A matter of more than life and less than death

A Matter of Life and Death

With the advent of scientific technology, machines and medicines the life span of a man has increased drastically. There are ways in which anyone can be kept alive artificially with the use of ventilators, artificial feeding etc. But there are patients who are terminally ill and though they are kept alive artificially but that does not mean that there are in no pain. They are left to live with the prolonged agony, mounting medical expenses, emotional stress and other issues. But is it morally right to take someone’s life?  The topic of Euthanasia thus raises hard hitting questions on ethics, rights and liberty.

 “Marte hain aarzoo mein marne ki

Maut aati hai par nahi aati”

Judges quoted Mirza Ghalib to show their concern for Aruna Shanbaug while pronouncing the judgement for legalising Passive Euthanasia. It translates to mean that you live with the hope to die, which however still eludes you. The dilemma that is faced when you desire for death to come to you but it never seems to come.  So what is this dilemma that we are talking about here? It is Euthanasia or mercy killing. This is the topic which fuels the debate between death and living artificially with the help of machines.

Meaning and forms of Euthanasia

Euthanasia is described as deliberate killing of a person in order to relieve him from pain and suffering. Debate on Euthanasia has raised questions in medical ethics, moral theology, civil rights and liberty. Euthanasia is of two types – active and Passive.

Active Euthanasia is explained as where death is caused by administering a lethal substance. This form of Euthanasia is a crime in India and most of the countries in the world. Passive Euthanasia, on the other hand, is where medical treatment is either withheld or withdrawn causing the death of the patient. For instance removing the heart-lung machine from a person who is in a coma is Passive Euthanasia. Euthanasia is different from Physical Assisted Suicide (PAS). In PAS, the medical practitioner provides advice or medications to enable the patient to end his life.

Further Active Euthanasia can be classified into three types voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary. Voluntary is where Euthanasia is carried out at the request of the patient. Involuntary Euthanasia also called mercy killing is taking a patient’s life even though he has not requested for it, with the intention of relieving him of pain and suffering.  In non-voluntary Euthanasia, the process is carried out even though the patient has not in a position to give consent.

Voluntary Euthanasia is illegal in India and is punishable under S. 309 of the Indian Penal Code (attempt to commit suicide). This issue was discussed at length in the case of Gian Kaur v. State of Punjab where the Supreme Court held that right to life under Art. 21of the Constitution does not include the right to die.  

Euthanasia in other countries

These are some countries and their stance on this topic:

Country	Status of Euthanasia law
Luxembourg	Both PAS and Euthanasia is legal since 2008 but imperative to follow directives
Netherlands	PAS or Euthanasia legal if proper guidelines are followed
Belgium	Became the second country after the Netherlands to legalise Euthanasia
USA	Active Euthanasia is illegal except in the states of Montana, Washington and Oregon
Switzerland	PAS or Euthanasia legal. PAS can be performed by non-physicians.
UK, Spain, Austria, Germany, France etc.	PAS or Euthanasia is illegal

Euthanasia in India

In India Euthanasia is a crime under section 306 and 309 of the Indian Penal Code; Section 306 deals with abetment to suicide and Section 309 deals with attempt to commit suicide. The apex court has further stated that right to die does not come within the ambit of right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

However, the Supreme Court in March 2011 allowed Passive Euthanasia with guidelines in the landmark judgement. It refused mercy killing to Aruna Shanbaug as the court held that Pinki Virani, the petitioner in the case was not Aruna’s next of friend. Plus Aruna was not brain dead but at the same time there was little possibility of her coming out of the permanent vegetative state. The KEM staff which was looking after Aruna for past 40 years, expressed that she should be allowed to live. The court legalised Passive Euthanasia in this judgement though it has laid down some guidelines which are to be strictly followed till legislation is made by the government. 

The guidelines to be followed are

• Any petition for Passive Euthanasia has to be filed with the relevant High Court. The Chief Justice then should constitute a bench of two judges who would decide to grant approval or not.
• A committee of three doctors is to be constituted of which one should be a neurologist; one should be a psychiatrist and third a physician.
• Before taking a decision, the High Court should consider the opinion of the committee.
• It should issue notice to the State and close relatives such as parents, spouse, brother, sister of the patient and in their absence, the next friend.

