DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS 12 AUGUST
POLITY
Vice-President advocates judicial reforms
Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said the country should have special judicial tribunals and set up a Supreme Court bench in Chennai.
Judicial Reforms are must to deal with the issues of:
- Delay in judicial appointments
- Heavy pendency of cases.
- Election petition, Criminal cases and disqualification proceedings under anti –defection law are delayed till the term of legislators.
- Balancing the role of executive and judiciary in judicial appointments leading to transparency and effectiveness.
- Marginalization of the poor and illiterate
- Decline in the quality of judicial officers in the subordinate judiciary
- Complex procedures, Inaccessibility and High costs
Judicial Reforms measures:
- Bringing judicial accountability bill to enhance transparency
- Separation of Court of Appeal and Constitutional division.
- Enhancing the no of judges in the court.
- Having separate benches in separate regions
- Raising the age of retirement of judges.
- Law Commission had suggested a concept of “Uncle Judges” in its 230th report and said that the Judges should not be appointed in the same High Court whose kith and kin are practicing in a High Court.
- Setting up of Fast Track Courts.
- Promoting Alternate Dispute Redressal Mechanisms like Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation.
- Improving infrastructure and computerization of lower courts to improve efficiency.
- Promoting E-filing of cases for better accessibility.
- Elimination of frequent adjournments
- Lok Adalats, Gram Nayaylay can further reduce the load of judiciary.
Reference : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/vice-president-advocates-judicial-reforms/article28984198.ece
PMKMY: Govt aims to enroll 2-cr farmers for pension scheme by Aug 15
Government of India has set a target of enrolling 2 crore small and marginal farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY) by August 15. The scheme entitles eligible farmers to receive monthly pension of ₹3,000 per month.
Common Service Centres (CSC):
- It’s a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics and IT has been roped as exclusive “enrolling agency” for enrollment of subscribers.
- It provides physical facilities for delivering Government of India e-Services to rural and remote locations where availability of computers and Internet was negligible or mostly absent.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY):
Under PM-KMY, A monthly pension of ₹3,000 will be provided to eligible farmers on attaining the age of 60.
- It’s a voluntary and contribution-based pension scheme for farmers in the age group of 18 to 40 years. -
- Eligible farmers can enroll using his bank Passbook and Aadhar details through a simplified procedure.
- A PM-KMY pension card with a unique pension account number will be generated after completion of authentication.
- Farmers can make a monthly contribution of ₹55 to ₹200 depending on the age of entry in the pension fund till they reach the retirement age of 60 years.
- The central government will make an equal contribution of the same amount in the pension fund.
- Farmer’s spouse is also eligible to get a separate pension of ₹3,000 upon making separate contribution to the fund.
- In case of death of the farmer before the retirement date, the spouse may continue with the scheme.
- If the spouse does not wish to contribute, the total contribution made by the farmer along with interest will be paid to the spouse.
Allegations of EVM tampering made with criminal intent, says CEC
Chief Election Commissioner has said allegations of EVM tampering are “more than unfair” and made with a “criminal intent”.
Electronic Voting Machines (EVM):
- Electronic Voting Machines are simple, low cost machines to register the vote.
- An EVM is designed with two units: the control unit and the balloting unit which are joined together by a cable.
- Voter Verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) were deployed in 2019 General election.
Controversies around EVM:
- EVM can be hacked and perform as per the requirement of hacker.
- Transportation of EVM without proper scrutiny as highlighted by several Social media users.
- EVM malfunctioning related to votes going to a particular political party despite of one’s preference. (No matter which button one pressed).
- There have been reports of mismatch between EVM delivered by Public Sector Companies and received by the Election Commission.
Why EVM are full-proof :
- Designed by Two highly reputed firms in a secure environment and distinguished emeritus professors of reputed institutes have supervised the entire process.
- Parties and individuals showcase its malfunctioning as tampering which is not true.
- Charges of tampering laid upon after completion of Lok Sabha Poll which shows their seriousness.
Remarks of Election Commission:
- EVM are not network connected hence cant be hacked.
- Used EVM are stored in the Strong room under a lock. Those issues pertained to reserve EVMs. Candidates can have their representative to look at strong room for 24 hours after completion of voting.
- VVPAT matching has been done for a random booth under a constituency. 100% accuracy was found in this general election.
Bihar police drive to stop mob violence
The Bihar police launched a massive drive on social media and are appealing people to stay away from mob violence.
Mob Violence
It covers any act of violence, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation or ethnicity. And two persons are enough to constitute a ‘mob’.
Mob lynching are conducted in the name of:
- Cow protectionism.
- Prevention of sale of beef or transportation of cattle.
- Spread of rumors and fake news.
- Establish sectarian dominance
The Supreme Court took notice of “rising intolerance and growing polarisation” due to mob lynching in a judgment last year. It also mooted a special law to criminalize it and “instill a sense of fear” among those too quick to form a lynch mob.
Rajasthan and Manipur has made a law to curtail these hate crimes. These State laws made provision of Compensation worth Rs. 5 Lakh to the victim and life imprisonment to offenders.Such type of laws should be made at Pan India level curbing the mob violence in the nub.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Afghan leader rejects foreign interference in country’s fate
Afghanistan’s president rejected foreign interference as the United States and the Taliban appear to be closing in on a peace deal without the Afghan government at the table.
Blueprint of Peace deal:
- Withdrawal of some 20,000 U.S. and The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops.
- Taliban guarantees that Afghanistan would not be a base for other extremist groups.
- Taliban will sever its ties with international terrorist groups like Al-Qaida.
Stakeholders:
Afghan government: It should be through constitutional and peaceful means. It wants peace with dignity where there wont be any brain drain and investment drain.
Taliban: It wants an Islamic system in Afganistan without occupation. It has refused to negotiate with Afghan government and asked fellow Afghanis to stay away from campaign rallies.
The U.S. and NATO: They have formally concluded their combat mission in Afganistan in 2014. They are conducting strikes on Taliban and its affiliates. They are providing training and building Afgani troops. Trump wants to bring back its troops.
J&K on top of Jaishankar’s China agenda
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has arrived in Beijing to prepare for the second informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, apart from familiarising his hosts about New Delhi’s decision to revoke special status for Jammu and Kashmir.
China’s Stand on J&K reorganization:
- Chinese Foreign Ministry had taken exception to India’s decision to create Ladakh as a separate Union Territory.
- Indian side had continued to damage China’s territorial sovereignty by unilaterally modifying the form of domestic law. It could alter the status quo along the India-China border.
- Its stand on 370 has been shifting. Earlier it said that concerned parties should exercise caution and restraint and try to avoid unilateral actions to change the status. Earlier it didn’t make any reference to UN. But, now it argues that bilateral agreement :1972 Shimla accord should be the basis of resolving dispute.
- It says that Kashmir issue should be resolved based on UN charter after visit of Pakistan’s Foreign minister.
Indian side will raise the “internationalisation” of the Kashmir issue through the UN route during Mr. Jaishankar’s talks in Beijing.
Reference : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/jaishankar-in-beijing-ahead-of-modi-xi-meet/article28984408.ece
ENVIRONMENT
Climate change and Land-IPCC Report
An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report shows that better land management can contribute to tackling climate change, but is not the only solution. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors is essential if global warming is to be kept to well below 2ºC, if not 1.5oC.
IPCC:
It’s a world body for assessing the state of scientific knowledge related to climate change, its impacts and potential future risks, and possible response options.
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