CURRENT AFFAIRS
22 SEPTEMBER 2019
BY SUMIT BHARDWAJ
IMPORTANT NEWS ARTICLES ANALYSIS
1.ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA, By elections(GS-2)CONTEXT:Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana to be held on Oct. 21
ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA:What is ECI?
The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering Union and State election processes in India.
The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and State Legislative Assemblies in India, and the offices of the President and Vice President in the country.
Background
Part XV of the Indian constitution deals with elections, and establishes a commission for these matters.
The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.
Article 324 to 329 of the constitution deals with powers, function, tenure, eligibility, etc of the commission and the member.
Articles related to Elections:
324 Superintendence, direction and control of elections to be vested in an Election Commission.
325 No person to be ineligible for inclusion in, or to claim to be included in a special, electoral roll on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.
326 Elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of States to be on the basis of adult suffrage.
327 Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures.
328 Power of Legislature of a State to make provision with respect to elections to such Legislature.
329 Bar to interference by courts in electoral matters.
Structure of the Commission
Originally the commission had only one election commissioner but after the Election Commissioner Amendment Act 1989, it has been made a multi-member body.
The commission consists of one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
The secretariat of the commission is located in New Delhi.
At the state level election commission is helped by Chief Electoral Officer who is an IAS rank Officer.
The President appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.
They have a fixed tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India.
The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through a process of removal similar to that of a Supreme Court judge for by Parliament.
Procedure of Removal
Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court, CEC, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) may be Removed from office through a motion adopted by Parliament on grounds of ‘Proven misbehaviour or incapacity’.
Removal requires special majority of 2/3rd members present and voting supported by more than 50% of the total strength of the house.
The Constitution does not use the word ‘impeachment’, for the removal of the judges, CAG, CEC.
The term ‘Impeachment’ is only used for removing the President which requires the special majority of 2/3rd members of the total strength of both the houses which is not used elsewhere.
Functions
Election Commission of India superintendents, direct and control the entire process of conducting elections to Parliament and Legislature of every State and to the offices of President and Vice-President of India.
The most important function of the commission is to decide the election schedules for the conduct of periodic and timely elections, whether general or bye-elections.
It prepares electoral roll, issues Electronic Photo Identity Card (EPIC).
It decides on the location polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centres, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centres and all allied matters.
It grants recognition to political parties & allot election symbols to them along with settling disputes related to it.
The Commission also has advisory jurisdiction in the matter of post election disqualification of sitting members of Parliament and State Legislatures.
It issues the Model Code of Conduct in election for political parties and candidates so that the no one indulges in unfair practice or there is no arbitrary abuse of powers by those in power.
It sets limits of campaign expenditure per candidate to all the political parties, and also monitors the same.
Importance of ECI for India
The ECI has been successfully conducting national as well as state elections since 1952. In recent years, however, the Commission has started to play the more active role to ensure greater participation of people.
The Commission had gone to the extent of disciplining the political parties with a threat of derecognizing if the parties failed in maintaining inner-party democracy.
It upholds the values enshrined in the Constitution viz, equality, equity, impartiality, independence; and rule of law in superintendence, direction, and control over the electoral governance.
It conducts elections with the highest standard of credibility, freeness, fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability, autonomy and professionalism.
It ensures participation of all eligible citizens in the electoral process in an inclusive voter-centric and voter-friendly environment.
It engages with political parties and all stakeholders in the interest of the electoral process.
It creates awareness about the electoral process and electoral governance amongst stakeholders namely, voters, political parties, election functionaries, candidates and people at large; and to enhance and strengthen confidence and trust in the electoral system of this country.
Major Challenges
Over the years influence of money and criminal elements in politics has increased along with violence and electoral malpractices resulting in criminalization of politics. The ECI has been unable to arrest this deterioration.
There has been rampant abuse of power by the state government who at times make large-scale transfers on the eve of elections and posts pliable officials in key positions, using official vehicles and buildings for electioneering, flouting the ECI’s model code of conduct.
