CURRENT AFFAIRS
16 March 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) More than half of OBC and above 40% of SC/ST faculty positions in central institutions unfilled: Education Minister.
There are only nine professors from Scheduled Tribe communities across all 42 Central Universities, according to data presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday. At the 20 Indian Institutes of Management, only five of the posts reserved for STs have been filled. In a written response to a question from three Congress MPs on the vacancies in reserved positions at all central educational institutions, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank told the Lok Sabha that more than half of the positions reserved for OBCs, and about 40% of those reserved for Scheduled Castes and Tribes are vacant. The situation is particularly acute in the elite IIMs, where more than 60% of positions reserved for SCs and OBCs are vacant, while a whopping 80% of positions reserved for STs have not been filled. This means that out of 24 positions reserved for STs, only five have been filled. For the Indian Institutes of Technology, data has only been provided for non-faculty positions. Both IITs and IIMs have been lobbying for exemption from such faculty quota requirements. Nishank’s response to another question from Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy showed that within the Central Universities, vacancies are higher at the level of professors. Out of 709 assistant professor positions reserved for STs at the 42 universities, more than 500 have been filled. However, when it comes to professors, only nine positions have been filled out of the 137 reserved for ST candidates. This means 93% of these posts remain unfilled. Less than 1% of the 1,062 professors in central universities are from ST communities. Similarly, 64% of the 2,206 assistant professor positions reserved for OBCs have been filled at the Central Universities. However, less than 5% of the 378 professor positions reserved for OBCs have been filled. According to the data presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday, there are now 6,074 vacant positions at the 42 universities, of which 75% are in reserved categories.
B) MHA moves Bill to make L-G’s nod must for all Delhi govt. decisions; Kejriwal calls it ‘unconstitutional’
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) moved The National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Bill proposes that government in the national capital territory of Delhi means the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. The Bill gives discretionary powers to the L-G of Delhi even in matters where the Legislative Assembly of Delhi is empowered to make laws. The proposed legislation also seeks to ensure that the L-G is necessarily granted an opportunity to give her/his opinion before any decision taken by the Council of Ministers (or the Delhi Cabinet) is implemented. Among other things, the Bill seeks to amend Section 33 of the Act that empowered the Delhi Assembly to make rules to conduct its business by inserting the clause that it shall not be inconsistent with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in House of People. The amendment says that Legislative Assembly shall not make any rule to enable itself or its Committees to consider the matters of day-to-day administration of the Capital or conduct inquiries in relation to the administrative decisions and any such rules made before the commencement of the Act shall be void. Legal experts have opined that this particular amendment puts a question mark over the ongoing enquiry by the Delhi Assembly into the February 2020 Delhi riots. Reacting to the Bill, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of seeking to drastically curtail the powers of his elected government. He also said that the bill is contrary to Constitution Bench judgement.
C) Batla House encounter: Delhi court awards death penalty to Ariz Khan for killing inspector.
A Delhi court Monday awarded death penalty to Ariz Khan for the murder of police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma in the 2008 Batla House encounter case. Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav also imposed a total fine of ₹11 lakh against Ariz in the case. The court said ₹10 lakh should be immediately released to the family members of Sharma. Police sought death penalty for Ariz, allegedly associated with the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, saying it was not just any killing but a murder of a law enforcement officer who was a defender of justice. Additional Public Prosecutor A.T. Ansari, appearing for the police, said the case attracts exemplary punishment, which is capital punishment. Advocate M.S. Khan, appearing for Ariz, opposed the death penalty and said the incident was not premeditated. Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav also imposed a total fine of ₹11 lakh against Ariz Khan in the case. Inspector Sharma of the special cell was killed during the 2008 Batla House encounter in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi. The trial court had sentenced Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed in July 2013 to life imprisonment in connection with the case. His appeal against the verdict has been pending in the high court. Ariz Khan had fled from the spot and was declared a proclaimed offender. He was arrested on February 14, 2018, and faced the trial.
D) NCB moves Supreme Court against Bombay HC order granting bail to Rhea Chakraborty.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order granting bail to actress Rhea Chakraborty, arrested over drugs-related charges in actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. A Bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian will hear the plea on March 18. On October 7 last year, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to the actress and directed her to deposit a personal bond of ₹1 lakh. It had, however, rejected the bail plea of her brother Showik Chakraborty, who is also an accused in the case, and an alleged drug peddler Abdel Basit Parihar. Rhea, her brother and the other accused were arrested in September last year by the NCB in connection with its probe into the drugs angle related to the case of Rajput’s death. Earlier this month, in a chargesheet running into nearly 12,000 pages and containing statements from more than 200 witnesses, the NCB had named 33 people, including Chakraborty and Showik. The actress was accused of being an active member of a drugs syndicate and financing narcotics used by Sushant Singh Rajput.
