(Current Affairs) National Events | June: 2015

National Events

Foreign Airlines Come Under Sexual Harassment Act: Delhi HC

  • The Delhi High Court has said that any foreign airline having even one office in the country is bound by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

  • The Court has made this verdict while it was hearing public interest litigation on seeking the implementation of the Vishakha guidelines on sexual harassment against women at the workplace in the aviation industry.

  • This issue came to light when an Indian woman who was employed with Sri Lankan Airlines had sought action against the carrier and its officials for sexual harassment and thus this matter was transferred as a PIL to the bench by another court which was dealing with the plea. This application was moved by the woman’s advocate Ajay Verma to enquire into the complaint of the petitioner and has pleaded the court to constitute the committee in the SriLankan Airlines as per Vishaka guidelines.

  • High Court stated that as Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, is in force there is no need for the court to issue any direction to comply with the law. Court said that when the law has come into force, every airlines including foreign airlines who are having a place of work in India and to all such airlines Indian law may be applicable should and are required to comply with the law and there is no need for the court to issue any direction to any airlines to abide by the law.

  • High Court further stated that the present public interest litigation which was brought before it was being pursued without regard to the law which is in existence already and its provision thereof and so court does not feel it necessary to entertain this petition and thus dismissed it.

Union Government extended prepaid mobile service for two years in J&K, North-East

  • Pre-paid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern States will be allowed to continue for two more years. The licence of the telecom operators for providing pre-paid services in these areas expires. The existing service license was about to expire on March 31st.
  • The decision came after, a high-level committee headed by Union Home Secretary L.C. Goyal discussed the matter and decided to give the nod for continuance of these pre-paid services. The Home Ministry also directed to the service providers that they have to maintain utmost precaution in issuing SIM cards and ensure proper verification.

Committee sets up by EC to allow migrants to vote

  • Election Commission of India has set up a committee of senior officers to consider whether electoral laws can be changed to empower voters who have migrated to other States within the country.

  • The motive behind the constitution of this committee is to know whether inter-State migrant voters could retain their names on the electoral rolls of their native places, and also, if they could cast their votes through mechanisms such as postal ballot.

  • Under the present law, a person can be enrolled only at the place he is residing. A migrant has to get himself enrolled in the new place.

  • The commission said a person who migrated can be considered “ordinarily resident” in his new place even without owning or possessing a house there. It said the law was reasonable as it is now.

  • In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the poll body said the committee was set up despite scepticism about the need to amend the Representation of the People Act. The poll body was responding to a notice issued by the Supreme Court on January 12, 2015, on a plea made by UAE-based doctor Shamsheer V.P., represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Haris Beeran, demanding electoral reforms to allow inter-State migrants the voting privileges like postal ballot, which is accorded to government servants.

  • The application filed by Dr. Shamsheer sought the same voting privileges accorded to government servants under Section 20(8) (d) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Section 60(b) of the Representation of the People Act 1951, which allowed them to vote via postal ballot upon the consent of the Election Commission.

MHA Renamed Visa Scheme

  • The “Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic Travel Authorisation (TVoA-ETA)” scheme, which was launched last year to facilitate short-duration visits by travellers from as many as 44 countries, has now been renamed “e-Tourist Visa” to make it clear that it is not an on-arrival scheme.

  • The government has issued 1.1 lakh visas under the new scheme that was launched on November 27 last year. According to the MHA, it will be extended to more countries and airports in a phased manner.

  • After some Indian embassies raised the issue with the Home Ministry seeking change of name, a committee comprising officials of the Bureau of Immigration, Home and External Affairs Ministries was formed to suggest a new name.

India’s first of Scorpene Submarines-Kalvari ‘Undocked’

  • Kalvari, first of the Indian Navy’s Scorpene class stealth submarines being built under the Project 75, under collaboration with M/s DCNS, France, has been undocked at the Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL).
  • Kalvari, its scheduled commissioning in 2016, would lend an enormous fillip to the Indian Navy’s underwater capability. The remaining five boats of the Project 75 would be delivered by the yard to the Navy by 2020 and would form the core of the Navy’s submarine arm for the next two decades.
  • The Scorpene submarines would pack a potent punch. She would be equipped with anti-ship missiles and long range guided torpedoes alongwith modern sensor suite.

