Daily Current Affairs 18 July 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Maternal Mortality in India 2016-­18

• The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in India has declined to 113 in 2016­-18 from 122 in 2015-­17 and 130 in 2014­2016, according to the special bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2016­18, released by the Office of the Registrar General’s Sample Registration System (SRS)
• One of the key indicators of maternal mortality is the MMR, defined as the number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births. The target 3.1 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 1,00,000 live births. 
• The MMR of various States according to the bulletin includes Assam (215), Bihar (149), Madhya Pradesh (173), Chhattisgarh (159), Odisha (150), Rajasthan (164), Uttar Pradesh (197) and Uttarakhand (99). The southern States registered a lower MMR — Andhra Pradesh (65), Telangana (63), Karnataka (92), Kerala (43), and Tamil Nadu (60). 
• Maternal mortality in a region is a measure of the reproductive health of women in the area. As per the World Health Organization, maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management

Source: The Hindu

2) Anti­-defection law

• Constitutional courts cannot judicially review disqualification proceedings under the Tenth Schedule (anti­-defection law) of the Constitution until the Speaker or Chairman makes a final decision on merits.
• A 28­-year-­old judgment of the Supreme Court in Kihoto Hollohan versus Zachillu and Others has said that “judicial review cannot be available at a stage before the making of a decision by the Speaker/Chairman and a quia timet action would not be permissible. Nor would interference be permissible at an interlocutory stage of the proceedings.” 
• “The only exception for any interlocutory interference being cases of interlocutory disqualifications or suspensions which may have grave, immediate and irreversible repercussions and consequence,” the Bench had held. The judgment is significant in the case of ousted Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and the 18 MLAs, who were issued a notice under the anti-defection law after the ruling Congress sought their disqualification. They have approached the Rajasthan High Court challenging the constitutionality of Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule which makes “voluntarily giving up membership of a political party” liable for disqualification. 

What is the anti-defection law?

• The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by the 52nd Amendment Act.
• It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.
• The decision on the question as to disqualification on ground of defection is referred to as the Chairman or the Speaker of such House, and his decision is final.
• The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.

Disqualification:

• If a member of a house belonging to a political party:
• Voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party, or
• Votes, or does not vote in the legislature, contrary to the directions of his political party. However, if the member has taken prior permission, or is condoned by the party within 15 days from such voting or abstention, the member shall not be disqualified.
• If an independent candidate joins a political party after the election.
• If a nominated member joins a party six months after he becomes a member of the legislature.

Exceptions under the law:

• Legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances.
• The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favor of the merger.
• In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.

The decision of the Presiding Officer is subject to judicial review:

• The law initially stated that the decision of the Presiding Officer is not subject to judicial review. This condition was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992, thereby allowing appeals against the Presiding Officer’s decision in the High Court and Supreme Court. However, it held that there may not be any judicial intervention until the Presiding Officer gives his order.

Advantages of anti-defection law:

• Provides stability to the government by preventing shifts of party allegiance.
• Ensures that candidates remain loyal to the party as well as the citizens voting for him.
• Promotes party discipline.
• Facilitates merger of political parties without attracting the provisions of Anti-defection
• Expected to reduce corruption at the political level.
• Provides for punitive measures against a member who defects from one party to another.

Various Recommendations to overcome the challenges posed by the law:

Dinesh Goswami Committee on electoral reforms: Disqualification should be limited to the following cases:

• A member voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party
• A member abstains from voting or votes contrary to the party whip in a motion of vote of confidence or motion of no-confidence. Political parties could issue whips only when the government was in danger.

Law Commission (170th Report)

• Provisions that exempt splits and mergers from disqualification to be deleted.
• Pre-poll electoral fronts should be treated as political parties under anti-defection
• Political parties should limit the issuance of whips to instances only when the government is in danger.

Election Commission:

• Decisions under the Tenth Schedule should be made by the President/ Governor on the binding advice of the Election Commission.