E) SC asks Centre, EC to respond to plea for fresh polls if most votes are NOTA.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Election Commission of India (EC) to respond to a plea that fresh elections should be conducted in constituencies where the maximum votes polled are NOTA. The petition said candidates ‘rejected’ by voters should not be fielded again in the fresh polls. During the hearing, Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde expressed doubts initially about the feasibility of the petition by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to arm the electorate with the right to reject and nudge political parties to present voters with a better choice of candidates to pick from. Chief Justice Bobde said if voters kept rejecting candidates, Parliament/Assembly seats would continue to remain vacant, affecting legislative functioning. It is a constitutional problem. If your argument is accepted and there is a certain number of NOTAs, then the constituency will go unrepresented in the Parliament. How will the Parliament function then? Chief Justice Bobde asked senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who represented Upadhyay. But Guruswamy replied that if voters are given the power to reject, political parties will take care to field worthy candidates in the first place. The petition noted how parties spent crores of rupees on the candidates. The CJI also flagged during the hearing the issue whether a political party could influence voters to not vote in a particular constituency. However, Guruswamy prevailed, which led the court to agree to examine the issue raised in the petition.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Adani Ports confirms role in Colombo terminal project.
In its first confirmation yet of investing in the Colombo Port, after much controversy within Sri Lanka and an apparent strain in Indo-Lanka ties, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones on Monday said it was bolstering its global footprint with the West Container Terminal (WCT) project in the island nation’s strategic port. The Group announced its expansion in the neighbourhood, even as the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed group chairman Gautam Adani having accumulated more billions than anyone else in the world this year, with his net worth soaring by $16.2 billion in 2021. Tweeting on the Colombo Port investment, Mr. Adani said that he is Grateful to the leaders of Gol, GOSL, SLPA & John Keells for the opportunity to build wcr, Colombo. This partnership is a symbol of the deep strategic relations between countries with great intertwined history. It will launch decades of container growth. The Adani Group’s investment in the WCT project comes after the Sri Lankan government, in early February, ejected India and Japan out of a 2019 trilateral agreement to jointly develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port, as trade unions opposed foreign involvement in the country’s national assets. In what Colombo termed a compromise, the government offered the WCT instead, with higher stakes for the Adani Group, along with its local partner and Sri Lanka’s largest conglomerate John Keells Holdings, to execute the project with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.
B) Pak. envoy raises concern over ‘burkha ban’ in Sri Lanka.
The Pakistani High Commissioner in Colombo has raised concern over Sri Lanka’s recent announcement on outlawing the burkha, noting that such a ban would injure the feelings of ordinary Muslims in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Sharing a news report on the development, head of the Pakistani mission Saad Khattak on Monday said in a Twitter thread : The likely ban on Niqab #SriLanka will only serve as injury to the feelings of ordinary Sri Lankan Muslims and Muslims across the globe. At today’s economically difficult time due to Pandemic and other image related challenges faced by the country at international fora, such divisive steps in the name of Security, besides accentuating economic difficulties, will only serve as fillip to further strengthen wider apprehensions about fundamental human rights of minorities in the country. Coming two days after Sri Lanka’s Public Security Minister announced his government’s decision to prohibit the wearing of the burkha, the Pakistani High Commissioner’s remark is the first reaction to the move from the international community. Mr. Khattak’s reference to other image related challenges faced by the country at international fora assumes significance just a week ahead of the vote on Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council, where Pakistan is currently a member.
C) Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions, says Vatican.
The Vatican said on Monday that priests and other Roman Catholic Church ministers cannot bless same-sex unions and that such blessings are not licit if carried out. The ruling was a response to practices in some countries, such as the U.S. and Germany, where parishes and ministers have begun blessing same-sex unions in lieu of marriage, and calls for bishops to defacto institutionalize these. In response to formal questions from a number of dioceses on whether this practice was allowed, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the doctrine of the Faith (CDF), issued the ruling Negative. Pope Francis approved the response, the CDF said, adding that it was not indiscrimination, but rather a reminder of the truth of the liturgical rite. It said such blessings were not permissible even though they were motivated by a sincere desire to welcome and accompany homosexual persons and help them grow in the faith.
