Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 May 2015

:: National ::

SC questions U-turn by Centre

• Temperatures rose in Court No. 4 of the Supreme Court as the highest judiciary sparred with the Centre when the latter claimed that the Supreme Court had tweaked the “original” Constitution 22 years ago to give the Chief Justice of India and his collegium primacy to appoint judges.

• The five-judge Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar, deciding the validity of the National Judicial Appointments Commission law, hotly contested Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi’s opening argument that there was not a word about judicial primacy in the original Constitution drafted by the founding fathers.

• Mr. Rohatgi submitted that independence of the judiciary did not mean that the CJI and his collegium had the final say or primacy in appointment and transfer of judges.

• “Independence of judiciary was not an insulated concept,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted.

• He blamed the 1993 judgment in the Second Judges Case by a nine-judge Bench for ushering in the collegium system of judicial appointments.

• In this judgment, the court had evolved the principle of judicial independence to mean that no other branch of the State — including the legislature and the executive — would have any say in the appointment of judges. The court then created the collegium system. There is no mention of the collegium either in the original Constitution or in successive amendments, the Centre contended.

• Mr. Rohatgi said the 1993 judgment needs to be first “re-considered” by a larger Bench on the question of interpretation of Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution, which deal with judicial appointments.

• The Bench, however, was in no mood to agree; instead, it turned combative. “When the 1993 judgment came and later in the Presidential Reference, you, the government, was the first one to agree about judicial primacy. You accepted this as your final position. You can’t change your position everyday,” Justice Khehar shot back at the government.

• Justice A.K. Goel joined in, asking the Centre “what is the compulsion now to change your stand? Are you saying we were wrong in 1993?”

• “No, but there are doubts and clarifications. The original Constitution had no primacy for collegium,” Mr. Rohatgi said defending the Centre’s stand.

• “What doubts? Where are these doubts?” Justice Goel asked.

• With this, the court made its intentions clear against referring the petitions challenging the NJAC law to a larger bench.

SC upholds alimony for live-in partner

• Noting that it is not just a lawfully-wedded wife whom a man is obliged to pay alimony to, the Supreme Court upheld a Bombay High Court ruling that a live-in partner is entitled to maintenance.

• A Bench led by Justice Vikramjit Sen dismissed the appeal filed by the man against a July 2014 order of the High Court, which he claimed went beyond the legislative intent and framework of the statute.

• Though the litigants – both man and woman -- remained anonymous, Justice Sen expressed annoyance at the degrading manner in which the man’s petition referred to his live-in partner as a “call-girl” several times over.

• According to the petition, the couple met in 1985 and “their relations matured into acquaintance and friendly relations and they started meeting each other frequently.”

• She had even accompanied him abroad and they have lived together for over a period in a rental accommodation. The petition showed that the woman had girl child in 1988 and in 1995, the man had bought a flat in their joint names in Mumbai.

• However, the woman had the next year sought a declaration from court that their “marriage” be declared null and void. She also sought monthly maintenance expenses of Rs. 20,000 from the man.

• The case had continued till 2014, in between which a Family Court passed a decree allow some maintenance.

• The High Court had later intervened in the case in 2014 and passed a favourable order for maintenance for the woman and her daughter.

Govt. softens stand on real estate Bill

• The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2013 will be referred to a Select Committee by the Rajya Sabha.

• The government will bring a motion in the light of the demand from large sections of the Opposition, which is in a majority in the Upper House, to refer the Bill to a Select Committee.

• Though the Bill was listed for discussion, the government did not press for it in the face of opposition to it both inside and outside the House.

• Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had met home buyers last weekend to discuss their concerns about the Bill. The Opposition, which submitted a notice for referring the Bill to a Select Committee, is of the view that the draft legislation favours builders at the cost of home buyers.

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:: International ::

Paul Huckabee enters presidential race

• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee threw his hat in the race for the U.S. presidency on Tuesday, joining a swelling crowd of contenders for the Republican nomination.

• The conservative Mr. Huckabee, a former Baptist Minister who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican ticket seven years ago, announced at his campaign debut that he is taking another shot at the world’s top job.

U.N. tries to revive Syria peace talks (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Opposition stalls GST Bill, insists on relook by panel

• With several Opposition parties raising serious concerns on a number of clauses, chances of the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill for introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) clearing Parliament in the current session dimmed.

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley “beseeched” the Opposition in the Lok Sabha to “rise above partisan” considerations as they “serve no purpose” but the Congress, the AIADMK and the BJD mounted stiff resistance which could effectively stall the passage in the current session as the government does not have a majority in the Upper House — even if it manages to push the Bill through the Lower House.

• The Opposition’s strategy in the Rajya Sabha will be to force the government to accept the referring of the Bill to a Select Committee on the ground that there are substantial changes which have not been scrutinised. In the Lok Sabha however, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejected such a demand.

• Mr. Jaitley argued that if the GST Bill was sent back to the Standing Committee on Finance, it would delay the benefits to the States by another financial year as yet another deadline of April 1, 2016 would be “missed”. A decade of deliberations had already delayed the rollout, he said.

• Still members of the Congress, the BJD, the AIADMK and the CPI(M) slammed the government for “bypassing” parliamentary standing committees .

• Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Veerappa Moily said his party, the Congress, supported the GST but was opposed to some of the Bill’s provisions and demanded that it be referred to the panel. This was supported by the AIADMK and the BJD. Mr. Moily said the government would not be doing any “charity” by agreeing to the demand.

• The AIADMK’s P. Venugopal said his party opposed the Bill as it was “harmful” to producing States such as Tamil Nadu.

• The State, he said, would lose over Rs. 10,000 crore with the new tax regime. He demanded that petroleum products — source of 21 per cent of Tamil Nadu’s tax revenue under the present tax structure — be taken out of the proposed GST regime.

Rs. 2,800 crore unspent under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana: CAG

• The report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the performance of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) since its launch in 2007 to 2013, which was tabled in Parliament, has detected shortfalls in achieving targeted outputs in 62 projects costing Rs. 1,405 crore in 19 States.

• Against the backdrop of faltering growth in the agriculture sector, the scheme was launched in the XI Five Year Plan giving complete flexibility to the States to launch projects with an aim to generate growth in agriculture and allied sectors.

• As part of the plan, Rs. 30,873 crore was released to 28 States and seven Union Territories during the period under review. However, Rs. 2,800 crore remained unspent.

• The CAG report highlights numerous instances of the expected benefits of the RKVY not reaching the farmers.

• According to the report, of the 4,061 projects sanctioned in 19 selected sectors during 2007-08 to 2012-13, 2,506 were completed. While 1,279 projects were under progress, 85 had not been implemented, 100 abandoned and 90 dropped.

• “An amount of Rs. 134.95 crore was incurred on 28 abandoned projects. Of the 393 projects selected for audit examination, cases of under-performance and irregularities were noticed in 150, whereas shortfalls were noticed in 62 projects costing Rs. 1,404.94 crore in 19 States,” said the report.

• The CAG report revealed that RKVY funds to the tune of Rs. 91.24 crore were diverted for other purposes in nine projects.

CCI rejects charges against Flipkart and four others

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has rejected allegations of unfair business practices against five online retail majors — Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra — as it did not find any prima facie evidence of violations.

• The complaints were filed against Flipkart India Pvt. Ltd., Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd., Xerion Retail Pvt. Ltd., Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd., and Vector E-commerce Pvt. Ltd.

• After looking into the matter for the past few months, the fair trade watchdog has ruled that these entities did not violate competition norms by indulging in cartelisation or by abusing their dominant position.

• Jasper runs Snapdeal.com. Xerion owns Jabong.com. Vector is the company behind Myntra.com.

• “.. the Commission is of the prima facie view that no case of contravention of the provisions of either Section 3 or Section 4 of the Act is made out against the opposite parties,” it said in a 10-page order.

• It was alleged that e-commerce websites and product sellers entered into exclusive agreements to sell products exclusively on select portals.

• In recent months, there have been rising concerns that discount sales launched by various e-commerce websites, including Flipkart, were anti-competitive in nature.

• With regard to exclusive agreements, the Competitive Commission said that such pacts need not result in appreciable adverse effect on competition.

• “It does not seem that such arrangements create any entry barrier for new entrants. It seems very unlikely that an exclusive arrangement between a manufacturer and an e-portal will create any entry barrier as most of the products which are illustrated in the information to be sold through exclusive e-partners (OPs) face competitive constraints,” the order, dated April 23, said.

• Agreeing with the contention of the opposite parties, the Commission said that every product could not be taken as a relevant market in itself.

• “Irrespective of whether we consider e-portal market as a separate relevant product market or as a sub-segment of the market for distribution none of the opposite parties seems to be individually dominant. There are several players in the online retail market which have been arrayed as opposite parties in the present case, offering similar facilities to their customers,” the order said.

• The regulator noted that it did not consider it necessary to go into the question of abuse of dominance by the opposite parties.

• These entities did not violate competition norms by indulging in cartelisation or by abusing their dominant position.

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:: Science and Technology ::

Army gets Akash missile

• The Army inducted the first regiment of the indigenously-developed Akash surface-to-air missile system, capable of targeting a multitude of aerial threats up to a range of 25 km.

• Akash has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and is being built by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL). It was originally planned as part of the five missiles under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme initiated in 1984.

• “The capability that we have with this system will ensure that it takes care of the vulnerability of our assets. Akash is a step towards self-realisation of indigenisation,” Army chief General Dalbir Singh said during a formal dedication ceremony.

• Each regiment of Akash consists of six launchers with each launcher having three missiles. The Army had placed orders for two regiments worth about Rs. 19,000 crore.

• An Air Force variant of Akash has already been inducted.

• The Akash system can simultaneously engage multiple targets in all weather conditions and has a large operational envelope from a low altitude of 30 metres to a maximum of up to 20 km and can also engage Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in addition to helicopters and fighter planes. At 96 per cent indigenisation, it represents a major capability development for a crucial weapon system.

• “Unlike the Air Force version, the Army variant of Akash is designed for high mobility and can be quickly moved to any operational theatres based on necessity,” V. Udaya Bhaskar, Chairman and Managing Director of BDL, told.

:: Sports ::

Stuart Bingham ends quest for World title triumph

• Stuart Bingham won the 2015 World Championship final, beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre to take snooker’s most prestigious title for the first time in his 20-year professional career.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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