What is Article 35A?
Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state’s legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and confer on them special rights and privileges in public sector jobs, acquisition of property in the State, scholarships and other public aid and welfare.
The provision mandates that no act of the legislature coming under it can be challenged for violating the Constitution or any other law of the land.
It was added to the constitution through a presidential order of 1954 with the then J&K government’s concurrence.
Article 35A does not allow people from outside the state of Jammu & Kashmir to work, settle or own property in the state.
- Supreme Court to study whether Article 35A is violative of the basic structure of the Constitution
- From previous article we know that, Article 35A deals with providing special status to the State and people of Jammu and Kashmir.
- The article empowers the Jammu and Kashmir state’s legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and confer on them special rights and privileges in public sector jobs, acquisition of property in the State, scholarships and other public aid and welfare.
About Basic structure
- Basic structure is a collective term coined by a 13-judge Bench in the historic Keshavananda Bharati case (1973).
- The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the parliament.
- It includes a list of fundamental rights, including right to equality, non-discrimination, liberty, life and dignity, enshrined and preserved in the Constitution.
- The basic structure theory plays a useful part in our constitutional jurisprudence.
- Chandrayaan-2: India’s second moon mission
- Chandrayaan-2 to be delayed till January 2019
- It will be ISRO’s first time attempt to land a rover.
- The mission, Chandrayaan 2, has been postponed again from its proposed October launch to January 2019. This time, the delay was caused because the indigenously developed lander was having trouble with rethrottling. The lander has now gone back to the design table for a design change.Background- timeline of the mission:
- Chandrayaan 2’s journey has been rather slow so far. Although the mission was envisioned way back in November 2007, as a joint mission between India and Russia, it had faced a series of setbacks.
- As per the tie-up, Russia was supposed to provide the lander for the mission, while India would develop the rover and orbiter. ISRO had its prototype ready for a 2013 launch but Russia delayed delivering the lander. Later, Russia said it would not be able to provide a lander for ISRO.
- India then called off the deal and decided to make the Chandrayaan mission completely indigenous. The development has taken time, and given that it is the first time India is developing a lander, the programme has faced many glitches like the present one.
About Chandrayaan-2:- Chandrayaan-2 includes soft-landing on Moon and moving a rover on its surface. It is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission. It consists of an orbiter, lander and rover configuration.
- The Orbiter spacecraft when launched from Sriharikota will travel to the Moon and release the Lander, which will in turn deploy a tiny Rover to roam the lunar surface — all three sending data and pictures to Earth.
- It is planned to be launched as a composite stack into the earth parking orbit (EPO) of 170 X 18,500 km by GSLV-Mk II.
- Earlier this year, the ISRO had launched GSAT-6A, a military communication satellite.
- Launch of GSAT-11 from Kourou, French Guiana
- PSLV- C39 mission, carrying the IRNSS-1H navigation satellite – failed after the heat shield refused to open and release the satellite.
Recent launches by ISRO
- RISC-V Workshop in Chennai, India, hosted by IIT Madras, achieved a significant milestone by booting Linux on its first ever RISC-V based silicon chip processor named Shakti.
- The team (which is partly funded by MeiTY, GOI as part of the India Microprocessor development project) aims to create a critical mass of CPU architects in India.
- According to industry analysts, RISC-V based chips such as Shakti could be major players in IoT, and AI with an extensive ecosystem is in place.
- The initial batch of 300 chips named RISECREEK, produced under Project Shakti, have been fabricated free at Intel’s facility at Oregon, U.S., to run the Linux operating system.
- Project Shakti:
- The Shakti plan started in 2014 as an IIT-M initiative. Last year, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology funded a part of the project.
- The Shakti project is not aimed at only building processors. It also aims to build high speed interconnects for servers and supercomputers based on variants of the RapidiIO and GenZ standards. These are key to build large clusters of processors to get Petaflop and Exaflop level supercomputers.
About MeiTY
- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
- To promote e-Governance for empowering citizens, promoting the inclusive and sustainable growth of the Electronics, IT & ITeS industries, enhancing India’s role in Internet Governance, adopting a multipronged approach that includes development of human resources, promoting R&D and innovation, enhancing efficiency through digital services and ensuring a secure cyber space.
