Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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‘Article 35A is not part of the Constitution of India’

News:

• Jammu and Kashmir Advocate-General Jehangir Iqbal Ganai on Friday said Article 35A, which is being contested in the Supreme Court through a number of petitions, “is not part of the Indian Constitution”.

Beyond News:

• There is an argument projected that the President has no powers to amend the Constitution.
• Every Article has been made applicable to J&K through Article 370. In Article 370, the President has been given powers to amend, alter or modify any article viz-a-viz J&K, with exceptions and modifications.

Referring to the 1954 presidential order on Article 35A, which grants special rights to citizens of J&K over property and jobs, Mr. Ganai said the Article related to fundamental rights was in “desirable” and not “essential” list.

Read more detail: ARTICLE 35A- Constitutional or Not? | CLICK HERE

Judiciary knows best: SC Collegium

News:

• Let judiciary, and not the Intelligence Bureau (IB), be the best judge of professional competence of candidates considered for judicial appointments, the Supreme Court Collegium said.

Background:

• The IB does a background check on the candidates once their names are considered for elevation by the High Court Collegium concerned.

Beyond News:

• The Collegium of Chief Justice of India, made it clear that the IB should not delve into the professional competence of persons shortlisted for the judiciary.
• The Chief Justice and his two senior-most colleagues met on November 1 to decide on the recommendations for appointments to Tripura and Jharkhand High Courts and also to consider the case of three Additional Judges in the Gauhati High Court who were to be made permanent judges.

The Supreme Court Collegium further laid down that only factually proven information supplied by the IB on candidates should be taken cognisance of by the Collegium.

SC wants norms fixed for distance education courses

News:

• Questioning the role of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in checking the commercialisation of education, the Supreme Court restrained deemed-to-be universities from conducting distance education in any course unless all the courses were approved by the statutory authorities.

Background:

• A Bench found that these institutions conducted distance education, including in technical disciplines, without proper inspection or checks.

The court directed that permission for distance education courses should be given only after off-campus centres or study centres of the institutions were individually inspected and found adequate by the statutory authorities.

• The court found that the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) had been “illegally kept out” and their study centres had never been inspected.

Beyond News:

• The Supreme Court ordered the direct suspension of degrees for students enrolled during academic sessions 2001-2005 in these institutions. It ordered the annulment of degrees of students admitted in these universities after academic sessions of 2001- 2005.

The apex court has also ordered a CBI probe.

Specify Aadhaar link deadlines, says SC

News:

• The Supreme Court sent a clear message to the public to not panic, when it directed mobile service providers and banks to specify the last dates of linking mobile numbers and bank accounts to Aadhaar in the SMSes and e-mails they send to millions of subscribers.

Beyond News:

• A Bench ordered that mobile service providers and banks should specify that February 6, 2018 and December 31, 2017 are the last dates for Aadhaar linking.

Rule 2(b) of the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules of 2017 requires Aadhaar for opening new bank accounts and for verification of existing bank accounts by December 31, 2017, failing which the “bank accounts will cease to be operational.”

Pak. faces flak over terror funding

News:

• India scored a major victory at the Financial Action Task Force that looks into terror financing that held its plenary in Buenos Aires , Even as it faced a Chinese veto on designating Masood Azhar a terrorist at the United Nations Security Council.

Beyond News:

• Pakistan has failed to penalise or curb the activities of any of the terror groups [designated by the UNSC].
• India raised the issue at the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) in Argentina. Other countries supported India and now Pakistan has to submit a compliance report during the next session in February 2018.
• The win for Indian negotiators was significant as it came even as China vetoed the latest bid to have Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar designated at the UNSC.
• Pakistan has been asked to report again in February on action taken against designated terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its off-shoots Jamaat-ud Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniyat.
• China tried hard to defend Pakistan during the FATF proceedings,But unlike at the UN, two speaking countries are needed to block consensus, and China was isolated there.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

DRDO successfully tests guided bomb

News:

• The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has successfully tested an indigenously developed light weight glide bomb.

Beyond News:

• Its called , Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW), which can target large enemy infrastructure, like airfields.
• The guided bomb released from an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft and guided through precision navigation system, reached the targets at greater than 70 km range with high accuracies,
• The tests were conducted at Chandipur in Odisha.

 

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