Features about Scorpene submarine Has superior stealth capability.

  • Can undertake various operations including multifarious warfare, Anti-submarine warfare, Intelligence gathering, mine laying, area surveillance etc.
  • Ability to launch attack on the enemy using precision guided weapons.
  • The attack can be launched from underwater or on surface.
  • Designed to operate in all theatres including the tropics.
  • Built using special steel that can withstand high yield stress that can withstand high hydrostatic force and enabling to dive deeper.
  • Equipped with Weapons Launching tubes (WLT) that can carry weapons on board and can be easily reloaded at sea.

Vivid Bharti now on FM

  • Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and I&B, Shri Arun Jaitley has introduced the popular Vividh Bharati service of the All India Radio from Delhi on the FM platform. The service would enable listeners to access rich content across the AIR range from their mobile phones, car stereos and the Internet.

  • The transmission within the minimum radius of 60 kms would enable the people to enjoy high quality rich content programs with utmost clarity transmitted by the given platform.

  • Technological advancement and availability on FM Mode would make Vividh Bharati and other channels of AIR available on mobile phones, car stereos and internet. This initiative would also mainstream the platform with audiences proactively offering them different program segments and keeping pace with contemporary themes on the entertainment segment.

  • The audience of Vividh Bharati Service in Delhi was hithertofore being beamed through MW only. Now the signal shall be available through Frequency Modulation (FM), which has stereophonic sound quality and has the inbuilt feature of becoming available on mobile phones and car stereos. A dedicated 10 KW transmitter has been installed for the VB Service Delhi.

  • Vividh Bharati on FM will be available in Delhi on 100.1 MHz. This is in addition to its availability on MW 1368 kHz. Two other existing FM services of AIR are FM Gold(106.4MHz) and FM Rainbow(102.6 MHz). AIR also has its Local Radio Station Network in Frequency Modulation.

BHEL commissioned 600 MW Thermal Unit in Chhattisgarh

  • State-owned power equipment-maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commissioned a second 600 MW thermal unit in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir Champa District for the Dainik Bhaskar Power Limited.
  • BHEL is partner in the power development programme of the state of Chhattisgarh. With this commissioning of second unit, BHEL’s cumulative installed capacity has increased at 11,400MW in Chhattisgarh and accounts for 68 per cent share of the total installed capacity in the state.

National Judicial Appointments Commission comes into force

  • Union Government has brought into force the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 along with the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014. In this regard, notification to effect from 13 April 2015 was issued by the Union Law Ministry. With this new law the collegium system to appoint members to the higher judiciary has come to an end. Now President will appoint judges in the Supreme Court (SC) and 24 High Courts (HCs) in consultation with the NJAC.

Key Facts of NJAC

  • The Acts provide for a transparent and broad-based process of selection of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts by the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
  • The NJAC would be chaired by the Chief Justice of India as in the earlier collegium system. The NJAC membership would include two senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Minister of Law and Justice.
  • Two eminent persons to be nominated by a committee of the Prime Minister of India, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People, or if there is no Leader of the Opposition, then the Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in the House of the People.
  • With a view to ensuring that the composition of the National Judicial Appointments Commission is inclusive, the Act provides that one of the eminent persons shall be nominated from amongst persons belonging to the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities or Women. The NJAC will frame its own regulations.

Century Old Indian Sculpture to Fly Back Home

  • India’s ‘Parrot Lady’ is to return home, after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper handed over to his counterpart, Narendra Modi, the 800-year-old Indian sandstone sculpture of a woman holding a parrot.

  • The sculpture dates back to the 12th century.It was returned in accordance with the 1970 UNESCO Convention. The prized Indian statue was returned at the Library of Parliament in Ottawa. Mr. Modi in exchange presented Mr. Harper with a miniature painting of Guru Nanak Dev with his disciples.

  • The three-foot high statue of ‘Parrot Lady’ turned up in Canada in 2011 in the possession of an individual who did not have proper documentation; it was seized under the Cultural Property Export and Import which controls antiquities and other cultural objects being imported from foreign states.

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