and her daughter Padishah Khatun of the Kutlugh-Khanid dynasty; the fifteenth-century Andalusian queen Aishah al-Hurra, known by the Spaniards as Sultana Madre de Boabdil; Sayyida al-Hurra, governor of Tetouán in Morocco (r. 1510 – 1542 ); and four seventeenth-century Indonesian queens.

Nevertheless, the status of women in premodern Islam all in all adjusted not to Quranic beliefs however to prevailing patriarchal cultural norms. Thus, improvement of the status of ladies turned into a significant issue in the present day, reformist Islam.

The rights to education and employment plus women’s activism make a big difference in women’s rights.

In “Myths About Women’s Rights: How, Where and Why Rights Advance,” Feryal Cherif, analyses two hypotheses for why cultures advance gender equality. 

The first is the thing that we call “centre rights”: that women’s rights to education and employment are the structure hinders with which to begin political organizing for equality, developing a group sense of fairness (or the lack thereof), and building public support for women’s equal socioeconomic standing. This gives government officials, and other residential elites motivations to help ladies’ privileges. 

The subsequent hypothesis is that ladies’ privileges backing cultivates change as local and worldwide activists advance new standards of uniformity by publicizing countries’ practices — both those that treat ladies similarly and those that slack — and constraining governments to adjust to worldwide norms. Research shows that these hypotheses are steady with the ongoing advances in gender equality in Saudi Arabia and the region at large. Looking at ladies’ property rights in 41 Muslim-larger part nations, I believe that women are probably going to appreciate safer property rights in nations where, first, women have more prominent admittance to education and second, where there are thick systems of women rights activists. Where ladies are more mindful of their privileges, better situated to challenge male family, and have the socioeconomic power to hold politicians accountable, their property rights are stronger. That is valid also for the Saudi Arabian development of women’s rights, including the right to drive. It is presumably not a happenstance that, throughout the long term, the hole between Saudi Arabian boys’ and girls’ education has considerably limited. Furthermore, it’s actually in numerous other Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) nations, where young ladies beat young men in school and enrol in universities at higher rates than boys. Besides, an expanding number of Arab ladies have joined the work power — though not yet at levels as high as worldwide midpoints. Indeed, even in Saudi Arabia, with its extraordinary forms of gender segregation, ladies are working in an ever-increasing number of fields. Also, with the right to drive, more women will be able to seek employment. 

In addition to core rights, women rights activism has additionally considerably expanded in the Middle East and North Africa in the previous decades. During 1980 and 2015, the number of women rights groups operating in the region nearly tripled. Some scholars and reporters have argued that advocacy campaigns and global pressure have helped push MENA nations toward gender equality. 

Indeed, even in conservative states like Saudi Arabia, the government may think that it’s hard to contain women’s expectations once they’ve been educated and entered the work power — even while more traditionalist pieces of their country push back.

Political Participation

Political revolutions and instability in the Middle East have mobilized women in new ways. Despite political turmoil and express dangers to their privileges, numerous ladies are expanding their activism to make their voices heard. Because of this flood of political commitment from ladies, however, fundamentalist and traditionalist pioneers and governments are pushing back, increasing their assaults on women’s human rights with an end goal to keep up their power. 

Even though, when women do win rights, they aren’t able to execute them since they are sabotaged by solid accepted practices and conventions. For instance, although women in Egypt have cast ballot rights, the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (which conducts customary political race checking) has discovered that in provincial towns, spouses, fathers, or siblings will advise women how to cast a ballot—or even just take a women’s polling form from her and round it out however they see fit. 

Laws in the area, including both old laws and ongoing ones, confine ladies’ common freedoms and fill in as unequivocal proof that people with significant influence don’t consider women equals. For instance, in 2014 the Iraqi parliament introduced a draft law that endeavoured to make it lawful to wed a young girl as young as nine years of age, granting conjugal assault, and allowing polygamy. A long-standing law in Lebanon doesn’t permit women to pass on their citizenship, implying that if a Lebanese lady weds a non-Lebanese man, her children wouldn’t have Lebanese citizenship. Also, fundamentalist gatherings are a ground-breaking and developing danger, with systems that straightforwardly target women, including the abduction and forced sexual slavery of Yazidi ladies in Iraq by the alleged Islamic State gathering (ISIS). With so many powerful forces opposing women’s human rights in the Middle East, many in the region feel that international support has been far too weak. Leaders of women’s groups across the region stress the need for international support and solidarity. Past budgetary help, women likewise call for worldwide solidarity and expressions of help, referring to the two sorts of help as basic to opposing fundamentalism. Women’s gatherings keep up that while fundamentalist dangers against women’s rights are at the moment most powerful in the Middle East, the issue is, in fact, a global problem. 

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“Medicine is a science of experience; its object is to eradicate diseases by means of remedies. The knowledge of the disease, the knowledge of remedies and the knowledge of their employment, constitute medicine”

– Samuel Hahnemann

THE INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is an effective, high-innovation based industry that has seen reliable development in the course of recent decades. The current industry players involve a few exclusive Indian organizations that have caught a generous offer in the domestic pharmaceutical market because of variables, for example, great government arrangements and restricted rivalry from overseas. However, the advancement of the Indian economy is upsetting Indian ventures as they rise out of household markets and apparatus up for international competition. 

