POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                                         

1. Interference in appointments, transfers of judges doesn't augur well: SC         

2. ECI appoints Two Special Expenditure Observers                                            

ECONOMY                                                                                                                

1. Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launches two agriculture related Mobile Apps                                                                                                        

2. 16th Global SME Business Summit                                                                   

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                                  

1. New Leadership Group for Industry Transition                                                   

2. President of India Inaugurates 6th India Water Week-2019                               

3. Arunachal yields a new frog species                                                                  

SECURITY                                                                                                                

1. National Service Scheme (NSS)                                                                        

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Interference in appointments, transfers of judges doesn't augur well: SC

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

Context :

• The Supreme Court has issued a general reprimand against “interference” in judicial appointments and transfers, saying such intrusions did not augur well for the institution.

Issue :

• The Supreme Court Collegium has come under intense public criticism with its recent recommendation to modify its May 10, 2019 proposal to transfer Justice Kureshi to the Madhya Pradesh High Court as Chief Justice and instead shift him to the Tripura High Court.

• The Collegium had changed its mind after the government expressed its displeasure in two back-to-back letters on August 23 and 27, following several months of silence, about Justice Kureshi taking charge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

• The government had not acted on the recommendation for months, raising the suspicion that it was blocking his appointment.

• In another case, recently, Justice V.K. Tahilramani chose to resign as the Madras High Court Chief Justice when the Collegium proposed her transfer to the Meghalaya High Court.

• Many senior lawyers from the Madras High Court Bar opposed the transfer, calling it punitive.

More in the news:

• It is in the background of these flows of events that Chief Justice Gogoi Bench made the observation in the judicial order.

• The warning from a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi came in a petition filed by the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association regarding a proposed appointment of Justice A.A. Kureshi.

• The Supreme Court said that the scope for judicial review in appointment, posting and transfer of judges was “severely limited”.

Way forward :

• It is acceptable if the Collegium and the government resolve their differences through consultation and correspondence, but the final decision should not be opaque, mysterious and indicative of executive pressure.

• Collegium, for long has been charged with lack of transparency, but in this case, the government is equally guilty.

• If the Law Ministry had a bonafide objection to Justice Kureshi, it should have disclosed its opinion on his suitability.

• The failure to do so has the inevitable consequence of the public imagination concluding that the ruling party is blocking his elevation because of judicial orders he had passed while serving in Gujarat.

• Under the current procedure, the Collegium may reconsider a recommendation, but the government is bound to implement a decision that is reiterated.

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

ECI appoints Two Special Expenditure Observers

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Salient features of the Representation of People's Act.

Context :

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed two Special Expenditure Observers for the forthcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra.

  • The Special Expenditure Observers are appointed in the exercise of the powers conferred on ECI under Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Special Expenditure Observers - Functions  :

• To watch the conduct of Elections with special emphasis on controlling the abuse of money power, in consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer at respective constituencies.

• To supervise and to monitor the work being done by the electoral machinery

• To ensure stringent and effective enforcement action is undertaken based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through C-VIGIL and Voter Helpline.

                                                                                                                                                                  Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare launches two agriculture related Mobile Apps

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - AGRICULTURE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

• The Union Minister for Agriculture launched two mobile apps for agriculture

  • ‘CHC Farm Machinery’ and

  • ‘Krishi Kisan App’.

CHC Farm Machinery App:

• CHC stands for Custom Hiring Centres.

• Through this app, farmers will be able to select and order the required farm machinery at rates feasible for them from Custom Hiring Centres located in a 50 km radius.

• Over 40000 CHCs have already registered on the app.

• This is a multilingual app and can be downloaded onto any android phone.

• It is especially helpful for small and marginal farmers who will have easy access to high value and technical agricultural equipment facilitating optimum use of all types of inputs using these farming machines.

• This will help farmers increase their income.

• This will also help increase the rate of mechanisation of farm holdings.

Krishi Kisan App:

• This app will provide farmers the information about the best demonstration of high-yielding crops and seeds in their nearby area.

• Any farmer with a high quality of crops can utilise this platform to demonstrate best practices of cultivation to other farmers so that this will help other farmers adopt these methods.

• The app will also help in geo-tagging and geo-fencing of crops and give weather forecast messages to farmers.

                                                                                                                                                                   Source :- PIB

16th Global SME Business Summit

GS PAPER  - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Road Transport & Highways  inaugurated the 16th Global SME Business Summit 2019 in New Delhi.

