Loksabha passes companies amendments Bill                                                        

Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY)                                                                

New anti-terror clause will not be misused, says official                                         

Respond to plea on lynching order: SC                                                                     

WHO report: Mobile scheme to quit tobacco has over 2 million users in India     

China, Russia, France share satellite data on Assam floods                                  

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites                          

Loksabha passes companies amendments Bill

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

Context :

• The Lok Sabha has passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019, recently.

• The legislation is aimed at tightening the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) compliance and reducing the load of cases before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Need :

• The amendments aim to ensure more accountability and better enforcement to strengthen the corporate governance norms and compliance management in corporate sector.

Key Features :

• Allows companies to transfer their unspent CSR funds to a separate account and the same has to be spent within three financial years. In case, the money remains unspent, then it should be transferred to any fund specified in Schedule VII of the Act.

• Provides more teeth to the central government to deal with violators and reducing burden on special courts.

• Seeks to enable the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) to perform its functions through divisions and executive body.

• Seeks to empower Registrar of Companies (RoC) to initiate action for removal of a company’s name if the latter is not carrying out business activities as per the Act.

• Proposes to transfer some functions from NCLT to the Central government such as dealing with applications for change of financial year and conversion from public to private companies.

• In order to curb the menace of shell companies, the Bill proposes making non-maintenance of registered office and non-reporting of commencement of business grounds for striking off the name of the company from the register of companies.

                                                                                                                                                                   Source :- PIB

Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY)

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Context :

• The Union Minister of Textiles mentioned the steps taken by the government to implement the Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana.

Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY) :

• The Government launched the Ambedkar Hastshilp Vikas Yojana (AHVY) in the year 2001-2002.

• The scheme was launched with a view to mobilize the artisans into Self Help Groups and training the groups on various aspects of forming and running the community business enterprises for self sustainability of artisans.

Objective :

• Mobilise and generate awareness of typical handicraft arts for their overall development and progress.

• Provide training to artisans and expose them to greater market to sell their handicraft products.

• Provide proper education and market knowledge to artisans so that they learn the market techniques to get better results.

Key Features :

• Baseline Survey & Mobilization of Artisans

• Design & Technology Upgradation

• Human Resource Development

• Direct Benefit to Artisans

• Infrastructure and Technology Support

• Research and Development

• Marketing Support & Services

                                                                                                                             Source :- PIB

New anti-terror clause will not be misused, says official

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

Context :

• The Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed in the Lok Sabha this week.

• The Bill amends the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, providing special procedures to deal with terrorist activities, individuals and groups that foster terrorism in India.

Key Features :

• It empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists if the person commits or participates in acts of terrorism, prepares for terrorism, promotes terrorism or is otherwise involved in terrorism.
   

  • This has been done as it is seen that when a terrorist organization is banned, its members form a new organization to spread terrorism.

• The bill also empowers the Director-General, National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is being investigated by the agency.
   

  • Under the existing Act, the investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director General of Police (DGP) to seize properties that bear any connection to terrorism.

  • It has been seen that many times a terror accused own properties in different states. In such cases, seeking approval of DGPs of different states becomes very difficult, and the delay caused by the same may enable the accused to transfer properties.

• It empowers the officers of the NIA — of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases.
   

  • The existing Act provides for investigation of cases to be conducted by officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police or above.

• No changes being made in arrest or bail provisions. Also, the provision that the burden of proof is on the investigating agency and not on the accused, has not been changed.

• The International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005) has also been added in the Second Schedule through the Amendment.

                                                                                                                                                          Source :- The Hindu

Respond to plea on lynching order: SC

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

Context :

• The Supreme Court has sought the response of the Central government, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the State governments to a plea for the implementation of its July 2018 judgment laying down preventive, remedial and punitive measures to combat lynching.

More in the news :

• The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and 11 states on a petition seeking implementation of the apex court’s directions on guidelines to prevent incidents of mob lynching.

• The apex court was looking into a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Delhi-based NGO, Anti-corruption Council of India Trust.

• The court agreed to hear the fresh PIL despite refusing to list a contempt petition on a similar issue. The contempt plea was moved by one of the parties on whose petition the court, last year listed out the preventive, remedial and punitive measures.

• The petitioner contended before the bench that lynchings are on the rise, especially in the garb of cow protection.

• The petitioner has also demanded that Parliament should frame a law to make mob lynching a non-bailable and non-compoundable offence and have a timebound trial in such cases.

• States must also be asked to evolve compensation scheme for victims in mob lynching cases, the petitioner said.