The ECI is not adequately equipped to regulate the political parties. The ECI has no power in enforcing inner-party democracy and regulation of party finances.
In the recent years, an impression is gaining ground that the Election Commission is becoming less and less independent of the Executive which has impacted the image of the institution.
One of the major institutional drawback is non- transparency in election of CEC and other two commissioners and is based on the choice of presiding government.
There have been allegations of EVMs malfunctioning, getting hacked and not registering votes which corrodes general masses trust from the institution.
Way Forward
The challenge before the commission is to be vigilant and watchful against the collusion at the lower level of civil and police bureaucracy in favour of the ruling party of the day.
Until the controversy related to glitches in EVM settles down, commission needs to establish its trust amongst people by installing ( Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail System ) VVPATS in more and more constituencies.
There is a need to provide more legal support to the commission’s mandate and the processes that support that mandate.
As history shows, inadequate leadership is the bane of our public institutions. Safeguards to ensure that ethical and capable people head them are crucial.
2nd ARC report recommended that collegium headed by the Prime Minister with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Law Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha as members should make recommendations for the consideration of the President for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners.
BY ELECTIONS:
A member of a legislative assembly often leaves his position vacant on various grounds, especially when he/she becomes inept. It could be the person’s untimely death or a criminal conviction, which makes him ineligible to continue in office.
In a democracy like India, where political verdicts are people-driven and unpredictability is the norm, by-elections are a necessary enabler for restoring stability. You don’t have to force yourself hard to remember instances wherein by-elections were called because of voting irregularities and myriad other reasons. These elections occur between regularly scheduled elections and give people the opportunity to redeem their situation. If a state has suffered in the hands of an incompetent government in the first phase, it can get back its pie of prosperity by bringing a better alternative to the forefront.
By-elections have become a commonality in India, partly because of the misuse of provision of a law under the Representation of the People Act that allows a candidate to contest elections from two constituencies. When the candidate wins from both the constituencies, he/she has to vacate one of the seats. This triggers by-election as one of the seats that is rendered vacant. Prominent politicians such as Mulayam Singh and Narendra Modi seem to be all set to contest from two constituencies during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
India has also witnessed several by-elections after an individual decides to shift allegiance and switch party. A very latest example could be seen in Gujarat where seven seats fell vacant after Congress MLAs switched sides and joined BJP. The by-polls for the seven assembly seats will be held on April 30.
If we go back to 2011, we have another classic instance of by-elections to behold. Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal after ending the Left domination of over three decades. At that time, Mamata Banerjee was still an MP in the Lok Sabha. It was mandatory for her to become a member of the state legislature to bag the position of a Chief Minister. One of the MLAs from Bengal had to step down to let her contest from that constituency. This led to a by-election. Simultaneously, after she stepped down from her position as a member of Lok Sabha, the Kolkata (South) parliamentary constituency fell vacant, and this again called for a by-election.
This format of the election in India comes with a tinge of surprise and a whole lot of changes in the political landscape. It surely makes for a fascinating case study.
2.Houston is the energy capital of the world'Howdy Houston’, says Modi as he lands in energy capital(GS-2)
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| Howdy Modi |
CONTEXT:
The Howdy Modi event on September 22 at the sprawling NRG Football Stadium in Houston is the largest gathering ever for an elected foreign leader visiting the U.S., other than the Pope.
Looking forward to a wide range of programmes, including addressing a record 50,000 Indian Americans, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the energy capital of the world on Saturday with “Howdy”, the traditional Texan way of greetings.
“Howdy Houston”, he tweeted soon after landing in Houston in the afternoon. “It’s a bright afternoon here in Houston,” he added.
Trump?
“Looking forward to a wide range of programmes in this dynamic and energetic city today and tomorrow,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
Later in the day, he is scheduled to meet community leaders and hold a round-table with the CEOs of top energy companies based in Houston.
India’s energy independence is one of the major goals that Modi has set for himself.
The Prime Minister was received at the airport by India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Harsh Vardhan Shringla, and his American counterpart Ken Juster.
