Daily Current Affairs 10 July 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) PM CARES is separate from NDRF: Government

• The Ministry of Home Affairs defended in the Supreme Court the existence of PM CARES Fund to receive “voluntary donations”.
• The Ministry also outright rejected a plea to credit the amounts received by PM CARES for fighting
• the COVID­19 pandemic into the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). The Ministry told a three-judge Bench that funds like PM CARES were “separate, different, distinct” from the NDRF. “Separate provisions” govern them. 
• The government was responding to a writ petition filed by NGO Centre for PIL that said contributions to PM CARES should be transferred entirely to the NDRF.

Background

NDRF Fund 

• The NDRF is a fund created by the Central Government under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act for dealing with disasters. 
• The PM Cares Fund, the petition claimed, has been set up in violation of the legal mandate under the Disaster  Management Act as per which any grant made by any person or institution for the purpose of disaster management should be compulsorily credited to NDRF. 
• Defined in Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act).
• What is it to be used for?
• NDRF amount can be spent only on meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief, and rehabilitation.
• For projects exclusively for the purpose of mitigation, i.e, measures aimed at reducing the risk, impact, or effect of a disaster or threatening disaster situation a separate fund called National Disaster Mitigation Fund has to be constituted.
• Sources of Financing NDRF:
• Financed through the levy of a cess on certain items, chargeable to excise and customs duty, and approved annually through the Finance Bill.
• The requirement for funds beyond what is available under the NDRF is met through general budgetary resources.
• Currently, a National Calamity Contingency Duty (NCCD) is levied to finance the NDRF and additional budgetary support is provided as and when necessary.
• A provision also exists in the DM Act to encourage any person or institution to make a contribution to the NDRF.
• Key features of NDRF:
• Located in the “Public Accounts” of Government of India under “Reserve Funds not bearing interest“.
• Monitoring: Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) monitors relief activities for calamities associated with drought, hailstorms, pest attacks, and cold wave /frost while rest of the natural calamities are monitored by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) audits the accounts of NDRF.

PM Cares Fund 

• The PM Cares Fund was set up by the Central government on March 28 as a public charitable trust the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation such as that posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) were created on 28 March 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic in India. 
• The fund will be used for combat, and containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus outbreak and similar pandemic like situations in the future. 
• The Prime Minister of India is the chairman of the fund.
•  Trustees include the Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of Finance in the Government of India. 
• Creation of funds like the PM Cares Fund is not barred by the existence of other statutory funds like the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) under the Disaster Management Act of 2005, the Central government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. 
• In its affidavit filed before the top court, the Centre defended the PM Cares Fund stating that it is a fund established to carry out relief work and several such funds have been established on a similar line in the past. 
• "Mere existence of a statutory fund (NDRF) would not prohibit the creation of a different fund like PM Cares Fund which provides for voluntary donations," the affidavit said. 
• The Centre's response came on a petition by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking transfer of all contributions made to PM Cares Fund to date to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). 

Source: The Hindu

2) What you need to know about the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission 

• Perseverance will land on the Red Planet and search for signs of ancient microbial life, characterize the planet's geology and climate, and collect rock and sediment samples.NASA's new rover is the latest in a long line of Mars rovers that had increasingly complex miss- ns over the years that culminated in the Perseverance's mission to gauge human survival on Mars. 
• To ensure that Perseverance takes the path of least resistance to finding microbial life, the rover will land in a location that has the highest possibility of housing life - the Jezero Crater - where a river used to run billions of years ago 
• Unlike NASA's previous rovers, however, Perseverance is not a one-way mission; the robot will collect samples and package them such that they can be retrieved by a future mission to Mars. 
• As part of its next mission to Mars, leaving Earth this summer, NASA will attempt to do something that has never been done before: fly a helicopter through the rarefied atmosphere of Mars. 
• If it works, the small helicopter, named Ingenuity, will open a new way for future robotic explorers to get a bird's-eye view of Mars and other worlds in the solar system. 
• NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will travel with the Perseverance rover through 314 million miles (505 million kilometers) of interplanetary space to get to Mars.

Source: NASA

3)  Equalisation Levy

• The government is not considering extending the deadline for payment of Equalisation Levy by non-resident players
• The 2% equalization levy was introduced in the 2020- 21 Budget and came into effect from April 1 The deadline for payment of the first installment for April-June is July 7. The tax would be levied on consideration received by e-commerce operators from the online supply Of goods or services. 
• The levy is seen aimed at taxing foreign companies which have a significant Local client base in India but were billing them through their offshore units

