PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 24-MARCH-2018
Topic:
Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of
business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
Rajya Sabha elections
Context: Elections
for 25 Rajya Sabha seats were held recently.
What is the strength of the House?
The Rajya
Sabha has the strength of 245 members of which 233 are representatives of the
states and Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry. The remaining 12 members
are nominated by the President.
What is the qualification of an RS member?
He must be
a citizen of India and must not be less than 30 years of age. He must possess
qualifications as may be prescribed under any law made by Parliament.
Who can vote to elect Rajya Sabha member?
Elected
representatives of state legislatures vote in elections to the Upper House.
Rajya Sabha election process:
Members of
state assemblies elect Rajya Sabha members by a process of indirect voting in
what is called proportional representation with a single transferable vote.
Each voter ranks his preference, and if the first candidate on the list has
enough votes to win or no chance of winning, the vote is transferred to the
next choice and so on.
Tenure of Rajya Sabha members:
Rajya
Sabha members are elected for a six-year term. One-third of the members of the
Upper House of parliament retire after every two years.
What’s important?
For
Prelims: Rajya Sabha election procedure.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of
business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
Office-of-profit
Context: The
Delhi High Court has quashed a notification issued by President Ram Nath Kovind
disqualifying 20 AAP MLAs for holding offices of profit as Parliamentary
Secretaries.
The court
has reinstated all 20 MLAs, holding that the opinion of the Election Commission
of India to the President to disqualify the legislators was “vitiated and bad
in law for failure to comply with the principles of natural justice”.
Why was the notification quashed by the court?
The High
Court noted that the Election Commission failed to give oral hearing and
opportunity to address arguments on merits to the AAP MLAs before arriving at
its opinion that they held ‘office of profit’.
What next?
The court
has asked the Election Commission to first decide the “all important and
seminal issue; what is meant by the expression ‘office of profit held under the
government’.” Then, “re-examine the factual matrix to decide whether the
petitioners (MLAs) had incurred disqualification on appointment as
Parliamentary Secretaries, without being influenced by the earlier order or
observations on the said aspect in this order”.
What’s the issue?
The Delhi
government, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, appointed the parliamentary
secretaries attached to government ministries after coming to power in March
2015. The Election Commission had recommended that 20 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi
Party in Delhi be disqualified as they held offices of profit while being
legislators.
What is an ‘office of profit’?
If an MLA
or an MP holds a government office and receives benefits from it, then that
office is termed as an “office of profit”. A person will be disqualified if he
holds an office of profit under the central or state government, other than an
office declared not to disqualify its holder by a law passed by Parliament or
state legislature.
What are the basic criteria to disqualify an MP or MLA?
Basic
disqualification criteria for an MP are laid down in Article 102 of the
Constitution, and for an MLA in Article 191. They can be disqualified for: a)
Holding an office of profit under government of India or state government; b)
Being of unsound mind; c) Being an undischarged insolvent; d) Not being an
Indian citizen or for acquiring citizenship of another country.
What is the underlying principle for including ‘office of
profit’ as criterion for disqualification?
Makers of
the Constitution wanted that legislators should not feel obligated to the
Executive in any way, which could influence them while discharging legislative
functions. In other words, an MP or MLA should be free to carry out her duties
without any kind of governmental pressure.
What’s important?
For
Prelims: What is office of profit and provisions concerned.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure,
mandate.
KISS to host ‘Commonwealth Big Lunch’
Context: Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar,
in partnership with British Council, India, is hosting the ‘Commonwealth Big
Lunch’. KISS is the only organisation from Asia to
be selected by British Council to host the Commonwealth Big Lunch.
What is it? British
Council is celebrating 70 years of inception in Commonwealth countries. On this
occasion, it has organised a mega lunch. The initiative launched by UK PM
Theresa May. The motto of the programme is to encourage people to get together
to celebrate their Commonwealth connections through food.
The Commonwealth:
The
Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 independent and equal sovereign
states. It was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which
established the member states as “free and equal”.
§ The
Commonwealth operates by intergovernmental consensus of the member states,
organised through the Commonwealth Secretariat and non-governmental
organisations, organised through the Commonwealth Foundation.
§ The
Commonwealth is home to 2.4 billion people and includes both advanced economies
and developing countries. Thirty of our members are small states, many of which
are island nations.
§ Member
countries are supported by a network of more than 80 intergovernmental, civil
society, cultural and professional organisations.
§ The last
country to join the Commonwealth was Rwanda in 2009.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: The Commonwealth Big Lunch, Commonwealth of nations.
§ For Mains:
Commonwealth and its significance.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure,
mandate.
Cuvette Centrale region
What is it? It
is the world’s
largest tropical peatlands in Congo Basin.
Why in news? To
protect the Cuvette Centrale region in the Congo Basin from unregulated land
use and prevent its drainage and degradation, the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), the Republic of Congo and Indonesia have jointly signed the Brazzaville
declaration that promotes better management and conservation of this globally
important carbon store.
Global peatland initiative: The
declaration was signed on the sidelines of the Third Partners Meeting of the
Global Peatlands Initiative, taking place in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
What are peatlands? Peatlands
are wetlands that contain a mixture of decomposed organic material, partially
submerged in a layer of water, lacking oxygen. The complex biodiversity of the
peatlands means they are home to a variety of species, but their high carbon
content makes them uniquely vulnerable to incineration if they are drained.
