PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS,5-OCTOBER-2017
Topic: Bilateral, regional and
global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s
interests.
Cabinet
approves the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania
The Union Cabinet has given its
approval for the signing and ratification of the
Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania.
Benefits of this treaty:
§ The Treaty would provide a legal
framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other
criminals from and to Lithuania.
§ The Treaty would help in
extradition of fugitive criminals including terrorists for criminal
prosecutions from Lithuania who may have committed crimes against India.
§ It will bring the criminals to
justice, with a view to ensure peace and tranquility to public at large.
What is extradition?
Extradition is the surrender of
a criminal to one country by another. It also helps in maintaining the
territoriality of the penal code which says that a country should not apply its
criminal law to a person who committed an offence outside its territories
except when the crime is related the countries national interest. The process
is regulated by treaties between the two countries.
What are the internationally
accepted conditions for extradition?
There is a general consensus
about few conditions of extradition. The crime should fulfill the criterion of
dual criminality, i.e. it is a punishable offence in both the countries. For
instance homosexuality might be a crime in country A while it is accepted in B.
The country A can not request B to extradite a person who is charged with a
homosexuality related offence.
Persons charged for political
reasons are generally not extradited. Some countries refuse to extradite if the
kind of expected punishment is abolished or is not administered in their own
territories. For instance Australia, Canada, Macao, Mexico, and most of the
European nations refuse to extradite a criminal if the person in question might
get capital punishment after his extradition.
What are the extradition laws
of India?
In India the Extradition Act,
1962 regulates the surrender of a person to another country or the request for
arrest of a person in a foreign land. The act specifies that any conduct of a
person in India or in a foreign state that is mentioned in the list of
extradition offence and is punishable with minimum one year of imprisonment
qualifies for extradition request. The process has to be initiated by the
central government.
§ In the case of countries with
which India does not have such a treaty, the central government can by notified
order treat any convention to which India and the foreign country is a party as
the extradition treaty providing for extradition with respect to the offences
specified in that convention.
§ If the extradition request has
come from two or more countries then the government has the rights to decide
which of them is the fittest for the request.
In what conditions can the
government deny extradition?
§ If the government finds the
case trivial and if it thinks that the surrendering of the person is not being
made in good faith or in the interests of justice or for political reasons, it
can deny the request.
§ If the surrender according to
the requesting countrys own law is barred by time then also the person cannot
be extradited from India. If the government can also stop the process if it
feels that the person will be charged with an offence not mentioned in the
extradition treaty.
§ The government can put the
extradition on hold if it feels that the person will be charged for a lesser
offence, which is disclosed by the requesting authorities so that they can have
the possession of the person.
§ Apart from this, if the person
is serving a jail term or he/she is accused of an offence in Indian soil, which
is different from the offence for which the person is wanted abroad, then also
the extradition process can be stopped.
§ Similarly if a fugitive
criminal has committed an offence which is punishable with death in India while
the laws of foreign state do not provide death for the same offence then criminal
will get life imprisonment in India also.
Sources: pib.
Paper
3:
Topic: inclusive growth.
Inheritance
tax on HNIs likely to be reintroduced
The government is considering
the levy of an inheritance tax on high net worth individuals, some of whom are already
preparing to insulate themselves from such a liability by forming family
trusts. The tax could range from 5% to 10% and would apply only to families
with a certain net worth.
§ The government has sought
feedback, including recommendations, on the proposed re-introduction of
inheritance tax, also known as estate duty.
Background:
Also popularly known
as estate tax or estate duty, Inheritance tax was a tax that was levied against a particular
asset during the time of its inheritance. For example, the inheritance of
ancestral land. Inheritance tax is no longer levied in India and was abolished
during the time of the Rajiv Gandhi Government in 1985.
§ Though its intentions were
noble, the then finance minister, V.P. Singh was of the opinion that it had
failed to bring about an equilibrium in society and reduce the wealth gap.
During its stay, inheritance tax or estate duty was levied from the period
between 1953 and 1985.
§ There are certain countries
that practice this form of taxation. Countries like USA, UK, Netherlands, Spain
and Belgium all follow inheritance tax and China had gone to the extent of
introducing rules for inheritance tax back in 2002 but was met with heavy
opposition to the idea and were not able to implement it.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: conservation.
Turtle
Sanctuary to be set up in Allahabad
In order to protect the rich
aquatic biodiversity of river Ganga from escalating anthropogenic pressures,
development of a Turtle sanctuary in Allahabad along with a
River Biodiversity Park at Sangam have been approved under Namami Gange
programme.
