CURRENT AFFAIRS 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

BY SUMIT BHARDWAJ

IMPORTANT NEWS ARTICLES

ANALYSIS

1.Section 107 in The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973(gs-2)

• Why in news?>>>>At least five political leaders in the Kashmir Valley have signed bonds to secure their release, a senior government official told The Hindu. The detentions were made under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) and the politicians who signed the bonds gave an undertaking that they would not indulge in any political activity after their release.
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• Section 107 in The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973
• 107. Security for keeping the peace in other cases.
• (1) When an Executive Magistrate receives information that any person is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity or to do any wrongful act that may probably occasion a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity and is of opinion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding, he may, in the manner hereinafter provided, require such person to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond, 1 with or without sureties,] for keeping the peace for such period, not exceeding one year, as the Magistrate thinks fit.
• (2) Proceedings under this section may be taken before any Executive Magistrate when either the place where the breach of the peace or disturbance is apprehended is within his local jurisdiction or there is within such jurisdiction a person who is likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquillity or to do any wrongful act as aforesaid beyond such jurisdiction.
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2.Right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution(gs-2)

• Why in news?>>The Kerala High Court on Thursday held that the right to have access to the Internet is part of the fundamental right to education as well as the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution:
• Abstract
• A very fascinating development in the Indian Constitutional jurisprudence is the extended dimension given to Article 21 by the Supreme Court in post-Maneka era. The Supreme Court has asserted that Art. 21 is the heart of the Fundamental Rights. Article 21 has proved to be multi-dimensional. The extension in the dimensions of Art.21 has been made possible by giving a extended meaning to the word ‘life’ and ‘liberty’ in Article 21. These two words in Art.21 are not to be read narrowly. These are organic terms which are to be construed meaningfully.
• The Supreme Court has asserted that in order to treat a right as a fundamental right, it is not necessary that it should be expressly stated in the constitution as a Fundamental Right. Political, social, and economic changes in the country entail the recognition of new rights. The law in its eternal youth grows to meet the demands of society
• Article 21 of the Constitution of India states that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”. After reading the Article 21, it has been interpreted that the term ‘life’ includes all those aspects of life which go to make a man’s life meaningful, complete and worth living.
• Like everything mankind has ever achieved, there has been a positive and a negative side to it. Technology has invaded every part of our lives whether the invasion was desired or not, we cannot be sure whether what we say has been heard by a third party as well whether that was desired or not. The proverbial Hindi saying of even walls having ears has never rung truer. The principle of the world today can be: whatever you may do, the world will get to know before you realize, ask a certain Tiger Woods about it.
• In the earlier times in India, the law would give protection only from physical dangers such as trespass from which the Right to Property emerged to secure his house and cattle. This was considered to be the Right to Life. As the ever changing common law grew to accommodate the problems faced by the people, it was realized that not only was physical security required, but also security of the spiritual self as well as of his feelings, intellect was required. Now the Right to Life has expanded in its scope and comprises the right to be let alone the right to liberty secures the exercise of extensive civil privileges; and the term “property” has grown to comprise every form of possession — intangible, as well as tangible.
• The strategy adopted by the Supreme Court with a view to expand the ambit of Art. 21 and to imply certain right there from, has been to interpret Art.21 along with international charters on Human Rights.
• Right to privacy is not enumerated as a Fundamental Right in the Constitution of India. The scope of this right first came up for consideration in Kharak Singh’s Case which was concerned with the validity of certain regulations that permitted surveillance of suspects. The minority decision of SUBBA RAO J. deals with this light. In the context of Article 19(1) (d), the right to privacy was again considered by the Supreme Court in 1975. In a detailed decision, JEEVAN REDDY J. held that the right to privacy is implicit under Article 21. This right is the right to be let alone. In the context of surveillance, it has been held that surveillance, if intrusive and seriously encroaches on the privacy of citizen, can infringe the freedom of movement, guaranteed by Articles 19(1)(d) and 21. Surveillance must be to prevent crime and on the basis of material provided in the history sheet. In the context of an anti-terrorism enactment, it was held that the right to privacy was subservient to the security of the State and withholding information relevant for the detention of crime can’t be nullified on the grounds of right to privacy. The right to privacy in terms of Article 21 has been discussed in various cases.