PATENT LAW IN INDIA 

In India Patent right were introduced in 1856, and the Patent Act 1970 (The Patent Act) repealed all the previous enactments. India is additionally a signatory to the Paris Convention for the assurance of mechanical property, 1883, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 1970. The Patents Act provides that any invention that satisfies the criteria of newness, non-obviousness and usefulness can be the subject matter of a patent. A portion of the non-patentable developments under the Patents Act incorporate methods of agriculture or horticulture, processes for the medicinal, surgical, curative, prophylactic or other treatment of human beings, animals or plants or substances obtained by a mere admixture, resulting only in the aggregation of the properties of the components, etc. Concerning pharmaceuticals, on account of substances planned for utilizing or equipped for being utilized as food, medications or drugs or substances created by synthetic procedures, licenses are allowed distinctly for the procedures of assembling of such substances and not for the substances themselves. Henceforth, pharmaceutical items are right now not allowed patent insurance under Indian law. India had a product patent regime for all innovations under the Patents and Designs Act 1911. In the year 1970, the government came up with a new Patents Act, which excluded pharmaceuticals and agrochemical products. This exclusion was introduced to lower the dependency of India on imports for drugs and create a self-reliant indigenous pharmaceutical industry.

The absence of product patents in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals significantly affected the Indian pharmaceutical industry and brought about the advancement of extensive ability in figuring out of medications that are patentable as items all through the industrialized world, yet unprotectable in India. As a result, the Indian pharmaceutical industry developed quickly by creating less expensive forms of various medications patented for the local market and in the long run moved forcefully into the global market with generic drugs once the worldwide patents terminated. Furthermore, the Patents Act provides several safeguards to prevent abuse of patent rights and provide better access to drugs. The term of licenses on account of procedures or techniques for the production of a substance proposed to be utilized or fit for being utilized as food or as a medicine or drug is for a time of seven years from the date of documenting or five years from the date of fixing the patent, whichever is less. A patent relating with other inventions are allowed for a time of 14 years from the date of documenting the patent, except if demonstrated to be invalid. 

To secure their financial interests, various organisations concocted a strategy popularly known as “ever-greening.” The Companies roll out some minor changes in the current item with the same molecular formula but with an alternative structure, including some new fixing in the medication without changing the impact of the medication, and so forth. 

NOVARTIS AG v. UNION OF INDIA 

The judgment given by the two-judge bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Novartis AG v. Association of India is one of the milestone judgements in India. Novartis challenged the dismissal of its patent application by IPAB for Beta Crystalline form of “Imatinib mesylate” wherein it was dismissed by the Supreme Court of India on the ground that the said medicate didn’t deliver an improved or better remedial adequacy as looked at than the known substance i.e., “Imatinib mesylate” implies that the said medicine didn’t include a creative advance. One of the significant explanations behind dismissing the patent utilization of Novartis was to keep away from ever-greening of previously protected items by presenting minor changes.

FACTS

The largest international pharmaceutical companies, Novartis International AG filed the application according to the TRIPS agreement before the Chennai Indian patent office for awarding them the patent for an anticancer drug ‘Glivec’, used for treating Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) and Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GIST) developed from Beta crystalline type of “Imatinib mesylate.” This medication is broadly utilized in the treatment of cancer and is licensed in more than 35 nations. When Novartis filed for the grant of the patent, it was limited to methods or processes and not for products, as defined under section 5 of the Patent Act, 1970. After the Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005 section 5 was cancelled and licenses became conceded for strategies or procedures yet additionally for items.  The application of Novartis International was rejected on the grounds that it did not qualify the requirements in section 3(d) of Patent Act 1970. 

After that Novartis filed two writ petitions in Madras High Court in the year 2006 under Article-226 of Constitution of India. The appeals, therefore, expressed that the section 3(d) of Patent Act, 1970 is unlawful because it isn’t in consistence with TRIPS agreement and furthermore violates Article-14 of Constitution of India and the other against the order passed by Madras Patent Office. Madras High Court moved the case to IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellant Tribunal) in 2007. Their appeal was heard and rejected by IPAB expressing that the innovation fulfilled the tests of novelty and non-obviousness however patentability of the product was hit by section-3(d) of the Patent Act, 1970. The judgment given by IPAB is to forestall ever-greening of already patented items by acquainting minor changes and to give simple access to the residents of India to life sparing medications.

Afterwards, Novartis filed an SLP (Special Leave Petition) before the Apex Court against the order passed by the IPAB under Article-136 of Constitution of India. 

ISSUE

1. According to the provision of section-3(d) of Patent Act, 1970 what is a known substance?
2. According to section-3(d) of Patent Act, 1970, what is the meaning of Efficacy?
3. According to section-3(d) of Patent Act, 1970 whether an increase in bioavailability qualifies as an increase in therapeutic efficacy?
4. Whether the invention “Beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate” claimed by Novartis is more efficacious than the substance that it was derived from i.e. “Imatinib mesylate?”

JUDGEMENT 

 In April 2013, the two-judge bench of Supreme Court of India dismissed the application and maintained that the beta crystalline form of Imatinib Mesylate is another type of the known substance i.e., Imatinib Mesylate, wherein the efficacy was well known. The Apex Court made it clear that on account of medication “Efficacy” in section 3(d) just signifies “Therapeutic Efficacy” and states that all properties of the medication are not important, the properties which straightforwardly identify with viability in the event of medication is its restorative viability. The Supreme Court in the third issue decided that about 30% expansion in bioavailability qualifies as an increment in therapeutic efficacy under section 3(d) of Patent Act, 1970 if a proof is provided for the same. Supreme Court compared the efficacy of “Beta Crystalline form of Imatinib Mesylate” with “Imatinib Mesylate” concerning its flow properties, better thermodynamic stability and lower hygroscopicity, and found that none of these properties adds to increment in helpful adequacy as indicated by section 3(d) of Patent Act, 1970 and Novartis did not give any archive that shows that the adequacy of “Beta Crystalline type of Imatinib Mesylate” is more when compared with the efficacy  of “Imatinib Mesylate.” 

