CNA 9th July 2021:- Download PDF Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GS 1 Related B. GS 2 Related HEALTH 1. Cabinet okays ₹23,123 cr. aid package POLITY AND GOVERNANCE 1. End NSA ‘misuse’ in U.P.: former top officials C. GS 3 Related ECONOMY 1. Cairn says it has got court nod to attach 20 Indian assets in Paris SECURITY 1. Panel report on data Bill hangs fire D. GS 4 Related E. Editorials POLITY AND GOVERNANCE 1. Should only elected legislators be eligible for chief ministership? GOVERNANCE 1. Tracking fugitives everywhere F. Prelims Facts G. Tidbits 1. Cabinet extends Agri Infra Fund loans to APMCs H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
A. GS 1 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
B. GS 2 Related
1. Cabinet okays ₹23,123 cr. aid package
Context:
The Union Cabinet has approved a ₹23,123 crore package to boost emergency response and healthcare systems.
- The Centre’s share in the package is ₹15,000 crore and the States’ share is ₹8,123 crore.
Aim:
- This package aims to accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management, with the focus on health infrastructure development including for Paediatric Care.
- It aims at preventing the problems observed during the second wave, including lack of transport facilities for oxygen and shortage of medicines.
Details:
- The package includes funding for 20,000 additional ICU (intensive care unit) beds and the setting up of paediatric units in all districts.
- The Centre would provide support to its hospitals, the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, and other institutes of national importance, for repurposing beds for COVID-19 management.
- Genome sequencing machines would be provided to the National Centre for Disease Control.
- It would also provide for the expansion of the national telemedicine platform, e-Sanjeevani, by increasing daily consultations from 50,000 at present to 5 lakh.
- All district hospitals would implement Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) through NIC developed E-Hospital and CDAC developed E-Shushrut software.
- This will be the biggest impetus for the implementation of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM).
- It also would help states add more ambulances and carry out at least 21.5 lakh tests a day.
Note:
- In March 2020, when the country was faced with the first wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, the PM had announced a Central Sector Scheme of Rs. 15,000 crore for the “India COVID 19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package”.
- It provided a critical impetus to the efforts of MoHFW and helped in catalysing health systems activities for pandemic management.
Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. End NSA ‘misuse’ in U.P.: former top officials
Context:
A group of former civil servants have demanded an end to the misuse of the National Security Act terming it a draconian preventive detention law.
The National Security Act:
- The National Security Act of 1980, provides for the provision of preventive detention in certain cases.
- The Act empowers the Central Government and State Governments to detain a person to prevent him/her from acting in any manner prejudicial to the national security of India, the relations of India with foreign countries, the maintenance of law and order, or the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community.
- The act also gives power to the governments to detain a foreigner in a view to regulate his/her presence or expel from the country.
Read more on National Security Act, 1980
C. GS 3 Related
1. Cairn says it has got court nod to attach 20 Indian assets in Paris
Context:
Cairn Energy has said that it has secured a French court order allowing it to freeze at least 20 Indian properties in central Paris.
Background:
- Cairn Energy filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court against Air India, seeking to make the national carrier liable to pay the damages awarded to it, but which are not yet honoured by the Indian government.
- Earlier, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague ruled in favour of Cairn Energy PLC of the U.K and awarded $1.2 billion in damages against India in the retrospective taxation case.
- The Indian government has termed the tribunal’s December 2020 decision highly flawed.
- It argues that the award improperly ratifies Cairn’s scheme to achieve Double Non-Taxation, which was designed to avoid paying taxes anywhere in the world, a significant public policy concern for governments worldwide.
Also Read: Cairn Legal Dispute.
Details:
- Cairn Energy said that the Paris court has allowed it to freeze 20 assets to secure a part of the dues.
- Also, it has identified Indian assets worth $70bn across the world and could take action in 10 jurisdictions including the U.S., the U.K., Netherlands, Canada, France, Singapore, Japan, the UAE and even the Cayman Islands.
- It has filed a plea in the US court seeking to make Air India liable to pay.