 By legalising Passive Euthanasia, India has joined handful of countries where some form of Euthanasia is legal. Major concerns about its misuse should be properly addressed before a law is passed.  The person should be in a permanent vegetative state, or in coma, or brain dead. It is a must to have patient’s consent in discontinuing his life support. If the patient is not in the position to give consent then the consent can be obtained from his parents, spouse, and relative and in absence of any of them, the decision can be taken by a person who is his next friend. However, bonafide and best interest of the patient is of paramount importance while considering the plea of Euthanasia.

-Ruchika Thakur
The Infomission Project BLOG Team Leader

References

http://medind.nic.in/jbc/t14/i1/jbct14i1p59.pdf

https://factly.in/aruna-shanbaug-Euthanasia-case-woman-who-triggered-debate-on-Euthanasia-in-india/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440914/

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-joins-select-nations-in-legalising-Passive-Euthanasia/article1516973.ece

Cybercrime and Remedies Under Cyber Law.

If the statistics are anything to go by, India will overtake USA and become the second largest internet user by the end of 2015, only second to china with 302 million users, which means, 24% of India’s population will be online by the end of this year. The reason why this information is so significant is because internet has a highly profound impact on every aspect of human life. The very idea that someday, someone can decide to hold you to ransom against something you created or shared unknowingly or left a trace of, is petrifying and this article includes all that you need to know on how to prevent such situations from arising.

The current scenario:

Cybercrimes happen by virtue of the existence of a World Wide Web connecting, disseminating and dispatching data to every part of the globe. So, if you receive some pornographic or objectionable content from an unidentified or unknown source in your mailbox, you should know that you are silently giving way to cybercrime. This file may as well be an instrument of virus dissemination. Cybercrimes take different forms. 

1. Hacking- illegal intrusion into computer system or network.

2. Child pornography- Sending pornographic images, inviting children to chat rooms with abusive content being floated on the group etc. are methods used by paedophiles to sexually exploit children in the virtual world. 

3. Cyber stalking: cyber stalking is harassment or threatening behaviour using internet services.

4. Denial of service attack or excessive spamming-  flooding the email inbox of a person with excessively irrelevant content so as to disrupt his/ her usage of the service 

5. Virus dissemination- attaching malicious viruses to software and directing it to suggested software updates in a network. (virus, worms, Trojan Horse, Time bomb, Logic Bomb, Rabbit and Bacterium are the malicious)

6. Software piracy- theft of software through illegal piracy of genuine programs or counterfeiting and distributing products intended to pass off as original.

7. IRC crime- internet relay chat servers have chat rooms in which people from anywhere in the world can come together and chat with each other. This facility is used with a lot of fake names to lure people into shady activities. 

8. Credit card fraud – unauthorized and illegal use of credit card.

9. Net extortion- copying or forging company data to extort huge amount from a company.

10. Phishing- the act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft and provide fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims.

The national crime record bureau, ministry of home affairs released cybercrime statistics for the year 2013 which shows a steep rise in the number of reported cybercrimes by 50% from 2012. The maximum offender came from the age group of 18 to 30. Among all states, Maharashtra had the highest reported cases at 907 followed by U.P. at 682 and Andhra Pradesh at 651.

The lead to follow

The World Economic Forum’s Global Technology report of 2014 has declared U.K. as having the best developed E-Commerce in the world with one of the most vibrant and secure customer information sharing and payment mechanisms by tackling cybercrime. A vision was set out by U.K. cyber security strategy published in 2011 and subsequently 260 million pounds were allocated to the national cyber security program to ensure a secure cyberspace by 2016. A national cybercrime unit was set up within the national crime agency in 2013 and dedicated cyber units in each of the nine regional organized crime units (ROCU) A single reporting system for people to report financially motivated cybercrime through Action Fraud, the UK’s national 24/7 fraud and internet crime reporting centre - recording incidents of fraud centrally enables intelligence being gathered about crimes to be shared and analysed, resulting in more targeted enforcement action. U.K. has also deemed cybercrimes to be a threat to national security and has classified it as serious an offence as terrorism. It is this policy of dealing with cybercrime with an iron fist which has made U.K’s dream of having a safe cyber space possible. 

Cyber law and I.T. act of 2000

The I.T. act of 2000 which governs the cyber space in India also defines the offences which constitute cybercrime and prescribes punishment for them. For example- under this act, the punishment for hacking a computer system which causes wrongful damage to the public or destroys, alters or deletes any information residing in a computer or network of computers shall be imprisonment for three years or fine which may extend up to two lakh or both.

