National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 9th December 2019

by Mentors4ias · December 9, 2019

Lokpal

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: Almost six years after the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, was signed into law, several key provisions needed for the anti-corruption ombudsman to function have still not been operationalised.

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The process of constituting the Lokpal’s inquiry and prosecution wings has not yet begun, and regulations for how to conduct preliminary investigations have not been made.
The Lokpal would find it difficult to investigate complaints that do fall within its mandate as it has no inquiry wing or regulations for inquiries.
Section 60 of the Act gives the Lokpal the power to make regulations on “the manner and procedure of conducting preliminary inquiry or investigation”.
It also deals with making regulations on the website display of the status of all complaints pending or disposed along with records and evidence. However till now, no regulations have been made by the Lokpal under Section 60.
The rules for the disclosure of assets and liabilities by public servants have not been notified either. This is a key provision as the amassing of assets disproportionate to the known sources of income is often the basis for a complaint.
The draft rules of 2017 were referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which submitted its recommendations to the government in July 2018. The Centre is yet to submit any Action Taken Report to the Rajya Sabha.

Back ground:

The movement to ensure accountability through an anti-corruption ombudsman has been long. The term Lokpal was coined in 1963 but it was not until January 2014 that the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act came into force. It was more than five years later, in March 2019, that the first chairperson and members of the Lokpal were appointed.
More than eight months later, the institution is functioning out of a government-owned hotel in Delhi. While it approved a logo and motto for itself last month, the Lokpal has not yet notified a format for filing complaints. Despite that obstacle, 1,065 complaints were sent to the Lokpal office.

Composition of Lokpal:

Lokpal is the national anti-corruption ombudsman.
Under the 2013 Act, the Lokpal should consist of a chairperson and such number of members, not exceeding 8.
Of the members, 50% should be judicial members.
Also, not less than 50% of the members should be from among persons belonging to the SCs, the STs, OBCs, minorities and women.
The same rules apply for members of the search committee.

Who all does the Act cover?

The Act covers a wide range of public servants with various rules for each.
These ranges from the Prime Minister, ministers and MPs, to groups A, B, C and D employees of the central government.
It shall apply to public servants in and outside India.
The Act also includes the Lokpal’s own members under the definition of “public servant”.
The Chairperson, Members, officers and other employees of the Lokpal, while functioning under the provisions of the Act, shall be deemed to be public servants.
A complaint under this Act shall only relate to a period during which the public servant was holding or serving in that capacity.

Model Mains Question: Critically Examine The Issues Involved In The Functioning Of Lokpal.

Source: Hindu

Paika Bidroha Memorial

Topic: History

In News: President Ram Nath Kovind laid the foundation stone to the memorial being built in memory of the Paika rebellion, a two hundred year old armed revolt against the British East India Company in Odisha.

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Two-hundred years ago in 1817, a valiant uprising of soldiers led by Buxi Jagabandhu (Bidyadhar Mohapatra) took place in Khurda of Odisha. This is known as Paika rebellion.
The Paikas were the traditional land-owning militia of Odisha and served as warriors. When armies of the East India Company overran most of Odisha in 1803, the Raja of Khurda lost his primacy and the power and prestige of the Paikas went on a decline. The British were not comfortable with these aggressive, warlike new subjects and set up a commission under Walter Ewer to look into the issue.
The commission recommended that the hereditary rent-free lands granted to the Paikas be taken over by the British administration and this recommendation was zealously adhered to. They revolted against the British.
However, the rebellion had several other underlying causes – like the rise in the price of salt, abolition of the cowrie currency for payment of taxes and an overtly extortionist land revenue policy.
Although initially the Company struggled to respond they managed to put down the rebellion by May 1817. Many of the Paik leaders were hung or deported. Jagabandhu surrendered in 1825.

Source: Hindu

Tyre pyrolysis

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has pulled up 270 tyre pyrolysis units in 19 States for employing technology that is polluting and harmful to the health of workers employed.

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Tyre pyrolysis refers to a technique of breaking down used tyres in the absence of oxygen. Shredded tyres, at temperatures between 250º C and 500º C, produce liquid oil and gases.
While this is considered a safer technique than burning tyres, pyrolysis leaves fine carbon matter, pyro-gas, oil as residue and the inadequate management of these by-products poses health risks.

Background:

The National Green Tribunal in 2014 prohibited used tyres from being burnt in the open or being used as fuel in brick kilns, because of the toxic emissions. The authority asked the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to look at ways to dispose used tyres safely. Subsequently, the board issued a set of guidelines, in which pyrolysis was recommended as an acceptable mode.
More than 40% of tyre pyrolysis units were not complying with rules, the NGT observed in April 2019, after it sought a report from the CPCB.

Source: Hindu

Delayed Local Body Polls

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: Three years after they fell due in 2016, rural local bodies in Tamil Nadu will witness elections in the last week of December 2019. And, barring any further judicial intervention, urban local bodies are also likely to have elected representatives early 2020.

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It is a travesty of the law that these elections have been delayed. Cities, towns and villages have been under the rule of unelected officials for too long.
Under a Supreme Court order, polls for all local bodies will have to be held, except in those districts that have been divided recently to create new ones. It is the first time since local self-government became the third tier of governance under the Constitution that polls have not been held on time in T.N. timely elections were held every five years since 1996.
Administrative lapses and political litigation over ward delimitation in various local bodies in accordance with the latest population figures in the 2011 Census resulted in the unprecedented delay.