PHARMACEUTICAL PATENTS AND THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

The principle rule identifying with patentability is that patents will be accessible for any development, regardless of whether a product or process, in all fields of innovation without discrimination, where those creations fulfil the guidelines for patentability — to be specific, novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability. Likewise, Members are required to make the award of a patent dependent on adequate disclosure of the invention and may require information on the best mode for carrying it out. Revelation is a key piece of the implicit understanding that the award of a patent comprises since it makes openly accessible significant specialized data which might be useful to others in propelling innovation in the territory, even during the patent term, and guarantees that, after the expiry of the patent term, the creation falls into the public domain because others have the necessary information to carry it out. 

Three types of exclusion to the above rule on patentable subject-matter are allowed. These may be of interest from a public health perspective:

1. Inventions the prevention of whose commercial exploitation is necessary to protect ordre public or morality, including to protect animal or plant life or health;
2. Diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals; and
3. Certain plant and animal inventions.

What are the rights conferred by a patent under the TRIPS Agreement? 

The least rights that must be given by a patent under the TRIPS Agreement follow intently those that should have been found in many Patent laws, to be specific the privilege of the patent proprietor to keep unauthorized people from utilizing the patented procedure and making, utilizing, offering it to be purchased, or bringing in the protected item or an item got legitimately by the licensing procedure.

Term of Protection 

Under the TRIPS Agreement, the accessible term of security must lapse no sooner than 20 years from the date of recording the patent application. It ought to be noticed that, although the issue of patent term expansion to make up for administrative deferrals in the advertising of new pharmaceutical items was brought up in the Uruguay Round arrangements, the TRIPS Agreement doesn’t contain a commitment to present such a framework.

CONCLUSION

Making another medication and presenting it in the market is over the top expensive activity. The organization who are making new medications consistently hope to ensure their business and financial interests by protecting the product. For better development of the business, it is significant that the speculators have a sense of safety in putting their finances into that sector. The Patent Act gives security to pharmaceutical organizations. Be that as it may, it is likewise important to guarantee that there are a few defend additionally with the goal that a couple of organizations don’t assume control over the market for the sake of protected property rights. The safeguards are vital for the government assistance of the general public.

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With that framework, the minority population established segregation among housing, education, and all spheres of life, creating three nations: one of the whites [comprising of people groups essentially of British and Dutch [Boer] family line, who battled for ages to increase political supremacy, a battle that arrived at its violent peak with the South African War of 1899–1902); one of the blacks (comprising of such people groups as the San hunter and gatherers of the north-western desert, the Zulu herders of the eastern levels, and the Khoekhoe ranchers of the southern Cape districts); and one of “Coloureds” (blended race individuals) and ethnic Asians (Indians, Malays, Filipinos, and Chinese).

The politically-sanctioned racial segregation system was despised and even fervently opposed by much of the world, and by the mid-1980s South Africa ended up among the world’s pariah states, the subject of financial and social blacklists that influenced pretty much every part of life. In the need compelled to stand up to the unsound idea of ethnic separatism in a multicultural land, the South African government of F.W.de Klerk (1989-94) started to rescind politically-sanctioned racial segregation laws. That procedure thusly set moving a change towards universal suffrage and true electoral democracy, which finished in the 1994 election which the appointed the long-imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela. This change witnessed the nation gaining social equality in a brief timeframe. South Africa has three cities that serve as its capital: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). 

ECONOMY

The economy of South Africa took a drastic turn in the late 19^th century when jewels and gold were found there, followed by large investments from foreign capitals. In the years after World War II, the nation formed a much-developed manufacturing base and encountered exceptional development rates, and at that time its development rated were most noteworthy in the world.

However, South Africa has encountered economic problems since the late 1970s because of the apartheid policies which led may countries to holdback investments and to impose international restrictions against it. South Africa’s economy didn’t quickly bounce back in the mid-1990s while apartheid was being disassembled, as capitalists held on to perceive what might occur. After the 1994 democratic elections, the investments poured in. Post-apartheid South Africa was then confronted with the issue of incorporating the recently disappointed and mistreated greater part into the economy.

In 1996 the legislature made a five-year plan—Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR)— that concentrated on privatization and the evacuation of trade controls. GEAR was successful in accomplishing a portion of its objectives yet was hailed by some as establishing a significant framework for future financial advancement. The government additionally executed new laws and projects intended to improve the monetary circumstance of the underestimated larger part. The Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) was introduced, it aimed to increase employment opportunities for those who were characterized under apartheid as black, coloured, and Indians, enhancing their working skills and incomes. This strategy was further extended through the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act of 2003, which attended to gender, social and racial inequality.

RESOURCES AND POWER 

South Africa is plentiful in an assortment of minerals. Other than diamonds and gold it also has a reserve for iron ore, platinum, manganese, chromium, copper, uranium, silver, beryllium, and titanium. Despite the fact that manufacturing has provided employment for decades, contributing towards the Gross Development Product (GDP) than mining, the mining segment keeps on shaping the centre of the South African economy as it holds companies to invest in other economic activities. Gold remains the most significant mineral—South Africa is the world’s largest producers—and stores are enormous; in any case, creation is gradually declining, and costs have never risen to their stupendous highs of the mid-1970s.