Both at the airport and at the hotel entrance, Mr. Modi was greeted by groups of Indian Americans with flags of India and the United States.
Houston is the energy capital of the world:
The city is home to the headquarters of more than 500 oil and gas exploration and production firms in the country and hundreds of firms providing supporting activities . Not only that, it has nine refineries producing over 2.3 million barrels of crude oil every day, making it one of the highest oil producers in the world. In Houston, there is a business district that stretches 7 miles along Interstate 10 known as the Energy Corridor. Many companies in both the energy sector and the non-energy sector have significant operations in the district. However, there have been developments, such as ExxonMobil’s new campus, in other parts of the city that could form Houston’s second energy corridor.
3.SEBI,What are liquid funds?(GS-3)CONTEXT:SEBI tightens norms for liquid funds
SEBI:
Securities and Exchange Board of India:
Before SEBI came into existence, Controller of Capital Issues was the regulatory authority; it derived authority from the Capital Issues (Control) Act, 1947.
In April, 1988 the SEBI was constituted as the regulator of capital markets in India under a resolution of the Government of India.
Initially SEBI was a non statutory body without any statutory power.
It became autonomous and given statutory powers by SEBI Act 1992.
The headquarters of SEBI is situated in Mumbai. The regional offices of SEBI are located in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi.
Structure
SEBI Board consists of a Chairman and several other whole time and part time members.
SEBI also appoints various committees, whenever required to look into the pressing issues of that time.
Powers and Functions of SEBI
SEBI is a quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial body which can draft regulations, conduct inquiries, pass rulings and impose penalties.
It functions to fulfill the requirements of three categories –
Issuers – By providing a marketplace in which the issuers can increase their finance.
Investors – By ensuring safety and supply of precise and accurate information.
Intermediaries – By enabling a competitive professional market for intermediaries.
By Securities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014, SEBI is now able to regulate any money pooling scheme worth Rs. 100 cr. or more and attach assets in cases of non-compliance.
SEBI Chairman has the authority to order "search and seizure operations". SEBI board can also seek information, such as telephone call data records, from any persons or entities in respect to any securities transaction being investigated by it.
SEBI perform the function of registration and regulation of the working of venture capital funds and collective investment schemes including mutual funds.
It also works for promoting and regulating self-regulatory organizations and prohibiting fraudulent and unfair trade practices relating to securities markets.
SEBI’s Achievements
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006 said that eternal vigilance is the price of market stability and market growth. The regulator has kept the faith in its 25-year journey that has seen it steadily gain more powers to oversee India’s capital markets.
It has ensured a well-functioning market and driven market development: dematerialisation of shares, shortening settlement cycles, initiating nationwide electronic trading, introducing risk management systems, establishing clearing corporations, nurturing the mutual fund industry and so on.
Rightly, the regulator has earned respect from domestic and global investors for improving the efficacy of the market. After all, there have been no broker defaults after 2001.
Initiating the process of consultation papers before framing regulation has also enhanced its credibility with stakeholders.
Today, the Indian capital market can compares favorably with mature markets.
New initiatives for improving analytical capabilities, strengthening surveillance & risk management and to promote research have been taken by SEBI in recent years to counter the volatility in market.
Issues with SEBI
In recent years SEBI role became more complex, the capital markets regulator is at a crossroads.
There is excessive focus on regulation of market conduct and lesser emphasis on prudential regulation.
SEBI statutory enforcement powers are greater than its counterparts in the US and the UK as it is armed with far greater power to inflict serious economic injury.
It can impose serious restraints on economic activity, this is done based on suspicion, leaving it to those affected to shoulder the burden of disproving the suspicion, somewhat like preventive detention.
Its legislative powers are near absolute as the SEBI Act grants wide discretion to make subordinate legislation.
The component of prior consultation with the market and a system of review of regulations to see if they have met the articulated purpose is substantially missing. As a result, the fear of the regulator is widespread.
Regulation, either rules or enforcement, is far from perfect, particularly in areas like insider trading.
