PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 7-JULY-2018
Topic:
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
National Green Tribunal
Context: Justice
Adarsh Kumar Goel has been appointed the chairperson of the National Green
Tribunal (NGT).
About the National Green Tribunal (NGT):
What is it? NGT has
been established under the
National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for
effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental
protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
Ambit: The
tribunal deals with matters relating to the enforcement of any legal right
relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to
persons and property.
Members:
Sanctioned strength: currently,
10 expert members and 10 judicial members (although the act allows for up to 20
of each).
Chairman: is
the administrative head of the tribunal, also serves as a judicial member and
is required to be a serving or retired Chief Justice of a High Court or a judge
of the Supreme Court of India.
Selection: Members
are chosen by a selection committee (headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme
Court of India) that reviews their applications and conducts interviews. The
Judicial members are chosen from applicants who are serving or retired judges
of High Courts.
Expert members are
chosen from applicants who are either serving or retired bureaucrats not below
the rank of an Additional Secretary to the Government of India (not below the
rank of Principal Secretary if serving under a state government) with a minimum
administrative experience of five years in dealing with environmental matters.
Or, the expert members must have a doctorate in a related field.
Other facts:
§ The
Tribunal is not bound by
the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but
shall be guided by principles of natural
justice.
§ The
Tribunal’s dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy
environmental justice and help reduce the burden of litigation in the higher
courts.
§ The
Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or
appeals finally within 6
months of filing of the same.
What’s important?
For
Prelims and Mains: NGT- establishment, composition, roles, powers and
functions.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic: Appointment
to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of
various Constitutional Bodies.
Chief Justice of India as ‘Master of Roster’
Context: The
Chief Justice of India (CJI) is the “master of the roster,” the Supreme Court
has reaffirmed, declining to accept former law minister Shanti Bhushan’s
suggestion that the CJI consult his collegium colleagues –the top four judges
after him in seniority –in allocating cases to various benches.
Supreme Court’s observations:
Position of CJI: CJI
is the master of roster in allocating cases to different benches and his power
cannot be delegated to collegium comprising of CJI and four senior most judges.
Although the constitution is silent on the CJI’s role as the master of the
roster, his power is based on a healthy practice and “convention aimed at
maintaining discipline and decorum.” He is described as “first among equals.”
Moral responsibility of CJI: SC
highlighted that the CJI owes a moral responsibility to his colleagues and the
public at large while flexing his powers as ‘Master of Roster’ to allocate
cases. “Absolute discretion” cannot be confined in just one man, the CJI.
Qualities for a CJI: The court
listed some of the qualities a CJI should possess as the Master of Roster,
including balance, fortitude, moral courage and independence of mind. Also, as
the court’s spokesperson, it is the CJI’s duty to usher in and administer
reform as a continuous process.
What does ‘master of the roster’ mean?
§ ‘Master of
the Roster’ refers to the privilege of the Chief Justice to constitute Benches
to hear cases.
§ This
privilege was emphasised in November last year, when a Constitution Bench, led
by the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, declared that “the Chief Justice is
the master of the roster and he alone has the prerogative to constitute the
Benches of the Court and allocate cases to the Benches so constituted.”
§ It further
said that “no Judge can take up the matter on this own, unless allocated by the
Chief Justice of India, as he is the master of the roster.”
§ The
immediate trigger for this was a direction by a two-judge Bench that a petition
regarding a medical college corruption case, involving an alleged conspiracy to
bribe Supreme Court judges, be heard by a Bench fo the five senior-most judges
of the Supreme Court.
Concerns associated:
Undoubtedly,
the chief justices enjoy a special status and they alone can assign work to a
judge sitting alone and to the judges sitting in division bench or full bench.
They have the jurisdiction to decide which case will be heard by which bench.
If judges were free to choose their jurisdiction or any choice was given to
them to do whatever case they may like to hear and decide, the machinery would
collapse and the judicial work of the court would cease by generation of
internal strife on account of hankering for a particular jurisdiction or a
particular case.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: CJI- appointment and powers.