3.Keeladi findings traceable to 6th century BCE: report(gs-1)

Keeladi

• Context:In a major turning point in the cultural historiography of the ancient Sangam Age, the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department (TNAD) has stated that the cultural deposits unearthed during excavations at Keeladi in Sivaganga district could be safely dated to a period between 6th century BCE and 1st century CE.
• This is the first time the date has been officially announced by the TNAD.
• The new findings in the report, released on Thursday by Minister for Tamil Culture and Archaeology K. Pandiarajan here, place Keeladi artefacts about 300 years earlier than previously believed — 3rd century BCE.
• Six carbon samples collected from the fourth season (2018) of excavations at Keeladi were sent to Beta Analytic Lab, Miami, Florida, U.S., for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating.
• After analysing the AMS dates, archaeologist Professor K. Rajan felt that Keeladi presented strong evidence for some of the hypotheses. Skeletal fragments were sent to Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute in Pune, and it identified them of species such as cow/ox (Bos indicus), buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), sheep (Ovis aries), goat (Capra hircus), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), wild boar (Sus scrofa) and peacock (Pavo cristatus).
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• Sangam period:
• Sangam period is the period of history of ancient Tamil Nadu and Kerala (known as Tamilakam) spanning from c. 5th century BCE to c. 3rd century CE. It is named after the famous Sangam academies of poets and scholars centered in the city of Madurai.
• In Old Tamil language, the term Tamilakam referred to the whole of the ancient Tamil-speaking area, corresponding roughly to the area known as southern India today, consisting of the territories of the present-day Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, parts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Karnataka and northern Sri Lanka also known as Eelam
• Keeladi, also spelled Keezhadi, is a small village near Silaiman on the border between Madurai and Sivagangai districts in Tamil Nadu, India.
• An Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavation in Keeladi revealed a Sangam era settlement dated to the 2nd century BCE by radiocarbon dating.The Roman artifacts found at the site add to the evidence of ancient trade relations between the Romans and the Pandya kingdom
• Vaigai River:
• The Vaigai is a river in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India; it passes through the towns of Theni, Andipatti and Madurai. It originates in Varusanadu Hills, the Periyar Plateau of the Western Ghats range, and flows northeast through the Kambam Valley, which lies between the Palni Hills to the north and the Varushanad Hills to the south. The Vattaparai Falls are located on this river. As it rounds the eastern corner of the Varushanad Hills, the river turns southeast, running through the region of Pandya Nadu. Madurai, the largest city in the Pandya Nadu region and its ancient capital, lies on the Vaigai. The river empties into the Palk Strait near Uchipuli, close to Pamban bridge in Ramanathapuram District.

4.The Anti-Defection Law(gs-2)

• Why in news?>>Alka Lamba disqualified from Delhi Assembly.
• The Anti-Defection Law:
• Aaya Ram Gaya Ram was a phrase that became popular in Indian politics after a Haryana MLA Gaya Lal changed his party thrice within the same day in 1967.  The anti-defection law sought to prevent such political defections which may be due to reward of office or other similar considerations.
• The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985. It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House. A legislator is deemed to have defected if he either voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or disobeys the directives of the party leadership on a vote. This implies that a legislator defying (abstaining or voting against) the party whip on any issue can lose his membership of the House.  The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.
• Does the anti-defection law affect the ability of legislators to make decisions?
• The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the legislators do not switch sides. However, this law also restricts a legislator from voting in line with his conscience, judgement and interests of his electorate. Such a situation impedes the oversight function of the legislature over the government, by ensuring that members vote based on the decisions taken by the party leadership, and not what their constituents would like them to vote for.
• Political parties issue a direction to MPs on how to vote on most issues, irrespective of the nature of the issue. Several experts have suggested that the law should be valid only for those votes that determine the stability of the government (passage of the annual budget or no-confidence motions)
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5.India unlikely to meet ‘Poshan Abhiyaan’ targets, finds study
(gs-1)

