NEWS

DISCUSSION FOR
UPSC
1/25/2017

25 JANUARY, 2017

 Centre to seek withdrawal of jallikattu notification

The Centre on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it will move an application
withdrawing the January 7, 2016 central notification allowing jallikattu in the
wake of the Bill passed unanimously by the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
The submission came a day after the Assembly passed the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment), Bill, 2017, which is now before the President to
see if there is any repugnancy with the Central Act.

The passing of the Bill and the Centres move seeking withdrawal of the January 7
notification would end up rendering a judgment on the constitutionality of the
notification infructuous.
The Supreme Court had reserved a batch of petitions filed by animal lovers and
organisations, challenging the notification after prolonged hearings on its legal
validity.
It was only last week, on January 20, that the Centre had approached the Supreme
Court to delay the pronouncement of its judgment on the notification by a week.

Mr. Rohatgi had then submitted that passions were running high in Tamil Nadu,
and some leeway should be given by the court so that the Centre and the State
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government
could engage in talks to end massive protests.

 SC rejects plea to put off BCCI panel appointment

freeze the process for appointment of a Committee of Administrators to run the
BCCI, by at least two weeks.
Mr. Rohatgi said the government was considering legislation or executive action to
arm the various sports associations with some autonomy against external
interventions.
The court refused to keep in abeyance the process.

It, however, allowed the Centre and some State cricket associations to suggest
names for the committee

sweeping and drastic changes within sports bodies, as proposed by the Lodha
Committee in BCCIs case, would not only have a national impact but affect sports
administration internationally.

If these interventions are made into the affairs of private bodies, tomorrow private
bodies dealing with art, films, etc., will be affected.
Mr. Rohatgi referred to the 2005 Zee Telefilms SC verdict which had held that the
BCCI was not a State under Article 12 of the Constitution, but only a private body.
Amicus curiae and senior advocate Gopal Subramanium said efforts were on to sow
confusion, scuttling the progress attained in the BCCI case so far.
Issue
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 continued
Age bar to stay

The court made it clear that it would not consider in conformity with
the Lodha panel recommendations any person who is over 70 years old
for the committee of administrators.
Mr. Subramanium said that once the Committee of Administrators is in
place, it should also take charge of State cricket associations and their
assets like stadiums, if they continue to refuse to implement Lodha reforms.
I am not going to give any undertakings because all this is totally in
violation of law. How can you take away my rights? How can you appoint a
body of administrators over elected bodies,
Mr. Sibal objected. He submitted that the Supreme Court should hear the
State associations first before appointing the committee.

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 Donations of electoral trusts not personal info

Details of donations received by electoral trusts and their further
distribution to political parties are neither personal information

the Central Information Commission (CIC) has said in an order aimed at

ensuring transparency in electoral funding.

The Commission has directed the Income-Tax Department to make public

the list of electoral trusts formed during 10 years since 2003-04 and
whether they received Income-Tax exemptions.

also directed the department to take views of these trusts on furnishing the
details of contributions received by them which have been distributed to
political parties.

The Bench said the CIC directive to disclose Income-Tax returns of the
political parties became final as that was neither challenged nor reversed.
This means the details of contributions to political parties from electoral
trusts are supposed to be disclosed.

Similarly, the financial resources of electoral trusts cannot be classified under

any category of secrecy or be exempted under any clause of Section 8 of the
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RTI
Act, the Bench held.

 Electoral Trust
An Electoral Trust is a non-profit company established for orderly receipt of
the voluntary contributions from any person (or company) for distributing
the same to the respective political parties, registered under Section 29A of
the Representation of People Act, 1951.
Such a company is registered under Companies Act comes under the
purview of CBDT for tax matters.
Who can contribute to electoral trusts?
The electoral trust may receive voluntary contributions from An individual
who is a citizen of India a company which is registered in India and a firm
or Hindu undivided family or an Association of persons or a body of
individuals, resident in India.

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 India to ratify amended version of Kyoto Protocol

In a token measure to put pressure on developed countries to deliver on
climate change commitments, India will soon ratify an amended version of
the Kyoto Protocol.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its
approval to ratify the deal that is set to expire in 2020 and was shunned by
several developed countries, most prominently the United States.

U.S. reluctance

Until now, 75 countries have ratified the so-called Doha Amendment of the
Kyoto Protocol, which spans from 2012 to 2020, and falls far short of the
144 needed to bring it into force .

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol came into effect in 2005 and obligated the rich
and industrialised countries to reduce emissions by 5.2% of 1990 levels
during the 2008-2012 period.

