PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 20 - JANUARY -2018
Paper
2:
Topic:
Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and
responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
Election
Commission recommends disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs
The
Election Commission has recommended that 20 MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party in
Delhi be disqualified as they held offices of profit while being legislators.
President Ram Nath Kovind will make the final decision based on the
recommendation.
Background:
In
June 2016, the Congress had approached the Election Commission, alleging that
21 MLAs of the AAP had been appointed parliamentary secretaries in March 2015.
In September 2016, the Delhi High Court set aside their appointments as
parliamentary secretaries.
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.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and
responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
President
of India appoints Governor of Madhya Pradesh
The
President of India has appointed Smt Anandiben Patel as the Governor of Madhya
Pradesh with effect from the date she assumes charge of her office.
Governors
of States in India:
Governor
is the head of the Executive power of any state in India, just like the
President who is the head of the executive power in the Union. But, Governor is
the nominal head of a state, unlike the Chief Minister who is the real head of
a state in India. According to an amendment in the Constitution of India,
brought about in 1956, the same person can be the Governor of two or more
states.
Appointment
and removal: The governors and
lieutenant-governors are appointed by the president for a term of 5 years. The
term of governor’s office is normally 5 years but it can be terminated earlier
by: Dismissal by the president on the advice of the prime minister of the
country, at whose pleasure the governor holds office or Resignation by the
governor. There is no provision of impeachment, as it happens for the
president. Article 157 and Article 158 of the Constitution of
India specify eligibility requirements for the post of governor.
Powers: Like
the President of India, the Governor of any state in India is vested with
certain executive, legislative and judicial powers. He or she also possesses
certain discretionary or emergency powers. But one major difference in the
powers enjoyed by the President and those enjoyed by the Governor is, the
Governor does not have any diplomatic or military powers.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Welfare 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.
Accessible
India Campaign
Context: In
a path breaking initiative to empower Persons with Disabilities, 100 Accessible
websites of various State Governments/UTs under Accessible India Campaign have
been launched.
What
are accessible websites?
Accessible
Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive,
understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute
to the Web.
Background:
The
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) initiated a
“Website Accessibility Project” for State Government/Union Territories under
Accessible India Campaign through ERNET India, an autonomous scientific society
under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), to make
total 917 websites accessible and providing funds for the same. Now 100
accessible websites are made accessible under the project.
About
Accessible India Campaign:
What
is it? Accessible India Campaign (AIC) is the nationwide flagship
campaign of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD),
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Aim: The
aim of the Campaign is to make a barrier free and conducive environment for
Divyangjans all over the country. The campaign has the vision to build an
inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and
development of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) so that they can lead
productive, safe and dignified lives.
Implementation: For
creating universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, the campaign
has been divided into three verticals: Built Environment; Transport and
Information & Communication Technology (ICT) ecosystem.
The
Built Environment Accessibility component of Accessible India Campaign entails
following targets:
§ Completing
accessibility audit of at least 25-50 most important government buildings in 50
cities and making them fully accessible by the end of this year.
§ Making
50% of all the government buildings of NCT and all the State capitals fully
accessible by December 2018.
§ Completing
accessibility audit of 50% of government buildings and making them fully
accessible in 10 most important cities/towns of States not covered in targets
(i) and (ii) by December 2019.
Facts
for Prelims:
Accessible
India Campaign is in line with the Article 9 of UNCRPD(UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to which India is a signatory since 2007.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure,
mandate.
Australia
Group
Context: India
was recently admitted as the 43rd member of the Australia Group, an informal
bloc of countries that keeps a tight control over exports of substances used in
the making of chemical weapons.
Significance
of this development:
With
its admission into the Australia Group, India is now part of three of the four
key export control groups in the world. This includes the Missile Technology
Control Regime—an informal and voluntary partnership among 35 countries that
regulates trade in sensitive equipment and technologies to ensure there is no
proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of
carrying payloads above 500kg for more than 300km. Last month, India joined the
Wassenaar Arrangement, which is also an informal grouping of 42 countries,
exercising control over the export of dual-use goods and technologies.
The
only export control group that India is not a part of is the elite Nuclear
Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the export of
sensitive nuclear technologies and equipment, with the aim of preventing
nuclear weapons’ proliferation.
The
Australia Group:
The
Australia Group works to counter the spread of materials, equipment and
technologies that could contribute to the development or acquisition of
chemical and biological weapons (CBW) by states or terrorist groups. It was
established in 1985.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper
3:
Topic:
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources,
growth, development and employment.
Financial
Sector Assessment Program
Context: The
two main Reports of the 2017 India Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP)
– the Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) and Financial Sector
Assessment (FSA), were recently released by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank. Last FSAP for India was conducted in 2011-12.
The
Report providing ‘Detailed Assessment of Observance—Basel Core Principles for
Effective Banking Supervision’ has been released by the IMF and the World Bank
and the Report providing ‘Detailed Assessment of Observance of Clearing
Corporation of India Limited (CCIL) Central Counter Party (CCP) and Trade
Repository (TR)’, was released by the World Bank.
