21 03 20 - amazon web services · 2020-03-21 · daily news simplified - dns 21 03 20 notes sl. no....

Daily News Simplified - DNS

21 03 20

Notes

SL. NO.

TOPICS THE HINDU

PAGE NO.

1 Defence Procurement draft released 12

2 Crime and punishment: On Nirbhaya case convicts’ hanging 10

3 Finland is again world’s happiest 20

4 Blunting the economic impact of a pandemic 10

5 Madhya Pradesh crisis | Kamal Nath resigns ahead of floor test 01

6 LS passes Bill on national importance tag for IIITs 12

Dated: 21-March-2020 DNS Notes

Title Defence Procurement draft released (The Hindu – Pg. 12)

Syllabus Prelims: Polity and Governance Mains: GS Paper II – Polity and governance

Theme Defence procurement

Highlights Defence procurement draft released

The News

• The defence minister has unveiled the draft Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2020 that will replace the current DPP of 2016.

What is Defence Procurement Procedure?

• The Defence Procurement Procedure is a 5-year roadmap for Capital Acquisitions by the Ministry of Defence.

Objective

• It primarily aims to ensure dual objective of 1. Timely procurement of military equipment as per the operational requirement of the Armed Forces 2. To develop India as the global defence manufacturing hub

• Besides it ensures optimum utilisation of the budgetary allocation thereby rendering a degree of probity, accountability, transparency in the defence acquisition mechanism in India

Defence Procurement Planning: A Backgrounder

• The defence procurement planning in India is done on the basis of National Security Strategy as formulated Defence Planning Committee.

• The Defence Planning Committee is a new integrated institutional mechanism established in 2018 headed by the National Security Advisor.

• The Defence Planning Committee formulates

• National military and security strategy

• Strategic defence review and

• International defence engagement strategy that includes foreign acquisitions and sales

Accordingly the capital acquisition proposals are laid out in

• 1. Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan for 15 years

• 2. Services Capital Acquisition Plan for 5 years

• 3. Annual Acquisition Plan for 2 years In focus: Defence Procurement Procedure 2020-2025

• The schemes for capital acquisition under DPP are classified as ‘Buy’, ‘Buy and Make’, Leasing, ‘Design and Development (D & D), Strategic Partnership Model (SPM).

• Besides in order to give a push for indigenization the categories are prioritized as given below

• 1. Buy

• Buy Indian –IDMM (indigenously designed, developed and manufactured): Refers to the procurement from an Indian vendor with a minimum of 50% Indigenous Content

• Buy Indian: Buy (Indian) Procurement of products from an Indian vendor which may not have been designed and developed indigenously but having 60% indigenous content

2. Buy and Make (Indian)

• Refers to procurement from an Indian vendor who has a tie-up with a foreign OEM who provides Transfer of Technology (ToT) of critical technologies and the Indian vendor produces it with 50% indigenous content.

3. ‘Buy (Global)

• Outright purchase from foreign vendors under the foreign military sales route 4. Leasing

• This is a new category introduced under DPP 2020

• Leasing would be permitted in two sub categories i.e. Lease (Indian), where Lessor is an Indian entity and is the owner of the asset, and Lease (Global).


Why is it introduced?

• (a) Where procurement is not feasible due to time constraint

• (b) Where the asset/capability is needed for a specific time or would be under utilised if procured.

• (c) Where smaller numbers of assets are needed and administrative /maintenance infrastructure expenditure would be high.

• (d) When service life lease rentals are a better option compared to a one-time acquisition cost

• (e) To gain experience

Personal

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Title 2. Crime and punishment: On Nirbhaya case convicts’ hanging (The Hindu Pg.

No. 10)

Syllabus Prelims: Polity and Governance Mains: GS Paper III – Polity and Governance

Theme Death Penalty

Highlights Crime and punishment

Context: o The recent hanging of four men convicted of the gang rape and murder of a 23-

year-old woman has brought into limelight the matters related to death sentence as well as safety of the women in the society.

o Both these issues are important from the perspective of GS I, GS II and Essay paper.

o Since Justice Verma Committee was constituted to recommend amendments to the Criminal Law so as to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault against women, it is important for us to have a look at the most important recommendations which can be quoted as “way forward” in GS mains answers.

o At the same time it is important for us to understand the constitutional, legal and ethical perspectives on capital punishment.

