Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | Free PDF Download -26th September 2018 -

Table of Contents

Maldives – New?

The Maldivian Democratic Party’s Ibrahim Mohamed Solih triumphed Presidential elections in the island.
Most observers had felt that incumbent President Yameen would somehow eke out a result in his favour.
Yameen, who was elected in 2013, gradually turned authoritarian. opposition politicians being jailed or forced into exileü local media repressedü even judges of the Maldivian Supreme Court arrestedü declared an emergency earlier this yearü his half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdulü Gayoom arrested
Former president Mohamed Nasheed – currently in exile in Sri Lanka – being barred from contesting the polls, it was feared that Yameen would rig the elections.
Simultaneously, he pushed Maldives into China’s orbit by signing up for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and undermined the historically close relationship with India.
Victory of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is comparable to the Janata’s 1977 election victory in India which ended the Emergency.
Yameen’s authoritarian turn was countered by US and EU, along with India.
The former threatened economic sanctions as a tool to revive democracy.
Political instability in Maldives had spilled over with a section of the opposition asking India to intervene militarily.
Citizens of the Maldives, who voted with record turnout of nearly 90%, revolted against Yameen’s abusive and extreme concentration of authority which grew worse than what transpired during monarchical and one-partyrule of bygone times.
However, China will continue to be an influential player in Maldives on account of its economic clout. • Sri Lanka’s experience shows that BRI can lead to debt traps and political turmoil.
Thus, apart from aiding in Maldives’ democratic transition, multilateral lending institutions could be tapped to counter BRI in the provision of development finance.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

The National Mission on Government e Marketplace (GeM),was launched by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu, on 5th of September 2018.
This was followed by the launch of the Mission in 19 States and Union Territories.
The Government of India decided to launch a six week long National Mission on GeM from 6th Sept-17th Oct 2018 in order to increase awareness, accelerate the use of GeM and to further augment the proven benefits of procurement through GeM for all government departments and organisations.
In 2 years of its operations, GeM has recorded till date more than 8 lakh transactions worth over Rs.12,239crore.
GeM has established itself as an open, transparent, efficient and inclusive platform providing huge savings to the Government.
GeM has nearly 27.9 thousand buyer organisations registered and about 1.43 lakh sellers and service providers offering more than 4.86 lakh products and services for online purchase.
GeM contributes to approximately 20-25% average overall savings to the Government.
Government e Marketplace is the National Public Procurement Portal offering an online, end-to-end solution for procurement of common use goods and services by government departments.
It is used by Central and State Government Ministries and Departments, Central and State Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs & SPSUs), autonomous institutions and local bodies.
GeM provides an open, inclusive, transparent and efficient online marketplace.

Antyodaya Diwas

- Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya on his birth anniversary.
- Mr Modi remembered the BJP ideologue and co-founder of Jan Sangh and shared a video.
- 25th September is observed as Antyodaya Diwas every year to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
- Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was born in Mathura in 1916 and he was the leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh from 1953 to 1968.
- Upadhyaya, a philosopher, organiser par excellence and a leader who maintained the highest standards of personal integrity, has been the source of ideological guidance and moral inspiration for the BJP since its inception.
- He was an ardent believer in development of last man in the queue.
- Upadhyay is best remembered for his principle of integral hum
- anism, which has been defined as a classless, casteless and conflict-free social order.
- It talks about the integration of indigenous Indian culture with the social, political and economic fabric of the nation.

SC

The Supreme Court today held that all candidates will have to declare their criminal antecedents to the Election Commission before contesting elections.
The 5-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said that citizens have a right to be informed about the antecedents of their candidates and political parties are obligated to put all the information about their candidates on their websites.
The Chief Justice, while reading out the unanimous verdict on PIL seeking to disqualify candidates contesting polls after court frames charges against them, said Parliament must ensure that criminals must not come to politics.
The bench, also comprising Justices R F Nariman, A MKhanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, asked the legislature toconsider framing a law to ensure decriminalisation of politics.

SC

The Supreme Court today constituted a three-member committee headed by its former judge Justice Amitava Roy to look into the aspect of jail reforms across the country and suggest measures to deal with them.
The committee will also look into the various issues concerning women prisoners.
A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur said the panel will look into the issues including over-crowding in prisons.
The Apex court on August 27 had reserved its order on the issue of constituting a committee to deal with issues pertaining to jails and suggest reforms for prisons across the country.
The bench was hearing a matter relating to inhuman conditions in 1,382 prisons across India.

Health Ministry

Health Minister J P Nadda today said that one thousand people have been benefited on the first day after the launch of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna.
The scheme was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Ranchi in Jharkhandon Sunday.
The scheme is the world’s largest government funded healthcare programme targeting more than 50 crore beneficiaries.
Under the scheme, over ten crore families will be provided health insurance with five lakh rupees eachevery year.

Telecom Ministry

Government says, Foreign Direct Investment in telecom sector has jumped 5 times in last 3 years from 1.3 billion US dollars to 6.2 billion US Dollars.
Communications minister Manoj Sinha said that through New Digital Communication Policy or (NDCP), telecom ministry is targeting FDI of 100billion US dollar.
Speaking at a seminar in New Delhi, the minister said government is aiming to commercially introduce 5G services in the country by the end of 2020. He said, the next generation of mobile Internet connectivity,5G would offer much faster and more reliable networks, which would form the backbone for the emerging era of Internet of Things.
Telecom secretary Mrs Aruna Sundararajan said Indian telecom sector, which is the second largest in the world, will work towards growth oriented investment perspective.