The Securities offering documents are extraordinarily bulky and have substantially been reduced to formal compliance rather than resulting in substantive disclosures of high quality.
What are liquid funds?
Liquid funds belong to the debt category of mutual funds. They invest in very short-term market instruments like treasury bills, government securities and call money. They are getting popular with retail investors due to their higher than savings bank account returns and easy liquidity. Once you submit a redemption request you get money back in one working day.
4.FISCAL DEFECIT(GS-3)
CONTEXT:Corporate tax cut to have ‘minor’
impact on fiscal deficit: Aayog
What Is a Fiscal Deficit?
A fiscal deficit is a shortfall in a government's income compared with its spending. The government that has a fiscal deficit is spending beyond its means.
A fiscal deficit is calculated as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), or simply as total dollars spent in excess of income. In either case, the income figure includes only taxes and other revenues and excludes money borrowed to make up the shortfall.
A fiscal deficit is different from fiscal debt. The latter is the total debt accumulated over years of deficit spending.
Understanding the Fiscal Deficit
A fiscal deficit is not universally regarded as a negative event. For example, the influential economist John Maynard Keynes argued that deficit spending and the debts incurred to sustain that spending can help countries climb out of economic recession.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A government creates a fiscal deficit by spending more money than it takes in from taxes and other revenues excluding debt.
The gap between income and spending is closed by government borrowing.
5.Blackbuck, Chinkara(GS-3)CONTEXT:Genetics reveals origin and evolution of blackbuck, chinkara
IMPORTANT FACTS REGARDING Blackbuck:
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| Blackbuck |
Found in — India, Nepal and Pakistan (extinct in Bangladesh).
They are the sole extant member of the genus Antilope
State animal of Andra Pradesh, Haryana & PunjabUPSC, IAS, BLACKBUCK
The blackbuck is a diurnal antelope (active mainly during the day)
The blackbuck has been introduced in Argentina and the United States
Habitat — grassy plains and slightly forested areas. Due to their regular need of water, they prefer areas where water is perennially available.
It is found in Central- Western India (MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Odisha) and Southern India (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu).
LEKKING:
Males often adopt lekking as a strategy on the part of males to garner females for mating,
Lekking – is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays, lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners for copulation
Threats
- excessive hunting
- deforestation
- habitat degradation through conversion to agricultural use
- Conservation efforts
- Bishnoi community of Rajasthan is known worldwide for their conservation efforts to blackbuck and Chinkara
- In India, hunting of blackbuck is prohibited under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972
- CITES Appendix III (Nepal)
- Protected Areas
- Velavadar Blackbuck Sanctuary — Gujarat
- Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary
- Nilgiri biosphere reserve
- Corbett national park
- IMPORTANT FACTS REGARDING Chinkara:
Chinkara
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| Chinkara |
- It is the smallest asiatic antelopechinkara
- Basically a shy and demure animaland stays away from human habitation
- Behaviour:
- Chinkaras are shy and avoid human habitation.
- They can go without water for long periods and can get sufficient fluids from plants and dew
- Habitat
- Arid plains and hills, grasslands and desert areas , dry scrub and light forests
- Western and central India, extending through Pakistan, south-western Afghanistan and into north-central Iran. The Thar Desert of western India remains a stronghold.
- Found sharing habitat with Nilgai.
- Threats
- Indiscriminate hunting in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
- Habitat loss through overgrazing, conversion to agriculture and industrial development
6.What is bipolar disorder?CONTEXT:Genes implicated in bipolar disorder identified(GS-3)
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness marked by extreme shifts in mood. Symptoms can include an extremely elevated mood called mania. They can also include episodes of depression. Bipolar disorder is also known as bipolar disease or manic depression.
People with bipolar disorder may have trouble managing everyday life tasks at school or work, or maintaining relationships. There’s no cure, but there are many treatment options available that can help to manage the symptoms
Bipolar symptoms
There are three main symptoms that can occur with bipolar disorder: mania, hypomania, and depression.
