POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                        

1. Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 gets President’s nod                       

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS                                                   

1. The Nehru-Liaquat Agreement of 1950, referred to in the CAB debate 

ECONOMY                                                                                          

1. Deloitte failed to comply with auditing standards: NFRA                      

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY                                                     

1. US Congress consents to designate India's NAVIC as allied system   

2. ISRO begins preparations for setting up third rocket launchpad        

3. What is Wi-Fi Calling?                                                                    

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 gets President’s nod

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 received President's nod and hence became an Act.

• The bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament earlier this week with a clear majority.

Background :

• In India, citizenship is regulated by the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Act specifies that citizenship may be acquired in India through five methods – by birth in India, by descent, through registration, by naturalisation (extended residence in India), and by incorporation of territory into India.

• However, illegal migrants cannot become Indian citizens. Under the Act, an illegal migrant is a foreigner who:

  • enters the country without valid travel documents like a passport and visa, or enters with valid documents, but stays beyond the permitted time period.

  • Illegal migrants may be put in jail or deported under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920.

• In 2015 and 2016, the government exempted specified groups of illegal migrants from provisions of the 1946 and 1920 Acts. They were Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who reached India on or before December 31, 2014.

• This meant that these particular categories of illegal migrants would not be deported or jailed for being in India without valid documents.

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Parliament to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, so that these people could be made eligible for citizenship of India.

• The Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. Subsequently, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha in December 2019.

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019:

• The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955, and seeks to make foreign illegal migrants of certain religious communities coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship.

• It basically intends to make it easier for non-Muslim immigrants from India’s three Muslim-majority neighbours to become citizens of India.

Key Features :

• Citizenship on the basis of religion: The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955, and for the first time, will grant citizenship on the basis of religion to non-Muslim communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

• Non - Muslim Communities Included: Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian. This implies that migrants, who identify themselves with any group or community other than those mentioned here, from the above mentioned countries won't be eligible for citizenship.

• Exceptions: The provisions on citizenship for illegal migrants will not apply to two categories - states protected by the ‘Inner Line’, and areas covered under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
   

  • Inner Line Permit (ILP): This is a special permit that citizens from other parts of India require to enter a state protected by the ILP regime. Without an ILP granted by the state government, an Indian from another state cannot visit a state that is under the ILP regime.

  • Sixth Schedule: The Sixth Schedule relates to special provisions in administration of certain Northeastern states (Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura). It provides special powers for Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in these states.

• Citizenship by Naturalization

  • Under The Citizenship Act, 1955, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months, as well as for 11 of the previous 14 years.

  • The amendment relaxes the second requirement from 11 years to 5 years as a specific condition for applicants belonging to the specified six religions, and the above mentioned three countries.

• Additional Ground for Cancelling Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Registration i.e. violation of any law notified by the central government.
   

  • However, the Bill does not provide any guidance on the nature of laws which the central government may notify. The Supreme Court has noted that this guidance is necessary to set limits on the authority’s powers and to avoid any arbitrariness in exercise of powers.

Arguments against the Bill :

• The fundamental criticism of the Bill has been that it specifically targets Muslims. Critics argue that it is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution (which guarantees the right to equality) and the principle of secularism.

  • citizenship can't be given on the basis of religion.

• India has several other refugees that include Tamils from Sri Lanka and Hindu Rohingya from Myanmar. They are not covered under the Act.

• Despite exemption granted to some regions in the Northeastern states, the prospect of citizenship for massive numbers of illegal Bangladeshi migrants has triggered deep anxieties in the states.

• It will be difficult for the government to differentiate between illegal migrants and those persecuted.

• Permanent settlement of illegal immigrants will disturb the region's demography and further burden resources and decrease employment opportunities for indigenous people.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The Nehru-Liaquat Agreement of 1950, referred to in the CAB debate

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - India and its neighborhood- relations.

Context :

• Recently,the Home minister has referred to the Nehru-Liaquat Pact during the debate on the Citizenship Amendment Bill(CAB),2019.

Nehru-Liaquat Pact:

• The Nehru-Liaquat Pact also known as the Delhi Pact, was a bilateral agreement signed between India and Pakistan in 1950.