However, the refusal of the U.S., the second largest polluter, to be part of
the Protocol and lack of commitments by Canada, Japan and other major
developing countries meant that global emissionsactually rose during this
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period.

 Climate change plan to get new missions

Indias eight-point plan to fight climate change will soon become a 11-point
plan with new missions to address the impact of climate change on
health,
coastal zones and
waste-to-energy
Since 2012, the Prime Ministers Council on Climate Change India has
instituted a National Action Plan on Assessment, Adaptation and Mitigation
of Climate Change, that has specified eight national missions.
These include a National Water Mission, Green India Mission, National Solar
Mission, National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, National Mission on
Enhanced Energy Efficiency, National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan
Ecosystem, National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, and a National
Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.

The impact of climate change is far ranging and we have to consider its
impact
on health, wind and coastal zones.
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 Improved Pinaka rockets test-fired

Pinaka rockets, with a guidance system and an enhanced range, were
successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in
Odisha
The earlier Pinaka version, which was an unguided one, has now been
transformed into a guided version, with a navigation, guidance and control
kit developed by the Research Centre, Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad.
The RCI comes under the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO).
Longer range

According to the DRDO officials, the conversion helped in enhancing the

range and accuracy of Pinaka.
If its range was earlier 40 km, it is more than 70 km now.
Radars, electro-optical systems and telemetry systems at the ITR tracked
and monitored the rocket all through its flight path.
1/25/2017guided version is Pinaka mark-II, which evolved from Pinaka mark-I.9
The

 69% of political funds from unknown sources

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 The voice of Modis foreign policy

By granting Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar an extension for a year
Change from the past

In the past two years, since Mr. Jaishankar was appointed just days short of his retirement, he has
made a mark for not just carrying out the foreign policy of the Modi government but also
articulating it.
The mood today allows for frank and direct conversations between the leaderships. Their shared
appearances including the worlds most powerful selfie and utterances would have been
difficult to envisage a year ago.

Indo-U.S ties

When it comes to actual policy, Mr. Jaishankars biggest success is the Indo-U.S. relationship that has
gone from being one of a number of Indias strategic partnerships to its most important one.
The signing of the joint vision statement for Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, followed by the
signing of the LEMOA military exchanges agreement, indenting a $15 billion

Mr. Jaishankar will now be counted on to smooth the transition from President Obama to President
Trump, Choppy waters ahead
India doesnt want an America that withdraws from the world at this point, explained former
NSA Shivshankar Menon during a discussion in Jaipur on Sunday. China sees an opportunity both
strategically and economically if that happens in the Trump era.
In that sense, most diplomats and foreign policy analysts agree, Mr. Jaishankars challenges in the
next year will be less about establishing Indias foreign policy as stable and solid, and more about
dealing with the turbulence and unpredictability it may see from as a result of all the changes
blowing through Beijing and Washington.
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 India hopes for $75-bn infra fund from UAE

strategic partnership on Wednesday, including an MoU on the proposed $75- billion
UAE sovereign wealth fund investment in Indian infrastructure that has been
hanging fire for 18 months.
For the second time since Mohammad Bin Zayed visited in February 2016, Mr. Modi
went to the airport to receive him, exchanging embraces with him on the tarmac.
This is the first time India has hosted a non-head of state or government in 50
years, making a rare exception for the UAE leader.
Prince Mohammad Bin Zayed wrote that the UAE views India as a linchpin of
stability and security in the Asian continent, adding that the future would see
breakthroughs in the strategic partnership

During Mr. Modis visit to Abu Dhabi in August 2015, the two sides announced a
plan to create a mechanism in India to facilitate the investment of up to $75
billion over a period of 10 years from UAE.
The decision to set up the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)(what
is this?) was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget
2015-16 and was subsequently approved by the Cabinet in July 2015.
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 Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana - 2017

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has
given its post-facto approval for launching of Varishtha Pension Bima
Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017).

It is a part of Governments commitment for financial inclusion and social

security.

The scheme will be implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India

(LIC) during the current financial year to provide social security during old
age and protect elderly persons aged 60 years and above against a future
fall in their interest income due to uncertain market conditions.

The scheme will provide an assured pension based on a guaranteed rate of

return of 8% per annum for ten years, with an option to opt for pension on
a monthly / quarterly / halfyearly and annual basis.
The differential return, i.e., the difference between the return generated by
LIC and the assured return of 8% per annum would be borne by
Government of India as subsidy on an annual basis.
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 Kyoto protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the 1st commitment period
was from 2008-2012.
At Doha in 2012, the amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the 2nd
commitment period (the Doha Amendment) were successfully adopted for
the period 2013- 2020.