Source: The Hindu

3) India considers plan to store oil in the USA 

• THE CENTRE Friday signed MoUs with the United States on cooperation on strategic petroleum reserves and boosting collaboration in areas including bioenergy, renewable energy in agriculture, and
• high-efficiency coal technologies with lowe missions, at the meeting of the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership. Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan co-chaired the meet with the US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette via video conferencing.
• The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)to begin cooperation on operation and maintenance of strategic petroleum reserves, including the exchange of information and best practices, and also discussed the possibility of India storing oil in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase India’s strategic oil stockpile
• The central government took the opportunity of the fall in crude prices in March and April to fill the nation’s currently operational strategic petroleum reserve storage

India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves

• India has three strategic petroleum (crude oil) reserves at Vizag/Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangalore (1.5 million tonnes) and Padur (near Udupi) (2.5 million tonnes) totaling 5.55 MT which could last for 9 days. This is to provide energy security to India and it is in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and serves as a cushion during any supply disruptions. The Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL), a subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board, run by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas manages these reserves.
• The crude oil storages are constructed in underground rock caverns and are located on the East and West coast of India. Crude oil from these caverns can be supplied to the Indian Refineries either through pipelines or through a combination of pipelines and coastal movement. Underground rock caverns are considered as the safest means of storing hydrocarbons. 
• India has signed MoU to 'Operate and Maintain' its Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the US.
• India is also discussing the possibility of storing oil in the 'US Strategic Petroleum Reserve'

Source: Indian Express

4) UN blacklists Pak. Taliban leader Noor Wali Mehsud

• The Tehreek­e­Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group’s leader Noor Wali Mehsud has been designated as a global terrorist by the UN for participating in the financing, planning, and perpetrating acts on behalf of and in support of entities associated with al­-Qaeda.
• The UN Security Council’s 1267 ISIL and Al-­Qaeda Sanctions Committee added Mehsud, 42, to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al­-Qaeda Sanctions List, subjecting the Pakistani national to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.
• In June 2018, Mehsud was named the leader of Tehreek­e­Taliban Pakistan, following the death of former TTP leader Maulana Fazlullah. The TTP was blacklisted by the UN on July 29, 2011, for its association with al­-Qaeda. 
• Under Noor Wali’s leadership, TTP has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly terrorist attacks across Pakistan, including an attack targeting Pakistani security forces in North Waziristan in July 2019 and a bomb attack against Pakistani soldiers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in August 2019
• The group had claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing in Times Square on May 1, 2010, and in April 2010, it had launched a multi­pronged assault against the United States Consulate in Peshawar, killing at least six Pakistanis and wounding 20 others
• Blacklisting by the Security Council entails that all states are required to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

Source: The Hindu

5) Zonal Master Plan of Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone

• In a review meeting of the CHAARDHAAM ROAD PROJECT in the State of Uttarakhand via Video Conferencing, Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar informed that the Zonal Master Plan(ZMP), prepared by the Government of Uttarakhand and appraised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has been accorded approval by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEF&CC) on 16th July 2020.
• The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone notification from Gaumukh to Uttarakashi covering an area of 4179.59 sq. kilometer was issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEF&CC) on 18th December 2012 keeping in view the requirements of the local people without affecting their rights and privileges and also ensuring eco-friendly development for their livelihood security. The notification was subsequently amended on 16th April 2018 in consultation with the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, GOI; Government of Uttarakhand, and Indian Road Congress.
• The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone notification mandated the State Government of Uttarakhand to prepare ZMP to be implemented under the supervision of the Monitoring Committee.
• The ZMP is based on the watershed approach and includes governance in the area of forest and wildlife, watershed management, irrigation, energy, tourism, public health and sanitation, road infrastructure, etc.
• The approval of ZMP will give a boost to the conservation and ecology of the area and also undertake developmental activities as permitted under ZMP.
• The review meeting of the CHAARDHAAM ROAD PROJECT in the State of Uttarakhand was chaired by Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Shri Nitin Gadkari. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat, Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways Gen (Retd) V K Singh and the State Ministers of Environment & Forest, PWD among others participated in the meeting. Union Secretaries of Road Transport & Highways, Environment and Forests, DG Roads(MoRTH), DG(BRO), and senior officers of the two Ministries and State Government also attended.
• The approval of ZMP will give a boost to the conservation and ecology of the area and also undertake developmental activities as permitted under ZMP. The approval will also pave the way for faster execution of the Chaar Dhaam Project.