So Lets first understand few aspects regarding capital punishment:

What is the constitutional basis of the death sentence?

Art. 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees to every citizen the fundamental right to life, also expressly states, “no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty

except according to procedure established by law." This means that under no circumstances your right to live will be taken away from you

except by the due procedure established by law, that is the state can take away your life through the given process of law if it deems fit. In India it is only reserved for the most heinous of crimes What is the current Legal Position in India

• In India, death penalty is awarded in. rarest of the rare cases: o Supreme Court of India in Bachan singh vs state of Punjab case held

that death penalty shall be awarded in rarest of the rare cases alone. However In 2015, India’s Law Commission submitted a report calling for abolition of the death penalty for all but terrorism-related offences and “waging war” against the state. What is the scenario across the world?

• More than 100 nations have abolished the capital punishment however only 58 countries still have provisions related to it.


So what are the ethical issues involved in Death sentence?

• There is no empirical evidence to prove that tough punishments will reduce

crime in society.

• Abandonment of Societal responsibility

o Crimes are as much about social failures as individual responsibility.

By capital punishment, society is ignoring its role in crime perpetuation

and simplifying crime prevention.

• Vague definition of “rarest of rare”

o Judicial system is not properly geared to identify rarest of rare cases

and most of the cases are being acquitted at appeal process.

• There is no scope of correcting the judgement:

o Which is available in all other punishments?

• Most convicts belong to lower strata of society

o National Law University study found that a disproportionate percentage

of the convicts (80%) were poor, backward castes or from the minorities

and their inability to negotiate the justice system.

• The justice should be directed towards reform and not retribution:

Important recommendations of Justice Verma committee report:

o Punishment for Rape:

o The panel has not recommended the death penalty for rapists.

o Punishment for other sexual offences:

o The panel recognised the need to curb all forms of sexual offences and

recommended - Voyeurism be punished with up to seven years in

jail; stalking or attempts to contact a person repeatedly through any

means by up to three years. Acid attacks would be punished by up to

seven years if imprisonment; trafficking will be punished with RI for

seven to ten years.

o Registering complaints and medical examination:

o Every complaint of rape must be registered by the police and civil

society should perform its duty to report any case of rape coming to its

knowledge. "Any officer, who fails to register a case of rape reported to

him, or attempts to abort its investigation, commits an offence which

shall be punishable as prescribed," the report says.

o Bill of Rights for women:

o A separate Bill of Rights for women that entitles a woman a life of

dignity and security and will ensure that a woman shall have the right

to have complete sexual autonomy including with respect to her

relationships.

o Review of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act:

o The panel has observed that the "impunity of systematic sexual violence

is being legitimised by the armed forces special powers act." It has said

there is an imminent need to review the continuance of AFSPA in areas

as soon as possible. It has also recommended posting special

commissioners for women's safety in conflict areas.

o Criminalization of Marital rape

o Under the IPC sexual intercourse without consent is prohibited.

However, an exception to the offence of rape exists in relation to un-

consented sexual intercourse by a husband upon a wife. The

Committee recommended that the exception to marital rape should be

removed.


o Police reforms:

o To inspire public confidence, the panel said, "police officers with

reputations of outstanding ability and character must be placed at the

higher levels of the police force."

o All existing appointments need to be reviewed to ensure that the police

force has the requisite moral vision.

o Role of the judiciary:

o The judiciary has the primary responsibility of enforcing fundamental

rights, through constitutional remedies. The judiciary can take suo

motu cognizance of such issues being deeply concerned with them

both in the Supreme Court and the High Court.

o Political Reforms:

o The Justice Verma committee observed that reforms are needed to deal

with criminalisation of politics. The panel has suggest that, in the event

cognizance has been taken by a magistrate of an criminal offence, the

candidate ought to be disqualified from participating in the

electoral process.

o Any candidate who fails to disclose a charge should be disqualified

subsequently. It suggested lawmakers facing criminal charges, who

have already been elected to Parliament and state legislatures, should

voluntarily vacate their seats

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Title 3. Finland is again world’s happiest (The Hindu Pg. No. 20)

