The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018

Why in news?

• The Bill to award the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12 will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament
• The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, once approved by Parliament, will replace the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on April 21 following an outcry over the rape and murder of a minor girl at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and the rape of a woman at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.

Salient features

• The Bill stipulates stringent punishment for perpetrators of rape, particularly of girls below 12.
• A provision for the death penalty has been provided for rapists of girls aged under 12
• The minimum punishment in the case of rape of women has been increased from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to 10.
• Under the Bill, in case of the rape of a girl aged under 16 and above 12, the minimum punishment has been increased from 10 years to 20.
• The punishment for gang rape of a girl aged below 16 and above 12 will be imprisonment for the rest of life of the convict
• While Punishments for crimes against girls was enhanced through amendment to the IPC, there was no mention of crimes against boys. The government will seek to correct that anomaly as well.

Special remission for prisoners

Why in news?

Women and transgender convicts above 55 and male convicts over 60 who have completed half of their prison sentences will be released under an amnesty scheme during the year-long celebrations to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, beginning October 2.

Pardoning power of the President

Pardon: It removes both the sentence and the conviction and completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments and disqualifications.

Commutation: It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment for a lighter form. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment, which in turn may be commuted to a simple imprisonment.

Remission: It implies reducing the period of sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for two years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.

Respite: It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.

Reprieve: It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President.

Under Article 161 of the Constitution, the governor of a state also possesses the pardoning power. Hence, the governor can also grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishment or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against a state law. But, the pardoning power of the governor differs from that of the President in following two respects

1. The President can pardon sentences inflicted by court martial (military courts) while the governor cannot.
2. The President can pardon death sentence while governor cannot. Even if a state law prescribes death sentence, the power to grant pardon lies with the President and not the governor. However, the governor can suspend, remit or commute a death sentence. In other words, both the governor and the President have concurrent power in respect of suspension, remission and commutation of death sentence.

New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)

Why in news?

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the policy framework to streamline production sharing contracts signed in the pre-New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and NELP periods.

Key decisions under the framework include increasing the exploration period granted for blocks in the northeast, and easing the sharing of royalties with the developers of the blocks.

About New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)

New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) is a policy adopted by Government of India in 1997 indicating the new contractual and fiscal model for award of hydrocarbon acreages towards exploration and production (E&P). NELP was applicable for all contracts entered into by the Government between 1997 and 2016.

In March 2016, Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) replaced the extant policy regime for exploration and production of oil and gas -New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), which has been in existence for 18 years.

Features of NELP

• 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed under NELP
• No mandatory state participation through ONGC/OIL or any carried interest of the Government.
• Blocks to be awarded through open international competitive bidding
• ONGC and OIL to compete for obtaining the petroleum exploration licenses (PEL) on a competitive basis instead of the existing system of granting them PELs on nomination basis.
• ONGC and OIL to get the same fiscal and contract terms as private companies.
• Freedom to the contractors for marketing of crude oil and gas in the domestic market.
• Royalty at the rate of 12.5% for the on land areas and 10% for offshore areas.
• Royalty to be charged at half the prevailing rate for deep water areas beyond 400 m bathymetry for the first 7 years after commencement of commercial production.
• Cess to be exempted for production from blocks offered under NELP.
• Companies to be exempted from payments of import duty on goods imported for petroleum operations.
• No signature, discovery or production bonuses.
• Agreement between government and contractor is governed by a Production Sharing Contract. A Model Production Sharing Contract is created which is reviewed for every NELP round.
• Contracts to be governed in accordance with applicable Indian Laws.

NCC and NSS

Why in news?

Government has decided to set up a committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Anil Swarup to suggest measures to strengthen National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme (NSS).

• The Committee will deal with on issues like expansion, strengthening training infrastructure, rationalizing resources, reducing manpower deficiency affecting NCC and NSS.
• The Committee will also submit recommend for building synergies between these two institutions viz. NCC and NSS and further strengthen them for empowering the youth.