About the Global Peatlands Initiative:
The Global
Peatlands Initiative is an effort by leading experts and institutions to save
peatlands as the world’s largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and to
prevent it being emitted into the atmosphere.
Sources:
ET.
Paper 3:
Topic:
Awareness in space.
Chandrayaan-2
Context: A
recent report has confirmed that the launch of Chandrayaan-2, India’s second
mission to the moon will be in October this year.
About Chandrayaan-2:
Chandrayaan-2
includes soft-landing on Moon and moving a rover on its surface. It is an
advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission. It consists of an
orbiter, lander and rover configuration.
§ The
Orbiter spacecraft when launched from Sriharikota will travel to the Moon and
release the Lander, which will in turn deploy a tiny Rover to roam the lunar
surface — all three sending data and pictures to Earth.
§ It is
planned to be launched as a composite stack into the earth parking orbit (EPO)
of 170 X 18,500 km by GSLV-Mk II.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Conservation.
Earth Hour 2018
Context: Earth
Hour is being observed on March 24 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Earth Hour is also a
“part and parcel” of the “Green Good Deeds” movement, in which every individual
ought to take small, voluntary green actions to protect and conserve the
environment and the earth.
“Give Up to Give Back”:
On the
occasion of Earth Hour, the World Wide Fund India has made a strong pitch for
“Give Up to Give Back”.
The “Give
Up to Give Back” initiative to inspire organisations, institutions and
individuals to make the choice to curb some habits, practices and lifestyles
that burden our lives and the environment. It includes taking steps like giving
up single-use plastics, giving up fossil fuels, giving up lonely car rides for
your employees, give up e-waste.
What is Earth Hour?
Dating
back to 2007, Earth Hour is an annual event organized by the World Wildlife
Fund that promotes conservation and sustainable energy. During this time,
civilians are encouraged to switch off their lights for one hour to help reduce
the effect of global warming and raise awareness for climate change and
wildlife conservation.
Background:
It was
famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then
it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide. Today, Earth Hour
engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental
issues. The one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger
movement.
What’s the difference between Earth Hour and Earth Day?
Whereas
Earth Hour stands as a climate change initiative where people reduce their
electricity usage, Earth Day (April 22) celebrates our natural environment by
inspiring people to plant trees, recycle regularly and keep the planet tidy.
Why do we need earth hour?
Global
warming and climate change have dominated the scientific discourse in the past
more than one decade. With ever rising population of the world, the climate
change has put the humankind at a great risk along with other species.
§ Global
warming, rising levels of pollution due to ever increasing industrialisation,
declining forest cover and rising sea levels are some of the dangers that
drastically affect the workings of life on the earth.
§ Though the
largest polluters are big industries, the WWF tries to make the masses more and
more aware about the impending dangers of adverse climate so that they could
put pressure on the respective governments to frame environment-friendly
policies and laws.
§ With Earth
Hour, the WWF aims to engage people across the globe to adopt more sustainable
lifestyle. Turning off lights for an hour is just an annual reminder that if
the world does not mend its ways, it will be heading to a dark age, literally.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Earth hour, Earth day and give up to give back.
§ For Mains:
Climate change and its effects.
Sources:
the hindu.
Facts for Prelims:
NAIPUNYA RATHAM:
What is
it? NAIPUNYA RATHAM or World on Wheels is a multi-utility vehicle which aims to
bring technology to the remote corners.
Where? It
was launched recently in Andhra Pradesh.
Why? As
part of the Smart village Smart Ward Programme, the Naipunya Rathaams will
facilitate and look to improve digital literacy, digital skills and create an
awareness on various government schemes that are underway in the new state of
Andhra Pradesh.
World’s longest sandstone cave discovered in Meghalaya:
Context:
Meghalaya is now also home to the longest sandstone cave in the world at
24,583m.
Key facts:
§ The cave
system has fossils of dinosaurs, especially the Mosasaurus, a giant reptile
that lived 66-76 million years ago.
§ The cave
is Meghalaya is 6,000m longer than the current listed sandstone cave in the
world, Cueva El Samán, (18,200m) in Venezuela.
World Tuberculosis Day 2018:
Context:
Observed on March 24 every year, World Tuberculosis Day is designed to build
public awareness about the global epidemic of TB and efforts to eliminate the
disease. World TB Day commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch
announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes
TB.
Significance:
According to WHO, World TB Day provides a platform for affected persons and
communities, civil society organizations, health-care providers, policy makers,
development partners and others to advocate, discuss and plan further
collaboration to fulfil the promise of reaching all people with quality TB
prevention and care services, as well as enabling TB prevention through
multisectoral development efforts.
The theme
of World TB Day 2018 – “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world”.
Key facts:
§ Tuberculosis
(TB) is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect
the lungs. Tuberculosis is curable and preventable.
§ TB is
spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough,
sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale
only a few of these germs to become infected.
§ Ending the
TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the Sustainable Development
Goals.
Comments
Post a Comment