Note:
- Recently, some foreign investors in Devas Multimedia filed a similar plea in the same court, seeking to declare Air India as the Indian government’s “alter ego” and recover a $160 million compensation awarded to the firm after an international arbitration over its scrapped deal with ISRO’s commercial arm, Antrix Corporation.
- In a similar arbitration case, India lost against Vodafone, the government had filed an appeal in a Singapore court to defend the retrospective tax demand on the telecom firm.
- The officials have stressed that the government’s sovereign right to levy taxes cannot be questioned under bilateral pacts.
Way Forward:
- India is entangled in more than a dozen such cases against companies over retrospective tax claims and cancellation of contracts.
- The exchequer could end up paying billions of dollars in damages if it loses.
- To reduce future arbitration claims, India has ended such agreements with over 50 countries.
- India is working on a new law to protect foreign investors by offering relief from possible policy changes even as it upholds the right to tax them.
1. Panel report on data Bill hangs fire
Context:
In the recent cabinet expansion, five members of the Joint Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill, including its chairperson have been inducted into the Council of Ministers. This has raised questions over the long-pending report of the panel.
Details:
- The Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in December 2019 in the Lok Sabha.
- The bill seeks to provide protection of the personal data of individuals.
- It was referred to the joint parliamentary panel, in February 2020. It is yet to submit its report.
- Ten of the 30 members of the committee had moved amendments against a provision (Clause 35) in the legislation giving power to the Central government to exempt any agency of government from the application of the Act.
- Invoking “sovereignty and integrity of India”, “public order”, “friendly relations with foreign states” and “security of the state”, the legislation gives powers to the Central government to suspend all or any of the provisions of this Act for government agencies.
- It was argued that this clause makes the entire Act pointless.
Read more on Personal Data Protection Bill and related issues covered in April 12th, 2021 CNA.
D. GS 4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Editorials
Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
1. Should only elected legislators be eligible for chief ministership?
Background:
- Resignation of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat.
- Rawat is a Lok Sabha MP from Uttarakhand and was appointed as the CM in March 2021.
- As per the Constitution, a person who is not a member of either house of the state legislature can also be appointed as the Chief Minister, but such a member must become a member of either of the houses before six months, to continue in the post.
- The resignation of Tirath Singh Rawat is being attributed to a constitutional roadblock to his being elected as a legislator within six months.
- The Representation of the People Act, 1951, mandates that a bypoll for any vacancy should be held within six months of that vacancy arising, provided the remainder of the term is not less than one year or the EC and the Centre do not certify that holding the bypoll in that time frame is difficult.
- Uttarakhand Assembly’s term would expire in March 2022.
- This development has led to speculation about the fate of West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, another unelected Chief Minister. In this context, the article analyzes various related aspects.
Allowing non-MLAs to become CM/Ministers:
Arguments against:
- India has a parliamentary democracy, which essentially means that whoever has the confidence of the majority of the members of the state legislature, will be the Chief Minister. It visualizes the Chief Minister as being elected by the members of the House of their own free will. The Chief Minister is an indirectly elected person by the directly elected members.
- The increasing role of the party high commands in the selection of CM is in direct contrast to the whole concept of the CM being the popular choice of the elected people.
Arguments in favour:
- The provision for allowing non-MLAs to become Chief Minister and ministers will allow for outside talent to be accommodated into the administration. Any move to remove this provision would restrict available options.
- However, the article suggests that this provision should be used sparingly.
Holding of dual roles:
- The recent developments have also given rise to a question on whether a Member of Parliament should resign immediately from the House if picked to lead a State. This has led to a debate on whether a person should be allowed to hold on to two constitutional posts simultaneously.
Arguments against holding of dual posts:
- The Constitution expects a person not to hold more than one constitutional position at a time. Article 101 states that if a person is a member of both Houses of Parliament, he or she loses membership of one and if a person is an MP and gets elected as an MLA, or vice versa, he or she has to resign from one post within 14 days.
- Also the holding of dual posts will limit the ability of the person to fulfill his/her obligations towards the job in an effective manner.
- In this regard, the article argues that one should not occupy two constitutional offices concurrently and suggests suitably amending the Constitution which mandates that if one is going to be the Chief Minister or a Minister of a State, one should resign one’s membership of another House before taking up the role.