About Equalisation Levy

• Before 2016, only those companies who were registered in India (resident status) used to pay tax in India as per the Income Tax Act 1961. This is because those companies who used to earn from a business activity in India, they had to register their business/office here, then only they could do business in India.
• But with the advent of Information Technology, it became possible that "Google" corporation is registered in the US and has resident status in the US but their source of Revenue is from India through digital ads on their websites and others. So, the Income Tax Act 1961 did not apply to the income generated to "Google" (as they did not have any registered office in India and their status was Non-resident in India) through the sale of advertisements in India. So, to tax such income generated to such firms, in 2016 India brought "EQUALISATION LEVY" also called "GOOGLE TAX".
• There are various kinds of services under it and the clauses of "EQUALISATION LEVY" under the "Income Tax Act 1961" has been made effective with different dates. Three years back, the "sale of digital services (ads)" was notified.  And now from 1st April 2020, "EQUALISATION LEVY" applies to e-commerce firms also. 
• So, if an e-commerce firm (say Amazon which is registered in the US, and in India its status is non-resident) earns a REVENUE (and not profit) of say Rs. 100 from its online platform by sale to Indian people (Indian residents) then out of Rs. 100 they need to give Rs. 2 (2%) to Govt. of India as Tax. ON digital ads the rate was 6% (pls don't go into rates).
• See, if Amazon would be registered in India then they would automatically pay "Corporate Income Tax" on their profits as per the Income Tax Act 1961.
• "EQUALISATION LEVY" is a Direct Tax and is levied on "REVENUE" and not "Profit". As for India, it will be very difficult to check the profit of amazon as it has a lot of operations in the US and other countries.

Source: The Hindu

4) Central Pollution Control Board to strengthen monitoring of Pollution in tributaries of Ganga.

• An inter-ministerial meeting was held in the presence of Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar and Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
• In the meeting, pending issues of Environment/Forest clearance of National Projects of Central Water Commission, National Water Development Agency, and Pradhan Mantri  Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-AIBP were discussed.
• Further, the Union Minister of Jal Shakti requested the Central Pollution Control Board to strengthen the pollution monitoring system in Ganga and its major tributaries wherein inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries is carried out regularly. Similarly, close monitoring of water quality in coordination with National Mission on Clean Ganga was emphasized and it was agreed upon that suitable mechanism will be developed.
• Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar urged the officials of both the ministry to work in close tandem and expedite approvals of key river projects of national importance after following due process and also put in an institutional mechanism to monitor the water quality of Ganga and it’s major tributaries. At the meeting, Shri Javadekar also informed that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has in principle approved a special program for the conservation of Gangetic Dolphin, on the lines of Project Tiger and Project Elephant.

Source: PIB

5) First five re-printed volumes of Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts released

• The Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). The first set of five volumes of Mongolian Kanjur published under the NMM was presented to the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Guru Purnima, also known as Dharma Chakra Day, on 4th July 2020. 
• It is expected that all the 108 volumes of the Mongolian Kanjur will be published by March 2022.

The National Mission for Manuscripts

• The National Mission for Manuscripts was launched in February 2003 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, with the mandate of documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts. One of the objectives of the mission is to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars, and the general public at large. Under this scheme, reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur has been taken up by the Mission. It is expected that all the volumes will be published by March 2022. This work is being carried out under the supervision of eminent Scholar Prof. Lokesh Chandra.

Mongolian Kanjur

• Mongolian Kanjur, the Buddhist canonical text in 108 volumes is considered to be the most important religious text in Mongolia. In the Mongolian language ‘Kanjur’ means ‘Concise Orders’- the words of Lord Buddha in particular. It is held in high esteem by the Mongolian Buddhists and they worship the Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual. The Kanjur is kept almost in every monastery in Mongolia. Mongolian Kanjur has been translated from Tibetan. The language of the Kanjur is Classical Mongolian. The Mongolian Kanjur is a source of providing a cultural identity to Mongolia.
• During the socialist period, xylographs were consigned to flames and monasteries were bereft of their sacred scriptures. During 1956-58, Professor Raghu Vira obtained a microfilm copy of the rare Kanjur manuscripts and brought them to India. And, the Mongolian Kanjur in 108 volumes was published in India in the 1970s by Prof. Lokesh Chandra, former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). Now, the present edition is being published by the National Mission for Manuscripts, Ministry of Culture, Government of India; in which every volume will have a list of contents indicating the original title of the sutra in Mongolian.
• Historical interaction between India and Mongolia goes back centuries. Buddhism was carried to Mongolia by Indian cultural and religious ambassadors during the early Christian era. As a result, today, Buddhists form the single largest religious denomination in Mongolia. India established formal diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1955. Since then, the overwhelming relationship between both countries has now reached a new height. Now, the publication of Mongolian Kanjur by the Government of India for the Government of Mongolia will act as a symbol of cultural symphony between India and Mongolia and will contribute to the furtherance of bilateral relations during the coming years.

Source: PIB

6) Criminal law reforms

• A group of retired judges, former bureaucrats, and others have written to the newly constituted Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws, questioning the lack of diversity in the committee and asking for more transparency in its functioning.