Highlights
of the report:
The
FSAP report acknowledges many efforts by Indian authorities like tackling
Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), recent recapitalization measures for banks and
introduction of special resolution regime, formalization of National Pension
System (NPS) and making the pension sector regulator statutory, passing of
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and setting up of Insolvency and Bankruptcy
Board of India (IBBI), to name a few.
It
appreciates initiatives such as ‘no frills’ account (under Jan Dhan Yojana),
promoting digitization, introduction of unique biometric identification number
(AADHAR), currency exchange initiative etc. It also recognizes the improved
inter-agency co-operation since the establishment of Financial Stability and
Development Council (FSDC), supported by its Sub-Committee and four technical
groups and progress in setting up of Financial Data Management Centre (FDMC).
About
Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP):
The
Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), established in 1999, is a comprehensive
and in-depth assessment of a country’s financial sector. It is a joint
program of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
FSAPs
analyze the resilience of the financial sector, the quality of the regulatory
and supervisory framework, and the capacity to manage and resolve financial
crises. Based on its findings, FSAPs produce recommendations of a micro- and
macro-prudential nature, tailored to country-specific circumstances.
The
FSAP follows a three-pronged approach when looking at the country’s financial
sector:
§ The
soundness of a financial system versus its vulnerabilities and risks that
increase the likelihood or potential severity of financial sector crises.
§ A
country’s developmental needs in terms of infrastructure, institutions and
markets.
§ A
country’s compliance with the observance of selected financial sector standards
and codes.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
cybersecurity.
Cyber
Surakshit Bharat
Recognizing
the need to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem in India, the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the Cyber
Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division
(NeGD) and industry partners.
About
the Cyber Surakshit Bharat:
What
is it? Conceptualized with the mission to spread awareness about
cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information
Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government
departments, Cyber Surakshit Bharat will be operated on the three principles of
Awareness, Education and Enablement. The primary objective is to keep our data
safe and protected.
What
it does? It will include an
awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of workshops on
best practices and enablement of the officials with cybersecurity health tool
kits to manage and mitigate cyber threats.
Significance: Cyber
Surakshit Bharat is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will
leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology,
bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Kilopower
Context: NASA
has announced new tests are underway for the Kilopower project, a program
designed to create small nuclear power sources to fuel further space
exploration. A prototype, which was created by NASA and the Department of
Energy, has completed non-nuclear tests and is now running with a real reactor
core at a facility in Nevada.
About
Kilopower:
What
is it? The Kilopower project is a near-term technology effort to
develop preliminary concepts and technologies that could be used for an
affordable fission nuclear power system to enable long-duration stays on
planetary surfaces.
Goal: The
principal goal of the project is to sufficiently develop and test nuclear power
system technologies by 2018 so fission power can be a viable option for NASA
decision makers to consider when making their informed selection of exploration
surface systems.
Significance: Kilopower
tackles a few different problems in spacecraft design: existing nuclear power
systems rely on a fuel we’ve essentially run out of, solar power becomes increasingly
feeble the further from the sun the spacecraft goes, and more complicated space
activities—like those involving humans—would require significantly stronger
power supplies than current projects.
Benefits: The
technology could power habitats and life-support systems, enable astronauts to
mine resources, recharge rovers and run processing equipment to transform
resources such as ice on the planet into oxygen, water and fuel. It could also
potentially augment electrically powered spacecraft propulsion systems on
missions to the outer planets.
Sources:
et.
Topic:
Disaster and disaster management.
National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
Context: The
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) celebrated its 13th Raising Day on
January 19th, 2018.
An
MoU was also signed in between NDRF and NSDC. Besides, a co-operation with
Facebook took place during the programme. The highlights of the cooprtaion with
facebook includes targeted geographical messaging, disaster information
volunteers and community capacity building.
About
NDRF:
The
Disaster Management Act has made the statutory provisions for constitution of
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for the purpose of specialized response
to natural and man-made disasters.
Background:
Two
national calamities in quick succession in the form of Orissa Super Cyclone
(1999) and Gujarat Earthquake (2001) brought about the realization of the need
of having a specialist response mechanism at National Level to effectively
respond to disasters. This realization led to the enactment of the DM Act on 26
Dec 2005.
ROLE
AND MANDATE OF NDRF:
§ Specialized
response during disasters.
§ Proactive
deployment during impending disaster situations.
§ Acquire
and continually upgrade its own training and skills.
§ Liaison,
Reconnaissance, Rehearsals and Mock Drills.
§ Impart
basic and operational level training to State Response Forces (Police, Civil
Defence and Home Guards).
§ Community
Capacity Building Programme.
§ Organize
Public Awareness Campaigns.
Sources:
pib.
Facts
for Prelims:
SBIRS
GEO Flight 4 satellite:
What
is it? Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)
Flight-4 satellite is the latest satellite to join the US Air Force’s orbiting
missile warning constellation equipped with powerful scanning and staring
infrared surveillance sensors. The sensors collect data for use by the U.S.
military to detect missile launches, support ballistic missile defense, expand
technical intelligence gathering and bolster situational awareness on the
battlefield. The satellite also completes the initial constellation and allows
SBIRS to provide global coverage. It was launched recently onboard Atlas V
rocket.
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