More flexibility on constitutional and legislative deadlines:
- One line of thought has been that given the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, there is a need to ensure some degree of flexibility on constitutional and legislative deadlines.
- However, the article argues against such extension and suggests holding the election in a time-bound manner with all necessary safety precautions. Such an extension could set an unnecessary precedent and vested interests may figure out ways to create extraordinary situations more and more often, to get the elections deferred and such situations may well become a norm.
Role of the ECI:
- The article calls on the ECI to uphold its mandate and ensure that there is no constitutional crisis by conducting the by-elections.
- Under Section 151 of the Representation of the People Act, it is provided that if only one year is left of a House, a by-election will not be held. But it is actually at the discretion of the ECI to make an exception.
Institutional status of the ECI:
- The government being allowed to fall because of the reluctance of the ECI to hold an election would be unbecoming of the Commission.
- This could dent the image of the ECI and severely undermine the trust in the ECI’s ability to hold free and fair elections. The undermining of the public belief and public trust in the ECI holding free and fair elections could serve as a body blow to the democratic set-up of India.
Autonomy of the ECI:
- The recent developments have given rise to questions over the susceptibility of the ECI to come under the executive’s pressures.
- Though the Constitution has certain provisions which seek to insulate it from the government, there are many concerns which undermine the ECI’s autonomy.
- The Commission is appointed by the government of the day without consulting the Opposition – a rarity among democracies of the world.
- The removal procedure of the two Election Commissioners is quite easy. The lack of protection of their jobs can lead to a scenario where they may be trying to impress the government and be partial to it.
- The article questions that when the appointments to posts such as CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation] Director and statutory bodies like Central Information Commission are made through a collegium system, why should not the appointment to a critical constitutional body like the ECI be brought under a similar procedure.
Recommendations for the ECI:
- There is a need to put in a more transparent system for appointments to ECI.
- Best practices in other nations like scrutiny by parliament, broad basing the consultation process for appointment, setting up of eligibility for the posts and selection based on merit needs to be imbibed in the new system of appointment.
- Promotions within the ECI should be automatic, on the basis of seniority.
- There should be appropriate security of tenure for election commissioners as this will allow them to serve without fear or favour.
Conclusion:
- The article notes that any move to defer by-elections attributing it to the COVID-19 pandemic would hurt the credibility of the EC. Rather, the ECI should issue appropriate guidelines for the election and go ahead with it to avoid a constitutional crisis.
1. Tracking fugitives everywhere
Context:
- An increasing number of accused people are absconding to avoid being convicted.
Concerns:
Lack of efforts to pursue fugitives:
- Though the police department does initiate proceedings for attachment of property and declaration of the accused as proclaimed offenders, the efforts being made to pursue fugitives – domestically or internationally – have been few and far between.
- This goes against the spirit of the law of the land where criminals escape being punished merely by shifting out of the country or place of residence.
Lack of a domestic tracking or database system:
- Unlike the Interpol Notices which has allowed for some form of a system for tracking criminals worldwide, there is no coordinated system or database for tracking criminals or wanted persons domestically.
- In the absence of such a system, it is relatively easy for criminals to go undetected.
Lack of a coherent law:
- Indian law on extradition is spread across the Indian Penal Code as well as various laws pertaining to narcotic drugs, Information Technology, hijacking, etc.
- The lack of a coherent law to deal with fugitives has been a major lacuna in extraditing such offenders.
Recommendations:
National database:
- There is an urgent need for the creation of a nationwide database of wanted persons, accessible to multiple stakeholders like police agencies, passport and immigration authorities and the public.
Fugitive tracking system:
- India should consider implementing a nation-wide system of ‘Wanted Persons Notices’, to help track fugitives domestically. India could draw valuable inputs from the highly successful U.S.’s inter-State extradition and fugitive tracking system.
Better integration among the various stakeholders:
- Though the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems and the National Intelligence Grid are efforts in the right direction, there is the need for more integration to make them more effective.
