03 august 2018 CA

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, designed to curb black money and passed by parliament in August, came into effect on November 1, 2016. The new law amends the 1988 Benami Transactions Act.

Highlights of the Act:

• The law provides for up to seven years’ imprisonment and fine for those indulging in such transactions.
• The law prohibits recovery of the property held benami from benamdar by the real owner. As per the Act, properties held benami are liable for confiscation by the government, without payment of compensation.
• An appellate mechanism has been provided under the act, in the form of an adjudicating authority and appellate tribunal. According to the government, the four authorities who will conduct inquiries or investigations are the Initiating Officer, Approving Authority, Administrator and Adjudicating Authority.

The Act provides that the Central government, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the respective High Courts, will establish special courts through notification. Such courts are to be constituted to ensure that the trials are conducted “as expeditiously as possible”.

However, the required special courts have not been set up yet. Therefore, despite the fact that investigations in almost 100 cases have been completed by the I-T Department in different States, including confirmation of attachment of properties by the Adjudicating Authority, the prosecution of accused persons has not started.

adultery law :

Adultery means voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person other than with spouse. The legal definition of adultery however varies from country to country and statute to statute. While at many places adultery is when a woman has voluntary sexual intercourse with a person other than her husband, at other places adultery is when a woman has voluntary sexual intercourse with a third person without her husband’s consent.

 Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

In India the offence of adultery is punishable under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860. As it stands, this Section makes only men having sexual intercourse with the wives of other men without the consent of their husbands punishable and women cannot be punished even as abettors.

The Report of the Malimath Committee on Criminal Justice Reforms and the 42nd Report of the Law Commission of India recommended redefining Section 497 to make women also punishable for adultery.

• Section 497 in the Indian Penal Code, which defines adultery, says that a man could be punished up to five years in jail if he has sexual intercourse with another man’s wife. However, it is not an offence if the sexual intercourse is with the “consent or connivance” of the husband of the woman.
• The above IPC Section treats a married woman as “chattel” (a personal possession) of the conniving husband, which is “absurd”. When a woman is treated as chattel, her right to dignity is affected, SC said.

 

• India’s e-tail business, estimated to be worth around $25 billion.  Over the coming decade, it is expected to swell to $200 billion, fuelled by smartphones, cheaper data access and growing spends.
• First eight months of 2017-18, over 50,000 e-commerce grievances were made to the Consumer Affairs Ministry helpline.
• Traditional retailers seeking level playing field.

Provisions under Draft National Policy on E-commerce:

• The draft policy proposes the creation of a single national regulator to oversee the entire industry.
• It also provides for consumer protection norms to guard online shoppers from possible frauds.
• There is a sunset clause on discounts that can be offered by e-commerce firms and restrictions on sellers backed by marketplace operators.
• Foreign direct investment restrictions on players who can hold their own inventory are sought to be lifted, but there must be a majority Indian partner and all products have to be made in India.

Drawbacks:

• Licensing and price controls can depress the sector. Government deciding on who can offer how much discount and for how long, instead of letting consumers exercise informed choices, would be a regressive step for the economy.
• The local procurement diktats that are not easy to meet or monitor, may cause rise in e-tailer costs.
• Stipulating payments via Rupay cards will raise questions from both consumers and firms.

Note: Draft policy is in the nascent stage. Keep following further developments.

The draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018

• It has provisions to protect personal data as an essential facet of information privacy.
• The objective of the Bill is to balance the growth of the digital economy and use of data as a means of communication.
• The Bill applies to the personal data which have been processed within India, by persons or agencies governed by Indian Law.
• The Bill also brings within its ambit the processing of personal data by data fiduciaries or data processors located abroad in connection with business or profiling of data principals within the territory of India.
• The proposed law defines personal data as information relating to a natural person.
• Breach of personal data involves unauthorised or accidental processing of personal data that compromises the confidentiality, integrity or availability of personal data to a data principal.
• Data fiduciaries should retain personal data “only as long as may be reasonably necessary to satisfy the purpose for which it is processed”.
• The Bill allows processing of personal data for “prompt action” only if it is necessary for any function of Parliament; or any State Legislature to render service or benefit to citizens; or in response to any medical emergency to the data principal; or in cases of epidemic, outbreak of disease, disaster or breakdown of public order.
• The Bill includes the ‘right to be forgotten’, which is the right of a data principal to restrict or prevent continuing disclosure of personal data by a data fiduciary.
• The Bill calls for a copy of user data to be mandatorily localised in India, it will “boost” law enforcement efforts to access data necessary for investigation and prosecution of crimes.

