10% quota for the poor gets LS approval

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

 

Context:

        ★ The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in the lok sabha on 8 January 2019.

         

One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment Bill :

        ★ The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr. Thaawar Chand Gehlot on January 8, 2019.

        ★ The Bill seeks to provide for the advancement of “economically weaker sections” of citizens.

 

Key highlights:

         ★ The Bill seeks to amend Article 15 to additionally permit the government to provide for the advancement of “economically weaker sections”.

         ★ Up to 10% of seats may be reserved for such sections for admission in educational institutions.

         ★ The Bill seeks to amend Article 16 to permit the government to reserve up to 10% of all posts for the “economically weaker sections” of citizens.

         ★ The reservation of up to 10% for “economically weaker sections” in educational institutions and public employment will be in addition to the existing reservation.

         ★ The central government will notify the “economically weaker sections” of citizens on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage.

 

Who all are eligible?

        ★ People who earn less than Rs 8 lakh annually

        ★ People who have agricultural land below five acres

        ★ For availing the quota, a residential house should be below 1000 sq ft

        ★ The residential plot should be below 100 yards in notified municipality

        ★ The residential plot below 200 yards should be in a non-notified municipality area

 

 

Process to be followed to pass the bill:

       ★ Constitution Amendment is required to add economic backwardness as a ground for reservations because the constitution does not provide for reservation on the ground of economic conditions and Bill have to be passed by both Houses of Parliament by a special majority of two-thirds of the members present and voting, which should not be less than one-half of the total strength of the House.

       ★ If it is not passed by both the Houses within the term of this Lok Sabha, it will lapse. The Bill will also have to be ratified by at least half the State Assemblies.

 

Critical Analysis of 10% quota for Economically Backward class:

      ★ There are poor people among upper castes who need help. This should be appropriate and constitutionally sustainable.

      ★ Our constitution introduced reservation and other social justice measures for those who were excluded collectively from education and entry into services of the state and better opportunities because of the caste system.

      ★ These were the victims of untouchability i.e. scheduled castes and schedule tribes. They were socially and educationally backward classes. This was the basic structure. It was not a programme to eliminate poverty. It was part of a national enterprise to remove the inequalities created by the caste system.

      ★ Now, there are poor people in all castes. They are poor Brahmins, poor Thakurs, poor Syeds and poor Banias who need help to complete their education.

      ★ So, they need comprehensive scholarship, education loans, skill development assistance. They are economically backward, not socially. They require only economic support, not reservation.

 

Implications:

      ★ If the EWS is treated as a category just like the SC, ST and OBC, a large chunk of general category candidates will apply for just 10% seats and the cut-offs can rise.

      ★ Candidates who are above the general cut-off may still occupy this 10% quota to get a better service or cadre for example in UPSC.

                                                                                                      Source:- The Hindu

Lok Sabha passes Citizenship Bill amidst Congress walkout

GS PAPER - 01 SOCIETY - population and associated issues

 

Context:

        ★ The Lok Sabha on 8 January passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019

 

Citizenship amendment bill:

        ★ The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, as reported by Joint Parliamentary Committee, was passed in Lok Sabha.

        ★ The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship. 

 

Key Highlights of Joint Parliamentary committee Report :

       ★ The Committee states that the Bill does not violate Article 14 (the right to equality) and Article 25 (the right to freedom of religion).

       ★ The Bill states that the central government may cancel registration of Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) if the OCI has violated any law in force.

       ★ The Committee recommends that the Bill should state that the registration for OCI may be cancelled if the OCI violates the Citizenship Act or other laws, as may be notified by the central government. 

                                                                                                                               Source:- The Hindu

Mixed response to ST status to 6 Assam groups

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

 

Context:

         ★ Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday welcomed the Union Cabinet’s nod for granting Scheduled Tribe status to six communities listed as Other Backward Classes in Assam.

         

More about the news:

        ★ six communities – Chutia, Motok, Moran, Koch-Rajbongshi, Tai-Ahom and Tea Tribes/Adivasis -– have been agitating for a long time demanding ST status.

