PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS,14-OCTOBER-2017
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and
various quasi-judicial bodies.
IWAI raises Rs660 crore through
bonds
The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has
raised Rs660 crore through a bond sale to finance the development of national
waterways.
§ It is the second time that the
authority has raised money through a bond sale. Last year, it was allowed to
issue infrastructure bonds worth Rs1,000 crore but the authority raised only
Rs340 crore.
§ The money raised from the bonds
is intended to be used by IWAI for the development of national waterways.
Know about IWAI:
Inland Waterways Authority of
India (IWAI) is the statutory authority in charge of the waterways in
India. Its headquarters is located in Noida, UP. It does the function of
building the necessary infrastructure in these waterways, surveying the
economic feasibility of new projects and also administration.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and
various quasi-judicial bodies.
Tea board proposes Rs 100 crore
package for Darjeeling estates
The Tea Board has proposed a Rs
100-crore relief package for tea estates in the Darjeeling hills, where
production has resumed after nearly three months of shutdown due to an
agitation for a separate state. The relief package, however, has failed to
bring cheer to the industry.
Background:
Plucking and other operations
at the 87 tea estates in the region had come to a halt after the Gorkha
Janmukti Morcha’s strike call on June 9 demanding a separate state, called
Gorkhaland. The growers of Darjeeling tea had sought Rs 325 crore as assistance
to prune the overgrown bushes and prepare for production in April. But the
demand was not accepted by the board which, on advice based on the Tea Research
Association’s survey of the problem, cut it to Rs 100 crore.
The strike, the first time in
the history of Darjeeling tea industry, has wiped out almost 70% of the annual
tea production.
About Tea Board of India:
The Tea Board is set up
under the Tea Act 1953. It has succeeded the Central Tea Board and
the Indian Tea Licensing Committee which functioned respectively under the
Central Tea Board Act, 1949 and the Indian Tea Control Act, 1938 which were
repealed.
§ The Tea Board is functioning
as a statutory body of the Central Government under the
Ministry of Commerce.
§ The Board is constituted of 31
members (including Chairman) drawn from Members of Parliament, tea producers,
tea traders, tea brokers, consumers, and representatives of Governments from
the principal tea producing states, and trade unions. The Board is
reconstituted every three years.
Functions:
§ The Tea Board India is
responsible for the assignment of certification numbers to exports of certain
tea merchants. This certification is intended to ensure the teas’ origin, which
in turn would reduce the amount of fraudulent labelling on rare teas.
§ The Tea Board India’s tasks
include endorsement of the diverse production and productivity of tea,
financial support of research organizations and the monitoring of advances in
tea packaging as it relates to health beneficial aspects.
§ It coordinates research
institutes, the tea trade and government bodies, ensuring the technical support
of the tea trade in the global industry.
Sources: the Hindu.
Topic: Government policies and
interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of
their design and implementation.
Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana
In a bid to provide affordable
life insurance services to people, particularly those living in rural areas of
the country, the government has launched Sampoorna Bima Gram (SBG) Yojana
and expanded the coverage of Postal Life Insurance (PLI).
§ With this, apart from
government employees, PLI will now cover professionals also. The decision has
been taken to enlarge the cover of social security and bring the maximum number
of people under the protection of Postal Life Insurance (PLI).
About the Sampoorna Bima Gram
(SBG) Yojana:
Under the Sampoorna Bima Gram
(SBG) Yojana, at least one village (having a minimum of 100 households)
will be identified in each of the revenue districts of the country, wherein
endeavour will be made to cover all households of that identified village with
a minimum of one RPLI (Rural Postal Life Insurance) policy each. Coverage
of all households in the identified Sampoorna Bima Gram village is the primary
objective of this scheme.
Rural Postal Life Insurance
(RPLI), introduced on March 24, 1995 on the recommendations of the
Malhotra Committee, provides insurance cover to people residing in rural
areas, especially weaker sections and women living in rural areas.
Postal Life Insurance:
Postal Life Insurance (PLI) was
introduced on 1st February 1884. In the beginning, the upper limit of life
insurance was only Rs 4000, which has now increased to Rs 50 lakh. It covers
employees of Central and state governments, Central and state public sector
undertakings, universities, government-aided educational institutions,
nationalized banks, local bodies, autonomous bodies, joint ventures having a
minimum of 10% Govt./PSU stake, credit co-operative societies etc.
PLI also extends the facility
of insurance to the officers and staff of the Defence services and
para-military forces. Apart from single insurance policies, Postal Life
Insurance also manages a group insurance scheme for the extra departmental
employees (Gramin Dak Sevaks) of the Department of Posts.
Sources: pib.
Topic: schemes for vulnerable
sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of
these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the
protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
APY subscribers to touch 1
crore by March 2018
According to the estimates by
Finance Ministry, the subscriber base of Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a
guaranteed pension scheme for unorganised sector, is expected to increase to 1
crore by March next year.
§ APY is being used as an
important instrument for inclusion. Within three years, the scheme has been
able to mobilise nearly 69 lakh accounts. Given the huge population, there is a
long way to go as the pension coverage is very low in the country.
About APY:
The Atal Pension Yojana became
operational from June 1, 2015 and is available to all the citizens of
India in the age group of 18-40 years.
§ Under the scheme, a subscriber
would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month,
depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years.
§ The same pension would be paid
to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and
the spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.
