Daily Current Affairs 20 December 2019

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Ration cards to look similar across the country

• The Centre government has designed a standard format for ration cards as it moves ahead with ‘one nation, one ration card’ initiative and has asked state governments to follow the pattern while issuing fresh ration cards.
• The central government’s ambitious initiative is being implemented on a pilot basis in a cluster of six States. It wants to implement this facility across the country from June 1, 2020.
• Under the initiative, eligible beneficiaries would be able to avail their entitled foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any Fair Price Shop in the country using the same ration card.
• To achieve the aim of national portability, ration cards issued by different States and Union Territories must conform to a standard format

2) Portugal sets up Gandhi Citizenship Education Prize

• Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced the setting up of a Gandhi Citizenship Education Prize while attending the second meeting of the National Committee for the Commemoration Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birth Anniversary, chaired by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• The only foreign Prime Minister to be a part of the committee
• Portugal would launch the prize to promote Gandhi’s ideals. Every year, the prize would be inspired by Gandhi’s thoughts and quotes
• The first edition of the prize would be dedicated to animal welfare.
• The committee includes Vice­President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Cabinet colleagues, and Chief Ministers, apart from Gandhians. 

3) DRDO successfully flight-tests Pinaka Missile System off Odisha coast

• Pinaka Missile System developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was successfully flight-tested from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the Odisha coast at 1200 hrs today. The Pinaka is an Artillery Missile System capable of striking into enemy territory up to a range of 75 kilometers with high precision.
• The Pinaka MK-II Rocket is modified as a missile by integrating with the Navigation, Control and Guidance System to improve the end accuracy and enhance the range. The Navigation system of the missile is also aided by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
• The mission achieved all the objectives including enhancing the range, accuracy, and sub-system functionality. The missile was fired from the Pinaka launcher system in the deployment configuration. The flight article was tracked by multiple ranges of systems viz. Telemetry, Radars, Electro-optical targeting system (EOTS), etc. which confirmed the textbook flight performance.
• The missile system has been jointly developed by various DRDO Laboratories viz. Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Proof & Experimental Establishment (PXE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).

4) NITI Aayog to draft roadmap for achieving population stabilization

• NITI Aayog is organizing a National Consultation titled “Realizing the vision of population stabilization: leaving no one behind”
• The consultative meeting is organized in partnership with Population Foundation of India (PFI) will bring together senior officials, experts, and subject matter specialists to discuss ways and means of strengthening India’s population policy and family planning programs

Some of the key recommendations expected to emerge from the meeting are as follows:

• Increasing the basket of contraceptive choices, with a greater focus on spacing methods and helping women make informed choices about delaying pregnancy and spacing between children.
• Addressing social determinants of health such as age at marriage and sex-selective practices.
• Strengthening the quality of care, including counseling services, managing side effects, and family planning support.
• Increasing budgetary allocations for family planning, to align with the unmet needs of India’s young people who constitute nearly 30 percent of our population.
• Addressing existing socio-cultural barriers towards contraception by investing extensively in innovative behavior-change communication strategies.
• Treating population stabilization and family planning as a national priority, fostering inter-departmental convergence and ensuring multisectoral participation and integration.

India, with a current population size of 1.37 billion, has the second largest population in the world. We are also at a stage where birth rates are falling but the population continues to grow because more than30 percent of the population is young and in the reproductive age group. Nearly30 million currently married women in the age group of 15-49 years within this critical cohort of young people have unmet needs in family planning, which limits their ability to delay or avoid pregnancy by not having access or the agency to use contraception. Family planning is considered universally as the smartest development investment. For India to realize its sustainable development goals and economic aspirations, it is important to ensure that people have informed access to contraception and quality family planning services.

5) India-US 2+2 Dialogue: a strategic partnership between the two countries

• Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar met US Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T Esper and Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo in Washington DC on December 18, 2019, for the second annual India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue. 
• This 2+2 Ministerial is the highest-level institutional mechanism between the two countries and provides for a review of the security, defense and strategic partnership between India and the United States.  
• This was the second 2+2 meeting and the first in the US. 
• Both sides reiterated their commitment to advancing a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. 
• Both sides also committed to further deepen military-to-military cooperation, including between the Indian Navy and the US Navy Fleets under US Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command, and Africa Command and intend to expand similar cooperation between their respective Armies and Air Forces. Several other initiatives to enhance military-to-military cooperation were also agreed upon. 
• The two sides concluded the Industrial Security Annex during the visit. Priority initiatives have been identified for execution under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) program. 
• The two sides also concluded a standard operating procedure for this process. 
• These measures are expected to provide momentum to collaboration between the private defense industries of both India and the US. 
• The two sides also agreed to move forward in their engagement in the area of defense innovation. 

6) Section 144 Good or Bad? 

Section 144 in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 [“Cr.P.C.”], which confers upon executive officers such as executive magistrates or sub­divisional magistrates, unimaginable powers for passing orders to tackle any urgent cases of “nuisance” or “apprehended danger” that may arise in their territorial jurisdiction, where such orders will “prevent or are likely to prevent” any adverse impact upon human life, health, safety, or prevent “a disturbance of the public tranquillity.”

