India and Australia: Partners with shared interests and entwined destinies

India and Australia, which share common values and interests, must work together with resolve to shape the economic and strategic environment so that it continues to support collective security and prosperity.

India-Australia ties: A background

The ties are a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership full of practical, tangible actions that strengthen ties and benefit the region.

India and Australia are a small group of countries to hold annual leaders’ summits and biennial 2+2 talks involving foreign and defence ministers.

The defence forces of both the countries are undertaking more complex activities together, such as in Exercise Malabar with the US and Japan.

We coordinate closely on maritime domain awareness.

This year both countries deployed P-8 surveillance aircraft to each other’s territories for joint patrols.

Australia has also committed to a package of partnership initiatives in our update to the India Economic Strategy.

Cooperation on climate and sustainability: India and Australia have great potential to cooperate on climate and sustainability.

Why India matters to Australia

Securing supply chain: India’s economy, manufacturing capabilities and talent ensure it will play a key role in securing supply chains and restarting post-pandemic growth.

Balance of power: Its military has the capacity and capability to respond to natural disasters, help stabilise an uncertain region and contribute to an effective balance of power.

Technological and scientific capabilities: Its technological and scientific capabilities are gateways to a cleaner and more sustainable world.

 Commitment to democracy: Most of all, India’s people have the optimism, the commitment to democracy, the drive and the goodwill to make our region safer, freer and better.

Vision for open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region

As the bilateral relationship deepens, both the countries must begin to work more together with others in the region.

Responding to humanitarian crises and natural disasters: There is enormous potential in the Indian and Pacific oceans, where we each have vital interests in combating climate change, illegal fishing and people smuggling and responding to humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

 Australia has a vision for an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region.

It is a vision for a region that is more integrated rather than divided, where trade and investment flow freely based on agreed rules and treaty commitments, where disputes are resolved through dialogue in accordance with international law, and where a strategic culture that respects the rights of all states, big and small, prevails.

It is a vision that Australia share with partners like ASEAN, and partners like India.

Whether through joint activities with like-minded countries, or the support of regional and multilateral architecture, Australia is ensuring the region has options and balance.

Why Assam gets flooded every year

The pre-monsoon has brought destruction to the most-populated northeastern state of Assam.

Why in news?

Rains has brought chaos, displacing thousands of people and animals, and damaging crops and properties worth billions.

We also get to read about Kaziranga NP being completely submerged due to floods.

Floods in Assam

Assam is one of the most flood-prone states in India and it has almost become an annual calamity.

In terms of impact on human lives, the floods of 1988, 1998 and 2004 were the worst – the 2004 floods alone affected 12.4 million people and claimed 251 lives.

According to the Assam government, the flood-prone area of the state is 31.05 lakh hectares, against a total area of 78.523 lakh hectares – this means nearly 40% of the state’s area is flood-prone.

Overall, Assam accounts for nearly 10% of the total flood-prone area of the country.

Why are floods an annual occurrence in the state of Assam?

Apart from the natural topography and annual excessive rainfall in Assam, there are various reasons – both man-made and natural – behind the destructive floods that hit Assam every year.

Assam is home to a vast network of rivers, including the Brahmaputra and Barak River, and more than 50 tributaries feeding them.

Assam also receives river water from neighboring states like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

In 2004 and 2014, the south bank tributaries of the Brahmaputra in lower Assam experienced flash floods of high magnitude due to cloud bursts in the catchment areas in Meghalaya.

Bank erosion caused by the river Brahmaputra is one of the major reasons why Assam gets flooded every year.

It means the removal of soil, sediment, or rock fragments along the banks, which results from high water flow.

Due to erosion, the width of the river increases and it changes its course.

The width of the river Brahmaputra has increased up to 15 kilometres at some places due to bank erosion, making it the widest river in India.

Man-made causes

Floods are also caused by human intervention – like encroachment of river banks and wetlands, lack of drainage, unplanned urban growth, hill cutting and deforestation.

The dams that are being built are further aggravating these disasters.

People in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam allege that flood has aggravated in the region as China has constructed several big dams in the upper reaches of Brahmaputra.

Judicial Validity of the Talaq-e-Hasan mode of Divorce

A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to invalidate Talaq-e-Hasan, the prescribed Islamic way of divorce, has been filed in the Supreme Court.

What is the PIL about?

The petition seeks to make the prescribed Islamic way of divorce Talaq-e-Hasan unconstitutional as it is violative of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution.

The petitioner has been unilaterally divorced through the Talaq-e-Hasan mode by her husband.

She also prayed that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 that permits Muslims to practise unilateral divorce be declared void.

Basis of the PIL

The hearing comes almost five years after the five judge Bench headed by then CJI J.S. Khehar invalidated instant triple talaq in their verdict in the Shayara Bano vs the Union of India Case.

