Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | Free PDF Download -27th September 2018 -

Table of Contents

Criminalisation of Politics

Criminalisation of politics + rising influence of money + muscle power = fundamental threat to democracy
On Tuesday, a 5-judge bench of Supreme Court refused to disqualify candidates with criminal cases pending against them from contesting elections.
Disqualifying at the inconclusive stage of framing charges will lead to bias and political witch hunts.
SC has asked Parliament to come up with a law to check the criminalisation of politics.
Political parties will have to upload details of criminal cases pending against their candidates on their websites.
The candidates will have to furnish such information in their election affidavit and also publish it in a “widely-circulated newspaper” .
The Representation of the People Act (RPA) does not bar individuals who have criminal cases pending against them from contesting elections.
It does state that an individual punished with a jail term of more than 2 years cannot stand in an election for 6 years after the jail term has ended.
SC’s 2013 Lily Thomas judgment striking down a provision protecting convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification was a key moment in the fight.
That was a critical judgment which disqualified convicts like Lalu Prasad Yadav and VK Sasikala.
But the fact that cases drag on in courts for years makes this provision virtually ineffective.
2014 Law Commission report: “disqualification upon conviction has proved to be incapable of curbing the growing criminalisation of politics, owing to long delays in trials and rare convictions. ”
Fast tracking cases against politicians is the best solution available.
Fast tracking the serious cases to conviction, acquittal, discharge or closure will clean up the Augean stables.
People’s consciousness is the best too

SC

The Supreme Court today declared the Centre’s flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid. • Aadhaar would remain mandatory for filing of IT returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN).
Apex court struck down linking of Aadhaar with A. Bank accounts B. Mobile phones C. School admissions D.Also for the various examinations
The bench struck down the national security exception under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act.
It is meant to help the benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society & takes into account the dignity of people not only from personal but also community point of view.
The top court said Aadhaar is serving much bigger public interest.
There was nothing in the Aadhaar Act that violates right to privacy of an individual.
Ruling that Aadhaar authentication data cannot be stored for more than 6 months, it directed the government not to give Aadhaar to illegal immigrants.
122 crore people have it, Govt saved ₹90,000 crore

Supreme Court on SC/ST Quota

In the Indira Sawhney case, the Supreme Court had held that the “test or requirement of social and educational backwardness cannot be applied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who indubitably fall within the expression ‘backward class of citizens’ . ”
“The whole object of reservation is to see that backward classes of citizens move forward so that they may march hand in hand with other citizens of India on an equal basis. This will not be possible if only the creamy layer within that class bag all the coveted jobs in the public sector and perpetuate themselves, leaving the rest of the class as backward as they always were,” Justice Nariman said.
“It is only those persons within that group or sub-group, who have come out of untouchability or backwardness by virtue of belonging to the creamy layer, who are excluded from the benefit of reservation,” Justice Nariman wrote.
The apex court also turned down the Centre’s plea that overall population of SC/ST be considered for granting quota for them.
Once a person has been given the reservation at the initial stage, it is not required to give at every stage on promotion.

PMO

The Prime Minister today chaired his 29th interaction through PRAGATI – the ICTbased, multi-modal platform for ProActive Governance and Timely Implementation.
Mr Modi reviewed the progress in resolution of grievances related to the telecommunications sector.
He was briefed on the progress made in this regard, including the technology interventions made recently.
The Prime Minister said, resolution of issues related to the telecom sector should be based on latest technological solutions.
He emphasized that service providers must provide a high level of consumer satisfaction.
He reviewed the progress of 8 important infrastructure projects in the railway, urban development, road, power, and coal sectors.

CABINET

Union Cabinet has also cleared a proposal to convert Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) into a government-owned company.
It approved increasing the Government ownership in Goods and Services Tax Network and change in the existing structure with transitional plan.
There will be acquisition of entire 51 per cent equity held by the Non-Government Institutions in GSTN equally by the Centre and the State Governments and allow GSTN Board to initiate the process for acquisition of equity held by the private companies.
Currently, the Centre and states together hold 49% stake in the GST Network, the company that provides IT backbone to the new indirect tax regime.
The remaining 51% is held by 5 private financial institutions.
The restructured GSTN, with 100% government ownership shall have equity structure between the Centre 50% and the States 50%.

CABINET

The Cabinet has approved the National Digital Communication Policy 2018.
The policy aims to provide universal broadband connectivity at 50 megabit per second (MBPS) to every citizen.
It will also provide 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022.
This estimated speed is much faster than the present speed being provided to Gram Panchayats and will enable fast Internet surfing and download of data.
Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said, this will create 40 lakh additional jobs in the Digital Communications sector.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the construction of New Domestic Terminal Building and other allied structures at Patna airport at an estimated cost of over one thousand 216 crore rupees.

Ministry of Defence

Astra, the indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range Air-toAir Missile (BVRAAM), was successfully test fired by the Indian Air Force from Su-30 aircraft, today from Air Force Station, Kalaikunda.
The missile successfully engaged a manoeuvring target with high precision meeting the mission objectives.
In the series of trials held to date, Astra has been launched in the complete Su-30 flight envelope.
The flight test assumes significance as it was part of the series of final pre-induction trials.
Astra is the best in class weapon system and has undergone more than twenty developmental trials.
Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman lauded the efforts of Indian Air Force, DRDO and associated team members involved in the mission and said India has attained a high level of capability in the indigenous design and development of advanced weapon systems.

Ministry of Finance

Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance and National Informatics Centre (NIC) has jointly developed a mobile app called Jan Dhan Darshak as a part of financial inclusion (FI) initiative .
As the name suggests, this app will act as a guide for the common people in locating a financial service touch point at a given location in the country.
While over 5 lakh FI touch points (Bank branches, ATMs, Post Offices) have been mapped on this App, approx. 1.35 lakh Bank Mitras would be on-boarded by 01.12.2018. Some of the salient features of this App are as follows: A. Find nearby Financial touch points, based on current location (Branches/ATM/Post offices) B. Search by place name C. Search by place name also available with Voice Interface D. Phone number of bank branches available in app, with the facility of call button for integrated dialing E. Users’ feedback will go directly to the concerned bank for carrying out the necessary updation in data on financial touch points.