Problems in Indian Local Governance:

The central tendency of local democracy in India tells a story of indifference if not neglect. After a quarter century of decentralisation, local expenditure as a percentage of GDP is only 2 per cent compared with the OECD (14 per cent), China (11 per cent), and Brazil (7 per cent).
The MPLAD and MLALAD (local area development) continue to bypass local governments.
The mission-based administration of schemes by some States (Gujarat, Kerala) dampen the smooth growth of democratic decentralisation. State Finance Commissions, a counterpart of the Union Finance Commission, are not independent bodies in most States.
The mandate to establish a district planning committee to prepare a draft development plan has been violated and distorted in most States.
In all States, parallel bodies encroach on the functional domain of LGs and continue to grow unchecked. States like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan abolished local taxes.
Haryana created a rural development agency under the chief minister. Throughout India there is a swing towards centralisation.
To crown everything, the judiciary seems to be ignorant about or indifferent to sustaining decentralisation as an integral task of deepening democracy.
India lacks a credible financial reporting system when it comes to local governments. The financial reporting system is in disarray. Despite repeated efforts by the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Financial Commissions the continued absence of a reliable and consistent database calls for corrective reforms.

Structural lacunae:

No secretarial support: No dedicated carder of people or service is working for Panchayati raj. This make administrative and documentation work very difficult.
Low technical knowledge: has restricted the aggregation of planning from village to block to district to state to centre. Hence bottom up approach of planning is very limited.
Adhoc meetings: lack of clear setting of agenda in gram sabha, gram samiti meetings; there is lot of adhocism; no proper structure
Proxy for reserved seats: Landlord and relatives many a times give proxy for SC/ST’s and women.

Way Ahead:

Local democracy in India is in deep disarray. The immediate need of the hour is to take remedial action in the interest of democracy, social inclusion and cooperative federalism.
Thus, it calls for a more stricter regulatory framework by the State Election Commission in checking out the role of money and muscle power; in defining the code of conduct to be followed by the political parties such that democracy truly reaches its grassroots as was envisioned by our constitution makers; voters need to be made aware of carefully exercising their voting rights-this would bring in proper decentralization and inclusive development following a bottom-up approach.
Sustainable decentralisation comes from the demands of the people and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda. Indeed, the framework needs to be evolved to accommodate the demand for decentralisation.
Only education and knowledge, and pro-active interventions by emancipatory socio-political movements, can help achieve this. The media can also play a significant agenda-building role in bringing this about.
In the NREGA programme, 40% of the money allocated is for the material component, whereas the remaining 60% is for salaries. These funds are available with the states and can be used to build panchayat bhavans.
All these provisions in the constitution as well as the government policies are right steps towards the Dr. B. R. Ambedker’s and many more leaders dream of achieving not only political democracy but also social democracy in which giving voice to the voiceless society. We need to take these steps to make our Panchayati Raj Institutions, effective centres of local governance.

Source: Hindu

Anti-Depredation Squads

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The state government of Assam has set up 15 Anti-Depredation Squads of Forest department to deal with human-wildlife conflicts in state. The squads would help Forest Department to reduce casualties in conflict situations.

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These squads will be stationed in 15 major human-wildlife conflict districts of Assam to deal with problem and ensure the safety of both humans and animals. They will be equipped with all logistics required for mitigating conflict and will have 12 bore pump action guns and rubber bullet ammunition.

Source: Hindu

Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Topic: Economy

In News: The Rajya Sabha approved the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, replacing an ordinance that was promulgated to cut corporate tax rates to boost growth rate in a slowing economy. Since it deals with taxes, the bill was introduced as a money bill in the Lok Sabha earlier.

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The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 replaces an ordinance that reduced the tax rate for domestic companies from 30% and 25% (for those with an annual turnover of over ₹400 crores) to 22%.
These rates are applicable for companies if they don’t claim certain exemptions under the Income Tax Act.
The rate for new domestic manufacturing companies set up after October 1 was lowered to 15%.
The new effective tax rate inclusive of surcharge and cess for domestic companies would be 25.17% and for new domestic manufacturing companies would be 17.01%.

Corporate tax is a tax imposed on the net income of the company.

Source: Indian Express

White Dwarfs

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: For the first time ever, astronomers have found an indirect evidence of a giant planet orbiting a white dwarf star (WDJ0914+1914). The system was found in the Cancer constellation.

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The planet was not seen directly but evidence of its presence was in the form of a disc of gas (hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur) formed due to its evaporating atmosphere.
Spikes of gas were detected by the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile.
This is the first evidence of an actual planet revolving around a white dwarf star. Prior to this discovery, only smaller objects such as asteroids had been detected.

White Dwarf:

Stars like our sun fuse hydrogen in their cores into helium through nuclear fusion reactions. White dwarfs are stars that have burned up all of the hydrogen they once used as nuclear fuel. Such stars have very high density.
Fusion in a star’s core produces heat and outward pressure (they bloat up as enormous red giants), but this pressure is kept in balance by the inward push of gravity generated by a star’s mass.
When the hydrogen, used as fuel, vanishes and fusion slows, gravity causes the star to collapse in on itself into white dwarfs.
Eventually over tens or even hundreds of billions of years a white dwarf cools until it becomes a black dwarf, which emits no energy. Because the universe’s oldest stars are only 10 billion to 20 billion years old there are no known black dwarfs
It must be noted that not all white dwarfs cool and transform into black dwarfs. Those white dwarfs which have enough mass reach a level called the Chandrasekhar Limit. At this point the pressure at its center becomes so great that the star will detonate in a thermonuclear supernova.
(Chandrasekhar Limit is the maximum mass theoretically possible for a stable white dwarf star. A limit which mandates that no white dwarf (a collapsed, degenerate star) can be more massive than about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Any degenerate object more massive must inevitably collapse into a neutron star or black hole.)

Source: Indian Express