        ★ Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that a draft Bill, adopted by the Union Cabinet, would be tabled in Parliament

         

Schedule Tribe:        ★ A tribe is a social division in a traditional society consisting of families linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect.        ★ A tribe possesses certain qualities and characteristics that make it a unique cultural, social, and political entity.        ★ Constitution of India has recognized tribal communities in India under ‘Schedule 5’ of the constitution. Hence the tribes recognized by the Constitution are known as ‘ Scheduled Tribes’.        ★ The Constitution of India in Article 366 (25) prescribe that the Scheduled Tribes means such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 of the Constitution to be Scheduled Tribes.   Criteria for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe:        ★ While the Constitution is silent about the criteria for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe.                    ☆ Primitiveness,                    ☆ geographical isolation,                    ☆ shyness and social, educational & economic backwardness                    ☆ Distinctive culture        ★ Due to these reasons are the traits that distinguish Scheduled Tribe communities of our country from other communities.        ★ It takes into account the definitions of tribal Communities adopted in the 1931 Census.        ★ These facts are the basis for the provision in Article 342(1) which mandates to specify the tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within tribes or tribal communities as Scheduled Tribe in relation to that State or Union Territory as the case may be.

                                                                                                     Source:- The Hindu

Lok Sabha Passes DNA Technology 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 DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on 8 Jan 2018.

         

DNA Technology (Use and Application) Bill:

          ★ The Bill regulates the use of DNA technology for establishing the identity of persons in respect of matters listed in a Schedule: criminal matters (such as offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860), and civil matters such as parentage disputes, emigration or immigration, and transplantation of human organs.

          ★ The Bill establishes a National DNA Data Bank and Regional DNA Data Banks. Every Data Bank will maintain the following indices:

                              ☆ crime scene index,

                              ☆ suspects’ or undertrials’ index,

                              ☆ offenders’ index,

                              ☆ missing persons’ index, and

                              ☆ unknown deceased persons’ index.

         ★ The Bill establishes a DNA Regulatory Board. Every DNA laboratory that analyses a DNA sample to establish the identity of an individual, has to be accredited by the Board.

         ★ Written consent by individuals is required to collect DNA samples from them. Consent is not required for offences with punishment of more than seven years of imprisonment or death.

         ★ The Bill provides for the removal of DNA profiles of suspects on filing of a police report or court order, and of undertrials on the basis of a court order. Profiles in the crime scene and missing persons’ index will be removed on a written request.

 

Several members raised certain issues with the provisions of the Bill:

          ★ Consent requirements have not been specified in case of DNA profiling for civil matters

          ★ Raised concern related to violation of privacy

                                                                                                                                                 Source:-  PIB

NASA probe discovers new planet

GS PAPER  - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of Space

 

Context:

         ★ NASA discovered new planet, named HD 21749b orbiting a dwarf star 53 light years away.

 

More about the news:

        ★ HD 21749 is a star that is approximately 68% the mass of and 76% the radius of the Sun

        ★ The star has two exoplanets: a possibly rocky, hot sub-Neptune-sized exoplanet, named HD 21749b; and, a sub-Earth exoplanet, named HD 21749c

        ★ This is the third new planet confirmed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) since its launch in April last year.

        ★ The planet in the constellation Reticulum appears to have the longest orbital period of the three planets so far identified by TESS.

        ★ Two other discovered planets are – Pi Mensaeb, a “super-Earth” with a 6.3-day orbit, and LHS 3844b, a rocky world that speeds around its star in just 11 hours.

        ★ The surface of the new planet is likely around 300 degrees Fahrenheit relatively cool, given its proximity to its star, which is almost as bright as the sun.

 

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite:

       ★ The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA’s Explorers program, designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission

       ★ The primary mission objective for TESS is to survey the brightest stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets over a two-year period.

                                                                                                                                 Source:- The Hindu

Customers cannot be charged for availing tokenisation service: RBI

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

 

Context:

          ★ The Reserve of India (RBI) has allowed all card payment networks to offer tokenisation service without any charges.

           ★ Tokenisation involves a process in which a unique token masks sensitive card details. The token is then used to perform card transactions in contact-less mode at Point of Sale (POS) terminals, Quick Response (QR) code payments, etc.

 

Tokenisation:

              ★ Tokenization is a process through which sensitive information or data is replaced with a unique set of characters that retain all the essential information without compromising the security of the sensitive information.

               ★ In the payments space, tokenization is the process of replacing the 16-digit payment card account number with a unique digital identifier known as a ‘token’ in mobile and online transactions. This token then allows payments to be processed without exposing sensitive account details that could breach security and privacy.

         

Need of Tokenisation:

              ★ In India, there were 1,035.64 million cards outstanding on November 2018, out of which 992.4 million were debit cards and 43.24 million were credit cards and this has grown from a total 778.98 million cards in 2016.