EDUCATION 

Since 1994, South Africa has made incredible walks in understanding the right to education, quickly fabricating an effective, available and quality education system for youngsters and youths. This outstanding advancement has been recorded over the three parts of fundamental training in youth improvement, primary and secondary education. However, notwithstanding these accomplishments, the possibilities and openings stood to kids in South Africa are still generally dependent upon which side of the inequality they were born. Poverty and Inequality stay cruel determinants, forestalling such huge numbers of kids from getting to the fundamental education that they deserve.

From birth to the last year of high school, kids born in poor family face a lot of challenges, which their co-students coming from a wealthy background may not. While access to ECD centres has expanded, the nature of learning and development programmes remain at test. An underqualified workforce paired with the poor implementation of the learning programmes sways ECD results. While giving quality learning and basic education has its difficulties, keeping youngsters in school to finish their education is another. A little more than a fourth of South Africa’s total children drop out of school before the finish of Matric – most of whom are from helpless territories and defenceless against various boundaries to education. This disparity of access is compounded by a sexual orientation imbalance that impacts little youngsters particularly.

SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is answerable for South African foreign policy strategies. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducts contact with foreign governments and international associations on all issues influencing official relations. These relations are led through foreign government authorities, through representatives licensed to South Africa, and through South Africa’s authorized embassies, departments, and different missions abroad. Until the mid-1990s, the DFA and the conciliatory corps went up against various counter-establishment “strategic administrations” run by antiapartheid associations in a state of banishment, particularly the ANC. The point of these equal correspondence channels was to disconnect the South African government inside the global network as a method for forcing Pretoria to abrogate apartheid. 

After the abrogation of apartheid and the initiation of the democratically chosen Government of National Unity, South Africa’s foreign relations significantly transformed. The nation’s discretionary segregation finished, and existing relations with different nations and with international associations improved. South Africa restored discretionary and trade relations with numerous nations, especially in Africa, and set up new relations with some previous approvals “hardliners”, for example, India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Jordan, Libya, and Cuba. A few provincial and international associations welcomed South Africa to join or to renew its membership, including the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the United Nations (UN).

In addition, South Africa participated in international and bilateral sport, academic, and scientific activities, often for the first time in decades. Relations with the nations of the previous Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe improved. South Africa had full political binds with thirty-nine nations in 1990; that number expanded to sixty-nine out of 1993, and to a maximum of 147 in 1995. Various foreign policies were brought into action before Nelson Mandela was appointed as President in 1994, for example, in mid-1994 de Klerk and Mandela, alongside the leaders of Botswana and Zimbabwe, interceded a conclusion to a military revolt in neighbouring Lesotho. In mid-1994, South Africa gave its first help to a UN peacekeeping activity when it provided medical clinic hardware for Rwanda. Likewise, in 1994, President Mandela consented to help settle the unmanageable common war in Angola, although he advised against unrealistically high expectations in this and other profound established political and ethnic clashes.

INDIA- SOUTH AFRICA RELATIONS

India’s relationship with South Africa is both fundamental and remarkable, going back a few centuries and is tied down in common ideals, ideas, interests, and icons – like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. In any case, their respective relationship stayed stressed for quite a while because of South Africa’s apartheid government. After its independence, India began its struggle for the position at international associations like United Nations (UN), Commonwealth, and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and was the main nation to have trade relations 1946, and in this way forced political and financial assets. Following a hole of four decades, India restored exchange and business ties in 1993, after South Africa finished its standardized racial isolation. In May 1993, a Cultural Centre was opened in Johannesburg. In November 1993, strategic and consular relations were re-established during the visit of then South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha to India. The Indian High Commission in Pretoria was opened in May 1994. In 1996, India opened its permanent Office of High Commission in Cape Town, which was re-assigned as Consulate General of India in 2011.

India and South Africa’s shared basic encounters and aggregate quality have formed how the two of them see the world together. As two countries who have shared their battle to independence, the obligation to improve the lives of others is inserted inside India and South Africa’s consciousness. After South Africa established democracy in 1994, it was the Red Fort Declaration on Strategic Partnership among India and South Africa, marked in March 1997 by then PM Shri Deve Gowda and Nelson Mandela, which set the boundaries for a revived relationship. The twentieth commemoration of marking of the revelation was honoured by an India-South African social spectacle involving music and dance performances, and an occasion composed by High Commission of India, Pretoria on April 9, 2017. This Strategic Partnership between the two nations was again re-certified in the Tshwane Declaration (October 2006). Both these announcements have been instrumental components that have contributed in the past to both South Africa and India for accomplishing their national objectives.

List of MoUs signed during the 10^th BRICS Summit, signed between India and South Africa were;

• Memorandum of Understanding between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India and the Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa on Agricultural Research and Education.
• Memorandum of Understanding between Government of the Republic of South Africa and Government of India regarding the setting up of the “Gandhi Mandela Centre of Specialisation in Artisan Skills” in South Africa.
• Memorandum of Understanding between Indian Space Research Organisation and the South African National Space Agency on Cooperation in the Exploration and Uses of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes.

South Africa can use its diplomacy not only at governmental but also as a non-governmental level. Utilizing scholastics and specialists outside of government to “include” information and ability to South African discretion, have gotten progressively normal. It is to be trusted that this training will proceed to help give what is expected to compelling interest in an inexorably intricate world. Thorough training of professional diplomats is, however, not unimportant either, and such persons should be retained for the foreign service to establish an ever-growing pool of experience in the DFA. These are on the whole parts of the “small scale level” of strategy and fundamental if the nation is to prevail at the global level. 