§ For Mains:
Master of Roster- meaning, concerns and viable solutions, moral
responsibilities of CJI.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic: Issues
related to health.
National Health Stack
Context: NITI Aayog has proposed creation of National Health Stack
(NHS), a centralized health record for all citizens of the
country, in order to streamline the health information and facilitate effective
management of the same.
Need for a database:
§ India
today is witnessing significant trends in health: increasing prevalence of
non-communicable diseases for instance, as well as marked demographic shifts.
Climbing out-of-pocket costs is becoming difficult for most households.
§ The
proposed NHS is an approach to address the challenge and seeks to employ latest
technology including Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning Artificial
Intelligence, a state of the art Policy Mark-up Language and create a unified
health identity of citizens – as they navigate across services across levels of
care, i.e. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary and also across Public and Private.
Way ahead:
The
innovativeness of the proposed National Health Stack design lies in its ability
to leverage a shared public good – a strong digital spine built with a deep
understanding of the incentive structures of the system. Once implemented, the
National Health Stack will significantly bring down the costs of health
protection, converge disparate systems to ensure a cashless and seamlessly
integrated experience for the poorest beneficiaries, and promote wellness across
the population.
What’s important?
For Mains:
NHS- need and significance.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and
institutions.
Uttarakhand HC declares animal kingdom a legal entity
Context: The
Uttarakhand high court has declared the entire animal kingdom, including birds and aquatic
animals, as a legal entity having
rights of a “living person”. The move aims to ensure “greater welfare” of
animals.
§ The entire
animal kingdom, including avian and aquatic ones, are declared as legal
entities having a distinct persona with corresponding rights, duties and
liabilities of a living person.
Legal entity?
A legal
entity means an entity which acts like a natural person but only through a
designated person, whose acts are processed within the ambit of law. This means
the animal kingdom could be represented by a custodian.
Constitutional status:
§ Invoking Article 21 of the Constitution, the
court said: “Article 21 of the Constitution, while safeguarding the rights of
humans, protects life and the word ‘life’ means animal world”.
§ The court
cited a 2014 Supreme Court judgment to say any disturbance from the “basic
environment which includes all forms of life, including animals life, which are
necessary for human life, fall within the meaning of Article 21 of the
Constitution”.
As part of the judgment, the court has issued following
directions:
§ Create
an animal
welfare committee in every district of
the state. All citizens of Uttarakhand shall be “persons in loco parentis” (in
the place of a parent). This gives them the responsibility to protect animals
and ensure their welfare.
§ The court
also gave directions ranging from the amount of load allowed to be pulled by
various animals in accordance with the kind of carriage being pulled to the
amount of riders per carriage.
§ Further
banning the use of spike or other sharp tackle or equipment on the animal, the
court also directed the state government to ensure that if temperature exceeds
37 degree Celsius or drops below 5 degree Celsius, no person be permitted to
keep in harness any animal used for the purpose of drawing vehicles.
§ The court
also went into the aspect of animal safety, highlighting the need for
fluorescent reflectors in carriages and animals, certificates of unladen weight
of vehicles, compulsory shelter of suitable size for horses, bullocks and stray
cattle and a direction to the veterinary doctors of Uttarakhand to treat any
stray animals brought to them or by visiting them.
§ The court
said as the carts driven by animals have no mechanical devices, animal-drawn carriages
have to be given Right of Way over other vehicles.
Background:
The order
came in response to a public interest litigation seeking directions to restrict
the movement of horse carts/tongas between Nepal and India through Champawat
district and highlighted that ailing, infirm and old horses were being
abandoned by the owners in the Indian territory.
Significance:
This order
will go a long way in building a compassionate society as it was illogical to
treat sentient creatures as inanimate objects.
Facts for Prelims:
Uttarakhand
high court in March last year accorded the status of “living entity” to the
Ganga and Yamuna rivers, a decision subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Legal entity- meaning.