- There needs to be enhanced integration between immigration agencies, State police agencies, Interpol-New Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry and the Home Ministry and central investigation and intelligence agencies to track and trace fugitives both domestically and internationally.
International collaboration and cooperation:
- India should share its ‘wanted’ database with other nations on a reciprocal basis or through treaties.
- India should consider signing relevant bilateral and multilateral conventions on criminal matters which would help it plug legal infirmities in the extradition process.
Consolidate multiple laws:
- All relevant legal processes and requirements should be incorporated into one consolidated law.
Specialized agency:
- A specialized set-up needs to be put in place to deal with all issues pertaining to fugitives, from investigation to extradition.
- This could involve an Integrated International Cooperation Division (IICD) at the helm with corresponding linkages with fugitive tracking units at the State level.
F. Prelims Facts
Nothing here for today!!!
G. Tidbits
1. Cabinet extends Agri Infra Fund loans to APMCs
What’s in News?
The Centre has decided to allow Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) to access financing facilities through its Agricultural Infrastructure Fund.
Read more on this topic covered in the 8th July 2021 PIB Summary and Analysis.
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
Q1. Which of the following statements is/are correct about the principle of protection against self-incrimination?
- Giving voice sample is not a violation of the fundamental right against self-incrimination.
- This principle can be used even at the time of police investigation when they are extracting information.
Options:
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both
- None
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- A person accused of any offence cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself/herself. That is, an accused cannot be compelled to state anything which goes against him/her. This gives rise to the principle of protection against self-incrimination.
- The principle of protection against self-incrimination is a fundamental principle of the British system of criminal jurisprudence.
- As per the principle of protection against self-incrimination, giving voice sample is not a violation of the fundamental right against self-incrimination.
- This principle can be used even at the time of police investigation when they are extracting information.
Q2. Consider the following statements about Planet Saturn:
- It is the second-largest planet in our solar system.
- It is the only planet with Rings.
- Titan is the largest moon of Saturn.
Which of the above statements is/are incorrect?
- 2 only
- 1 and 2 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: a
Explanation:
- Planet Saturn is the second-largest planet in our solar system.
- Four of the planets in the Solar System have rings. They are the four giant gas planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
- Titan is the largest moon of Saturn.
Q3. Which of the following incidents had occurred when Lord Reading was the Viceroy?
- Dandi march
- Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre
- Establishment of Swaraj party
- Kakori Train Robbery
- Malabar rebellion
Options:
- 1, 2 and 3 only
- 2, 3 and 4 only
- 3, 4 and 5 only
- 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- Events that took place when Lord Reading was the Viceroy was the establishment of the Swaraj Party, the Kakori Train Robbery and the Malabar Rebellion.
- Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre took place when Lord Chelmsford was the viceroy.
- Dandi March took place when Lord Irwin was the viceroy.
Q4. Which Strait separates Malaysia from the Philippines?
- Sunda Strait
- Balabac Strait
- Strait of Malacca
- Strait of Makasar
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Explanation:
Balabac Strait separates Malaysia from the Philippines.
Q5. 'Basel III Accord' or simply 'Basel III', often seen in the news, seeks to (UPSC 2015)
- Develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity
- Improve banking sector’s ability to deal with financial and economic stress and improve risk management
- Reduce the greenhouse gas emissions but places a heavier burden on developed countries
- Transfer technology from developed countries to poor countries to enable them to replace the use of chlorofluorocarbons in refrigeration with harmless chemicals
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Explanation:
Basel Norms are international banking regulations. Basel III Accord was developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and was released in 2010. It sought to improve banking sector’s ability to deal with financial and economic stress and improve risk management.
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
- In the light of recent events giving rise to concerns over the susceptibility of the Election Commission of India to executive’s pressures, examine the possible aspects of concern and suggest suitable remedial measures. (10 marks, 150 words)[GS-2, Polity and Governance]
- An increasing number of accused are absconding to avoid being convicted. Analyze the lacuna in the system which is letting the accused escape the clutches of law. Also suggest suitable recommendations in this regard. (10 marks, 150 words)[GS-2, Polity and Governance]
Read the previous CNA here.
CNA 9th July 2021:- Download PDF Here
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