Moreover, thought should be given to the decision of various types of diplomacy and their blend; an inappropriate decision can have genuine results, as the Nigerian debacle would delineate. The topic of what balance ought to be kept up among respective and multilateral discretion has been raised; summitry should be utilized wisely; a fitting job for innovation in diplomacy should be discovered; the degree to which the nine areas or locales in South Africa can be permitted to lead their foreign relations should be considered; and, troublesome decisions should be made in regards to accentuation on various regions. Prioritising in diplomacy appears to be unavoidable as the conceivable outcomes are practically unfathomable, though the assets are quite restricted. This isn’t a difficult extraordinary to South Africa. 

The South African government is no world-exhausted system which has seen everything previously, but a youthful, excited organization anxious to show its gifts and beliefs. The government believes in the excellencies of relationship, co-activity and human qualities. It has understood that the present chiefs should be acceptable ambassadors who can adjust domestic and international pressure, who can make arrangements, and resolve debates, characterizing the interests of their states in harmonious manners.

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HISTORY OF THE PADMANABHASWAMY TEMPLE

Ever since the independence, the royal family has governed the Padmanabhaswamy Temple until 1991, when the last ruler of Travancore, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, died. The state government allowed the administration of the temple to be taken over and maintained by his younger brother, Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma. 

THE DEITY

The Padmanabhaswamy Temple deity represents the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Legends have it that Vilvamangalatu Swamiyar, an ascetic, travelled all over the world in search of Lord Padmanabha. In Thiruvananthapuram, he had a dream that Lord Vishnu had reduced himself to 18 feet and had taken the reclining position. The idol is made of kadasharakara, a composition of herbs, raisins, and sand. The temple seen today is built of granite but previously was built of wood. The temple 365 pillars, one for every day of the year. The main idol is made of 12,500 saligram stones shipped from the Gandaki River in Nepal. Saligramas are auspicious stones worshipped and revered as the direct manifestation of Lord Vishnu. 

Much attention has been given to the history of the temple, mostly because much of it is lost in antiquity. The Epics and the Puranas also mention the temple. As per the Srimad Bhagavatham Lord Balarama, brother of Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu washed in Padmatheertham, a pond adjacent to the temple. It is believed by many that the construction of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple started around 5000 years ago in the early days of Kali Yuga. 

THE TRAVANCORE FAMILY

The Travancore dynasty was established by Ayyan Adigal Thriuvadir in 1870 AD. According to Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the younger brother of the last Travancore King, their family is the oldest royal families in the country, they also surrendered the crown to the deity on 3^rd January 1750. Through this action, they announced that the deity is the Maharaja and they were the servants of God. In 2011, the Kerala High Court ruling seized the right of the family to exert its shebait rights. Shebait is a person who serves the Hindu deity and who operates the temple. 

THE TREASURE

There are six vaults that are found under the temple. The opening of these vaults to determine the contents that contributed to the decade-long legal battle. The Supreme Court formed a seven-member panel headed by amicus curiae Gopal Subramanium to determine the worth of the treasure, consisting of two chambers which had not been opened for more than 130 years. When vault A was opened by the Committee, the uncovered treasure estimated to be approximately Rs. 1,000,000 crores. It contained bags of gold from the Napoleonic, Roman, Medieval and British eras. They also found several gold pots and chairs that may have been used for religious ceremonies. A gold idol of Lord Vishnu adorned with diamonds and precious stone, and a 28-foot golden throne used as the seat of the deity was also found. Apart from this, a gold ceremonial robe which could have been used on the god, weighing almost 30 kg were also found. The committee also discovered sacks of gold antiquities such as coconut shelled ornaments studded with diamond and rubies, along with some jewels like diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. 

THE LEGAL BATTLE

The key legal issue was whether Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma, Chithira’s Thirunal Balarama Varma’s younger brother, may claim to be the “Travancore King” or his shebait rights as the “Ruler” after the king’s death in 1991. The Kerala High Court examined this claim of possession, power and management of the ancient Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple within the restricted sense, according to the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institution Act, 1950. The High Court in its ruling stated that by relying on the powers specified in the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act,1950 (TC), Varma cannot take the position of the ruler and claim the management of the temple. 

When the principal states of Travancore and Cochin signed the Accession Agreement with Government of India in 1949, the TC Act “trusted” the administration of the temple in the hands of the Ruler. When in 1991, the last ruler of Travancore died, the state government allowed Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma to take over the management of the temple. 

Who had the ownership, control and management of the Padmanabhaswamy temple before 1991?

All the sanctuaries which under the influence and management of the Princely States of Travancore and Cochin were under the control of the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards before 1947. The administration of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple was with the Ruler of Travancore according to the Accession Agreement. The province of Kerala was cut out in 1956 however the sanctuary kept on being overseen by the royals. In 1971, through a constitutional amendment, the entitlements and privileges of the royal family were nullified. The move was maintained in the court in 1993 and the last ruler of Travancore passed away, when the case was still pending, kept on dealing with issues of the temple till then. In 1991, when the last ruler’s brother assumed the control over the temple management, it created chaos among the devotees who moved the courts prompting the legal battle. The government participated, supporting the claims that Marthanda Varma had no legal right to claim the management of the temple. 

