Mandatory Hindi goes out of draft education policy                                                

Delhi govt plans free travel for women in buses, Metro                                           

HC stays Centre notification on commercial rights of ships                                   

CAT can exercise same powers as HC                                                                      

Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 to have 27 Indian entrants                         

AYUSH Ministry launches app to help people locate yoga centres, instructors   

Nilekani panel suggests 24×7 RTGS, NEFT, elimination of all charges                 

Mandatory Hindi goes out of draft education policy

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• Government revise draft education Policy After a massive hue and cry over Hindi being proposed as a third language in non-Hindi speaking states in a new draft education policy, the Centre has revised the policy.

Key highlights of Revised draft :

• The revised draft policy states, "In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or Grade 7, so long as they are able to still demonstrate proficiency in three languages...."

• According to the revised draft, the modular board examinations for language proficiency would test only basic proficiency in each language.

• "Such a change in language choice in Grade 6 would certainly be feasible if the student so desires and would in such cases be supported by teachers and the schooling system."

• There is no mention of Hindi in the "Flexibility in the three-language formula" clause.

• The revised policy requires proficiency in any three languages.

                                                                                                                                                   Source :- The Hindu

Delhi govt plans free travel for women in buses, Metro

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context :

• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced free Delhi Metro and DTC bus rides for women in the capital city.

Key features of the Scheme :

• The expenses of the free ride scheme will be borne by the government in Delhi.

• On all DTC buses, cluster buses and metro trains, women will be allowed to travel free of cost so that they have safe travel experience and can access modes of transport which they were not able to, due to high prices.

• The proposal to make Delhi Metro and DTC rides free was made on Sunday "to encourage the women to use public transport".

Why such a move?

• As of now only 33 per cent of Metro commuters are women. The fare hike last year hit women the worst, forcing them to shift to more unsafe modes of transport like private buses, ride-sharing, or even walking.

• India’s declining female workforce participation has not been on any political party’s agenda. But the slide has been undeniable.

• Over 10 years to Census 2011, as many as 19.6 million women fell off India’s employment map.

• The Economic Survey for 2015-16 puts India’s female workforce participation at 24%, the second-lowest in South Asia, above only Pakistan.

• It would seem that at a time of rising educational attainment, economic growth and female aspiration, more, not less, women should have been opting for paid work. In fact, the opposite has been happening.

• A complex layer of reasons — from bearing an inordinate burden of housework to social attitudes — seems to be holding women back from employment.

• Among the constraints, the cost of using public transportation is indeed one. But this cost includes not just the rupee fare, but also time taken and safety.

• This move will help them return to the Metro's safety. More women in any public spaces automatically makes those spaces safer for women. This move will help women reclaim public spaces

                                                                                                                                                   Source :- The Hindu

HC stays Centre notification on commercial rights of ships

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The Delhi High Court has stayed a Central government notification under the ‘Make in India’ programme under which an Indian-built ship gets commercial rights higher than an Indian flag vessel in securing Indian business.

More about the news:

• The Court said that the Merchant Shipping Act 1958 under which the notification was issued was not concerned with the place where the ship was built rather it was concerned only with the ownership of the ship.

• The petition was filed on the grounds that the regime post the notification created a scenario when an Indian flag vessel owned and offered by an Indian citizen is placed on the same pedestal as a foreign flag vessel offered by an Indian citizen.

• Recently,the Central Government had amended the Right of First Refusal(ROF) policy.

• The amendment shifted the balance of power in favour of Indian-built ships from Indian-flagged ships irrespective of whether such Indian-built ships are offered by Indian or foreign companies.

• Further,the sequencing of RoFR priority was Indian-built vessels followed by Indian-flagged vessels.

• In case none of the bidders under the first and second priority eligible to exercise the RoFR,matches the lowest rate quoted by a foreign ship owner offering a non-Indian built ship in a tender then the charter shall be awarded to the lowest bidder.

• The Court added that Indian Ships are a Class by themselves and equalisation of Indian Ships with Foreign Flag Ships amounts to treating unequals equally which is violative of Article 14.

                                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu

CAT can exercise same powers as HC

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Context :

• The Delhi High Court has ruled that the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) can exercise the same jurisdiction and powers as a High Court in respect of its contempt proceedings.