§ The Central Government would
also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum,
whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5
years, that is, from 2015-16 to 2019-20, to those who join the NPS before 31st
December, 2015 and who are not members of any statutory social security scheme
and who are not Income Tax payers.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Important aspects of
governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications,
models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency
& accountability and institutional and other measures.
Lawyers as Seniors: Supreme
Court frames rules for itself, 24 High Courts
The Supreme Court of India has
laid down guidelines for itself and 24 High Courts to govern the
exercise of designating lawyers as seniors and has ordered setting up
of a permanent committee headed by the Chief Justice of India assisted by a
secretariat. The direction came based on a petition challenging the designation
process.
Composition of the permanent
committee:
§ In the case of the Supreme
Court,
the permanent committee will comprise the Chief Justice of India and two
seniormost companion judges, Attorney General of India and a representative
from the bar nominated by the first four members.
§ For the HCs, it will have the Chief
Justice of the respective HC and the Advocate General of the state in place of
CJI and Attorney General.
Selection procedure:
A permanent secretariat will be
set up to which applications including proposals from the judges will be
submitted.
§ On receipt of such applications
or proposals from Hon’ble Judges, the Secretariat will compile the relevant
data and information with regard to the reputation, conduct, integrity of the
Advocate(s) concerned including his/her participation in pro bono work;
reported judgments in which the concerned Advocate(s) had appeared; the number
of such judgments for the last five years.
§ The Secretariat will publish
the proposal of designation of a particular Advocate in the official website of
the Court concerned inviting the suggestions and views of other stakeholders in
the proposed designation. The cases will then be put up before the Permanent
Committee for scrutiny.
§ The Committee will interview
the candidate and make an overall evaluation on the basis of his/her number of
years of practice, judgments (reported and unreported) which indicate the legal
formulations advanced by the Advocate concerned in the course of the
proceedings of the case, pro bono work done by him/her, domain expertise of the
applicant in various branches of law and publications by the advocate.
§ The candidates will also have
to take a personality test. After a name is considered and approved by the
permanent committee, it will be put before the Full Court (involving SC/HC
judges as the case may be) which will decide to accord senior designation to an
advocate either unanimously or by majority, through secret ballot. The Full
Court may also recall the senior designation of a lawyer if it feels he is
guilty of conduct that disentitles him to the same.
Background:
Section 16(1) of the Advocates
Act, 1961 recognises
senior advocates. Section 16(2) says that “an advocate may, with his consent,
be designated as senior advocate if the Supreme Court or a High Court is of
opinion that by virtue of his ability (standing the Bar or special knowledge or
experience in law) he is deserving or such distinction.”
Supreme Court rules say “the Chief Justice
and the judges may with the consent of the advocate, designate an advocate as
senior advocate if in their opinion by virtue of his ability; standing at the
Bar or special knowledge or experience in law the said advocate is deserving of
such distinction.” It was contended that this was not transparent.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: India and its neighbourhood-
relations.
Mitra Shakti 2017
The fifth India-Sri
Lanka Joint Training Exercise MITRA SHAKTI 2017 is being held in Pune.
Key facts:
§ The exercise is based on
Counter Terrorist Operations and an Infantry company from both the countries is
participating in the same.
§ The aim of the joint training
is to exchange the best of military practices of the two countries and build a
strong military-to-military relation between the two armies.
§ The exercise, the fifth in the
series, also aims at developing joint strategies by sharing the expertise of
conducting operations, especially in the counter-insurgency and counter
terrorism (CI and CT) environment.
§ The fourth chapter of the
exercise was held at the Sinha Regimental Centre in Ambepussa, Sri Lanka, in
2016, when the main focus was to enhance inter-operability in CI and CT
operations under the UN mandate.
Significance of this exercise:
The training exercise is
considered an important effort in India’s response to China’s growing influence
in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region. It is expected to send a strong
signal to the world that both India and Sri Lanka understand the emerging
threat of terrorism and stand shoulder to shoulder in countering this menace.
Sources: pib.
Paper 3:
Topic: Role of external state and
non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
SC asks Centre to strike a
balance on Rohingya issue
The Supreme Court has asked the
government to strike a balance between humanitarian concern for Rohingya
community staying in India and the country’s national security and economic interests.
With this, the status quo continues even though the court gave the community
the liberty to approach it in case of “any contingency.”
Background:
A plea was filed in the supreme
court by Rohingyas for protection of the life and liberty of their community.
Petitioners say, the Centre’s move to deport them violated the constitutional
guarantee that the Indian state should “protect the life and liberty of every
human being, whether citizen or not.”
As per the petitioners, “The
proposed deportation is contrary to the constitutional protections of Article
14 (equality), Article 21 (right to life) and Article
51(c) (respect for international law and treaty obligations) of the
Constitution.”
Who are the Rohingya?
Few years ago, religious and
ethnic tensions between the Rohingya Muslims and the Rakhine Buddhists (who
make up the majority of the population in Mayanmar) escalated into widespread,
deadly rioting. Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee. Since then, ongoing
violent attacks have forced even more people to leave their homes.
§ The Myanmar Government says
that Rohingya people are not Burmese citizens – but the Rohingya have been
living in Myanmar for generations. Today, they are a people with no home or citizenship.
§ Rohingya people are being
widely abused and exploited. They are one of the most persecuted minorities in
the world.
§ According to estimate, there
are around 40,000 Rohingya in India, of which around 5,700 are in Jammu. Of
these, only 16,000 are said to be registered with the U.N. body.
Sources: the hindu.
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