Developed countries have already started implementing their commitments

under the 'opt-in' provisions of the Doha Amendment.
India has always emphasized the importance of climate actions by developed
country Parties in the pre-2020 period.

Besides, it has advocated climate actions based on the principles and

provisions of the Convention, such as the principle of Equity and Common
but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR & RC).

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 Background:
Indian Institutes of Management are the country's premier institutions
imparting best quality education in management on globally benchmarked
processes of education and training in management. IIMs are recognized as
world-class management Institutions and Centers of Excellence and have
brought laurels to the country.
All IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act.
Being societies, IIMs are not authorized to award degrees and,
hence, they have been awarding Post Graduate Diploma and Fellow
Programme in Management. While these awards are treated as equivalent to
MBAs and Ph.D, respectively, the equivalence is not universally acceptable,
especially for the Fellow Programme.

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 Following are the salient features of the Bill:

i.

IIMs can grant degrees to their students

ii.
The Bill provides for complete autonomy to the Institutions,
combined with adequate accountability.

iii.
Management of these Institutions would be Board driven, with the
Chairperson and Director of an Institution which will be selected by the Board.

iv.
A greater participation of experts and alumni in the Board is
amongst otherimportant features of the Bill.

v.
Provision has also been made for inclusion of women and members
from Scheduled Castes/Tribes in the Board.

vi.
The Bill also provides for periodic review of the performance of
Institutions by independent agencies, and placing the results of the same on public
domain.

vii.
The Annual Report of the Institutions will be placed in the
Parliament and CAG will be auditing their accounts.

viii.
body.
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There is also a provision of Coordination Forum of IIMs as an advisory

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 The Ministry of Women & Child Development celebrated the National Girl
Child Day at a special function in New Delhi t
The theme of the program was Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao.
The National Plan of Action for Children, 2016 was also released followed
by addresses by Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Minister of WCD; Secretary
WCD, Ms. Leena Nair and Secretary, Department of Food and Public
Distribution, Smt. Preeti Sudan. Special addresses were given by eminent
speakers including Ms. Deepa Malik (Silver medalist at Rio Paralympics
2016), Ms Avani Chaturvedi (Women Fighter Pilot), Ms Arunima Sinha
(First women amputee to climb Mount Everest) and Ms Shanno (former
street girl and advisor of Balaknama newspaper, for and by street children).

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 The Bharat Parv event is being organized by the Government of India at

the Red Fort, Delhi from 26th to 31stJanuary 2017, as part of the Republic
Day 2017Celebrations. The prime objective of organizing the event is to
generate a patriotic mood, promote the rich cultural diversity of the
country, to ensure wider participation of the general public and to
popularise the idea of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
The Ministry of Tourism has been designated as the nodal Ministry for the
event, the highlights of which include display of the Republic Day Parade
Tableaux, Performances by the Armed Forces Bands (static and moving), a
Multi-Cuisine Food Court, Crafts Mela, Cultural Performances from different
regions of the country and a Photo Exhibition by the Ministry of Information
& Broadcasting.

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 The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has
approved a new scheme for promotion of Rural Housing in the country. The
Government would provide interest subsidy under the scheme. Interest
subsidy would be available to every rural household who is not covered under
the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (Grameen), PMAY(G).
The scheme would enable people in rural areas to construct new houses or
add to their existing pucca houses to improve their dwelling units. The
beneficiary who takes a loan under the scheme would be provided interest
subsidy for loan amount upto Rs. 2 Lakhs.
National Housing Bank would implement the scheme.
The Government would provide net present value of the interest subsidy of 3
percent to the National Housing Bank upfront which will, in turn, pass it to
the Primary Lending Institutions (Scheduled Commercial Banks, NBFCs etc.).
As a result the equated monthly installment (EMI) for the beneficiary would
be reduced.
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 Europe

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 Dnieper
ione of the major rivers of Europe (fourth by length), rising near Smolensk,
Russia and flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It
is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth longest river
in Europe.

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 don
It is one of the major rivers of Russia and the 5th longest river in Europe.
The Don basin is between the Dnieper basin to the west, the Volga basin to
the east, and the Oka basin (tributary of the Volga) to the north.
The Don rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast
of Tula (120 km south of Moscow), and flows for a distance of about
1,870 kilometres to the Sea of Azov.

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 volga
is the longest river in Europe. It is also Europe's largest river in terms
of discharge and watershed. The river flows through central Russia and into
the Caspian Sea, and is widely regarded as the national river of Russia.
Eleven of the twenty largest cities of Russia, including the capital, Moscow,
are located in the Volga's watershed.

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