THE HIGH COURT RULING

The Kerala High Court in its 2011 decision, permitted the Travancore royal family to have a say in the customs and rituals of the temple, yet dismissed Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma’s contention that he should step into the shoes of his brother, the last “King.” The leader of Travancore, the late Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma who administered Travancore as ruler for a long time (1931 to 1949) and who was the Rajapramukh of Travancore-Cochin for six years and who dealt with the sanctuary until his passing on July 20, 1991, never guaranteed that the sanctuary was the family property of the royals or an individual property of himself. Despite the fact that the last ruler executed a will handing down his properties, he had excluded the sanctuary as his property or dealt with it, the high court uncovers in its judgment. If the temple was the family property of the royal family or the private property of the king, at that point there was no requirement for a particular provision in the Accession Agreement or the TC Act accommodating vesting of the sanctuary in trust in the possession of the last leader of Travancore. The obvious word used to qualify vesting is “in trust”, which implies, that it is to serve someone. The beneficiaries are the devotees, the state and the public and each one of the individuals who have an enthusiasm for the sanctuary. The last ruler, in this way, was a trustee who has held the control of the sanctuary to assist the devotees, the state and general society, the high court clarified in its judgment. Without a definition in the TC Act, the definition contained in the constitution’s Article 366(22) must be received to characterize “ruler,” the high court held. Only the last ruler satisfies the definition, and nobody can obtain that status, which isn’t heritable. Along these lines, none of the heirs of the family could guarantee control or the management of the sanctuary under 18(2) of the TC Act after the demise of the last Ruler, the high court held.

The High Court also gave three months to the Kerala government to comprise a body, corporate or trust, to assume control over the temple, its assets and management, and to run the same as per all the customs followed till date. Considering the assets and the valuables in the six vaults of the sanctuary, the court commanded an inventory of all the articles and displaying them for devotees and tourists on monetary premise. It likewise made a proposal to let the state police assume control over the sanctuary security, or help the current security force employed there. The High Court had reasoned that after the meaning of the word ‘Ruler’ in Article 366 (22) of the Constitution of India was changed by the Constitution Act, 1971 (26^th Amendment) which nullified the privy purses, and hence the younger brother of the last ruler of Travancore could not take control over the management of the temple. However, after the High Court gave its ruling Uthradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma immediately filed an appeal against it in the Supreme Court, which in turn put the High Court order on hold. 

THE SUPREME COURT RULING

The Supreme Court gave its verdict on the nine-year-long management dispute over the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, a two-judge bench comprising of Justice UU Lalit and Justice Indu Malhotra upholding the rights of the erstwhile Travancore royal family. The Supreme Court found the royal family perfectly qualified to hold the “shebait” rights. The word “shebait” comes from “Sewa” which means “service”. In the literal sense, it signifies one who makes sewa to the god or a deity. For a quite a long time, the Padmanabhaswamy Temple was under the control of the Travancore royal family, they were the supervisors or the shebaits of the temple until they signed the Covenant in May 1949.  In its judgment, the Supreme Court has set out that the shebaitship is vested in the founder and except if the originator himself has discarded the shebaitship in a specific way or there is some utilization or custom or conditions indicating an alternate method of devolution, the shebaitship, similar to some other types of heritable property follows the line of legacy from the founder; and it isn’t available to the court to set out another standard of progression or modify the standard of succession. By the Constitution 26th Amendment Act, 1971, the privy purses, benefits and other exceptional privileges of the past leaders of Indian states were annulled by erasing Articles 291 and 362 and by inserting Article 366(22) in the Constitution. The test against it was repulsed by the Supreme Court vide judgment rendered by the constitution seat on February 4, 1993, in Raghunathrao Ganapatrao v Union of India. The Kerala government said that with the cancellation of the idea of Ruler by the Constitution (26th Amendment) Act, 1971, the shebaitship of the royal family stopped to have any impact.

The Supreme Court brought up that it is the settled law that shebaitship has the components of office and property, of obligations and individual interest, mixed and they contribute the workplace of the shebait with the character of an exclusive right. The shebaitship of the sanctuary had likewise gone from Ruler to Ruler’s heir with principles of succession otherwise pertinent to the royal family, the court held. The Covenant let the administrative issues of the sanctuary with the royal family and in the possession of the Ruler of Travancore, essentially because his official limit or status as the past Head of the State had nothing to do with the limit as shebait of the sanctuary, it clarified.

The 26th Amendment Act erased Articles 291 and 362 and embedded Article 363A which explicitly specifies inter alia that any individual who was perceived to be the leader of an Indian state or his successor, will cease to be perceived as such ruler or successor, and all rights, liabilities and commitments in regard of privy purses stand quenched. 

Article 366(22) was likewise in like manner corrected and as far as the altered definition, “Ruler” presently implies inter alia, the individual who was perceived as the leader of an Indian state or as a successor to such Ruler, before the beginning of said Constitutional Amendment.

In spite of the 26th Amendment Act, 1971, the private properties of the ruler would keep on being accessible for succession and devolution as per the law and custom, the Supreme Court held. In any case, the court likewise acknowledged the royal family’s case that’s it not, at this point thought about the sanctuary as its private property and that it just looked for shebaitship. 

The bench clarified that on the day the covenant got successful, the Ruler of the Covenanting State of Travancore was shebait of the Temple, which was not in his official limit as the ruler; and that the articulation “Leader of Travancore” in the agreement and the TC Act was distinctly to recognize the individual, and that official status of the leader of Travancore had no connection with such organization.

The shebaitship of the sanctuary being detached with the official status of the individual who marked the contract must regress by the material laws of progression and custom, the court dominated. After the demise of the individual who was in charge and management of the organization, the heritable intrigue must devolve as per the standard rights, the bench dominated. 