Syllabus Prelims: Social Issues Mains: GS Paper III – Social Issues

Theme Gender Equality

Highlights It looks at the state of global happiness in 156 countries, ranking countries using the Gallup World Poll and six factors:

• levels of GDP,

• life expectancy,

• generosity,

• social support,

• freedom and

• corruption income. Besides the happiest countries, the World Happiness Report also looked at the places where people are the unhappiest. This year, Afghanistan was named the unhappiest place in the world, followed by South Sudan and Zimbabwe. For the first time, the 2020 report also ranked the happiest cities around the world. The top 10 is dominated by Scandinavian cities, with Finland’s capital of Helsinki ranking as the happiest city in the world. On the other end of the spectrum, the unhappiest cities have some common themes. Most are located in underdeveloped countries and have experienced war (Kabul in Afghanistan, Sanaa in Yemen), armed conflict (Gaza in Palestine), civil war (Juba in South Sudan, Bangui in the Central African Republic), political instability (Cairo in Egypt) or devastating natural catastrophes (Port-au-Prince in Haiti). World's Unhappiest Countries 1. Afghanistan 2. South Sudan 3. Zimbabwe 4. Rwanda 5. Central African Republic 6. World’s Unhappiest Cities 7. Kabul, Afghanistan 8. Sanaa, Yemen 9. Gaza, Palestine 10. Port-a-Prince, Haiti 11. Juba, South Sudan 12. Dares Salaam, Tanzania 13. Delhi, India 14. Maseru, Lesotho 15. Bangui, Central African Republic 16. Cairo, Egypt

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Title 4. Blunting the economic impact of a pandemic (The Hindu Pg. No. 10)

Syllabus Prelims: Indian Economy Mains: GS Paper III – Indian Economy

Theme Gender Equality

Highlights Context

• The financial year 2019-20 registered slowest GDP growth since the 2008 financial crisis. The economic slowdown has further been aggravated by the impact of CoVID-19.

• The outbreak of Coronavirus has led to both demand side and supply side shock. This has the potential to reduce both consumption expenditure and Investment, which are considered to be the major drivers of India's GDP.

• Hence, in order to mitigate the impact of CoVID-19 on the Indian Economy, PM Modi has set up a task force under the leadership of Union Finance Minister. This article gives certain suggestions to be incorporated by the Task Force.

How to deal with the present Economic Situation?

Direct Cash Transfers: In order to alleviate the economic impact of CoVID-19 on poor and vulnerable sections, Hong Kong announced a cash handout of $10,000 to every permanent resident. The government of US is also planning for direct cash transfers totalling to $ 250 bn to the citizens. Considering the fact that informal workers accounts for almost 90% of India's workforce, the outbreak of CoVID-19 may have significant impact on the livelihood of these sections of Indian society. The informal workers such as Cab drivers, waiters, mall workers, domestic help etc. may either lose their jobs or incomes due to the CoVID-19. Hence, in order to alleviate their problems, the Government should implement the unconditional cash transfers of fixed income to the Jan Dhan accounts of such identified beneficiaries. Apart from using Jan Dhan Accounts, the Government can also provide for cash transfers through the Public Distribution system in some of the states. Loan Guarantee: The outbreak of CoVID-19 has a significant impact on the cash flows of several Industries such as Airlines, Hotels, Restaurants, Travel and Transportation, Tourism etc. Further, since the banks are presently reeling under higher NPAs, they may be reluctant to lend loans to such cash starved Industries leading to decline in employment and GDP Growth. Hence, in order to support credit creation, countries such as UK, France, Spain etc. have announced setting up of Government backed loan guarantees. For Instance, UK

Government has announced "Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme". Under this scheme, the banks are encouraged to give loans to certain specified categories of Industries wherein the Government gives guarantee on repayment of loans up to 80% . ( i.e. in case of default by the Industry, the Government pays back the loan on behalf of such Industries). Further, the Industries need not pay Interest on such loans for a period of 12 months since the interest is borne by the Government. Even in case of India, the task force should formulate such a scheme to provide government backed loans to certain specified Industries. These Industries should provide assurances to the Government that they would not cut down their employment levels.