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ALSO IN NEWS
1. The government has proposed to integrate Bhoomi Rashi with Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Integration of Public Financial Management System (PFMS) with Bhoomi Rashi is one of the key functionalities to facilitate payment related to compensation for land acquisition to all the beneficiaries directly through the Bhoomi Rashi system.
What is Bhoomi Rashi?
- Bhoomi Rashi, the portal developed by MoRTH and NIC, comprises the entire revenue data of the country, right down to 6.4 lakh villages.
- The entire process flow, from submission of draft notification by the State Government to its approval by the Hon. Minister of State for RT&H and publication in e-Gazette, is online.
- The portal, created for expediting the process of publication of notifications for LA, is now being fully utilised for issuing the notifications.
- Bhoomi Rashi portal has been instrumental in reducing the time taken for approval and publication of notifications pertaining to land acquisition.
About PFMS:
The Public Financial Management System (PFMS) is an end-to- end solution for processing payments, tracking, monitoring, accounting, reconciliation and reporting.
- It is administered by the Department of Expenditure.
- It is implemented by the Controller General of Accounts.
Functions:
- It provides scheme managers a unified platform for tracking releases and monitoring their last mile utilisation.
- It provides platform for efficient management of funds through tracking of funds and real time reporting of expenditure and receipts through treasury and bank interface.
- The line ministries/departments utilise this platform to monitor the utilisation of funds provided to the implementing agencies and state governments.
- PFMS is also used for DBT payments under MGNREGA and other notified schemes of the Government of India.
Significance of PFMS:
Introduction of the PFMS resulted in effectiveness and economy in public finance management through better cash management for government transparency in public expenditure and real-time information on resource availability and utilisation across schemes. It also resulted in improved programme administration and management, reduction of float in the system, direct payment to beneficiaries and greater transparency and accountability in the use of public funds.
2. Facebook Launches Digital Literacy Library to Help Youth Build Skills Online.
The Library aims to help young people build the skills they need to safely enjoy online technology.
- The library is a collection of lessons to help young people think critically and share thoughtfully online.
- Divided into themes such as privacy and reputation, identity exploration, security, safety and well-being, the lessons reflect the voices of young people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities, geographies, and educational levels.
- The lessons can be found on Facebook’s Safety Center as well as on Berkman Klein’s Digital Literacy Resource Platform.
Significance of the library:
There are 830 million young people online around the world, and this library is a resource for educators looking to address digital literacy and help these young people build the skills they need to safely enjoy digital technology.
3. Defence Minister has unveiled the Defence India Startup Challenge.
- Defence India Startup Challenge is part of iDEX (Innovation for Defence Excellence) scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April meant to build an eco-system of innovation and entrepreneurship in India for the defence sector to make India self-reliant.
- It is an initiative to tap startups for finding safe and futuristic Indian solutions to critical needs of the three Armed Forces.
- A list of 11 technologies that the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force need, have been chosen. They included remote air vehicles, laser weapons, secure and safe communication systems and bandwidth, precision targeting systems, sensors, and protected and informed movement of soldiers in battle tanks.
- Those that come up with prototypes of usable products would be supported with ₹1.5 crore each and friendly procurement procedures from the Ministry under SPARK or Support for Prototype & Research Kickstart in Defence.
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IN DEPTH
The Problem at the WTO
Introduction:
- After Second World War, World economy was completely shaken. With the aims to help rebuild the shattered post-war economy and to promote international economic cooperation, Bretton Woods conference was held. This created institutions like World Bank and IMF. And paved way for establishment of WTO in 1994.
History and Evolution of WTO:
- World Bank and IMF are called Bretton Wood institutions; they were established at Bretton Wood Conference in 1944.
- The original Bretton Woods agreement also included plans for an International Trade Organisation (ITO)
- International Trade Organisation (ITO) was to be created to establish multilateral rules for the settlement of trade disputes and to resist protectionist demands and provide for greater legal certainty.
- The ITO never came into existence as it was eventually rejected by the U.S.
- The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) came to replace the ITO.
- This ad hoc and provisional mechanism (GATT) was replaced by WTO in 1994.
U.S.’s ire
- S. rejected the idea of ITO, and four decades later herself drove the agenda to establish World Trade Organisation (WTO).