Except if and until the line of succession of the shebaitship and responsible for the organization is terminated, there can be no doubt of escheat as saw by the Kerala high court, the bench included. The principle of escheat hypothesizes that where an individual dies intestate and doesn’t leave a beneficiary who can prevail to the property, the property rests with the government. And thus, the Shebait rights, as per customary law, are with the royal family even after the demise of the last ruler. The Supreme Court ruled that for the shebait rights the definition of the Ruler given in Act would be adhered to and would transfer to the successor. 

The SC acknowledged the accommodation of the royal family that the sanctuary is a public sanctuary and coordinated setting up of an authoritative advisory group with the Thiruvananthapuram District Judge as its administrator, for its straightforward organization later on. The Committee would comprise of a nominee of the trustee (royal family), the chief Thanthri of the temple, a nominee of the State and a member designated by the Union Ministry of Culture. The SC likewise requested a subsequent panel to be comprised to prompt the authoritative board of trustees on policy matters. The second committee would be headed by a retired High Court judge, selected by the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court. The essentials obligations of the two committees are to maintain the treasures and valuables of the temple.

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“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

-Nelson Mandela

DEFINITION OF CHILD AND JUVENILE UNDER THE JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT, 2015 AND OTHER VARIOUS LAWS

The term child means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years and is not matured enough to understand what is wrong and right. Most of the countries have adopted the principle “Doli Incapex”, which means a person is deemed incapable of forming the intent to commit a crime or tort, especially by reason of age. According to the penal laws, a child between the age of seven to twelve can only be convicted of a crime only when the crime is heinous and they had sufficient knowledge to understand the consequences of their actions. The Juvenile (Care and Protection) Act, 2015 Section 2 (12) defines a ‘child’ as a person who has not completed eighteen years of age, further, it classifies into two categories-

• child in conflict with the law, the child who committed an offence and is under the age of 18 years on the date of commission of the offence.
• child in need of care and protection, children from deprived and marginalized sections of society as well as those with different needs and vulnerabilities.

Children Act,1960 Section 2(e) describes a child as a boy who has not reached the age of sixteen years or a girl who has not reached the age of eighteen years. Whereas the United Convention on the Rights of Child, 1989 defines child means a human being below the age of eighteen years unless the law declaration applicable to the child, the majority is attained earlier.

HISTORY OF JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN INDIA

After the independence of India, The Children Act 1960 came into play. The Act not be adopted by all the states led to different law being applied in different parts of the nation. To bring uniformity in the system the Juvenile Justice Act 1986 was enacted to provide care, protection, development and rehabilitation of neglected or delinquent juveniles. To protect the best interest of the juvenile offenders, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a convention on the Rights of Child in 1989. The Convention states that to protect the social – reintegration of juvenile, he shall not be subjected to judicial proceedings. This led India to repel the Juvenile Justice Act 1986 and gave effect to a new act called “The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.

The frightful incident of “Delhi Gang Rape Case”, forced the Indian Legislature to amend the previous act twice- first in 2006 and later in 2011. The act was replaced soon by The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015. The aim is to integrate the laws relating to children suspected and found to be in conflict with the law and children in need of care and protection through caring and taking into account their basic needs through proper care and security, growth, treatment and social integration, by adopting a child-friendly approach to the adjudication and disposal of matters in the best interest of children. The Act also focuses on the rehabilitation of young offenders through numerous childcare centres and institution. The highlights the formation of two main bodies that would deal with the young offenders, i.e., the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB’S) and Child Welfare Committee’s (CWCs). 

JUVENILE JUSTICE BOARD AND CHILD WELFARE COMMITTEE

The Juvenile Justice Board shall be formed in each district for the exercise of powers and the discharge of its duties relating to juveniles in conflict with the law. The JJB shall perform a preliminary inquiry to determine whether a juvenile offender is to be returned for probation or is to be charged as an adult. In the same way, the Child Welfare Committee deals with all children who are ‘in need of care and protection’ i.e. children from deprived and vulnerable parts of society, as well as those with different needs and disadvantages, and aims at providing institutional care and protection and their rehabilitation, reintegration, and restoration. 

COMPOSITION, POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF CWC’s AND JJB’s

• Each CWC shall be comprised of a Chairperson and four other members, of whom at least one member should be a woman and another expert on child-related issues.
• CWC’s deals with the children who belong to the deprived sections of society as well as those with specific needs and disabilities, while JJB’s deals with those accused of a crime.
• The CWC has the exclusive power to administer all activities related to children in need of treatment and care. 
• The JJB shall have the authority to deal exclusively with all the proceedings under the Act, relating to children in conflict with the law, in the area of jurisdiction of such Board.

JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

The Constitution of India is considered as the fundamental law of India. Constitution provides rights and duties of citizens. It also provides provision for the working of the government machinery. Part III of the Constitution defines the Fundamental Rights for its citizens, whereas Part IV of the Constitution defines Directive Principles of State Policies (DPSP), which serves as general guidelines for the shaping of government policies. The Constitution of India provided for certain fundamental rights and obligations, for the welfare of children. 

• Article 21A- Right to free and compulsory elementary education for all the children under the age of 6 to 14 years. 
• Article 24- Right to be protected from any hazardous employment under the age of 14 age.
• Article 39 (e)- Right to be protected from being abused in any form by an adult.
• Article 39- Right to be protected from human trafficking and forced the bonded labour system. 
• Article 47- Right to be provided with good nutrition and a proper standard of living. 
• Article 15(3)- Special powers to the State to make any special laws for the upliftment and the betterment of children and women. 