• The pact was signed in order to provide a framework for the treatment of minorities in the two countries.

• The need for such a pact was felt by the minorities in both countries following Partition which was accompanied by massive communal riots.

KeY Features :         

• Under the Nehru-Liaquat pact,the two countries agreed upon:

  • That the minorities throughout its territory will have complete equality of citizenship, irrespective of religion.

  • Members of the minorities shall have equal opportunity with members of the majority community to participate in the public life of their country.

  • Minority commissions will also be set up in both the countries

  • refugees will be allowed to return to dispose of their property, abducted women and looted property were to be returned, forced conversions were unrecognized.

                                                                                                                    Source :- Indian Express

ECONOMY

Deloitte failed to comply with auditing standards: NFRA

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - 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 National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has said that Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP failed to comply with auditing standards in carrying out statutory audit of IL&FS Financial Services and did not question the management over-inflating profit by over Rs 180 crore.

• This is the first audit quality report of NFRA since its formation on October 1, 2018.

National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) :

• The National Financial Reporting Authority(NFRA) has been constituted in 2018 by the Government of India under section 132 of the Companies Act,2013.

• The need for establishing NFRA was felt in the wake of accounting scams and to establish an independent regulator for enforcement of auditing standards and ensuring the quality of audits.

• Further,due to the establishment of NFRA,India is also now eligible for the membership of International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR).

Functions :

• Recommend accounting and auditing policies and standards to be adopted by companies for approval by the Central Government;

• Monitor and enforce compliance with accounting standards and auditing standards;

• Oversee the quality of service of the professions associated with ensuring compliance with such standards and suggest measures for improvement in the quality of service;

• Perform such other functions and duties as may be necessary or incidental to the aforesaid functions and duties.

Powers :

• It can probe listed companies and those unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of no less than Rs 500 crore or annual turnover of no less than Rs 1,000 crore.

• It can investigate professional misconduct committed by members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for prescribed class of body corporate or persons.

                                                                                                               Source :- Economic Times

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

US Congress consents to designate India's NAVIC as allied system

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Achievement of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context :

• The US Congress has consented to designate India's NAVIC as its “allied” navigational satellite system along with the Galileo of the European Union and QZSS of Japan.

More in the news :

• Approved as part of the conference report of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2020

• it designates Russia's GLONASS and Chinese Beidou as a “non-allied system”. It means that the US satellite navigation system will not co-operate or exchange data with these two satellite navigation systems.

• The designation of India's NAVIC as an “allied system” is part of the American effort to develop a prototype program for multi-global navigation satellite system receiver development.

• The tag of the “allied” navigational satellite system allows US satellite navigation system to co-operate or to exchange data with these satellite navigation systems.           

                                                                                                              Source :- Times of India

ISRO begins preparations for setting up third rocket launchpad

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Achievement of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context :

• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has begun preparatory works for setting up a third rocket launchpad in the small coastal hamlet of Kulashekhrapattinam in the Thuthukudi district of Tamil Nadu.

More in the news :

• The demand for additional launch pads has arisen as a result of the increase in the number of satellite launches from India, both for domestic and international customers.

• It is intended to support:

  • provide active redundancy to existing launch pads and

  • To support launching requirements of advanced launch vehicles.

ISRO’s Present Launchpad :

• At present, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has two launchpads at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota Range (SDSC-SHAR).

• SHAR is situated in an island off Sullurupeta – a small town in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh.

                                                                                                                                 Source :- AIR

What is Wi-Fi Calling?

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology

Context :

• Airtel rolled out an industry-first voice-over-WiFi service.

Wi-Fi Calling :

• Wi-Fi Calling is aimed especially for areas where cellular networks are not strong.

• It uses high speed Internet connection, available via broadband, to make and receive high definition (HD) voice calls.

  • Users don’t have to pay extra for these calls as it is using a Wi-Fi network.

• This is not much different from a voice call using WhatsApp or any other over-the-top messaging platform, but here the call is from one number to another, and not using an app. Since these calls use stable Wi-Fi connections, call drops are not expected to be a problem.           

                                                                                                                                       Source :- Indian Express

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