The invalidation of instant triple talaq where the court held, “What is bad in theology is bad in law as well”, led to the enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019.

What is Triple Talaq?

In instant triple talaq a man pronounces multiple divorce in one go.

It has no scope for reconciliation between the feuding couple, and often ends a marriage instantly.

It is, as the judges held, not mentioned anywhere in the Quran which prescribes a code of divorce largely through Surah Baqarah, verses 226 to 237 and the opening six verses of Surah Talaq.

Incidentally, triple talaq in this manner has been banned in many Muslim countries, including Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Malaysia etc.

How is Talaq-e-Hasan different from instant triple talaq?

Unlike instant triple talaq, Talaq-e-Hasan is pronounced with a gap of at least one month or one menstrual cycle.

Only a single revocable divorce takes place through the first pronouncement of Talaq-e-Hasan.

The husband and wife are supposed to live together after this pronouncement and have the option of rapprochement.

If the couple is not able to mend fences in the intervening period and the husband does not annul divorce through word or by establishing intimacy, the talaq stays valid.

At the end of this month, the husband has to pronounce divorce for the second time.

Likewise for the third time. After the second pronouncement too, the divorce is revocable, and the couple may resume their conjugal relationship anytime they so desire.

If, however, the third pronouncement is made after at least one menstrual cycle, then irrevocable divorce takes place.

Why such hue over menstrual cycle?

Significantly, no divorce can be administered when the woman is undergoing her menstrual cycle.

Even in the case of pregnancy, no divorce takes place.

And if such a pronouncement is made, it remains in abeyance till the end of pregnancy.

Are there other options of divorce apart from the Talaq-e-Hasan?

The third option of divorce besides Talaq-e-Hasan and the now repudiated instant triple talaq, is Talaq-e-Ahsan.

Under this form, a single pronouncement is made.

Following the pronouncement, a woman has to go through iddat or a waiting period of three months.

During this period the divorce can be cancelled.

However, failure to annul divorce during this period results in it being finalised after which a woman is independent, and free to marry another man or stay single, as she may choose.

Both Talaq-e-Hasan and Talaq-e-Ahsan enjoy legal validity in almost all Muslim countries.

Interestingly, women too have a right to end an unsuccessful marriage through Khula.

Legal status of Khula in India

In April 2021, the Kerala High Court held this form of divorce valid.

The court overruled a 49-year-old verdict in K.C. Moyin vs Nafeesa and Others (1972) that barred Muslim women from dissolving their marriage through non-judicial modes.

There is some debate among religious scholars on the ways of Khula.

Some hold that the man’s consent is necessary in Khula while most say that he enjoys no such privilege.

The job puzzle

The government has assured the creation of one million jobs over the next one-and-a-half years. This may be optimistic, but if it does materialise, the employment landscape will change dramatically.

Background

What is the unemployment rate? Expressed in percentage, the unemployment rate is defined as the share of people who are without any job.

Joblessness in the country essentially relates to educated young adults seeking jobs in the formal economy.

The government recently announced it would recruit 10 lakh people in “mission mode” over the next one-and-a-half years.

The announcement came at a time when the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-29 years) in urban areas has been hovering at over 20 per cent for the last several quarters.

What is the employment situation in India today?

If jobs are being created on a progressive basis, there will be an increase in income generation, which in turn, should spur consumption.

Therefore, if consumption picks up – this can be indicated by the growth in the consumer goods segments — then one can be confident of jobs being created.

What is the situation in India? Consumer durable goods have been registering negative or slightly positive growth for the last five years or so — this is a reflection of the purchasing power of the people that ultimately can be linked to job creation.

There have been talks of start-up economy in the country and their achievements.

Interestingly, it is a well-known fact that, globally, 80-85 per cent of start-ups fold up in the first couple of years mainly due to non-viable models that fail the scaling-up challenge.

Therefore, while start-ups sound exciting, job creation at scale cannot be part of these experiments, unless there is an assured flow of funds.

Challenge in recruiting 10 lakh people

It will be a really big task given that presently the central government offices house around 3.45 million personnel as per the budget for 2022-23.

Short time frame: The first challenge is in recruiting such a large number in this short period of time considering that there are fairly lengthy processes involved in hiring people to government departments.

Finding meaningful role: Hiring such a number is good for the country, but finding meaningful roles for them in various departments needs to be seriously examined.

Quite clearly, plans need to be in place to provide work to this set of new employees.

Increase in cost for the government: The third issue that would have to be kept in mind is the increase in cost for the government.

As per the budget for 2022-23, the average outgo per employee was around Rs 12.20 lakh.

Assuming the new set earns half of the existing average, the additional cost would be at least Rs 60,000 crore.

The salary outlay for the year was Rs 4.22 lakh crore.

These provisions would have to be made in subsequent budgets.