Punishment for misrepresentation or publishing of digital signatures and other data for fraudulent purposes are also prescribed under this act. The I.T. act also has an overriding effect over anything that is inconsistent contained in any other law which is in force.

This act also provides for Cyber appellate tribunal to deal with cases arising out of a violation or breach in cyber space.

What can we do?

The Criminal investigation department, Mumbai has issued some guidelines for surfers to ensure safe environment in cyber space.

• Do not share passwords with anyone except your close family.

• Take precautions while using credit card or debit card. While shopping online make sure you use only those websites which offer a secure online payment gateway service for payment.

• Take a test before downloading email attachments. (Is it from a person you know, were you expecting this attachment etc.)

• Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as “intruders”) from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.

• Use strong passwords to protect the frequently accessed websites.

• Learn about the legal remedies and seek help when necessary. Experts say only around 5% cybercrimes are reported with most victims either not knowing about legal remedies or hesitating to take advantage of them. Awareness has to be spread about the legal remedies available and when to invoke them.

Section 66A

Some cyber laws are considered too draconian for a modern, democratic society, being forced open by the spread of the Internet. These laws are now being opposed by various experts, lawyers and free-speech activists. With regards to the contentious section 66A, which deals with “offensive” messages sent through a computer or other personal communication devices, anyone found guilty can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined. In the recent times, cases filed on the ground of section 66A, of  the Information  Technology  Act,  2000,  have invoked the section solely as well as with other  sections  of  Indian  Penal Code against certain persons  for  posting/communicating  certain content which was considered by the police to be  harmful. A recent Supreme Court judgment however change the course for cases arising out of allegedly offensive content on the internet, when the Court ruled that this section was unconstitutional and disproportionately invades right to free speech. This move was celebrated as a victory of free speech and a pioneering moment in the development of cyber law with removal of contentious and ambiguous provision. 

Legal remedy

• If a person is a victim of any of the above mentioned cyber abuse, he/she can file a complaint with the cyber cell of the local criminal investigation department by submitting data such as server logs, copy of compromised data, list of suspects(if the victim suspects someone) and details of target network.

• If a person is a victim of hacking, e-mail abuse, vulgar e-mail etc., he-she can file a complaint by submitting the details of the offensive e-mail after saving a copy of it on the concerned device.’

• For any grievance in this respect, help must be sought at the earliest. The latest amendment in the I.T act in 2008 provides for investigation to be conducted by an officer not below the rank of inspector. 

The internet is slowly but steadily creeping into every sphere of modern life. As internet has started occupying a pivotal position in our lives, we need to develop and evolve a ‘modus operandi’ on how to ensure a better use of this indispensable instrument and tackle the looming threat of criminal interference in cyber space. 

-Sharanya Shivaraman.

A The InfoMission Project Writer.

Youth Does Not End With Childhood, Legal Protection Shouldn't Either.

Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Laureate of 2014 and founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan may finally be coming close to realising his dreams. In another step towards protection of children from exploitation, the government has come up with an amendment to the erstwhile Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

So what was the need for such an act in the first place?

With the increase in exploitation of children and the rising disapproval of it, the state had to take measures. The objective of the act was to bring uniformity in the concept of ‘child’ and regulate work conditions of such children. It is the duty of the state to make sure that children receive education and go to schools instead of work in accordance with the Right to Education Act.

As per the act set out in1986, a ‘child’ can be defined as an individual under 14 years of age. As spelt out clearly in the Act, such children could not be employed in workplaces with “hazardous” conditions such as mining, factories, dockyards, jobs involving crossing train tracks; in totality 18 industries have been listed under this category.

What’s the most fundamental change brought about?

The Parliament has decided to amend the name of the act, changing it to Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, instead.This amendment was brought forth to bring adolescents under its protection. An adolescent is defined as an individual between the ages of 14 to 18 years. According to the amendment, it is the children and adolescents who are prohibited from working in hazardous conditions.

However, there is a new provision regarding the hazardous conditions in relation to adolescents and things need to be sufficiently clear in this list to make sure that this law is well-rounded and serving its purpose. Though, it is a great move to have brought this section of people under its protection, it is empirically difficult to determine whether an industry is hazardous or not. . It is easy to use child labour in hazardous settings and deem it as non-hazardous. For example, if an adolescent works in supplying or selling side of the firework-producing factory, would that be hazardous or not?

