What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

EDITORIAL 1: Why so many ‘snake rescuers’ across India get bitten on the job

Context

Deepak Mahawar, a well-known snake rescuer from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, died on July 14 after being bitten by a cobra he had draped around his neck in a viral video.

Shortcut to fame, riches

• The irrational loathing for snakes — ophidiophobia— common among the masses is matched only by their reverence for snake rescuers (read handlers).
• Unsurprisingly, “snake stunts” provide a path to instant visibility on social media, enabling influencers to rack up follower counts and as a result, enjoy big payouts.
• They tease snakes for viewership, even stage rescues. One video, for example, shows cobras (predator) and rat snakes (prey) together in a well. Shifting wild animals like that amounts to hunting under the Wildlife Act.

Free for all industry

• Few states have specific regulations for snake rescue,that is, relocating a snake from a place where it poses a risk to people.
• Fewer are in a position to enforce those rules since forest officers often rely on volunteers to answer frequentrescue calls. There are just too many cases to attend to, particularly during the rainy season.
• In 2018, Maharashtra issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for snake rescues, mandating training and documentation.
• Kerala made certification mandatory for snake rescuers in 2020, followed by Gujarat in 2021, Karnataka in 2022, and Odisha in 2023.
• So far, however, only Kerala with its technology-enabled, real-time response system — the SARPA App — has succeeded in keeping a tab on certified rescuers and blacklisting some of the unethical ones.

A high risk job

• Even while playing by the book, snake rescue is a high risk job.
• Common krait (Bungarus caeruleus) :Of the four most venomous snakes of India, collectively referred to as the Big Four and responsible for a majority of snakebite deaths in the country, the krait (Bungarus caeruleus) is probably the easiest to handle. Known for its deadly neurotoxins, it can spring the occasional surprise but is usually docile, particularly in the daytime.
• Indian cobra (Naja naja):The cobra (Naja naja) tends to follow the rescuer’s movement, giving a fair indication of where it is headed. Not aggressive unless hassled, the roaring snake is capable of striking from a considerable distance. It usually contracts its hood — a visual cue — before lunging to strike.
• Vipers, on the other hand, are often aggressive without much provocation: there is no telling how they might behave.
• Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus):Lightning fast, the saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) is under 3 feet, and has a way of warning an adversary by rubbing parts of its body together, creating a “sawing” sound.
• Russel’s viper (Daboia russelii): The muscular Russel’s viper (Daboia russelii) can grow to double the length of the saw-scaled viper, and poses the biggest challenge for rescuers. It resembles a mighty helix poised to explode, and can reach up to 1.5 metres in a flash.

Doing it right

• A simple snake hook and a pipe-necked sack are the best tools for rescuing a snake.
• These enable rescuers to lead the creature to a burrow-like opening, relying on its natural tendency to enter a dark space.
• Ideally, rescuers should not need to touch the animal at any stage. Teasing, displays and stunts with snakes are punishable under the Wildlife Act.

Snake deaths

• While the availability of anti-venoms have improved, many rescuers bitten by snakes die during treatment.
• Typically, a snake is agitated during a rescue and likely to deliver a higher quantity of venomif it gets an opportunity to bite.
• Most of these rescuers are under 40, with limited education, and from a modest background. Many of them are the sole earners in the family, some have young kids. They fail to appreciate the risk they take.

Conclusion

A stiff penalty for filming and posting rescue videos will disincentivise the stuntmen and leave only the serious rescuers to do the job. This is a vital service in a country where 40-50,000 people die of snakebite every year.

 

EDITORIAL 2: Listen to the court

Context

On July 17, the Supreme Court affirmed that a woman from a tribal community has an equal right to her family’s ancestral property.

The case

• The Court struck down an order of the Chhattisgarh High Court, which in 2022, cited the absence of a specific customary law to deny inheritance rights to an appellant.
• Customary laws are generally unwritten conventionsthat govern the community affairs of tribal groups.
• Last week, however, the SC took a more expansive view of the rights of women from these communities and laid down that their exclusion from inheritance rights was discriminatory.
• Emphasising Article 14, which guarantees equality before the law, the SC pointed out that Customs too, like the law, cannot remain stuck in time. They cannot be used to deprive others of their right, the Court ruled.
• The case dates to 1992, when Dhaiya, a tribal woman in Chhattisgarh, sought the partition of her maternal grandmother’s propertyand was denied multiple times — first by customary laws, and then by trial and appellate courts.
• The SC’s order is a significant intervention in the debate on gender justice in tribal communities.

Not the first time

• This is not the first time that the apex court has taken a strong stand in favour of inheritance rights of women from tribal groups.
• In December 2022, while hearing a case of a tribal woman from Odisha who sought a share in the compensation awarded for the acquisition of land belonging to her ancestors, the SC said that when the daughter belonging to the non-tribal is entitled to the equal share in the property of the father, there is no reason to deny such right to the daughter of the tribal community. Female tribal is entitled to parity with male tribal in intestate succession.
• The bench had then advised the Centre to look into the matter and if required, to amend the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act (HSA). The Act does not apply to Scheduled Tribes.
• The Indian Succession Act, 1925, too, gives states the power to exclude the tribals.
• Section 20 of the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, 1949, allows the woman to inherit her father’s property if she marries a man and makes him a ghar-jamai (resident son-in-law). The marriage, however, has to happen during the lifetime of the father.

Conclusion

Customary laws are important as a bulwark against forceful assimilation and homogenisation of tribal communities. At the same time, as the SC rightly pointed out in Dhaiya’s case, that collective ethos of the Constitution ensures that there is no discrimination against women.