Criticism on Data localization:

• The Indian law enforcement relies on an out-dated Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process to obtain data stored by U.S. This scenario will not change even after technology companies relocate Indian data to India.
• Localisation can provide data only for crimes that have been committed in India, where both the perpetrator and victim are situated in India.
• Transnational terrorism, cybercrimes and money laundering that the committee rightly highlights will often involve individuals and accounts that are not Indian, and therefore will not be stored in India.

 The data protection bill is an opportunity for India to be a partner under the CLOUD Act

What is CLOUD Act?

Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, passed by the U.S. Congress seeks to de-monopolise control over data from U.S. authorities.

The law will for the first time allow tech companies to share data directly with certain foreign governments having an executive agreement with the U.S.

Such foreign country have to certify that the state has robust privacy protections, and respect for due process and the rule of law.

Why India need to partner with US?

• The Justice Srikrishna Committee in its report accompanying the draft Personal Data Protection Bill released on July 27 notes that eight of the top 10 most accessed websites in India are owned by U.S. entities.
• The CLOUD Act creates a potential mechanism through with countries such as India can request data not just for crimes committed within their borders but also for transnational crimes involving their state interests.

Conclusion:

The Bill, while recognising principles of legality, necessity and proportionality for data processing in the interest of national security and investigation of crimes, fails to draw procedural rules necessary for actualising these principles. By improving on short comings of our Data Protection policy we can partner with US under CLOUD Act to have access to data stored with and processed by US fiduciaries and other global partners.

123rd COI(A)BILL,2017 : 

• 123rd Constitutional Amendment Bill seeks to grant constitutional status to National Commission for Backward Classes.
• A constitutional amendment under Article 368 needs to be passed by both Houses separately with a special majority.
• The bill if passed will insert Article 338 B in the Constitution, which provides for a Commission for the socially and educationally backward classes with a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other members, all of whom shall be appointed by the President of India.

The bill provides for the grant of constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) on par with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

Powers of the President: It states that the President may specify the socially and educationally backward classes in the various states and union territories. He may do this in consultation with the Governor of the concerned state.

The duties of the NCBC include investigating and monitoring how safeguards provided to the backward classes under the Constitution and other laws are being implemented and probe specific complaints regarding violation of rights.

Report: The NCBC will be required to present annual reports to the President on working of the safeguards for backward classes.  These reports will be tabled in Parliament, and in the state legislative assemblies of the concerned states.

Powers of a civil court: Under the Constitution Amendment Bill, the NCBC will have the powers of a civil court while investigating or inquiring into any complaints.  These powers include: (i) summoning people and examining them on oath, (ii) requiring production of any document or public record, and (iii) receiving evidence.

Concerns:

A widely welcomed move to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has also brought with it a whiff of controversy over whether it amounts to encroaching on the domain of the States.

• Several Opposition parties, which in general welcome the grant of constitutional status to the BC Commission, have said the Bill, if enacted, would undermine federalism, as it amounts to usurping the power of State governments to prepare their own BC lists.
• The Centre has sought to allay these fears, saying the powers of the States would remain unaffected. In any case, the list for every State will be prepared only in consultation with the State government.