Why create a completely new category called ‘adolescents’?

A question that arises here is why there is a need to create a separate category called ‘adolescents’ when we could just add them to the ‘child’ category. The thing is we cannot legally do that. According to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) 138^th Convention which India has ratified, the minimum age of admission to employment cannot be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling (which according to RTE Act is 14 years).

In simple terms, in a country, if the compulsory education can only be attained by 14 years of age, one cannot  work before becoming that old. If it absolutely bans labour up to 18 years of age, then what happens to individuals falling between the age group on 14-18 years who are done with compulsory education, do not have funds for continuing and cannot start earning either?If the term ‘child’ is used to include individuals till 18 years of age, then the state would have to provide compulsory education up to that level, which it is unable to at present.

Has any change been brought about in respect to ‘children’?

There is no bar on children working after school or during vacations in family owned and oriented businesses as long as they are not  mentally and physically exhausting and not for commercial purposes. This is being done to increase their chances at gaining technical and organisational skills.

Thisis rather open to interpretation. To what level can a child be stretched mentally and physically? It is easier said than done to follow the clause that says that children can only work after school or during vacation. Also, as household work is included in family oriented employment; more girl children will be pulled out of schools.

This sends a wrong message to the people that India has pretty much legalised child labour again, which technically  is not  the case. It is a popular notion that with this amendment there will not be enough compulsion for children to be sent to school. It is also believed that if loopholes are found and children are exploited for commercial purposes, it will lead to increase in child trafficking.

Is there something innovative about this amendment?

A commendable thing about this amendment is that it addresses the controversial issue of children working in the audio/visual industry and the physical and mental trauma attached to it. It acknowledges the fact that child performers cannot be withdrawn from the entertainment industry. However, it has introduced a clause including rules and regulations that will have to be strictly followed in case of underage entertainers. Children’s employment in circuses is still banned.

What is going to deter people from engaging in this crime?

The Parliament believes that making the penalty, for engaging in child labour employment, stricter will discourage people from doing so. Parents, even though won’t be penalised for the first violation, would certainly be so for the subsequent ones. Employers, however, would be penalised in the first go itself. The penalty has increased from Rs. 20, 000 to Rs. 50, 000 with a prison term of minimum 1 year and maximum of 3 years.

In conclusion, I would say that even though quite a few controversial issues have been acknowledged, there is a lot of room for interpretation which could be taken advantage of. If these gaps are not filled up properly, it is going to turn the process of modernisation back with all the progress that India had made in the field of literacy and education come to a standstill.

-Ipshita Dey.

A The InfoMission Project Writer.

GST Bill in a Nutshell.

GST: An all in one tax?

The lower house of the Parliament, the Lok Sabha recently passed The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2014. The Bill is with the standing committee currently and to become a law, it has to be passed by a two-third majority and ratified by at least half of the states.

The GST bill is hailed to be the single most important tax restructuring reform, yet it got lesser media coverage than the Salman Khan verdict. With this bill, a number of indirect taxes will be subsumed into one single tax called as Goods and Services Tax (GST). This will help in reducing distortions in the multi-layered tax system and help in increasing the revenue for the government. Indirect taxes applicable on goods and services such as Central Sales Tax (CST), Value Added Tax (VAT), Excise Duty, etc. will be subsumed by GST. This article will help you in understanding the modifications which this bill proposes to make, the pros and cons of GST and criticisms to the bill.

What are Indirect taxes?

This bill only affects indirect taxes. So what are these indirect taxes and how do they concern us? Indirect taxes are taxes which are applicable to goods and services, unlike direct taxes which are levied on individuals. The burden of paying this tax is shifted from the holder to the bearer.

 For example, when a customer purchases a product from a retail shop, the retail sales tax is paid by the customer and the retail shop acts as an intermediary and passes the tax to the respective authority. Presently, there are several indirect taxes which are applicable from manufacturing to the sale of the product. But GST would simplify this structure and only one tax would be applicable at the sales point. Further this tax would be divided into two categories; the Central GST (CGST) which would go to the Central Government and the State GST (SGST), payable to the State Government. For example, if a particular product is levied with 16% tax, of that 8% each will go to Centre and State governments. The GST Council will have the discretion to decide on this matter.

However, Integrated – GST (IGST), only the centre would collect and levy GST on supplies in the course of inter-state trade or commerce.

Advantages of GST Bill:

•       The GST will replace all indirect taxes such as CST, Octroi, Service Tax, VAT and Excise Duty.