More about the news:

• The case relates to the contempt case registered on the basis of a reference received by the Registrar General,Delhi High Court against a Supreme Court lawyer.

• The Court observed that Article 323A(2)(b) of the Constitution provided that an administrative tribunal constituted under Article 323A(1) was empowered to punish for contempt if the statute establishing it provided for the same.

• The High Court also referred to the Supreme Court verdict in its 2001 judgment which had held that Section 17 of the Administrative Tribunals Act,1985 confers jurisdiction on the CAT to punish for its contempt.

Central Administrative Tribunal :

• Part XIV-A of the constitution provides for the tribunals.

• The provision was added through 42nd Amendment Act, 1976. Article 323A and 323B provide for Administrative Tribunals and Tribunals related to other matters respectively.

• Under Article 323A, parliament is empowered to establish administrative tribunals for the adjudication of disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the union or of any state or of any local or other authority within the territory of India or under the control of the government of India or of any corporation owned or controlled by the government.

• The Administrative Tribunals Act in 1985 enacted by the Parliament authorises the central government to establish central administrative tribunal and the state administrative tribunals.

• The Central Administrative Tribunal was established for adjudication of disputes in case of recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or other local authorities within the territory of India or under the control of Government of India.

• This was done in pursuance of the amendment of Constitution of India by Articles 323A.

• Setting up of such Administrative Tribunals aimed at reducing the burden on various courts and reduce pendency and provide to the persons covered by the Administrative Tribunals a speedy and relatively cheap and effective remedy.

                                                                                                                  Source :- The Hindu

Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2019 to have 27 Indian entrants

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Context :

• The 9th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit has started in Hague,Netherlands from June 4,2019.

Global Entrepreneurship Summit :

• The theme of the summit is ‘The Future Now’.Indian firms has also taken part in GES 2019.

• The Summit is being hosted by the governments of the United States of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.It is the first edition of the event to be held in the European Union.

• The summit features about 1,200 entrepreneurs from across 140 countries.

• It will also provide an avenue for these entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas and work to 300 investors.

• The key focus areas of the summit include the five global challenges surrounding  Water, agriculture, healthcare , connectivity and energy.

                                                                                                                                                    Source :- The Hindu

AYUSH Ministry launches app to help people locate yoga centres, instructors

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

• AYUSH Ministry has launched a mobile application named Yoga locator,  to enable people to locate yoga events, centres providing training and instructors.

Yoga Locator :    

•  Yoga locator- a map-based location app - will also enable yoga instructors to register themselves and reach out to a large number of people.

• This app 'yoga locator' will help them locate yoga centres as well as yoga instructors within the preferred radius of their vicinity.

• Their aim is to encourage and help more and more people to adopt yoga.

                                                                                                                            Source :- Business Standard

Nilekani panel suggests 24×7 RTGS, NEFT, elimination of all charges

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• To encourage digital payments, the Nandan Nilekani committee has suggested a host of measures, including elimination of charges, round the clock RTGS and NEFT facility and duty-free import of point-of-sales machines.

Recommendations of the Panel :

• The panel has suggested several measures to encourage digital payments such as - elimination of charges, round-the-clock RTGS and NEFT facility and duty-free import of point-of-sales machines.

• There should be no convenience fee on payments made to government agencies by customers and payment systems should use machine-driven,online dispute resolution systems to handle complaints.

• Further,the committee has also recommended the RBI and the government to put in place a mechanism to monitor the digital payment systems and make aggregated information based on blocks and PIN code which should be available to all players on a monthly basis.

• The National Payment Council of India should allow digital payments systems such as RuPay and BHIM UPI in other countries to facilitate easy remittance to India.

• The panel has also called for the creation of a digital financial inclusion index so that progress in an area can be measured along a common scale indicating the evolution of the users and steps taken for correcting the imbalance.

Recommendations for Industries:

• To ease the difficulties faced by the industry the committee recommends a multi-pronged strategy to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

• This includes encouraging innovation in the process, creating industry wide mechanisms to share data with customer consent, and using a KYC compliant account to open another.

• Recommendations include, opening a second financial account with the same institution, or a sister institution;

  • Opening a wallet account, by loading it from a KYC compliant bank account;

  • Opening a mutual fund account, by funding it from a KYC compliant bank account, while restricting that the folio continues to be funded from, and money refunded into that same account.

                                                                                                                                                          Source :- The Hindu

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