11 May 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Should all of parliament security be with CISF: Panel will examine
Page no- 1
GS3- Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate
- Security at the Parliament complex could witness a radical overhaul with the Union Home Ministry constituting a panel to assess whether personnel of the CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) should take charge of the entire process — right from managing security arrangements to issuing passes to regulating movement of MPs, VIPs, officials and the media, The Indian Express has learnt.
- These responsibilities are currently entrusted with the Parliament Security Service, which functions under the almost century-old Watch and Ward committee.
SC Kejriwal bail ruling could set precedent for political detainees
Page no- 7
GS2- Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure
- In granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to campaign for elections, the Supreme Court has made an unprecedented intervention to ostensibly ensure a level playing field in elections — a move that potentially opens the door for other political detainees.
- In its order Friday, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, while granting bail to Kejriwal, underlined the significance of participatory democracy saying, “General Elections supply the vis viva (force that moves) to a democracy”.
Inter-services Organisations Act notified: Defence Ministry
Page no- 10
GS3- Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate
- The Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Act has been notified in a gazette and has been enforced with effect from May 10, the Defence Ministry said Friday.
- The move comes amid the theaterisation plan envisioned by the government.
- Under the theaterisation model, the government seeks to integrate the capabilities of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy, and optimally utilise their resources for wars and operations.
Uncertainty for Goans who took Portuguese citizenship
Page no- 10
GS2- Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure
- People from erstwhile Portuguese territories in India (Goa, Daman and Diu), whose Indian passports had been revoked after acquiring Portuguese citizenship, could be stuck in limbo after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) revised its recent circular that had been expected to pave the way for them to apply for an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.
- While a passport ‘surrender certificate’ has so far been mandatory for those who want to apply for OCI, an April 4 office memorandum issued by the MEA had raised hopes that a ‘revocation order’ – a document the memo said would be mandatorily issued to those whose passports were revoked – would also be accepted as an alternative document.
Space Dept’s commercial arm seeks pvt partners to manufacture its largest rocket
Page no- 11
GS3- Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology; Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology
- New Space India Limited (NSIL) — the commercial arm of the department of space — has called on private players to manufacture its largest launch vehicle LVM3.
- This is the launch vehicle that propelled Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon.
- A human-rated version of the same vehicle will be used for the Gaganyaan mission as well.
- While the vehicle was initially used for missions that required the spacecraft to escape Earth’s orbit or be placed in the large geosynchronous orbits — orbits at over 35,000 km where the satellites can move in synchronisation with the Earth’s rotation — the commercial capability of the vehicle was first demonstrated when it was used to deploy multiple satellites in the low earth orbit.
Right to campaign
Page no- 12
GS2- Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure
- The arrest by the Enforcement Directorate of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 — less than a month before voting began for the ongoing general elections — cast a shadow over the largest democratic exercise in the world.
- It sparked apprehensions about a powerful executive settling scores with its political opponents through investigative agencies under its control in a way that narrows and skews the playing field.
- On Friday, May 10 — roughly halfway into the election — the Supreme Court took an important step towards undoing the damage and restoring the impression of fair play.
- The apex court has granted Kejriwal interim bail until June 1, when voting ends. Of course, the Court could have gone further, and it is regrettable that it didn’t — the bail is conditional and limited, he must return to custody on June 2.
Flip flop flip
Page no- 12
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment
- Corporates want stability and predictability in government policy. Farmers and agri entrepreneurs also desire it, but are denied the same.
- The double standards were seen in the May 2022 decision to ban all wheat exports, days after a Union minister spoke of India being ready to feed the world and sending trade delegations to explore new markets for the cereal.
- More recently, onion exports were, first, in November 2023, not allowed at a floor price below $800 per tonne and, a month later, stopped altogether.
- Earlier this month, days before Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra’s main onion-growing belt, the ban was removed.
- But the shipments are now subject to both a minimum export price of $550 per tonne plus a 40 per cent duty.
- Imagine if corporates were to be put through such policy flip-flops. Forget improving the investment climate or ease of doing business, these amount to government-created uncertainty.
Turnouts, delays, Form 17C
Page no- 16
GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday strongly refuted allegations by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge — made in a letter to INDIA allies on May 6 — that the “delay” in the release of final voter turnouts indicated an “attempt to doctor the final results”.
- Kharge had asked why the first-phase turnout increased by 5.5 percentage points and the second-phase turnout by 5.74 percentage points between the close of polling and April 30, when the final voting figures for both these phases were released.
Israel, Saudi Arabia, and churn in Middle East: the view from India
Page no- 16
GS2- Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- The United States is trying to forge a mutual defence treaty with Saudi Arabia, and help Israel in its conflicts with Hamas and Iran, such that “Israel and Saudi Arabia are trading places”, columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in The New York Times last week.
- According to the article, the Saudi-US deal will pivot on the specific ways in which the US will control the civilian nuclear energy programme that the kingdom will get; the precise — whether explicit or less formal — nature of the mutual defence pact; and on Saudi Arabia’s commitment to not move from US dollars to the Chinese yuan in pricing oil.
Telecom dept directs telecos to block 28,200 phones used in cybercrimes
Page no- 17
GS3- Basics of Cyber Security
- The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed telecom operators to block more than 28,000 mobile handsets across the country due to their involvement in cybercrime.
- The department has also asked telcos to carry out reverification of 20 lakh mobile connections linked to these handsets.
- “DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and state police have joined hands for curbing the misuse of telecom resources in cyber-crime and financial frauds.
- This collaborative effort aims to dismantle networks of fraudsters and protect citizens from digital threats,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
NCLAT asks Google, CCI to file replies over Play Store billing policy
Page no- 17
GS2- Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-judicial Bodies
- While admitting the plea of startups against Google’s Play Store billing policy, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday asked both Google and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to respond on the issue.
- The appellate tribunal asked Google and the CCI to file their reply within a week.
- The case is now posted for final hearing on May 24.