•       It will benefit people as prices of products is likely to come down thus the demand of the product will increase which will help the consumers and businesses.

•       No more overlapping of taxes.

•       Uniform and stable tax system and an increase in country’s GDP.

•       The bill envisions the implementation of this structure through a fully automated platform with minimum human interference.

Disadvantages of GST Bill:

•       Critics claim that the CGST and the SGST are nothing but new names for Central Excise/ Service Tax, VAT and CST.

•       Alcohol is exempted from the purview of the GST. Further, the GST Council has to decide on petroleum crude, diesel, petrol, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel. This means that the state and the centre would continue to levy separate taxes on these products till GST Council decides on the rates.

•       States can levy an additional tax of 1% on inter-state supplies. This is against the principle of GST which aims to achieve a common market.

•       The implementation of GST requires a strong IT structure at a grass root level which at present, India lacks.

The GST Bill has been pending since 2004 and was passed by Lok Sabha on May 6th, 2015, after it was introduced with some minor changes. The States have opposed this bill because they fear losing autonomy and revenue. But the Bill has laid down a compensation package for a period of five years whereby the Centre will reimburse 100% of the revenue loss in first three years, 75% in the fourth year and 50% in the fifth year. States want alcohol and petrol products to be exempted from GST as half of the state’s revenue is generated by these products but the compensation clause will hopefully solve their worries.

This Bill will herald a simplified, uniform tax structure. It will also boost the economy and help in attracting foreign investors. Eventually, the costs of the products will go down, demand will increase and this is a win-win situation for both, consumers and businesses.

 But the bill has been criticised on the grounds that a proper roadmap has not been formulated for its implementation. The other criticism is that it is old wine in the new bottle. The Bill was first introduced by the UPA Government way back in 2004.The current government has only tweaked the compensation provision and added provisions relating to the GST Council. 

If the Bill is passed by Rajya Sabha and is ratified by at least half of the states then it will be rolled out on April 1^st, 2016.

Come what may, there is no running away from paying taxes. You either pay it rolled into one or as separate taxes but you can only hope that your hard earned money is not stashed into some unknown Swiss bank account!

References

Inballot – Should the Parliament pass GST Bill?

PRS India – The Constitution (122^nd Amendment) GST Bill

Hindustan Times – All you need to know about GST Bill.

-Ruchika Thakur

A The InfoMission Project Writer.

The Sound of Noise

Sound renders inspiration to music and fills the deepest of voids. That a mere frequency of vibrations carelessly strung together can add so much meaning to life is something which never ceases to amaze me. But some startling revelations in recent times have left me shell-shocked and running for cover. In this article, I shall share some of them with you.

Decibel is the standard for measurement of noise. The lowest sound pressure that can be heard is 20 decibels (20Db). The average acceptable range of sound is 40 Db to 65 Db. At 80 Db, sound becomes physically painful and intolerable. But it is indeed astounding to see that almost all metropolitan and urban areas in India emit noise above permissible limit which is silently absorbed by the surroundings. Little do we know about how this callous generation of noise is going to backfire? Cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bombay generate close to 90 decibels every day. Several studies have been conducted to assess the ambient noise levels. The world health organization has estimated a significant hearing impairment to occur if there is continuous exposure to noise levels between 70 to 85 decibels. Although it is surprising to note that areas which have been specifically categorized as silence zones (less than 100 m around hospitals, schools etc) have been recorded with the highest average noise level of 75 decibels which sometimes extends to 90 decibels. This means that we are all susceptible to noise induced severe hearing loss.

Prolonged exposure to such high decibel sounds causes irreversible damage to the sensory cells of the cochlea. They cause a temporary or permanent elevation in the hearing threshold which means sounds below a certain range cannot be picked up. This range is steadily increasing and has become as high as 20 to 30 Db.

A study conducted by the European commission and European heart journal on transport noise mitigation and medical impacts revealed the correlation between noise annoyance and medically diagnosed illness. People who were annoyed with neighborhood noise over a long time were at the risk of cardiovascular disease, depression and migraine. People who were persistently annoyed by traffic were seen to be at the risk of respiratory health problems. Excessive noise can also trigger some serious psychological ailments. People who live closer to roadways are reported to be suffering from problems of bad temper, irritation and anxiety. Children face problems of sleep disturbance and lack of concentration. This is nature’s way of telling us that we should be really worried and concerned about our future. We are in the process of successfully creating a race of toxic and deplorably unhealthy beings and we need to abort this mission before it consumes us all.

