Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Supreme Court on Wednesday admitted a petition filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD)seeking to exempt armed forces personnel from the ambit of a Constitution Bench judgment of 2018 that decriminalised adultery.

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A three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said the plea had to be considered by a Constitution Bench because the original verdict, striking down Section 497 (adultery) of the Indian Penal Code, was pronounced by a five-judge Bench in September 2018.
The court referred the case to the Chief Justice of India to pass appropriate orders to form a five-judge Bench to clarify the impact of the 2018 judgment on the armed forces.
The government said in the petition that personnel of the Army, Navy and the Air Force were a “distinct class”. They were governed by special legislations, the Army Act, the Navy Act and the Air Force Act.
Adultery amounted to an unbecoming conduct and a violation of discipline under these three Acts.
These special laws-imposed restrictions on the fundamental rights of the personnel, who function in peculiar situation requiring utmost discipline.
The three laws were protected by Article 33 of the Constitution, which allowed the government to modify the fundamental rights of the armed forces personnel. The judgment of 2018 created “instability”.
It allowed personnel charged with carrying on an adulterous or illicit relationship to take cover under the judgment.

Allahabad High Court ruled that Couples can choose to not publish 30-day notice under Special Marriage Act.
Court stated that provision for mandatory publication of notice would invade in the fundamental rights ofliberty and privacy.
Special Marriage Act deals with inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, and allows people to get married without giving uptheir religion.
It requires couples intending to marry under the law to give a 30-day notice period to a marriage officer of thedistrict in which at least one of the parties has resided in last 30 days.

On January 11, Chatham House published a report titled “Global Britain, Global Broker”, the report sketches a bold path ahead for the UK.
The Chatham House report groups India on the other side of a “new divide in international affairs — between open societies where citizens have the capacity to fight for their rights and those where these rights are denied”.
Along with Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, India is classed as one of the “difficult four” countries, destined to count among the UK’s “rivals” or “awkward counterparts” as it pursues its global goals.
The report also states that India is a reluctant supporter of liberal democracy, is “ambivalent” about human rights abuses within other states, and possesses “a long and consistent record of resisting being corralled into a ‘Western camp’”.

Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that India’s new Foreign Trade Policy 2021-2026.
It will come into effect from April 1, 2021, for five years and will strive to make the country a leader in international trade.
The Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry held a meeting on the subject New Foreign Trade Policy 2021-26.
It was chaired by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and attended by Members of Parliament (MPs) and senior officers of the ministry.
It was informed that the District Export Hubs Initiative will form an important component of the new FTP.
The Department of Commerce through the Regional Authorities of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has engaged with state/Union Territory governments to take forward this initiative in the districts and enable its implementation in a phased manner, with the objective of mobilizing the potential of each district of the country to achieve its potential as an export hub.

The income-tax department has come out with a ‘faceless penalty scheme’.
Under the scheme national and regional centres will be set up to facilitate conduct of faceless penaltyproceedings in income tax cases.
National Centre will facilitate conduct of faceless penalty proceedings in a centralised manner and hasbeen vested with the jurisdiction to impose penalty.
As part of tax reforms, government last year launched faceless tax assessment scheme.
It aims to make tax administration free of any bias and to remove any subjectivity that personal interfacebetween taxpayer and officials could introduce.

Union Science and Technology Minister dedicated to the country an innovation portal developed by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF).
The NIF, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), is currently home to about 1.15 lakh innovations scouted from common people of the country.
In terms of domain areas, presently the innovations cover energy, mechanical, automobile, electrical, electronics, household, chemical, civil, textiles, farm/cultivation practice, storage practice, plant variety, plant protection, poultry, livestock management, nutraceuticals.
Union Minister emphasised on the growing importance of traditional knowledge, particularly herbal practices which stem from tribal areas, and is one of the key highlights of the innovation portal.
He said that this innovation portal will help institutionalise new ideas by common people towards finding solutions to local problems.
The innovation portal will create an ecosystem where the institutions will stand behind all those who can convert their ideas and innovations into entrepreneurship.
The innovation portal will help create local entrepreneurs out of grassroots ideas and will help bring ideas to the market.