              ★ The volume of card transactions in fact went up by 1.5 times in this period.

              ★ As per National Crime Records Bureau, cases registered under cyber frauds doubled between 2014 and 2016. 

                      ☆ Cases registered under cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust or fraud for cyber crimes went up from 1,232 in 2014 to 2,466 in 2016.

                       ☆ Although over 90 per cent of these cyber crimes are registered under cheating, cases registered under the credit or debit card frauds increased from 10 in 2014 to 26 in 2016

 

How it will Work?

           ★ Consumer credit cards come with names, 16-digit personal account numbers (PANs), expiration dates and security codes — any of which can be “tokenized.”

           ★ When a merchant swipes a customer’s credit card, the PAN is automatically replaced with a randomly generated alphanumeric ID (“token”)

           ★ Original PAN never enters the merchant’s payment system. Only the token ID does. The merchant can use this special token ID to keep records of the customer

           ★ This token then gets transmitted to the payment processor who de-tokenizes the ID and authorizes payment.

 

Advantage:

           ★ Data Security – Tokenization keeps credit card data safe from internal and external threats that can occur during payment processing.

           ★ Credit card tokenization helps online businesses improve their data security, from the point of data capture to storage as it eliminates the actual storage of credit card numbers in the POS machines and internal systems.

           ★ Comfort – Multiple tokens are issued for the same card payment on different platforms that use tokenization.

           ★ So even if a website you use gets breached and the tokens are acquired by the hacker/miscreant, it’s difficult to reverse engineer the actual card number from it as access to the tokenization logic will also be needed.

                                                                                                                        Source:- Business Standard

A renewed attack on privacy: on Aadhaar Bill [ Editorial / Opinion]

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

 

Context:

        ★ On 4th January, 2019, the Lok Sabha, without any attendant discussion, passed the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

        ★ Some critics point out that on any reasonable reading it should be apparent that the Bill flagrantly flouts both the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s judgment which gave the Aadhaar programme a conditional approval.

        ★ They further allege that the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 has been proposed despite the government’s abject failure to enact comprehensive legislation protecting our data and our privacy.

        ★ They further point out that unless the Rajya Sabha places a constraint on the government’s impudence, the consequences will prove devastating.

 

Period Between September and Now:

       ★ There is no doubt the Supreme Court’s judgment, delivered last September, enjoined Parliament to make certain specific legislative changes.

       ★ To that end, some of the court’s concerns are addressed by the Bill, such as the inclusion of a clause intended at ensuring that children are not denied benefits on account of a failure to possess Aadhaar.

       ★ The essential object of the law is to countermine those portions of the judgment that the regime deems inconvenient.

       ★ This policy places an onus on the ministry introducing a law to publish the draft of any proposed legislation, together with, among other things, the objectives behind the law and an estimated assessment of the impact that such legislation may have on fundamental rights, and to thereafter invite comments from the public.

       ★ The Bill, which makes amendments not only to the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, but also to the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), was introduced without any prior consultation, leading to a credible belief that the proposed changes are an act of subterfuge.

       ★ Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act allowed both the state and private entities to use the programme to establish an individual’s identity pursuant to a law or a contract

       ★ It was on this basis that various notifications were issued allowing corporations of different kinds, including telecom operators, e-commerce firms and banks, to use Aadhaar.

       ★ However, when the Supreme Court ruled on the validity of the legislation, although it upheld vast portions of the law through a 4:1 majority, it unanimously struck down Section 57 insofar as it applied to private entities.

 

Commercial exploitation:

       ★ Justice A.K. Sikri, in his judgment for the majority, wrote: “Even if we presume that legislature did not intend so, the impact of the aforesaid features would be to enable commercial exploitation of an individual biometric and demographic information by the private entities. Thus, this part of the provision which enables body corporate and individuals also to seek authentication, that too on the basis of a contract between the individual and such body corporate or person, would impinge upon the right to privacy of such individuals. This part of the section, thus, is declared unconstitutional.”

        ★ Experts believe that although this leaves little room for doubt, the government, for its part, may well defend the Bill by arguing that the majority’s judgment nonetheless permits the enactment of a new law allowing the use of Aadhaar by private entities so long as a person voluntarily consents to such authentication.

 

SC’s Observation:

       ★ Since the Supreme Court has found that the operation of Aadhaar by private entities violates fundamental rights, there is today no avenue available for fresh legislative intervention, unless the government chooses to amend the Constitution.