The positive side of Section144

• In theory, Section 144 embodies very noble ideas. It is a manifestation of the idea that exceptional times call for exceptional measures, something very few of us would disagree with. But rather than simply conferring a unimaginable powers upon executive officers, Section 144 circumscribes these powers by stipulating conditions that must be complied with before any order can be passed [clause (1)], while also fixing spatial and temporal limits to ensure that the exception does not overwhelm the norm [clauses (2) through (4)]. Thus, as a rule, an order under Section 144 must be passed after giving prior notice and a hearing to the persons whose rights will be adversely affected, and only “in cases of emergency” can this requirement be waived. 
• Further, Section 144 also incorporates within itself the idea of an aggrieved person challenging the exercise of such power, or even the state itself reviewing its actions [clauses (5) through (7)]. So, even where persons may not have been heard before the passing of notice, they can be heard subsequently.
• Thus, when one hears of “144 order” being imposed in times of riots or demonstrations, what that actually refers to is an order passed under this section, which then specifies certain things that shall be done, because the officer considers that these steps will prevent damage to life and property or a disturbance to public tranquillity; most common among these being an order passed by the local Police Commissioner (who will be an executive magistrate) directing that the police take steps to prevent any associations of people within an area because the officer considers this necessary to prevent violence

Criticism of Section 144

• There are twin reasons for this criticism. The first is that in the bid to legislate for all kinds of emergencies, Section 144 ends up conferring almost unbridled powers upon
  executive officers.
• The only check placed upon the officer before passing any order under Section 144 is whether or not it satisfied his conscience, about there being a need for such orders which will almost certainly entail curbs upon the rights of persons.  And even though there are powers to challenge such orders in appeal or in a writ before constitutional courts, even they cannot substitute their appreciation of the facts for what the officer himself thought. At best, they can make sure that the procedure was correctly followed, but they cannot substitute their judgment for that of the officer on the ground.
• Furthermore, the extreme breadth of powers conferred upon executive officers by Section 144 is not specifically tailored towards the kinds of dangers that are sought to be prevented. Let’s unpack this further. Section 144(1) confers these powers for achieving certain goals, i.e. preventing any damage to life or property, but frames these objectives as widely as possible given the logic of emergencies. 
• However, there is nothing in the statute itself that says that the executive officer can only do A, B, or C to, say, prevent any “disturbance of the public tranquillity”, where this did not suggest any active threats to life or property. But given that some link between the remedy and the illness will appeal to any rational observer, appeal courts are willing to interfere where the link is far too tenuous. 

Conclusion

• Thus, to sum up. Section 144 is a useful tool to help deal with emergencies. However, the absence of any narrow tailoring of wide executive powers with specific objectives, coupled with very limited judicial oversight over the executive branch, makes it ripe for abuse and misuse.

Source The Hindu 

7)  Election Commission of India conducts National Workshop on Accessible Elections

• The Election Commission of India today organized a National Workshop on Accessible Elections. The Workshop was organized with the purpose of reviewing steps taken as yet by ECI for making Elections PwD and Senior Citizens friendly and to deliberate on steps still required to make the process more inclusive and accessible.
• E2E  i.e. Enrolment to Elections needs to be PWD  friendly & accessible and the entire system from BLOs (Booth Level Officers) to ECI HQs needs to be worked to overcome these issues
• Exhaustive mapping of PwD voters, providing transport facility, special volunteers, Assured Minimum Facilities like ramp, wheelchair, sign language, EVM with Braille at polling station and most recently, the provision of postal ballots to PwD voters are some of the initiatives taken by Election Commission of India to ensure accessibility and uphold the tenet of ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’.
• With stakeholders from across India in attendance, the technical sessions involved group tasks and deliberation on four assigned topics such as Electoral Registration & Mapping in the Electoral Roll; Facilitation at Polling Station Specially for Persons with Disabilities and Senior Citizens: Accessible Voter Education & Communication Strategies and Use of Technology in Accessible Elections. The participants worked on evaluating the current challenges, analyzing the in-place initiatives and devising solutions, as part of thematic presentations that were made to the Commission.

Crossing the Barriers – I Got Inked

The Commission also released a booklet, ‘Crossing the Barriers – I Got Inked’ on first-person accounts of voters who overcame all hurdles to participate in the largest festival of democracy. A comprehensive document highlighting the work done so far, recent initiatives, and recommendations from all States/UTs and various stakeholders named "Accessibility Report 2019" was made available to participants of the workshop highlighting therein the policies and guiding principles on Accessible Elections. Sign language interpreters at Workshop today, screen reader access were significant features of day's proceedings

8) Cheaper, more reliable meter to measure the strength of concrete

• The Pune Construction Engineering Research Foundation (PCERF) has developed what it claims is the country’s first indigenous Concrete Maturity Meter that determines the strength of concrete used in construction. PCERF is a non­profit organization that works to introduce new and cost­effective technologies in the sector. 
• The device can help in significantly reducing the margin of error in estimating the strength of a structure while cutting project costs as well. “This diminutive device, which we have dubbed as the ‘Intelligent Concrete Maturity Meter’, is affordable and easy to use. It will be available at 30% to 40% of the cost of the foreign maturity meter that is in use in the market
• Despite the importance of concrete in infrastructure construction, its in­place strength is often erroneously estimated by using the cumbersome and time­-consuming ‘standard cube’ or cylindrical tests
• These methods are destructive and less accurate, which leads to many glitches in the development of the structure. To counter that, the Maturity Method, which is a 30­ year old proven Non­Destructive Testing method, is used to estimate the real-time and realistic strength development of in­place concrete
• By using this maturity meter, one can have savings of around 10% to 12% of the overall project,” said Mr. Lokare. 
• The foreign­made maturity meter kit is available in the range of ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh, while the India­produced maturity meter kit is priced between ₹50,000 and ₹5 lakh