Smashing Stereotypes

The Hindu Newsletter - Smashing Stereotypes

	Monday 17, February 2020

The Evening Wrap Welcome to The Evening Wrap, your guide to the day’s major news developments with concise analysis from The Hindu. To get it in your inbox every evening click here.  Smashing Stereotypes In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court today ruled that women army officers are eligible for permanent commissions and to assume commanding roles. The ruling means that all women officers will now be on par with men when it comes to promotions, ranks, benefits and pensions. Successive governments, including the current one, have dragged their feet on the issue of putting women officers on par with men despite a 2010 Delhi High Court ruling which held that women officers should be granted permanent commission. The Supreme Court today upheld that ruling and also had some choice words for the central government’s view that parity could not be granted since women are physiologically weaker than men. The court called the arguments from the government side ‘deeply disturbing’ and said the time when women officers were seen merely as “adjuncts” of men officers was long past. Instead of implementing the Delhi High Court judgment, the court observed, the government had appealed to the Supreme Court when confronted with contempt action. The judgment said the hesitation was sourced from a “strong stereotype that domestic obligation rests solely on women”.   Theatres of War Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat announced plans to merge the Western and the Eastern Command of the Indian Navy into a single command, to be called the Peninsular Command. He added that theatre commands will be rolled out by 2022, meaning that instead of having separate commands for every service, a joint command can carry out all war-fighting formations under a single commander. As India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Rawat is tasked with improving integration and coordination between the three services. If you want to know more about the CDS position and how it is crucial for the long-term strategic evolution of the armed forces, we had an explainer on the subject back in August. When the position was formalised in December last year, our editorial called it a decisive shift.   Right to protest The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the fundamental right of mothers, children, and the ordinary people of Shaheen Bagh and Delhi to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) but expressed concern over their blocking of public areas. “Democracy works on different views. We have no quibble on that. You want to protest, no problem. You don’t want to wait for our judgment on the validity of CAA but want to have a social build-up against the legislation, we have no problem... We do not mind if a 1,000 sites are created, but our limited concern is whether you could protest without blocking roads and entering public areas...” Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed. The court was responding to  submissions by the government that children and women were being used as a “shield” by the protesters.   In Brief: British politician and Labour Party MP Debbie Abrahams has claimed that she was denied entry on arrival in India despite possessing a valid visa. Indian officials at the Delhi airport told her that her e-visa, issued last year and valid till October 2020, had been rejected. Ms Abrahams, who was on a personal visit, has been a fierce critic of the move to dilute Article 370 and remove Jammu & Kashmir’s special status. She chairs a British Parliamentary group focussed on Kashmir. A Delhi court on Monday issued fresh death warrants for March 3 at 6 a.m. against all the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case. This is the third time the court is issuing death warrants against Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31). The Ministry of External Affairs issued a strong statement against Turkey for trying to justify Pakistan's cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. The statement was in response to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raising the issue in Pakistan’s parliament during his visit there.

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