CURRENT AFFAIRS
26 March 2021
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) Budget session of Parliament concludes two weeks ahead of schedule.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Thursday, nearly two weeks before schedule keeping in mind requests made for curtailment of the second part of the Budget session by MPs belonging to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry and Kerala owing to the Assembly polls. The session that started on January 29 (first part) was to run till April 8 in the second part after having recommenced on March 8 after a break. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi, briefing after the end of the session, said that it was curtailed ahead of schedule due to the demands made by various political parties and Assembly elections in four States and one Union Territory. The overhang of the contests of the Assembly polls was seen during the session with frequent references to poll issues in West Bengal during the debates. Earlier in the day, Bhratruhari Mahtab, who was presiding officer in the Lok Sabha, gave a valedictory address in which he revealed that despite disruptions, the session clocked 114% in productivity with 24 sittings, which lasted over 132 hours. Seventeen government bills were introduced and 18 passed, including the finance and appropriations Bills. Around 171 reports were tabled by various parliamentary committees and 84 starred questions were answered orally. The tally for the Rajya Sabha was also impressive with again, 23 sittings, in which the House sat for 104 hours and clocked 90% productivity. The Upper House passed 19 Bills, spending 42% of the functional time on legislative business.
B) Supreme Court asks government to clarify on 55 pending High Court appointments.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to clarify on the status of 55 recommendations made by the Collegium for judicial appointments to various High Courts six months to nearly a year-and-a-half ago. Forty-four of the pending recommendations were made to fill vacancies in the Calcutta, Madhya Pradesh, Gauhati, Rajasthan and Punjab High Courts. These recommendations have been pending with the government for over seven months to a year. The remaining 10 names have been pending with the government despite their reiteration by the Collegium. They include five for the Calcutta High Court pending with the government for one year and seven months. The recommendations of four names made by the Collegium to the Delhi High Court have been pending for seven months. The total sanctioned judicial strength in the 25 High Courts is 1,080. However, the present working strength is 661 with 419 vacancies as on March 1. The Supreme Court has been repeatedly conveying to the government its growing alarm at the judicial vacancies in High Courts. The court asked Mr. Venugopal to enquire with the Union Ministry of Law and Justice and make a statement on April 8 about their status. The Bench handed over to Mr. Venugopal a chart containing the details of the 55 recommendations.
C) Army’s evaluation process discriminates against women seeking permanent commission, says SC.
The Supreme Court on Thursday held that the Army’s selective evaluation process discriminated against and disproportionately affected women officers seeking permanent commission. A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed that the pattern of evaluation inherently caused economic and psychological harm to short service commission women officers. The judgment, authored by Justice Chandrachud, said what appeared to be harmless on the face hid insidious patriarchy. They must recognise here that the structures of our society have been created by males for males. Superficial face of equality does not stand true to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, the top court said. The court said the case of women officers who had applied for permanent commission should be reconsidered in a month and a decision on them should be given in two months. The Supreme Court had recently expressed annoyance at the roadblocks placed by bureaucrats in the way of women officers seeking permanent commission, promotion and consequential benefits. The court was exasperated with a medical criterion by which women officers with 10 to over 20 years of service and in the age bracket of 35 to 50 had to compete with gentlemen officers aged between 25 and 30 for permanent commission.
D) Supreme Court quashes hate crime proceedings against Shillong Times Editor.
The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed hate crime proceedings initiated against Padma Shri awardee and senior journalist Patricia Mukhim for a Facebook post. A Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao agreed with Ms. Mukhim, Editor of Shillong Times, that her social media post was only an expression of truth in the face of persecution. The decision came in Ms. Mukhim’s appeal against the Meghalaya High Court’s refusal to quash the proceedings against her under Sections 153a (hate), 500 (defamation) and 505(c) (incite a community or caste to commit an offence against another). The offences are non-bailable. Ms. Mukhim, represented by advocates Vrinda Grover, Soutik Banerjee and Prasanna S., said her Facebook post had only alerted the authorities to enforce the law against the perpetrators of a brutal attack against six non-tribal boys in the State. A plain reading of the petitioner’s Facebook post makes it clear that the intent and purpose of this post is to appeal for impartial enforcement of rule of law; equal treatment before the law of all citizens; condemnation of targeted violence against members of a minority group; and end to impunity for violence, Ms. Mukhim had argued.
