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UPDATE

REPORT LAW & JUSTICE

Latest HRD survey shows girls going Section 377:
to college out number boys in seven Supreme Court

states will revisit its order

According to the All India Survey on Odisha (21%), Bihar (14.4%), Gujarat banning gay sex
Higher Education (AISHE) unveiled (20.2%), Rajasthan (20.5%), Mizoram
Rekindling hope among many fighting
by HRD Minister on 5 January 2018, (24.5%) and West Bengal (18.5%) —
ratio of children opting for higher had an enrolment ratio far less than for LGBT rights, the Supreme Court
on 8 January 2018 decided to revisit
studies has remained fairly static over the national average. Bihar has the
the last four years but the silver lining lowest GER with just 14.4 per cent of its December 2013 order upholding the
constitutional validity of Indian Penal
is the narrowing of the gender gap its eligible population (in the age
Code section 377 which criminalises
with more girls now going to college. group of 18 to 23 years) pursuing
same-sex relations between
The survey shows that India higher education.
consenting adults. A three-judge
registered its best performance on the According to the survey, there
Gender Parity Index (GPI) in the last were 864 universities in the country bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak
seven years— 0.94 in 2016-17 from 0.86 last year compared to 799 in 2015-16. Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar
in 2010-11. It shows that in at least The total number of students in higher and DY Chandrachud, referred the
seven states — Goa, Himachal education was about 3.57 crore, of matter to a larger bench to be
Pradesh, Meghalaya, J&K, which 1.9 crore were boys and 1.67 constituted by the CJI and also sought
Nagaland, Sikkim and Kerala — crore girls. Almost 80 per cent of the the assistance of Union of India in the
women in higher education enrolment, or 2.83 crore, were studying matter.
outnumber men. In J&K, the total at the undergraduate level. About 40 Background
number of women students overtook lakh, or 11.2 per cent students, were In December 2013, ruling on Suresh
men only two years ago. studying at the postgraduate level. Kumar Koushal and another vs NAZ
Although the proportion of PhD scholars accounted for less than Foundation and Others, the bench of
students pursuing higher education 0.4 per cent of the total students in Justices GS Singhvi and SJ
hasn’t increased dramatically from higher education. Mukhopadhaya upheld the validity of
2015-16 to 2016-17 — in the range of Although India aims to attain a the British-era provision, upsetting a
23% to 25% since 2013-14 — six states GER of 30 per cent by 2020, it’s still far 2009 verdict of the Delhi High Court
registered GER higher than the national behind countries like China with an which held IPC section 377 in so far as
average (25.2%), with their share of enrolment ratio of 43.39 per cent and it criminalises consensual sexual acts
students entering higher education US with 85.8 per cent — Pakistan’s of adults in private as violative of
growing twice as fast as the overall GER is 9.93 per cent. Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the
rate. These states are Himachal As has been the case in the past, Constitution. A review against the 2013
Pradesh (36.7%), Kerala (34.2%), states in south India have higher decision was dismissed and a curative
Punjab (28.6%), Tamil Nadu (46.9%), college density, which is defined as petition — a curative plea is filed after
Andhra Pradesh (32.4%) and Haryana the number of colleges per lakh eligible the review petition — is pending in
(29%). population. Puducherry has, on the Supreme Court.
GER is a statistical measure for average, 549 students enrolled in each The order to revisit the 2013
determining the number of students college, followed by Telangana with ruling came on a 2016 petition
enrolled in undergraduate, 483 and Karnataka with 381. The filed by Navtej Singh Johar, a
postgraduate and research-level college density in the top three states Bharatnatyam dancer honoured
studies within the country and is 49 in Puducherry, 59 in Telangana with the Sangeet Natak Akademi
expressed as a percentage of the and 53 in Karnataka. Bihar, Jharkhand award, journalist Sunil Mehra,
population. and West Bengal, on the other hand, restaurateur Ritu Dalmia, hotelier
Tamil Nadu has the highest GER are at the bottom of the pile with seven, Aman Nath of the Neemrana chain,
in India at 46.9 per cent. However, eight and 11 colleges, respectively, for and Ayesha Kapur, a psychology
eight states — UP (24.9%), MP (20%), every one lakh students. graduate.
March 2018 Competition Wizard 31