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Gurmit Kaur from Punjab got the shock of her life when she discovered the truth about her husband. She married Manjit Singh in 2000 thinking he was an NRI settled in the US. He took Rs.4.5 lakh in dowry and another Rs.1.5 lakh from Gurmit’s relative while going abroad promising to send her immigration papers. The papers never came. Instead she learnt that he was already married and had a son. He was not living in the US but was an unskilled worker in Seoul. She finally filed a criminal complaint.
This is not a rare case. Indian women marrying NRI’s, glamorous though it sounds, has recently become a cause of serious concern. The reason for this is the alarmingly high rates of desertion of women marrying NRI’s. From September 24, 2009 and November 30, 2011, the National Commission of Women (NCW) has registered 796 such complaints. In simpler terms this is like one complaint reaching NCW every day.
One of key obstacles faced in taking the errant spouses to task is serving court notices. This is primarily due to absence of correct overseas addresses of spouses due to which notice does not get served, without which the court cannot proceed. Many husbands often use the lenient laws in foreign countries to obtain ex parte divorces from foreign courts. This becomes a weapon in their hands to deny maintenance to women who are dumped in India. Since the NRIs rely on foreign court granted divorces, the women only come to know through foreign court notices about the divorce.
To address this issue, the Telangana State Commission for Women along with NCW have recommended that the Union Government needs to enter into agreements with other countries to catch the NRIs duping Indian women after marriage.
At the national level, vide an order in 2008, the NCW was nominated as the Coordinating agency for issues related to NRI marriages. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also has a scheme for providing legal / financial assistance to Indian women deserted by their overseas Indian / foreigner husbands. In a circular, the MEA has stipulated that Indians married in India or abroad, who want to remove or change the name of the spouse after a foreign court has granted divorce, will now have to submit a declaratory order from an Indian court. This means that Indian court’s order will be essential before applying for changes in the passport. Earlier, an authentication from the MEA or a divorce decree granted by a foreign country’s court sufficed. However, the changes became necessary after increasing number of fraud cases came to light.
The government, at its end, has taken the initiative of setting up a committee to formulate a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for dealing with NRIs abandoning their wives. This was needed in light of several such complaints being received by the Women and Child Development Ministry.
This issue was also brought forth before the Rajya Sabha Committee of Petitions in 2016. The Committee was advised that Section 14 of the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 has provisions to help women married to NRIs facing problems abroad. This section provides a mechanism for a marriage certificate being issued which “shall be deemed to be conclusive evidence of the fact that a marriage under this Act has been solemnized”. However, on the face of it, a marriage certificate would only be a piece of paper unless further steps are taken to give it weight and make it recognised abroad. Looking at safeguarding rights of women from a legal perspective, there are adequate enabling legal safeguards securing the rights of women. Constitution of India, under Article 15(3) empowers the state to make any special provision for women.
Further under Article 51A (e), it is the duty of every citizen of India to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
Legislatively, the key legal safeguard available with women is Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 pertaining to cruelty. However, since this provision does not directly pertain to desertion, the relief available to affected women is not suitable. In 2012, the Passports Act was amended and a new provision was added to confiscate passports of people having suspicious marital records. According to NCW and the Ministry of Women and Child Development, passports of NRI grooms are being impounded by the Passport Office if they have deserted their wives. In addition, a women grievance section with helpline has also been floated so that deserted brides can register complaints.
In this regard, the Law Commission of India in 2009 advocated the need for family law legislation for NRIs. The Commission suo moto took up this study and made the following recommendations : “(a) Registration of marriages must be made compulsory; (b) dissolution of marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage be introduced in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954; (c) Where one of the spouses is an NRI, parallel additions must be made in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954 to provide for provisions for maintenance and alimony of spouses, child custody and child support and as also settlement of matrimonial property.”
The Supreme Court, at its own end, has issued several judgements declaring that divorce under a marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 cannot be granted by any court out of India. In Neeraja Sharaph v. Jayant V.Sharaph, the Supreme Court emphasized the need to consider a legislation safeguarding the interests of women.
Further, it suggested specific provisions to ensure that no marriage taking place in India, between an NRI and an Indian woman, is annulled by a foreign court. They have also recommended that in case of a divorce, adequate alimony be paid to the wife out of the share of the property of the husband both in India and abroad. The Court stated that the “decree granted by Indian courts may be made executable in foreign courts both on principle of comity and by entering into reciprocal agreements like Section 44-A of the Civil Procedure Code which makes a foreign decree executable as it would have been a decree passed by that court”.
In 2006, the Supreme Court in Seema v. Ashwani Kumar, issued a mandate to all States to make registration of marriages compulsory by enacting legislations. This was done after the court took into consideration the views of the NCW which favoured a Central legislation on registration of marriages. The rationale was to weed out the lacunae existing in state laws.
Nonetheless, the statistics as on date present a sorry state of affairs.
In an unstarred question in July 2015, Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh said that the Ministry had taken up 203 cases of fraudulent cases in 12 Indian missions abroad between 2012 to 2015. But the numbers may be far more. In 2009, then NCW Chief Girija Vyas said that two out of 10 NRI marriages end in desertion in the honeymoon alone.
Punjab tops the list of states facing the problem of NRI desertions followed by Andhra Pradesh. In 2008, the then Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs had stated that at least 20,000 legal cases against NRI husbands, presumably for abandoning wives, were pending in Punjab alone.
Recognising the enormity of problem in Punjab, the state government, at its own end, has undertaken extensive measures to check the problem. A special law by the name of Punjab Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act was enacted in 2012 making it mandatory that all marriages between two Indians or an Indian and an NRI/foreign national need to be registered. This law applies to people irrespective of their religion, caste or creed. At the time of marriage, the NRI or foreign national is also required to disclose and mention in writing the passport number and other related details including the permanent residential/official address in the overseas country.
The Punjab Government has also set up an NRI Affairs Department and a State Commission for NRIs. The Punjab Police has a special ‘NRI Affairs’ cell with a website listing dos and don’ts for NRI marriages. To spread awareness about the law on compulsory marriage registration, video advertisements have been uploaded by the Government of Punjab. There are even some special law firms in Punjab dealing with NRI’s and issues related thereto.
This is not to say that efforts are not being undertaken by other states. Several states and the Centre have sought to introduce laws making it mandatory for all marriages to be registered. At the Central level, following the Supreme Court orders, in 2012, a Bill to amend the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha to include the registration of marriages within its purview. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha but eventually lapsed. Meanwhile, several states such as Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya have come out with a special law for registration of marriages. However, none of these laws make any special reference to NRI/PIO marriage registration.
Given the scale of the problem and its domino effect on the deserted brides and their families, it is essential that holistic and planned efforts be undertaken. So the question is what next? One way is for the Union Government to enter into pacts with other countries to ensure that foreign courts refrain from granting divorce to people married under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. There is also a need for state laws for compulsory registration of marriages especially those with NRIs. Following the Punjab model, details of the whereabouts of the NRIs must be recorded. Further, strict penal provisions are needed to prosecute NRIs deserting their Indian brides. What is also needed is awareness generation which could be done through videos like the one by Punjab. These are some starting points for resolving this burgeoning issue.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.