National Service Scheme (NSS)

• NSS is a Centrally Sector Scheme. The Scheme was launched in the year 1969 with the primary objective of developing the personality and character of the student youth through voluntary community service.
• The ideological orientation of the NSS is inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. Very appropriately, the motto of NSS is “NOT ME, BUT YOU”.
• NSS is being implemented in Senior Secondary Schools, Colleges and Universities. The design of the NSS envisages that each educational institution covered under the Scheme has at least one NSS unit comprising of normally 100 student volunteers, led by a teacher designated as Programme Officer (PO). Each NSS unit adopts a village or slum for taking up its activities.

National Cadet Corps

• The National Cadet Corps (NCC) is a youth development movement. It came into existence under the National Cadet Corps Act XXXI of 1948.
• It is a Tri-Services Organization, comprising the Army, Navy and Air Force, engaged in grooming the youth of the country into disciplined and patriotic citizens.
• It has enormous potential for nation building.
• The NCC provides opportunities to the youth of the country for their all-round development with a sense of Duty, Commitment, Dedication, Discipline and Moral Values so that they become able leaders and useful citizens.
• The NCC provides exposure to the cadets in a wide range of activities., with a distinct emphasis on Social Services, Discipline and Adventure Training.
• The NCC is open to all regular students of schools and colleges on a voluntary basis. The students have no liability for active military service.

Google teams up with UN to track environmental changes

Why in news?

The UNEP has entered into a partnership with Google to monitor the impacts of human activity on global ecosystems by using sophisticated online tools.

• To develop a platform to enable governments, NGO’s and the public to track specific environment-related development targets with a user-friendly Google front-end.
• It has its initial focus on freshwater ecosystems including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.
• These areas account for 0.01% of the world’s water but provide habitat for almost 10% of the world’s known species and evidence suggests a rapid loss of freshwater biodiversity.
• Google will periodically produce geospatial maps and data on water-related ecosystems by employing massive parallel Cloud computing technology.
• Satellite imagery and statistics will be generated to assess the extent of change occurring to water bodies, and made freely accessible to ensure nations have the opportunity to track changes, prevent and reverse ecosystem loss.

UNEP

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an agency of United Nations and coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.

• It was founded by Maurice Strong, its first director, as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in June 1972 and has its headquarters in the Gigiri neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya.
• UNEP has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies but talks on addressing global warming are overseen by the Bonn-based Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• Its activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy.
• UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.
• The World Meteorological Organization and UNEP established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988.
• UNEP is also one of several Implementing Agencies for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.

FASTags

Why in news?

The Transport Ministry has proposed to dispense with fitness certificate for new vehicles and make it mandatory to have vehicle tracking system and FASTags for electronic toll collection for all commercial vehicles in its draft amendment to the Commercial Motor Vehicles Act.

What is FASTag?

• It is a device that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid account linked to it.
• It is affixed on the windscreen of vehicle and enables to drive through toll plazas without waiting.
• The tag has a validity of 5 years and after purchase, it only needs to be recharged or topped up. The service is applicable to all kinds of vehicles but use of the service is currently voluntary.

Benefits

• It helps quicken passage through toll barriers and helps avoid use of cash. Long queues of vehicles waiting while cumbersome cash transactions happen at the counter can be avoided. Here, it helps reduce use of fuel and pollution due to high waiting-times at the barriers.
• It can also help the government identify the quantum of road use and types of vehicles passing through, aiding budgets for road widening and other infrastructure expenses.

Counter-drone strategy for airports ready

Why in news?

Aviation security watchdog BCAS has finalised a strategy to neutralise drones near airports, with the government set to unveil a framework to regulate unmanned aircraft systems in the country. The strategy deals with drones operating near aerodromes.

• A “soft kill” approach instead of a hard kill approach has been suggested because destroying a drone with a payload of explosives or biochemical will result in an attack and serve the purpose of their handlers. The best approach is to entrap the drones and not destroy them.

BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security)

• The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is an attached office of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India.
• It is the regulatory authority for civil aviation security in India.
• It is headed by an officer of the rank of Director General of Police and is designated as Commissioner of Security (Civil Aviation).
• The main responsibility of BCAS are laying down standards and measures in respect of security of civil flights at International and domestic airports in India.

Background

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had released draft rules for unmanned aircraft systems in November last year and proposed to ban their operation within 5 km radius of an airport and 50 km from an international border.