While experiencing mania, a person with bipolar disorder may feel an emotional high. They can feel excited, impulsive, euphoric, and full of energy. During manic episodes, they may also engage in behavior such as:
- spending sprees
- unprotected sex
- drug use
- Hypomania is generally associated with bipolar II disorder. It’s similar to mania, but it’s not as severe. Unlike mania, hypomania may not result in any trouble at work, school, or in social relationships. However, people with hypomania still notice changes in their mood.
- During an episode of depression you may experience:
- deep sadness
- hopelessness
- loss of energy
- lack of interest in activities they once enjoyed
- periods of too little or too much sleep
- suicidal thoughts
7.Trade war spurs India-China digital embrace BY ATUL ANEJA
(GS-2,3)
In tune with the 5G technology revolution, two emerging economies — China and India — are looking seriously at docking their hardware and software heft to expand their footprint across the globe, including the Global South. Out of the five arenas earmarked for joint forays at the recently concluded India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in New Delhi, the one on high-technology turned most heads.
A new wave of Chinese upstarts is challenging, and sometimes outstripping, the U.S. in the race for 5G dominance, AI, and its downstream derivatives such as Smart Cities, Driverless cars, advanced healthcare and Financial Technology (Fintech) products.
“SenseTime is ultimately developing a rule engine and a platform on which you can develop applications. Now think about it. In India, with a population of 1.3 billion people, the doctor strength in rural areas is close to zero, because doctors do not want to go to rural areas. With a 5G communication with SenseTime, I could easily be developing an application where doctors can remotely work with hundreds of villages and hundreds of patients,
5G technology:
5G is the fifth generation cellular technology that apart from increasing the downloading and uploading speeds over the mobile network, also reduces the latency i.e. the time taken by a network to respond.
5G will provide download speed of 1 Gbps, which is at least 100 times the existing data speeds.
It also increases energy efficiency and offers more stable network connections.
5G will have a wider area in the frequency spectrum (range of frequencies) that will ensure no network congestion.
In addition, it will also ensure connectivity to a full circle i.e. everything is connected to every other thing.
The standards for the usage of 5G are defined and driven by 3rd Generation Partnership Project.
ATIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
It describes the action of machines accomplishing tasks that have historically required human intelligence.
It includes technologies like machine learning, pattern recognition, big data, neural networks, self algorithms etc.
The origin of the concept can be traced back to the greek mythology, although it is only during modern history when stored program electronic computers were developed.
Example: Million of algorithms and codes are there around the humans to understand their commands and perform human-like tasks. Facebook’s list of suggested friends for its users, a pop-up page, telling about an upcoming sale of the favourite brand of shoes and clothes, that comes on screen while browsing the internet, are the work of artificial intelligence.
A Complex Technology: AI involves complex things such as feeding a particular data into the machine and making it react as per the different situations. It is basically about creating self-learning patterns where the machine can give answers to the never answered questions like a human would ever do.
AI is a Different Technology
AI is different from hardware driven robotic automation. Instead of automating manual tasks, AI performs frequent high volume computerised tasks reliably.
AI is often misunderstood for machine learning. AI is a broader concept with a bunch of technologies that include machine learning and other technologies like natural language processing, inference algorithms, neutron networks etc.
India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue :
India HOSTED 6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) in New Delhi. The three-day Dialogue was held from 7-9 September 2019. Every year NITI Aayog (earlier Planning Commission) on Indian side and National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) on Chinese side lead SED Mechanism wherein a bilateral Dialogue is held annually alternately at capital cities of two countries i.e. in New Delhi and Beijing. About 6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue It WAS chaired by Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar and Chinese side WAS LED by chairman, National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC). Also, senior representatives from policy making, industry and academia PARTICIPATED in dialogue from both sides. The dialogue will comprise of round table meetings of Joint Working Groups (JWG) followed by technical site visits and closed door G2G meetings. Focus Areas: SED FOCUSED collaboration between two countries on areas of Infrastructure, Energy, Resource Conservation, High-Tech, Pharmaceuticals and Policy coordination
Very nice....
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