E) 67 coal mines offered for sale in second tranche of auction.
The government on Thursday offered 67 coal mines for sale, launching the second tranche of commercial coal mining auction and termed it a step towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. This is the highest number of mines on offer in a particular tranche after commencement of the auction regime in 2014. India launched its 2nd tranche of auction for commercial coal mining, offering 67 mines for sale of coal, today. Union Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi launched the auction process in a programme held in New Delhi, Ministry of Coal said in a statement. Out of the total 67 mines offered by the ministry, 23 are under Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act and 44 under Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. The blocks on offer are a mix of mines with small and large reserves, coking and non-coking mines and fully and partially explored blocks spread across 6 States – Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) In signal to China, U.S. raised India ties during Alaska talks.
The Joe Biden administration highlighted the strength of U.S.-India ties in its March 19 meeting with Chinese officials in Alaska, underlining how it has increasingly come to view India as central to its broader objectives in dealing with China in the Indo-Pacific region. The reference to India, it is learnt, was not favourably received by China’s two offlcials in Alaska top diplomat and Politburo member Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and is being seen as reflecting how U.S. India relations, only two months into the new administration, are developing The speed with which the new Biden administration has pushed closer ties with India has come in sharp contrast to expectations in some quarters, both in New Delhi and Washington, that relations would not be as smooth as they were with the Trump administration.
B) N. Korea launches ‘ballistic missiles’.
North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday in its first substantive provocation to the new U.S. administration of Joe Biden. The nuclear-armed North has a long history of using weapons tests to ramp up tensions, in a carefully calibrated process to try to forward its objectives. Donald Trump’s first year in office was marked by a series of escalating launches, accompanied by a war of words between him and North Korean leader Kim Jongun. Pyongyang had been biding its time since the new administration took office, not even officially acknowledging its existence until last week. But Seoul’s joint chief of staff said the North fired two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, known as the East Sea in Korea, from South Hamgyong province. They travelled 450 km and reached a maximum altitude of 60 km, the JCS added, and after an meeting South Korea’s National Security Council expressed deep concern at the launch. North Korea is banned from developing any ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions and is under multiple international sanctions over its weapons programmes. It had been a year since the last such incident, he added, saying, This threatens the peace and security of our country and the region. It is also a violation of the UN. Tokyo said they came down outside the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Pyongyang has made rapid progress in its capabilities under Mr. Kim, testing missiles capable of reaching the entire continental United States as tensions mounted in 2017.
C) Biden chooses Harris to lead efforts to tackle migration.
U.S. President Joe Biden has tapped Vice-President Kamala Harris to lead the White House effort to tackle the migration challenge at the U.S. southern border and work with Central American nations to address the root causes of the problem. Mr. Biden made the announcement as he and Ms. Harris met at the White House on Wednesday with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandra Mayorkas and other immigration advisers to discuss the increase in the number of migrants, including many unaccompanied minors, arriving at the border in recent weeks. When she speaks, she speaks for me, Mr. Biden said, noting that her work as California’s Attorney-General makes her specially equipped to lead the administration’s response. Ms. Harris is tasked with overseeing efforts to deal with issues spurring migration in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as pressing them to strengthen enforcement on their own borders, officials said. She is also tasked with developing and implementing a long-term strategy that gets at the root causes of migration from those countries. Mr. Biden suggested former President Donald Trump’s decision to cut $450 million funding in 2019 to the region was partly to blame for the situation.