Global SME Business Summit :

• The Summit is organised every year by the Ministry of MSME and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for bringing together stakeholders and leaders in the MSME sector.

• Theme for 2019: “Making Indian MSMEs Globally Competitive”.

• The summit will help:

  • Disseminate knowhow on assessing the export potential of the products and services of Indian MSMEs.

  • Identify suitable markets.

  • Develop strategies to penetrate new markets through trade associations, multi-lateral agencies, international business forums and E-Commerce platforms.

• The event will also help participating Indian MSMEs to single out avenues for joint ventures, franchising, cross-marketing, buyer-seller meets, etc.

• The Minister, speaking on the occasion, said that the Government’s target is to increase MSME’s present share of 29 percent of GDP to 50 percent in the next five years and raise its export contribution from 49 percent to 60 percent.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- PIB

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

New Leadership Group for Industry Transition

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY  - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• A ‘Leadership Group for Industry Transition’ was announced at the Global Climate Action Summit to help guide the world’s heaviest greenhouse gas emitting industries towards a low-carbon economy.

Leadership Group for Industry Transition:

• This new Leadership Group for Industry Transition is a global public-private effort to ensure heavy industries and mobility companies can find a workable pathway to deliver on the Paris Agreement
   

• This initiative was announced by India and Sweden together with Argentina, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea and the UK, as well as a group of companies including Dalmia Cement, DSM, Heathrow Airport, Mahindra Group etc.
   

• This initiative will be supported by the World Economic Forum, the Energy Transitions Commission, Mission Innovation, Stockholm Environment Institute, and the European Climate Foundation among many others.

Significance :

• Industry sector emissions, including those from hard-to-abate and energy-intensive sectors like steel, cement, aluminum, aviation and shipping are expected to be responsible for 15.7Gt by 2050.
   

• The international collaboration between countries and industry groups is critical to establish workable policy frameworks and incentives, and to enable joint investment into low carbon infrastructure.

                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

President of India Inaugurates 6th India Water Week-2019

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• The President Shri Ramnath Kovind inaugurated the 6th India Water Week-2019 at New Delhi

India Water Week-2019:

• The 6th edition of the India Water Week is being organised in New Delhi between 24th and 28th September 2019.

• It was organised for the first time in 2012.

• The idea behind the Water Week is to have talks, discussions, seminars, and sessions to build public awareness, to get support to implement key strategies for conservation, preservation and optimum use of available water.

• The theme for the 2019 event is “Water Cooperation – Coping with 21st Century Challenges”.

• This year, the focus is on the need and importance of water use across all sectors.

• It is organised by the Ministry of Water Resources in coordination with the nodal ministries of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Agriculture; Urban Development; Rural Development; New and Renewable Energy; Power; Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation; the NITI Aayog and other PSUs, national and international bodies.

                                                                                                                                                                    Source :- PIB

Arunachal yields a new frog species

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• Scientists have discovered a new species of frog named Microhyla eos from Arunachal Pradesh.

Microhyla:

• Microhyla are a group of narrow-mouthed frogs (subfamily Microhylinae) that is primarily and widely distributed in Asia.

• They are commonly known as ‘Rice Frogs’ or ‘Chorus Frogs’, the genus currently comprises of 49 recognised species.

Key findings :

• The new frog was discovered from riparian habitats in a primary evergreen forest in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve of the state.

• The frog was confirmed to represent a distinct new species after detailed comparison of both, DNA and morphology with all the previously known members of the group found across South, Southeast, and East Asia.

• Since Arunachal Pradesh is popularly known as ‘the land of the rising sun’ or ‘the land of dawn-lit mountains’,the new species has been named as eos after the mythological Greek goddess of dawn.           

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

SECURITY

National Service Scheme (NSS)

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY

Conext :

• President of India has presented the National Service Scheme(NSS) Awards for 2017-18 to universities, NSS units and NSS volunteers.

National Service Scheme(NSS) :

• National Service scheme is a Central sector scheme implemented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Government of India.

• The scheme was launched in 1969.

• The scheme aims to develop the personality and character of the student youth through voluntary community service.

• NSS volunteers play an important role in spreading awareness about government initiatives such as Swachh Bharat Mission activities and yoga program.

Objective :

• Understand the community in which they work.

• Understand themselves in relation to their community.

• Identify the needs and problems of the community and involve them in problem solving process.

• Develop competence required for group living and sharing of responsibilities.

• Gain skills in mobilizing community participation.

• Develop capacity to meet emergencies and natural disasters.

• Practice national integration and social harmony.

                                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

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