- S. has been proven isolationist and protectionist. It doesn’t embrace those ideas which challenge her leadership.
- At the Doha round of trade negotiations the U.S. destroyed the negotiation process in formulating excessive demands that no country was prepared to meet.
- Most recent examples of U.S. ire against its very creations NAFTA and TPP, also against NATO and UNESCO are proof of her hard-headed wish for uncontested leadership against multilateralism.
Dispute Settlement Crisis at WTO:
- The U.S. has systematically blocked the appointment of new Appellate Body members (“judges”) and de facto impeded the work of the WTO appeal mechanism.
- With only four working members out of seven normally serving office in July 2018, the institution is under great stress.
- If no appointment is made, it will simply be destroyed by December 2019, since the Appellate Body requires a core of three members to decide a dispute.
- The U.S. is not willing to be judged by an independent multilateral quasi-judicial institution.
Other Concerns Related to Dispute Settlement at WTO:
- Over the politicisation of the Appellate Body appointment and reappointment process
- The quasi-attribution of permanent Appellate Body seats to the U.S. and the European Union (EU).
- There is concern that China may be on its way to having a permanent seat.
- The “Overreaching” or judicial activism of United States.
- The WTO dispute settlement mechanism is not a world trade court. The process remains political and diplomatic. In trade wars, the objective is not to settle a dispute; it is to win the battle.
- The very existence of an appeal mechanism is now paradoxically questioned at a time the global community criticises the absence of the same mechanism in Investor-State Dispute Settlement.
Who could be WTO’s saviour?
- China is trying to establish herself by its assertiveness in rule based WTO system.
- China, EU, and to some extent India, and a few others, is now the main supporter of multilateralism.
- The recent EU-China proposal to promote the reform of the WTO is said to combat “unilateralism and protectionism” but might well fail to address unfair trade issues raised against China itself.
Conclusion:
The world has changed and multilateral institutions now have to embed these changes. This WTO crisis might well be the final battle to retain control over a Western-centric organisation. The time has come for the emerging economies and the developing world to have a greater say in how to shape multilateralism and its institutions.
Religion versus Ethics
Introduction:
In the light of recent incidences such as Sabrimala Temple entry, child trade by missionaries and observance of practices like Triple Talaq, Nikah Halala or Confession before priest, question arises, whether religion and morality goes hand in hand?
Recent Observations:
- Temple washed by Ganga Jal after visit by a Dalit woman leader
- Women raped by church priest, when she confessed her past in front of him as a religious practice
- Muslim woman got death threats when she filed a case against Nikah halala and instant triple talaq.
Judicial Interventions:
- Ban on instant triple talaq
- Reserves the order that the bar on entry of women aged between 10 and 51 in Sabrimala temple was a violation of their fundamental right.
Government enactments:
- Hindu marriage Act
- Hindu Succession Act
- Triple Talaq Bill
Debate: whether government should interfere in religious customs and matters?
- Article25 (1) of the constitution of India provides for freedom of religion and Conscience.
- Article 25 (2) of the Indian constitution provides for regulation (by the government) of secular activities related to religious practices.
- Government can enact rules and regulations to protect the religious and conscience freedom of vulnerable section of the society (women, SC/ST, etc) as well as under provisions of Article 25 (2).
Why Religion should be regulated?
- Empirical evidences suggest that, with the passage of time, religious practices become biased and unfavourable towards vulnerable section of the society.
- In India too, sati, child marriage, deprivation of education for women and specific castes of the society were some of the evils which were evicted from the society with the help of government legislation and various schemes and policies.
- Bhakti Movement in medieval and socio-religious reform movements in modern Indian history are evident that religions need reforms with the change in society.
- Current events (mentioned above) also push hard for government intervention and reforms from within society.
Conclusion:
Historically, it may be true that religions were created to regulate the society, but the rising radicalisation, exploitation and crime in the name of religion concludes, time has come that society needs to regulate religion.
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MISC.
- Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary is in Karnataka
- ‘Tebori’ is a century-old Japanese method of tattooing by hand with a needled rod, is gaining ground
- Government-backed mass breastfeeding event organised in Philippines. The World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund recommend that children be given breast milk within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for their first six months.
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