Government constitutes a High Level Committee for proper management of water resources in North Eastern Region:
The Government has constituted a high-level committee for proper management of the water resources in the North Eastern Region (NER) under the Chairmanship of Vice-Chairman, NitiAayog.
The Committee would facilitate optimising benefits of appropriate water management in the form of hydro-electric power, agriculture, bio-diversity conservation, reduced flood damage erosion, inland water transport, forestry, fishery and eco-tourism.
Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) will serve as the coordinating point. The Committee will submit its report, including Plan of Action, by June, 2018.
The Brahmaputra and Barak river systems which account for one-third of India’s run off, are highly prone to floods. Brahmaputra is one of the largest river systems in the world and causes considerable distress and costs on the region through frequent flooding and erosion. Hence, there was a long felt need to properly manage the water resources in North Eastern regaion.
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
In the light of the “Government of India Report on Platform for Action: Ten Years after Beijing” and the crime scenario prevailing in the country the need was felt for an exclusive law on domestic violence.
It led to the enactment of Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
The Act provides for the first time in Indian law a definition of "domestic violence", with this definition being broad and including not only physical violence, but also other forms of violence such as emotional/verbal, sexual, and economic abuse.
This Act is essentially a civil law, but the legislation has prescribed that courts have to proceed in such cases as per the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for the purpose of effective actions.
Criticism
The Act covers physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal or emotional abuse as well as economic abuse, it does not speak anything regarding ‘forced sex’ or ‘sex without the wife’s consent’, that is, ‘marital rape.
The law-makers are looking upon domestic violence only as a legal problem and are concerned more about “protection” and less about “prevention”. E.g. - It is very necessary to provide economic security to women in order to fight back domestic violence. However, act fails to make any such reference in this aspect.