Hence, while drafting the Juvenile Act, 2015 the legislature considered all the required provisions laid down in the Constitution to protect children’s rights in all practicable ways. 

CONCLUSION

Juvenile crimes are a bitter truth and to reduce the rate of juvenile crimes, the Act needs to be effectively implemented and awareness must be spread. The attitude and mindset of key actors in the system, such as the police, needs to be changed from prosecuting to transforming the youth on conflict with the law. There are various psychological, biological, physiological and personal factors responsible for juvenile delinquency. Change is possible through better social, economic conditions, creation of awareness and also through the change in people’s attitudes towards juveniles.

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Swarming

The swarms are enormous masses of tens of billions of flying bugs. Locust swarms can travel up to 81 miles and more each day, with 40 billion to 80 billion locusts packed in half a square mile. A swarm of locust in the year 1988, flew from West Africa to the Caribbean, covering a distance of 3100 miles in just ten days. One of the locust’s species- the desert locust, is found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they inhabit an area of about six million square miles or thirty countries. Desert locusts possess a threat to the economic livelihood of a tenth of humans. Locusts are migratory, transboundary pests. They ride the winds, crisscrossing swaths of land until they find something they want to munch on. They especially love cereal grain crops, planted extensively across Africa. 

How Do Locusts Affect Food Security?

“The locusts are in your field for a morning, and by midday, there’s hardly anything left in your field, it’s just eaten.” Locusts are voracious eaters. Each locust can eat its own weight in plants, so a locust’s swarm comprising of 40 to 80 million locusts can consume about 423 million pounds of plants every day. The largest locusts outbreak occurred in 2003 and lasted till 2005, and damaged crops worth $2.5 billion. Studies showed that the effect of this outbreak was largely felt by the subsistence farmers. This in return affects the education of the children who grew up in that period since it was difficult to go to schools, and girls were disproportionately affected. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), locust invasion is an unusual threat to food security and livelihood in parts of East and West Africa, South West Asia, and India. Africa is very vulnerable since they had consecutive years of droughts, heavy rains, and floods. The potential hunger threat to Africa is tremendous since it is a region where 42 million were already slated to face acute food insecurity.

The map points towards the Global Forecast for desert locust (May- July). The map shows the threat to agricultural production in East Africa, the Indo-Pak border, Sudan, and the Sahel in West Africa. The danger is likely to increase due to rainfall and spring in East Africa. The swarms have begun migrating from Baluchistan and can be seen in Rajasthan, India. The locust attack can be termed as a “two-front war” since it is a challenge for India and the African continent to ensure food security as well as fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Food security in the Afro- Asian region is at risk since the locust is breeding in East Africa, Yemen, and Southern Iran.  

According to the 2020 Global Report on Food Crisis, there are 135 million severely food insecure people spread across fifty-five countries and territories. Most of these people are in the Middle East and Asia, Lake Chad Basin, Central Sahel, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, and Central America. A study by the World Food Programme shows that 130 million more are thrust towards hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This gives a total of 265 million food-insecure people who would need food and nutrition as they lack any means to survive the health and economic consequences of the crisis. The monsoon season in East Africa and India would create a perfect environment for locusts to breed. Food shortage already prevailing in these regions, further these locusts attack would lead to increased food security. 

In India already 1.7 hectares of agricultural land in Rajasthan and Gujrat has been destroyed by locust attack. The presence of locusts is also detected in Punjab and Haryana. Experts suggest that locust mainly breeds in rainwater and areas affected by the cyclone. The rising temperature and changes in the climate would worsen the situation in the upcoming month. The Agricultural Ministry is investing in spraying equipment and drones to prevent the attacks. Since they can have catastrophic on Rabi crops in Rajasthan and Gujrat. Scientists warn that the locusts could push agrarian parts of India to the brink of disaster, severely disrupting food supplies and slashing earnings for millions of struggling farmers. 

How is the World Fighting Locust Attack?

Countries are taking various steps to the invasion under control, but with the outbreak of the coronavirus, it has become more difficult to fight the locust attack. In this difficult time, it is important to adapt to integrated environmentally safer measures. These may include:

1. Preventive Measures: Early detection infrastructure can be used for tracking, thus helping in keeping an eye on the spread of locusts. 
2. Post-outbreak Control Measures: Using environmentally friendly biopesticides, since it will not harm the environment and ecosystem.
3. Integrated Approach: Countries shall form effective policies and enhance social security programs, including compensation for farmers, producers, and local community residents.

The primary effect is taken by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, which runs the Desert Locust Watch to track locust migration patterns. A US $ 500 million program approved by the World Bank to support countries like Africa and the Middle East affected by the locust attack. The main aim of the program is to help the affected households, cover up their immediate food needs and protect their physical and human capital assets while building up national surveillance and early warning systems to diminish future outbreaks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has teamed up with the United Nations to remodel technology earlier used for tracking smoke plumes from fires to foresee a locust attack.

Conclusion

The combined crisis of Covid-19 and Locust is a major challenge and may lead to more disasters such as drought, disease, and increased poverty. The loss of agricultural productivity, the discontinuity of supply chains, the lack of labour, and the disruption of wholesale and transport markets due to the lockdown have had a catastrophic effect on the economy. The closing of borders as part of the quarantine measures has imposed restrictions on the movement of probable aid to tackle the locust problem.

This calls for an integrated strategy with increased monitoring, surveillance, and expenditure in a preparedness program to make vulnerable nations more immune to locust attacks. Social security, such as insurance, must be given to farmers and consumers through effective governance.

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