• Context:India is unlikely to meet targets set under the ambitious Poshan Abhiyan or National Nutrition Mission (NNM) for reduction in prevalence of stunting, underweight, low birth weight and anaemia in women and children by 2022 if there is no progress achieved in improving the rate of decline observed between 1990 and 2017, according to a new study published in The Lancet
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• Poshan Abhiyan or National Nutrition Mission (NNM) :
• Government is implementing several schemes and programs under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. All these schemes address one or other aspects related to nutrition and have the potential to improve nutritional outcomes in the country.
• Malnutrition is not a direct cause of death but contributes to mortality and morbidity by reducing resistance to infections. There are a number of causes of death of children such as prematurity, low birth weight, pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases, non-communicable diseases, birth asphyxia & birth trauma, injuries, congenital anomalies, acute bacterial sepsis and severe infections, etc.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India, which ensures convergence with various programmes i.e., Anganwadi Services, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) of MWCD Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM), Swachh-Bharat Mission, Public Distribution System (PDS), Department Food & Public Distribution, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.
• About the Mission
• The goals of NNM are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner during the next three years beginning 2017-18.
• The National Nutrition Mission (NNM) has been set up with a three year budget of Rs.9046.17 crore commencing from 2017-18. The NNM is a comprehensive approach towards raising nutrition level in the country on a war footing. It will comprise mapping of various Schemes contributing towards addressing malnutrition, including a very robust convergence mechanism, ICT based Real Time Monitoring system, incentivizing States/UTs for meeting the targets, incentivizing Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) for using IT based tools, eliminating registers used by AWWs, introducing measurement of height of children at the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), Social Audits, setting-up Nutrition Resource Centres, involving masses through Jan Andolan for their participation on nutrition through various activities, among others.
• Major impact
• The programme through the targets will strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anemia and low birth weight babies.
• NNM targets to reduce stunting, under- nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively. Although the target to reduce Stunting is atleast 2% p.a., Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).
• It will create synergy, ensure better monitoring, issue alerts for timely action, and encourage States/UT s to perform, guide and supervise the line Ministries and States/UT s to achieve the targeted goals.
• Benefits & Coverage
• More than 10 crore people will be benefitted by this programme. All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20 .

6.Modi, Trump may reference ‘mini-deal’ on trade at Houston event(gs-2 ,3)