Background:

• This committee was first announced by home minister Amit Shah in parliament in December 2019.
• The panel would look into required amendments to the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure to deal with the issue of mob lynching.
• The Committee was constituted through a Ministry of Home Affairs notification on May 4, 2020. The chairperson is Ranbir Singh (vice-chancellor, National Law University Delhi).

What’s the issue?

• The line-up of the Committee’s members “lacks diversity, both in terms of the social identity of the members, as well as their professional background and experience.”
• Unlike previous committees that had been assigned reforms of such magnitude, this one did not even have full-time members.

What needs to be done?

• Include more expertise and diversity. Create sub-committees with outside experts and other consultants with established track records in the field of criminal justice who can redress the lack of diversity and experience in the Committee’s current composition.
• The committee should include “eminent women, Dalit, Adivasi, and various religious minorities, LGBT, differently-abled criminal law practitioners, and grassroots workers from different parts of India”.
• The committee should make public the MHA notification constituting it. It should also upload on its website the terms of reference. The committee should clarify whether or not it is working independently of the MHA.
• The committee should engage with a wide range of stakeholders in the criminal justice system in a meaningful, substantive, and transparent manner.

Background:

• The Criminal law in India is contained in several sources – The Indian Penal Code of 1860, the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
• Criminal Justice System can impose penalties on those who violate the established laws.
• The criminal law and criminal procedure are in the concurrent list of the seventh schedule of the constitution.
• Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay is said to be the chief architect of codifications of criminal laws in India.

Need for reforms:

• Colonial-era laws.
• ineffectiveness.
• Pendency of cases.
• Huge undertrials.

Previous committees:

• Madhav Menon Committee: It submitted its report in 2007, suggesting various recommendations on reforms in the Criminal Justice System of India (CJSI).
• Malimath Committee Report: It submitted its report in 2003 on the Criminal Justice System of India (CJSI).

Source: The Hindu

7) UAE keen on open-sky policy with India

The United Arab Emirates has said that it is keen to have an open-sky agreement with India.

It asked India to look at the Open-sky policy separately from fifth and sixth freedoms (of air).

The issue of fifth and sixth freedoms of air has been a sore point between airlines in India and the UAE.

What is the Open Sky policy?

• The agreement will not only encourage connectivity and passenger travel between the two countries but will also result in a reduction in airfares on these routes.
• The National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, allows the government to enter into an ‘open sky’ air services agreement on a reciprocal basis with SAARCnations as well as countries beyond a 5,000-kilometer radius from New Delhi.
• It implies that nations within this distance need to enter into a bilateral agreement and mutually determine the number of flights that their airlines can operate between the two countries.
• India has already signed open sky agreements with Greece, Jamaica, Guyana, Czech Republic, Finland, Spain, and Sri Lanka.

Freedoms of air:

• International air travel is governed by various freedoms of air.
• The degree of “sky openness” depends on the freedoms of the air in the country granted to foreign airlines. There are 9 such freedoms according to the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation.
• Importantly,
• First freedom of air allows a carrier to take off from its home state.
• Second freedom of air allows it to land in a second country.
• Third and fourth freedoms of air allow the airline to take off from the country it has landed in and come back to land at its home base.
• The fifth and sixth freedoms allow airlines to carry passengers picked from one country and fly them to a third country rather than the country from which the airline originated.

Source: The Hindu

8) India to take a call on Australia’s inclusion in Malabar exercises

• India will take a decision on whether to include Australia in the Malabar exercises with Japan and the U.S. at a Defence Ministry meeting early next week, according to a defense source. The decision, if taken, could bring all Quad countries together as part of the annual war games.
• The general consensus is that Australia should join. A discussion is going to happen in the Defence Ministry on this issue next week
• India said it was open to Australia’s inclusion in the Malabar as an observer. The move comes in the midst of the ongoing standoff with China on the border, the biggest crisis along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in over five decades. Australia’s inclusion would be seen as a possible first step towards the militarization of the Quad coalition, something Beijing has opposed in the past
• Once the government takes a decision to include Australia, as per procedure, the other partner nations — Japan and the U.S. — have to be informed to secure their consent, after which a formal invitation would be extended to Australia. Japan and the U.S. have been keen on Canberra’s inclusion and have been pushing India to consider it. 
• The Malabar exercise, which has been delayed this year due to the COVID­19 pandemic should take place towards the end of 2020, the source said. The inclusion of Australia in the exercises would mark a major shift for India’s Indo­Pacific plans.

Exercise MALABAR

• It is an annual exercise between the navies of India, Japan, and the U.S. held alternately in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
• It began in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the U.S.
• Then it got permanently expanded into a trilateral format with the inclusion of Japan in 2015.
• MALABAR 2019 would endeavor to further strengthen India - Japan - US Naval cooperation and enhance interoperability, based on shared values and principles.
• India and Japan defense forces organize a series of bilateral exercises namely, JIMEX, SHINYUU Maitri, and Dharma Guardian.
• Whereas India and USA conduct Joint Military Exercises namely, Yudha Abhyas.

Source: The Hindu