§ For Mains:
Animal Kingdom as a Legal entity- need, challenges in implementation of the
judgment and solutions.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper 3:
Topic:
Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
IAS officers for village outreach
Context: A
battalion of Central government IAS officers has been drafted to ensure on the
ground implementation as the Centre races to saturate 117 “aspirational
districts” with seven flagship social welfare schemes by Independence Day.
What’s the plan?
At least 800
Deputy Secretaries, Under-Secretaries and Director-level officers, drawn from
Ministries as diverse as Defence and Urban Affairs, have been assigned about 75
villages to visit, as part of the Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (EGSA) from June
1 to August 15. In total, 49,178 villages — most with a majority SC/ST
population — are being targeted.
§ Over the
two-and-a-half month period, these Central officials are being absorbed into
EGSA duty for at least 15 working days.
§ In each
village, the Central team convenes a meeting of villagers and beneficiaries
along with a State government or district official, a lead bank representative
and local officials from the agencies responsible for enrolling people into the
schemes.
Monitoring:
Central
officers could direct the local representatives to give immediate sanction for
gas cylinders, bank accounts or electricity connections. The teams can also
directly input the day’s progress into a data system.
Senior
Ministry officials also make direct daily calls to a section of District
Collectors to monitor progress, while third-party observers for each district
—mostly from NGOs or academia — have been drafted in to do random checks of
villages and report back to the Ministry.
Concerns:
The
large-scale involvement of Central officers raises questions about the
viability of such drives, and about roles in a federal democracy. Questions are
being raised about Centre-State relations under this model, in an election
year.
Direct
connections to the district administration tend to bypass State
administrations, while sending out large Central teams to do the work of local
officials fails to empower local human resources.
About Gram Swaraj Abhiyan:
§ The
campaign, undertaken under the name of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”,
is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of
government, reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their
feedback on various welfare programmes.
§ As a
special endeavour during the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, saturation of eligible
households/persons would be made under seven flagship pro-poor programmes in
21,058 identified villages.
§ The
programmes covered are Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala scheme,
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Aspirational districts programme, Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan.
§ For Mains:
Deployment of Central officers- concerns, threat to the spirit of cooperative
federalism and issues to be addressed.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic: Science
and Technology- developments and their applications.
Nasscom unveils centre for data, AI
Context: The
National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), India’s
premier software lobby, has opened a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Data
Science and Artificial Intelligence in Bangalore.
§ Nasscom
also signed a MoU with NITI Aayog to collaboratively foster applied research,
accelerating adoption and ethics, privacy and security.
Centre of excellence:
The CoE
initiative is a nationwide programme on innovation, focusing on solutions in
smart manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, agriculture, energy, IoT, banking
and financial services, retail, telecom, and host of emerging technologies.
The center
aims to “support SMBs, by fast-tracking their product development, provide
market access to enterprises and assist them by co-creating programs along with
other industry partners and start-ups to solve complex and real-world business
problems.”
Significance:
With the
aim to strengthen the country’s AI ecosystem, the CoE and MoU, both aim to
serve as a platform for intelligence-sharing and technology collaboration
between stakeholders to build collective capabilities for the industry and
country in the cutting-edge areas artificial intelligence.
About Nasscom:
§ It is a
trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) industry.
§ Established
in 1988, NASSCOM is a non-profit organisation.
§ NASSCOM
facilitates business and trade in software and services and encourages the
advancement of research in software technology. It is registered under the
Indian Societies Act, 1860.
§ It has
over 2000 members, of which over 250 are companies from China, EU, Japan, the
U.S. and the UK.
Sources:
pib.
Facts for Prelims:
Mattala Airport:
Context:
India has agreed to form a joint venture with Sri Lanka to operate the
country’s loss-making Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota.
Key facts:
§ It is
dubbed as the “world’s emptiest airport” due to a lack of flights.
§ The
airport infrastructure was funded through high interest Chinese commercial
loans. The airport was officially opened in March 2013.
§ The only
international flight operating from there was halted in May due to recurrent
losses and flight safety issues.
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