• Context:India and the United States are expected to announce the resolution of some of their trade differences on medical equipment caps, ICT (Information Communication Technology) tariffs, market access for agricultural products, and are in discussions on restoring India's GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) status and a future Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
• Sources aware of the negotiations said that on Wednesday, Indian officials handed over their version of an agreement and it was being vetted by the USTR (United States Trade Representative). They hoped that Mr. Modi and President Donald Trump would make an announcement of a “mini-deal’ after their bilateral meeting in New York next week. The sources wouldn’t confirm, but didn’t rule out the possibility that the leaders would reference the “mini-deal” during their joint public appearance at the ‘Howdy, Modi’ event in Houston on Sunday, if it is finalised in time for that.
• The draft agreement addresses some of the US’s concerns on ICT tariffs and data localisation rules, on price caps or Trade Margin Rationalisation (TMR) on medical equipment like knee implants, as well as agricultural market access for select products. In return the US is expected to roll back some of the tariffs that it had imposed on India in 2018,when it began its GSP review. 
• GSP (Generalized System of Preferences):
• The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.
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• What is the objective of GSP?
• The objective of GSP was to give development support to poor countries by promoting exports from them into the developed countries. GSP promotes sustainable development in beneficiary countries by helping these countries to increase and diversify their trade with the United States. GSP provide opportunities for many of the world’s poorest countries to use trade to grow their economies and climb out of poverty.
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• Benefits of GSP:
• Indian exporters benefit indirectly – through the benefit that accrues to the importer by way of reduced tariff or duty free entry of eligible Indian products.
• Reduction or removal of import duty on an Indian product makes it more competitive to the importer – other things (e.g. quality) being equal.
• This tariff preference helps new exporters to penetrate a market and established exporters to increase their market share and to improve upon the profit margins, in the donor country.
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• What is the difference between GSP and the usual trade arrangement under WTO?
• Under the normal trade laws, the WTO members must give equal preferences to trade partners. There should not be any discrimination between countries. This trade rule under the WTO is called the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause.
• The MFN instructs non-discrimination that any favorable treatment to a particular country. At the same time, the WTO allows members to give special and differential treatment to from developing countries (like zero tariff imports). This is an exemption for MFN. The MSP given by developed countries including the US is an exception to MFN.
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• What is the impact of GSP withdrawal on India?
• India exports nearly 50 products of the 94 products on which GSP benefits are stopped. The GSP removal will leave a reasonable impact on India as the country enjoyed preferential tariff on exports worth of nearly $ 5. 6 billion under the GSP route out of the total exports of $48 bn in 2017-18. In total India exports nearly 1,937 products to the US under GSP.
• Removal of GSP indicate a tough trade position by the US; especially for countries like India who benefited much from the scheme. India is the 11th largest trade surplus country for the US and India enjoyed an annual trade surplus of $ 21 bn in 2017-18.
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• Trade margin 
• Trade margin is the difference between the price at which the manufacturers (indigenous /overseas) sell to trade and the price to patients (MRP). The market place is skewed where suppliers induce hospitals to buy and push their brands based on profit margins and not on basis of cost savings on the procurement cost by a hospital. The main aim of rationalisation of trade margins in medical devices should be to help consumers. It must also allow rationalised profits for traders, importers, distributors, and wholesalers and retailers and create equity for domestic industry vis-à-vis foreign manufacturers. There should be clear objectives for any policy intervention so as to avoid distress (to consumers), distrust (in industry) and disruption (to market).

7.‘Room for rate cut as inflation under 4%’ (gs-3)

• Context:With consumer price inflation projected below 4% over the next one year, there is room for further lowering of interest rates, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday
• Consumer price inflation :
• Inflation is defined as a situation where there is sustained, unchecked increase in the general price level and a fall in the purchasing power of money. Thus, inflation is a condition of price rise. The reason for price rise can be classified under two main heads : (1) Increase in demand (2) Reduced supply.
• Inflation Rates in India
• There are different indices in India like Wholesale Price Index(WPI), Consumer Price Index(CPI) etc which measure inflation rates in India. But what we generally find in headlines as inflation rate in India is Inflation rate based on WPI. In the last 50 years, WPI based inflation rate shows an average inflation rate around 7-8%. The highest inflation rate observed in India was 34.68 Percent in September of 1974. The lowest rate touched was -11.31 Percent in May of 1976 ( a case of deflation).
• Inflation at Retail Level (Consumer Level)
• Consumer often directly buys from retailer. So the inflation experienced at retail shops is the actual reflection of the price rise in the country. It also shows the cost of living better.
• In India, the index which shows the inflation rate at retail level is known as Consumer Price Index (CPI). CPI is based on 260 commodities, but includes certain services too. There were four Consumer Price Indices covering different socio-economic groups in the economy. These four indices were Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW); Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL); Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI -RL) and Consumer Price Index for Urban Non-Manual Employees (CPI-UNME). CPI is now using a new series on the base 2010=100 for all-India and States/UTs separately for rural, urban and combined. The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation releases Consumer Price Indices (CPI). CPI is based on retail prices and this index is used to calculate the Dearness Allowance (DA) for government employees.
• What is the rationale?
• The rate cut comes as a move to boost economic activity amidst slowing consumption demand.
• Inflation is a key consideration for a rate cut and it was a key factor for the RBI to go for a rate cut now.
• The monetary policy statement mentioned that inflation was currently projected to remain within the target over a 12-month ahead horizon.
• But besides this, the decision was also taken to boost aggregate demand especially private investment.

8.Rajnath Singh becomes first Defence Minister to fly in Tejas fighter aircraft(gs-2)<<<<<< click on the link itself to elaborate

9.RKS Bhadauria to be next Chief of Air Staff(gs-2)<<<<<< click on the link itself to elaborate