       ★ In any event, the proposed legislative amendments virtually seek to impose Aadhaar as a prerequisite for the availing of certain basic services.

       ★ The amendments proposed to the Telegraph Act and the PMLA state that service providers telecom companies and banks, respectively, ought to identify their customers by one of four means: a

       ★ Authentication under the Aadhaar Act; offline verification under the Aadhaar Act; use of passport; or the use of any other officially valid document that the government may notify.

 

Issue of Fraud:

       ★ Therefore, if the government fails to notify any new form of identification, a person’s identity will necessarily have to be authenticated through Aadhaar or through her passport.

       ★ Given that only a peripheral portion of India’s population possess passports, Aadhaar is effectively made compulsory.

       ★ Allowing private corporations to access and commercially exploit the Aadhaar architecture, as we have already seen, comes with disastrous consequences

       ★ The evidence of reports of fraud emanating out of seeding Aadhaar with different services is ever-growing.

       ★ The amendments not only fly in the face of the Supreme Court’s verdict but are also wholly remiss in attending to the dangers both of slapdash data protection and of corruption and scamming.

 

Limitation:

There is a hatful of other concerns, including:

        ★ the re-introduction of a marginally refurbished Section 33(2).

        ★ In its original form, the clause had allowed an officer of the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India to direct disclosure of Aadhaar information in the “interest of national security”. The Supreme Court declared the clause unconstitutional and ruled that while disclosure in the interest of national security may be important, such disclosure should spring out of a request of a “higher ranking officer”.

        ★ What is more, in order to avoid any misuse of the provision, requests of this kind, the court held, ought to require separate scrutiny, and, therefore, “a Judicial Officer (preferably a sitting High Court judge) should also be associated with” the process. However, the Bill, merely seeks to substitute the words “Joint Secretary” with “Secretary” in Section 33(2), completely disregarding the Supreme Court’s order demanding inquiry by a judge.

 

Conclusion:

          ★ the Bill seeks to pave the path for the Aadhaar to permeate through every conceivable sphere of human activity, transferring all authority over our bodies, in the process, from the citizen to the state, and, in many cases, from the citizen to private corporations.

          ★ Experts suggest that the Rajya Sabha, therefore, should resist any developing sense of ennui around the programme, and reject this Bill, for the utter contempt of democracy that it represents.

                                                                                                                                    Source:- The Hindu

NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON AGRI EXPORT POLICY

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

 

Context:

        ★ Minister of State for Commerce & Industry hosted a workshop on new agri export policy.

         

More about the news:

       ★ This is the first time that an agri export policy has been formulated and it is comprehensive involving all related sectors like R&D, clusters, logistics and transportation.

       ★ Workshops like these will help to identify bottlenecks, get feedback and suggestions to improve and overcome difficulties in the implementation of the policy.

 

Vision:

       ★ To harness the export potential of Indian agriculture, through suitable policy instruments and make India a global power in agriculture and double farmers income by 2022.

         

Objective:

       ★ To double agricultural exports from present USD 30 billion to USD 60 billion by 2022 and reach USD 100 billion in the next few years.

       ★ To diversify export basket, destinations and boost high value and value-added agricultural exports including a focus on perishables,

       ★ To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic and non-traditional agri products, institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers/SPS,

       ★ To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with GVC and enable farmers to get the benefit of export opportunities in overseas markets.

                                                                                                                                                   Source:- PIB

Conference on “M2M/ IoT Enabling Smart Infrastructure

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

 

Context:

        ★ The conference on machine to machine/Internet on things enabling smart infrastructure held in New Delhi

         

More about the news:

       ★ Conference hosted by the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC)

       ★ On this occasion,Two technical reports prepared by TEC, titled “Recommendation for IoT/ M2M Security” and “Design and Planning Smart Cities with IoT/ICT” were released by the Minister.

       ★ The conference covered important topics such as IoT enabling Smart Infrastructure Verticals, different technologies and related use cases, Role of IoT in Smart Cities design and planning, various aspects related to Standardization in M2M/IoT, and Challenges in Security, Testing and Certification of Smart devices/equipment.

         

Internet of Things (IOT):        ★ The internet of things (IoT) is a computing concept that describes the idea of everyday physical objects being connected to the internet and being able to identify themselves to other devices.

                                                                                                                                        Source:- PIB

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