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DAY ADDons:

• Andhra Pradesh Government has approved Mukhyamantri Yuva Nestam, an unemployment allowance scheme to provide Rs 1000 per month unemployed youth in state.
• Invest India under Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in partnership with energy companies has launched Integrate to Innovate Programme (i2i) for startups in energy sector. It is three-month programme for startups in the power sector aims to foster collaboration between startups and large corporations of the energy sector.
• NITI Aayog has launched global mobility hackathon Move Hack to crowdsource solutions aimed at future of mobility in India. It is envisaged as one of largest hackathons globally. It is first platform in the world that has enmeshed public transport, private transport, road safety, multimodal connectivity and new age transport technologies such as zero emission vehicles and intra city aerial transport spearheaded by Government.
• 141st birth anniversary of freedom fighter and designer (architect) of Indian National Flag Pingali Venkayya was observed on August 2, 2018.
• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted successful tested supersonic endo-atmospheric interceptor missile developed under Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Air Defence (AAD) System from Abdul Kalam Island (earlier known as Wheeler Island) Odisha.
• August 1 to 7 every year is observed as World Breastfeeding Week.Organized by: World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), WHO and UNICEF.Goal: To promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life which yields tremendous health benefits, providing critical nutrients, protection from deadly diseases such as pneumonia and fostering growth and development.

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locating on map : 

• J&K Governor seeks Navy’s assistance to save Dal Lake
• Assessments show that the size of the water body has come down by half
• Encroachments of water channels and clogging have diminished the circulation and inflows into the lake, leading to the extensive growth of hyacinth.

Important lakes in Jammu and Kashmir.  (mark the following in map)

• Dal lake
• Pangong Tso
• Wular lake
• Tso moriri

02 August 2018 CA

02/08/2018

• India has unveiled a tagline and a tricolour logo for geographical indication (GI) certified products. Tagline: “Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India”.                                                    GI is covered as element of intellectual property rights (IPRs) under Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property.

At international level, GI is governed by WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
In India, Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection Act), 1999 governs it.

•  ‘State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index’ has been released by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE).States are categorised based on their efforts and achievements towards energy efficiency implementation, as ‘Front Runner’, ‘Achiever’, ‘Contender’ and ‘Aspirant’.  Significance of the Index: Such an index assumes significance in a country that is now the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China, and which is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. India plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 33-35% from its 2005 levels by 2030, as part of its commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted by 195 countries in Paris in 2015.
• Union Cabinet has approved policy framework to permit exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons such as Shale oil/gas, Coal Bed Methane (CBM) etc. It will be carried out under existing Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), CBM contracts and Nomination fields to encourage existing contractors in licensed or leased area to unlock full potential of unconventional hydrocarbons in existing acreages.
• The Union Health Ministry’s ban on the retail sale and private manufacture of oxytocin will kick off from September 1.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the first extension of Concessional Financing Scheme(CFS) to support Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad. Under the CFS, the Govt. of India has been supporting Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad since 2015-16.
• Union Ministry of Culture has launched- ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’– a scheme to reimburse central share of CGST and IGST on food, prasad, langar or bhandara offered by religious and charitable institutions.
• Union Cabinet has approved first extension of Concessional Financing Scheme (CFS) for another five years from 2018 to 2023 to support Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad. The scheme also has been liberalized, allowing any Indian company, irrespective of ownership eligible to benefits of it.

Highlights

The Amendment Bill seeks to insert three new clauses after Section 18 of the original Act:

• The first stipulates that for the purposes of the Act, “preliminary enquiry shall not be required for registration of a First Information Report against any person.”
• The second stipulates that the arrest of a person accused of having committed an offence under the Act would not require any approval.
• The third says that the provisions of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — which deals with anticipatory bail — shall not apply to a case under this Act, “notwithstanding any judgment or order of any Court.”

Key features of the bill 

Reduction in pecuniary limits:

 Under the parent Act, commercial courts and commercial divisions in High courts can decide commercial disputes with value of at least Rs. 1 crore. The Bill reduces this limit to Rs. 3 lakh.

Establishment of certain commercial courts: The parent Act, empowers state governments to constitute commercial courts at district judge level, after consulting concerned High Court. It had barred such commercial courts to be constituted in cases where High Court has original jurisdiction to hear commercial cases. The Bill removes this bar and allows states to constitute commercial courts where High Courts have original jurisdiction.