Under the noise pollution (regulation and control) rules 2000, an objective level of air quality standard has been set but a lot has to be done on the implementation front since these limits are being violated and dangerously exceeded on a day to day basis.

The prescribed permissible limit is as under:

Area code	Category	Limits in decibels : (day)                   (night)
A	Industrial	75	70
B	Commercial	65	55
C	Residential	55	45
D	Silence	50	40

In retrospect

The Supreme Court judgment last year imposing ban on loudspeakers at religious places came as a huge relief to those in the vicinity of such areas who inevitably became subject to this brutal inconvenience.

Another major circular was issued by the Maharashtra state transport commissioner, Mahesh Zagade banning the ‘Horn Ok Please’ signs behind trucks.

This is said to be a departure from driving culture where there is a window for unnecessary honking. On the face of it, the decision makes sense because it violates provisions of Motor Vehicles Act but it is neither sensible nor practical. As if banning this sign would actually reduce the instances of honking! It has to be imbibed in our culture rather than banning signs. It is time; we all sit up and take notice of this matter. There are some simple ways in which we can control noise pollution in our own locality.

What can be done?

The time has come for us to sit up and take notice of this matter. There are some simple ways in which we can control noise pollution in our own locality.

·        Better lubrication and working of machines.

·        Use silencers to control noise from automobiles, ducts, exhausts etc.

·        Checking noise by covering noise producing machines with sound absorbing materials.

·        Planting trees. A thick and dense green cover can reduce the effect of sound pollution to a great extent.

These are cost effective ways in which we can suppress noise at source without having to depend on any strenuous measures to be initiated by the government.

Some other innovative and pioneering solutions have been discovered which are helping in reduction of noise pollutants in atmosphere in their own astonishing and path breaking way.

Quieter airport take offs

·        NASA is spearheading research in reducing air craft noise through the quiet aircraft technology program. It aims to develop technology to reduce commercial aircraft noise significantly.

Quieter highways

·        The national highways authority of India should ideally make it mandatory to use silencers in vehicles, frequently service and oil them and provide for service stations to facilitate the same.  This will cut down the frictional strain and subsequent noise that is generated out of such wear and tear. The metropolitan planning organizations in Europe and USA have started investing in material that absorbs sound. This material will be used in construction of pavements along the roads which will act as barriers and eventually reduce the noise.

Quieter buildings

·        Traditionally, builders control the impact of noise inside the buildings by constructing thicker walls, ceilings and floor or use material which are insulators, with sound pockets that trap sound waves. Recently, Quiet solutions (a California based company) have introduced a product line that can be added to cement and is said to reduce sound transmission between walls significantly. Using this material would reduce sound decibel per room to 40 Db which is as quiet as a library.

Seeking silence

·        Raising and spreading awareness in public offices, public places, schools and colleges will transform people to become more silence friendly and appreciate the importance of an environment free of blaring horns and buzzing noise.

It is about time that we take noise pollution seriously before it becomes the single most powerful, destructive and potent force to claim our natural balance.

The luxury of living in a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere has been compromised to high speed, cacophonous gadgets. There is great joy in the simple and soft sounds of everyday lives. if we don’t act soon enough then soul fulfilling sounds like An infant’s cackle, ruffling of trees, chirping of birds, sound of warm breeze or cool zephyr will literally fall on deaf ears and silence will once again become an unaffordable luxury.

Legal Remedies

Did you know? Right to live in a peaceful and clean environment is a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution and upheld by the apex court in various judgments. So let’s get to the big question, what can you do about it?

 To enforce this right, citizens can take the following steps.

The regulatory authority to maintain these standards is the local district court. No permission can be granted by any authority for use of amplified public address system in open after 10 PM and before 6 AM. There can be no exceptions in this regard. If the prescribed limits are not complied with, then all you need to do is file an RTI application seeking a reply as to why no action was taken to restore the noise level. If authorities do not act to stop violation of noise rules, then any citizen who has filed a complaint can approach the court within 60 days of notice and court can initiate proceedings. Remember, Noise pollution amounts to public nuisance whereby a civil suit can be filed and damages can be claimed. So if something is unbearable, stop plugging your ears, plug the system!



-Sharanya Shivaraman.
A The InfoMission Project writer.