Source: PIB

6) Grant in Aid for Rural Local Bodies

• Recently, the Ministry of Finance has released a part of grants-in-aid of Rs. 15187.50 crore for around 2.63 lakh Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) of 28 States.
• This has been made on the recommendations of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• This forms part of the Tied Grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission (FC) for the Financial Year (FY) 2020-2021.

Key Points

• Recommendation of 15th FC: It recommended the grant in aid of Rs. 60,750 crore for (FY 2020-21) the RLBs which is the highest ever allocation made by the Finance Commission in any single year.
• Allocation: It will be allocated in two parts, namely Basic Grant and Tied Grant in 50:50% mode.
• Basic Grant: These grants are untied and can be used by RLBs for location-specific needs, except for salary or other establishment expenditure
• Untied funds are utilized for the works of emergent nature which are normally not covered under the schemes decentralized at the district level.
• Tied Grants: These are used for the basic services of:
• Sanitation and maintenance of Open-Defecation Free (ODF) status.
• Supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting, and water recycling.
• The RLBs shall, as far as possible, earmark one-half of these grants each to these two critical services.
• However, if any RLB has fully saturated the needs of one category it can utilize the funds for the other category.
• Distribution: The State Governments will be distributing the grants to all the tiers of the Panchayati Raj -village, block and district including the traditional bodies of 5th and 6th Schedule areas based on the accepted recommendations of the latest State Finance Commission (SFC) and in conformity with the recommendations of the 15th FC.
• Assistance: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj would support the states in effective utilization of the grants by providing Web/IT-enabled platforms for planning, monitoring, accounting/auditing of the works and funds flow at the level of each of the RLBs.
• Significance:
• Fighting Covid 19: It would help RLBs in providing employment. E.g. migrant laborers who have returned to their native places owing to the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
• Delivery of Basic Services: The availability of this fund will boost RLBs effectiveness in the delivery of basic services to rural citizens.
• Rural Infrastructure: It will augment the rural infrastructure in a constructive way e.g construction of roads, the supply of water, etc.

Source: PIB

7) A dichotomy in Animal Sacrifice: SC

Recently, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Kerala government on a plea challenging the Kerala Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition Act, 1968.

• The Act prohibits the sacrifice of animals and birds in temples to ‘please’ the deity.
• It also criminalizes the intent behind the animal sacrifice and not animal sacrifice per se.
• If the sacrifice is not for pleasing any deity but for personal consumption even in the precincts of the temple, it is not forbidden.

Key Points

• Background:
• The plea challenged the 16th June 2020 Kerala High Court order upholding the 1968 Act.
• Essential Practice: The petitioners, who are Shakthi worshippers, appealed that animal sacrifice is an integral part of the worship and an essential religious practice.
• They are unable to perform “Bali” rituals after the ban which they believe is diminishing the family deity’s power.
• Shaktism or Shakthi tantric practice is a major tradition of Hinduism and as per its scriptures and practices, animal sacrifice is essential and unavoidable.
• Discriminatory: It was also argued that the Act applies only to Hindus but does not stop other religions from practicing it which is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 (Right to Equality before the Law) of the Constitution.
• Petitioners referred to bird sacrifice at a Church in Kochi and the festival of Bakrid which has not been banned.
• According to the state assembly, killing animals in other religious practices cannot be considered as a sacrifice because the animals are later cooked and consumed.
• Enforce Blanket Prohibition: They held that if the killing of animals and birds was to be prohibited, it should be for all purposes, religious or otherwise.
• Supreme Court’s Reaction:
• The SC highlighted the dichotomy in animal protection law which allows the killing of animals for food but does not permit the killing of animals as an offering to a deity.
• The court raised an important question of “Is killing, not cruelty?” and highlighted the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 which allows the killing of animals but prohibits cruelty to animals.
• According to SC, there may be a point in saying that taking lives is permissible in certain circumstances but cruelty is not.

Source: The Hindu

8) Agreement on Scientific Cooperation Between India and EU

Recently, India and the European Union (EU) agreed to renew the Agreement on Scientific Cooperation for the next five years (2020-2025) during the virtual 15th India-EU Summit.