Mortgage Holiday: A large number of MSMEs and individuals are facing revenue loss and salary cuts and hence may not be in a position to repay back their previous loans leading to increase in NPAs of banks. The Task force should come up with 3 month mortgage holiday ( doing away with payment of EMIs) for such MSMEs and individuals. Similarly, the RBI has to make appropriate changes in the recognition of NPAs of banking sector for a temporary period of time. Presently, a loan is categorized as NPA is the principal or interest is due for more than 90 days. Under the new guidelines, the


RBI should extend the days for recognizing a loan as NPA. Tax cuts: If the economic crisis worsens further, then the Government should go for tax cuts in future in order to provide relief to the individuals and companies. How to raise finances to deal with the economic situation? The article argues that in order to take the above-mentioned measures to deal with the economic situation, the Government would be required to spend more than 23,500 crores. But the question is from where should the Government raise this money considering the fact that its revenues are under severe strain due to higher Fiscal deficit and low tax-GDP ratio??

Pooling of Financial Resources: Some of the state Governments such as Kerala have already announced financial packages for dealing with the situation. The Centre and States must come together in spirit of cooperative Federalism, pool in their financial resources and take coordinated, synergistic and well-directed efforts to counter the problem.

Expert Assistance: The Private Sector has the potential to come up with the new innovative ideas to counter the problem. Hence, the Government should continuously engage with the private sector for their expert assistance.

Issuance of NRI Bonds: The NRI Bonds are the bonds issued by the RBI to the NRIs based in other countries. These bonds carry higher rate of interest as compared to other countries and hence can attract higher foreign capital from the NRIs. In the past, such bonds were issued to deal with the unprecedented economic situation. Some of the previous issuances of such bonds are Resurgent India Bond (1998), Millenium India Deposit Scheme (2000), Foreign Currency Non-resident deposit (2013). The article argues that even now we are facing an unprecedented economic situation and hence the task force should think of issuing NRI Bonds to deal with the problem.

Personal

Notes


Title 5. Madhya Pradesh crisis | Kamal Nath resigns ahead of floor test (The Hindu

Pg. No. 01)

Syllabus Prelims: Polity and Governance Mains: GS Paper II – Polity and Governance

Theme Floor Test

Highlights Context:

• Ending 18 days of uncertainty, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath submitted his resignation to Governor Lalji Tandon, ahead of the Supreme Court-mandated floor test.

So in this context we will understand

What is floor test?

• A floor test can be explained as a motion initiated by the government in position seeking to know if it enjoys the confidence of the legislature. As part of this procedure, the chief minister appointed by the governor will be asked to prove majority on the Legislative Assembly’s floor.

How is a floor test conducted?

• When a floor test is called for in the assembly of a state, the chief minister will move a vote of confidence and prove that he has the majority support. If the floor test fails, the chief minister will have to resign. But in this case the ruling party foresaw that they will not be able to clear the test and hence resigned beforehand.

But what is the constitutional basis of the floor test? Is the idea of a floor test is incorporated in the constitution of India?

• No, not directly. The constitution doesn’t mentions it. But let us understand how the provisions of the constitution ensure the floor tests.


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Title 6. LS passes Bill on national importance tag for IIITs (The Hindu Pg. No. 12)

Syllabus Prelims: Polity and governance

Mains: GS Paper II – Polity and Governance

Theme Education, Skill and Development

Highlights Context - The Lok Sabha passed a Bill to confer the status of Institution of National

Importance (INI) on five more Indian Institutes of Information Technology - located in Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur — under the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Public-Private Partnership) Act, 2017.

There are already 15 IIITs established under the scheme through public-private partnership.

Benefits

• These five IIITs, along with the 15 others, will have powers to award degrees.

• These institutions will be able to use the nomenclature of Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) or Master of Technology (M.Tech) or Ph.D degrees.

• The status will also help the institutes attract students required to develop a strong research base in information technology.

• Institution of National Importance have recorded 100% placement. Hence the new institutions will benefit form the tag.

Important relevant information

• IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017 is aimed at imparting knowledge in the field of Information Technology to provide solutions to the challenges faced by the country.

• These institutions follow the government’s reservation policy, even though they run on PPP model.

• Five of IIITs are established, funded and managed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The rest are set up on the public-private partnership (PPP) model under IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017.

Way ahead

• There is need for opening more such institutes in backward regions.

• Curriculum of these IIITs can be brought at par with the IITs.

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