Background :

• In July 2018, condemning the incidents of lynching and mob violence against Dalits and minority community members, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra asked Parliament to pass law establishing lynching as a separate offence with punishment.

• Supreme Court issued 11-point prescription to Centre, states to end mob lynching.

• Chief Justice Misra had even asked the Centre to frame a scheme under Article 256 to give directions to the States to prevent/control the instances and maintain law and order.

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

WHO report: Mobile scheme to quit tobacco has over 2 million users in India

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

Context :

• The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on global tobacco epidemic, launched in July 2019 makes a special reference about mCessation programme and other initiatives of India for helping smokers quit.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on global tobacco epidemic :

• The 2019 report is the seventh in a series that tracks the status of tobacco epidemic and interventions to combat it.

• Released in Brazil, the report states that India is the second largest consumer of tobacco products, with more than 200 million users of smokeless tobacco and 276 million consumers of tobacco overall.

• The programme has shown strong outcomes in terms of health and outreach, and provides a huge opportunity to help several million tobacco users who want to quit.

• In 2017, a Global Adult Tobacco Survey found that 38.5 percent of adult smokers and 33.2 per cent adult users of smokeless forms of tobacco had attempted to quit, the report noted.

mCessation Programme :

• It is an initiative using mobile technology for tobacco cessation.

• India launched mCessation using text messages in 2016 as part of the government’s Digital India initiative. It uses two-way messaging between the individual seeking to quit tobacco use and programme specialists providing them dynamic support.

• The National Tobacco Control Programme and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, with support from the WHO and the International Telecommunication Union’s ‘Be He@lthy, Be mobile’ initiative, implemented the programme.

• The programme allows people who want to quit tobacco use to register by giving a missed call to a dedicated national number.

• The programme’s progress is monitored in real-time through an online dashboard that details the number of registrations.

• Till date, the programme has over 2.1 million self-registered users.

• An evaluation conducted by the Health ministry found an average quitting rate of 7 per cent for both smokers and users of smokeless tobacco six months after enrollment.

• The government has recently released version-2 of the “mTobaccoCessation” platform, which can deliver content through SMS or interactive voice response in 12 languages.

• MCessation should be included in PHC (Primary Health Care)-level advice to enable maximum reach.

• Since 2007, the Union Health ministry is pushing to introduce stronger graphic health warnings on tobacco packets, with mixed success.

Significance of graphic warning on tobacco packs :

• Over half the world’s population - or 3.9 billion people living in 91 countries - benefit from large graphic health warnings, and India is among the countries with the highest level of achievement, the WHO report notes.

• While there has been no India-specific evaluation, studies from several countries that introduced similar strong labels have shown that this policy has been most effective in reducing tobacco use among the youth, and also in motivating users to quit.

                                                                                                                   Source :- Indian Express

China, Russia, France share satellite data on Assam floods

GS PAPER - 03 DISASTER MANAGEMENT - Disaster and disaster management.

Context :

• India has activated a less-used mechanism of seeking international assistance for information about its severely flood-affected regions.

More in the news:

International Charter Space and Major Disasters:

• The International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” is a non-binding charter.

• It is a worldwide collaboration among space agencies, through which satellite-derived information and products are made available to support disaster response efforts.

• The Charter has been operational since November 2000.

• It provides for the charitable and humanitarian retasked acquisition of and transmission of space satellite data to relief organizations in the event of major disasters.

• Only agencies that possess and are able to provide satellite-based Earth Observation data can be members of the International Charter.

Significance :

• Combining earth observation assets from different space agencies allows resources and expertise to be coordinated for rapid response.

• In the past, ISRO too had provided information to other space agencies in response to similar requests and is a standard practice.

• The Charter has brought space assets into play for numerous floods, earthquakes, oil spills, forest fires, tsunamis, major snowfalls, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and landslides

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

Context :

• Chinese startup company iSpace has successfully launched the first commercial rocket of China - Hyperbola-1 -  into the Earth’s orbit.

More in the news:

• The successful launch of  Hyperbola-1 was lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre with several satellites and payloads into a predetermined orbit.

• Hyperbola-1 has also carried the CAS-7B CubeSat.It is an amateur radio mission which is developed by the Beijing Institute of Technology.

Hyperbola-1 :

•  It is around 68,000 pounds (31 metric tons) with three lower stages burning pre-packed solid propellants, and a liquid-fueled upper stage for a final orbital injection maneuver.

• This rocket is able to deliver up to 573 pounds (260 kilograms) of payload mass to a 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) sun-synchronous polar orbit.

                                                                                                               Source :- The Hindu

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