Commercial Appellate Courts: The Bills allows state governments to notify commercial appellate courts at the district judge level in areas where High Courts do not have ordinary original civil jurisdiction. These Appellate Courts will hear appeals against order of commercial court below level of district judge. 

Mediation: It introduces pre-institution mediation process in cases where no urgent, interim relief is contemplated. This aims to provide for opportunity to parties to resolve commercial disputes outside ambit of courts through authorities. This will also help in reinforcing investor’s confidence in the resolution of commercial disputes.

Counterclaims not to be transferred: The Bill removes provision of counterclaim in relation to transfer of suits in a commercial dispute of at least Rs. 1 crore in civil court.

01 August 2018 CA

August 01

●Ayushman Bharat Scheme;-

↪Is a National Health Protection Scheme
↪which will cover over 10 crore poor vulnerable families (around 50 crore beneficiaries)
↪providing coverage of up to ₹5 lakh (per family per year) for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
↪It will subsume "Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)" & "Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS)"
•Common Service Center (CSC)&NHA have signed a MoU to implement Ayushman Bharat scheme through 3 lakh CSCs across the country
• different categories are entitled under the scheme like -
↪families having no adult member(age 16-59),female headed households with no adult male,SC/ST household etc.&
↪defined 11 occupational categories in urban areas
●Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill 2018.
↪It seeks to replace the Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH)
↪with an aims to bringing accountability & quality in homeopathy education system
•Board of Governors will consist of up to 7- members including
↪ persons of eminence in the field of homoeopathy education & eminent administrators
●Strategic Trade Authorisation (STA);-
↪US govt. authorisation allows a certain item to be exported under defined conditions without a transaction-specific license
•US has given STA-1 status to India
↪STA-1 has 36 countries(Other Asian countries are Japan & South Korea)
•Items eligible for export under STA-1 ↪ chemical or biological weapons,navigation,
telecommunications etc.
•India also has STA-2 status along with 7 countries.

● National Policy on biofuels;-
↪ The Policy categorises biofuels as “Basic Biofuels” like 1G,2G,3G, bio-CNG etc. to enable extension of appropriate financial and fiscal incentives under each category.
♀Biofuels;-
•First Generation(1G)↪produced directly from food crops(wheat, sugar etc.)
•2G↪produced from non-food crops(wood, organic waste etc.)
•3G↪Specially engineered energy crops such as algae
•4G↪created using petroleum-like hydroprocessing, advanced bio-chemistry
↪Rajasthan has become the first State in the country to implement the national policy on biofuels

● Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)↪Is a NASA mission that will look for planets orbiting the brightest stars in Earth’s sky
↪also provide insights into how our own solar system formed
● Scutoid(a new shape discovered);-
↪A scutoid is a solid geometric shape, like a cube or a pyramid.
↪identified while studying epithelial cells
•Epithelial cells↪are cells that come from surfaces of our body( your skin, blood vessels, urinary tract, or organs).

● Scientists from National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) have successfully identified molecular and cellular mechanisms by which Zika virus causes microcephaly. Babies born with microcephaly have significantly smaller head size compared with normal babies.

● China successfully launched Gaofen-11, an optical remote sensing satellite, as part of the country’s high-resolution Earth observation project. It was launched on board of Long March 4B rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province. It was overall 282nd flight mission by Long March carrier rocket.

Safeguard Duty is tariff barrier imposed by government on the commodities to ensure that imports in excessive quantities do not harm the domestic industry. It is mainly temporary measure undertaken by government in defence of the domestic industry which is harmed or has potential threat getting hared due to sudden cheap surge in imports.

30.07.2018 THE HINDU ANALYSIS

Jt. Srikrishna committee on data protection.