Key Points

• Renewal of Agreement on Scientific Cooperation:
• India and the EU have agreed to further collaborate in research and innovation based on the principles of mutual benefit and reciprocity, as established in the India-EU Agreement on Science and Technology (2001) which expired on 17th May 2020.
• Both parties are also committed to launch the renewal procedure for the above agreement and acknowledge 20 years of cooperation on research and innovation.
• Significance:
• It is expected to enhance research and innovation cooperation in different fields like Water, Energy, Healthcare, Agritech & Bioeconomy, Integrated Cyber-Physical Systems, Information and Communication Technologies, Nanotechnology, and clean technologies, etc.
• It will also strengthen the institutional linkages in research, exchange of researchers, students, startups and attract co-investment of resources for co-generation of knowledge.
• India-EU Science and Technology Cooperation:
• Science and Technology: India-EU Science & Technology Steering Committee meets annually to review scientific cooperation.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and the European Commission (EC) have established a Co-Funding Mechanism (CFM) to support joint research projects selected under European Research & Innovation Framework Program ‘Horizon 2020’ related to climate change and polar research.
• Space Technology: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has had long-standing cooperation with the European Union, since the 1970s.
• ISRO and the European Space Agency are working towards enhancing cooperation in earth observation. It also involves the Copernicus program signed in 2018.
• Copernicus is the European Union's Earth observation program.

India-EU Relations

• Evolution of Diplomatic Relations:
• India being amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community in 1962.
• The first India-EU Summit was held in Lisbon (Portugal) in 2000. Since then, fifteen annual bilateral Summits have been held between India and the EU.
• The relationship was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ during the 5th India-EU Summit held at The Hague (Netherlands) in 2004.
• The bilateral Strategic Partnership encompasses dialogue mechanisms covering a wide range of issues including trade, energy security, science & research, non-proliferation and disarmament, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, counter-piracy, migration, and mobility, etc.
• Trade and Investment:
• The EU as a whole was India’s largest trading partner while India was EU’s 9th largest trading partner in 2018.
• India is also the fourth largest service exporter to the EU and the sixth-largest destination for service exports from the EU.
• EU is the largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India.
• Over the period April 2000 to June 2018, FDI equity flows from the EU countries into $ 90.7 billion, which is about 24% of the total FDI inflows to India.
• Among countries, Singapore is the largest source of FDI in India during 2019 with a $ 14.67 billion investment followed by Mauritius ($ 8.24 billion).
• India and the EU are in the process of negotiating a bilateral Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) since 2007.

Way Forward

• India and the EU are ideal partners to make a difference in an international environment that is increasingly shaped by the strategic rivalry between the USA and China.
• They have a common interest in avoiding a polarised world and developing the rules-based international order.
• The effort has to be to make the India-EU partnership rise to its potential and provide a new model for international relations today.

Source: PIB

9) Delimitation in North-east Illegal: Former EC Expert

• Recently, a former legal advisor to the Election Commission (EC) has held that the Centre’s order for setting up a Delimitation Commission for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam, and Nagaland is “unconstitutional” and “illegal”.
• The government constituted a Delimitation Commission to redraw Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir and the four northeastern states on 6th March 2020.
• It is headed by the former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.

Background:

• Last delimitation exercise (2002-08) kept out Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland because the data used for it from the 2001 Census was challenged for being defective.
• The tribal communities in the four states feared that the delimitation exercise would change the composition of seats reserved for them, hurting their electoral interests.
• The Delimitation Act of 2002 was amended on 14th January 2008, to empower the President to postpone the exercise in these states after violence erupted.
• Subsequently, Parliament decided that EC would carry out the delimitation exercise in the four states and introduced the Section 8A of the Representation of the People (RP) Act 1950 for this purpose.
• The decision of Parliament was based on earlier precedence of the EC being vested with the authority to redraw boundaries of constituencies including when Delhi was delimited into 70 seats in 1991-92 and Uttarakhand into 70 seats in 2000.

Issue:

• The Centre's order for setting up a Delimitation Commission is illegal because it violates the Representation of the People Act 1950.
• Section 8A of the RP Act 1950, introduced by Parliament in 2008, states that delimitation in the four northeastern states would fall within the EC’s remit.
• Hence, any delimitation exercise by the new Delimitation Commission would be declared void and result in wastage of huge public funds.

Source: Indian Express