Key facts:
§ The project at an estimated
cost of Rs 1.34 crore would include development of River Biodiversity Park at
Sangam (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Sarasvati), establishment of a
Turtle Rearing Centre (Permanent nursery at Triveni Pushp and makeshift annual
hatcheries) and awareness about the importance of river Ganga and
imperativeness of its conservation has been approved.
§ This project will provide much
needed platform to make the visitors aware of their place in the ecosystem,
their roles and responsibilities, improve their understanding of the complexity
of co-existence with the environment and help generate awareness for reducing
the impact of human activities on critical natural resources.
§ The task of dissipating
knowledge about river Ganga will be taken up ardently in this project, which is
100% centrally funded.
Background:
Rivers Ganga and Yamuna at
Allahabad are home to some of the most endangered fauna like turtles (Batagur
kachuga, Batagur dhongoka, Nilssonia gangetica, Chitra indica, Hardella thurjii
etc.), the National Aquatic Animal – Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica),
the Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) and numerous migratory and resident birds.
The sustenance of more than 2000 aquatic species including threatened gharials,
dolphins and turtles in river Ganga exemplifies the rich biodiversity of this
lifeline to over 40% of the country’s population.
Sources: pib.
Topic: conservation.
Committee
for proper management of water resources in North Eastern Region
The Government has constituted
a high-level committee for proper management of the water resources in the
North Eastern Region (NER) under the Chairmanship of Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog.
Key facts:
§ The Committee would facilitate
optimising benefits of appropriate water management in the form of
hydro-electric power, agriculture, bio-diversity conservation, reduced flood
damage erosion, inland water transport, forestry, fishery and eco-tourism.
§ Ministry of Development of
North Eastern Region (DoNER) will serve as the coordinating point. The
Committee will submit its report, including Plan of Action, by June, 2018.
The terms of reference of the
Committee include:
§ Appraisal of existing
mechanism/institutional arrangements for management of water resources of the
North Eastern Region.
§ Identification of gaps in the
existing mechanism/institutional arrangements for optimal management of water
resources of the NER.
§ Suggest policy interventions
required for optimally harnessing the water resources for accelerating development
in the NER
§ Spelling out of actionable
measures required for optimizing the management of water resources in the
North-East.
§ Chalking out a Plan of Action
for dovetailing of the schemes/programmes of concerned Union Ministries, their
attached offices and autonomous bodies as well as the schemes of the respective
North-Eastern State Governments.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Science and Technology-
developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements
of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and
developing new technology.
2017
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The 2017 Nobel prize in
Chemistry has been awarded to Jacques Dubochet (University of Lausanne,
Switzerland) Joachim Frank (Columbia University, New York) and Richard
Henderson (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, U.K.) “for
developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure
determination of biomolecules in solution“.
What is cryo-electron
microscopy?
“Cryo”, short for cryogenic
refers to very low temperatures. Though the actual temperature is not well
defined, it is below minus 150°C. In the context of electron microscopy, it
refers to the fact that the object to be imaged is frozen to such low
temperatures to facilitate being studied under the beam of the electron
microscope.
This method is so effective
that even in recent times, it has been used to image the elusive Zika virus:
When researchers began to suspect that the Zika virus was causing the epidemic
of brain-damaged newborns in Brazil, they turned to cryo-EM to visualise the
virus. Over a few months, three dimensional (3D) images of the virus at atomic
resolution were generated and researchers could start searching for potential
targets for pharmaceuticals.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Infrastructure-
waterways.
National
Waterway-4
Vice president Venkaiah Naidu
recently laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the 2,890-km National
Waterway-4 (NW-4) at Amravati in Andhra Pradesh. The first phase involves
development of a water channel from Muktyala to Vijayawada
on Krishna river along with four floating terminals and three fixed terminals
to handle cargo operations.
About National Waterway 4:
The inland waterway was
declared National Waterway-4 in November, 2008 with a total length of 1,078 km.
Under the National Waterway Act, 2016, this was increased to 2,890 km.
The NW-4 would be developed in
three phases. In the first phase, the 82 km stretch from Muktyala to Vijayawada
will be developed. This would be followed by the second phase where 233 km will
be developed from Vijayawada to Kakinada and Rajahmundry to Polavaram on
Godavari river. The third phase will connect Commamur canal, Buckingham canal
and the balance stretches of river Krishna and Godavari across 573 km.
Importance of National Waterway
4:
The project will provide an
efficient logistics solution to boost the economic growth of the region and
facilitate the development of Amravati during its early development stage as
substantial construction material is expected to be transported on this
stretch. It will also improve connectivity to important tourist and pilgrimage
spots.
Sources: the hindu.
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