Bills passed in monsoon session 2018:

the six Bills that aim to replace Ordinances, key include: (i) the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018, (ii) the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018, (iii) the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2018, and (iv) the Commercial Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

₪ The Lok Sabha has passed the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018.  The Bill provides for the prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation of trafficked persons and seeks to establish National Anti-Trafficking Bureau to investigate trafficking cases.  It also provides for the setting up of Anti-Trafficking Units (ATUs) at e district level which will deal with the investigation, prevention, rescue, and protection of victims and witnesses.

₪ Parliament has passed Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 that aims to curb practice of evading criminal prosecution by economic offenders fleeing from country to evade clutches Indian law by remaining outside jurisdiction of Indian courts. The bill will replace an ordinance promulgated by President in April 2018.

₪ The Parliament has passed Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2018 to enhance transparency and accountability of the government and make anti-graft provisions under the law stringent. The Bill amends various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988.

₪ Lok Sabha has passed National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to provide post-facto approval to those approved institutions which are funded by Centre or states, but do not have recognition. The Bill amends National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act, 1993.

₪ Lok Sabha has passed Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to reduce the number of cheque dishonour cases pending in courts. The bill amends Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 to primarily address issues of dishonor of cheques and deal with unnecessary delay in disposal of such cases.

₪ Lok Sabha has passed Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2018 that aims to curb practice of evading criminal prosecution by economic offenders fleeing from country to evade clutches Indian law by remaining outside jurisdiction of Indian courts.. The bill will replace an ordinance promulgated by President in April 2018.

₪ Lok Sabha has passed The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017 to abolish the ‘no detention policy’ in schools. The Bill amends the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The Act was having provision of no detention policy i.e. no child can be held back in any class until completion of elementary school (classes 1-8).

₪ President Ram Nath Kovind has Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2015 passed by State Assembly in August 2015. This law aims to reign in rising incidents of witch hunting cases across the state. It was prepared in lines with spirit of universal declaration of human rights, crimes in witch hunting cases cause gross violation of basic human rights.

₪ The Union Cabinet has approved The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill 2018. The Bill aims at expanding application of DNA-based forensic technologies to support and strengthen justice delivery system of the country.

₪ The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for introduction of Dam Safety Bill, 2018 in the Parliament. The bill aims to help all States and Union Territories to adopt uniform dam safety procedures which will ensure safety of dams and safeguard benefits from such dams. This will also help in safeguarding human life, livestock and property.

27 & 28 june 2018 - THE HINDU ANALYSIS

News clips :
* The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with draft guidelines on constituting a board of management (BoM) in addition to the board of directors, for urban cooperative banks (UCBs), with the aim of strengthening the governance in these banks.
*The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has come up with its report titled ‘Women in Prisons’ which aims to build an understanding of the various entitlements of women in prisons, the various issues faced by them and possible methods for resolution of the same.
*Government proposes to set up 3000 Van Dhan Kendras involving 30,000 SHGs across the country.
About Van Dhan Vikas Kendras initiative:

The initiative aims to promote MFPs-centric livelihood development of tribal gatherers and artisans. 

*ICDS-CAS (Common Application Software)- It is a Specially designed software to help in strengthening service delivery and improving nutrition outcomes through Effective monitoring and Timely interventions in POSHAN Abhiyaan.

* other mains bits news are at : CLICK HERE

* Additional watch : CLICK HERE

Mains 2018 answer writing practice:

1.  The office of governor acts as a mere agent of central government. Is it time for the post to be abolished? Discuss . 150 words (10 marks)

2. Meiji restoration have influenced industrial revolution in India. Discuss. 150 words (10 marks)

3. Initiatives like digital india will make improvements in naxal affect regions. Comment. 150words (10 marks)

4. Land rights are no longer a fundamental rights. The land acquisition in india is mostly unsuccessful and it is a barrier to economic development of the country. Analyse. 150 words (10 marks) 

5. Discuss the use of DPSP in governance of the country. 150 words (10 marks)

civil service exam 2018 materials

PRELIMS 2018 is only couple of months far away..

By now you should have completed with your static portions (history, geography + maps, economy-concepts, art&culture (from nitin singharia / ncerts) , basic polity) . Now, it's time to revise the current affairs along with the knowledge of subjects mentioned above!

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