Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• On 17th January, 2020, the Ministry of Law and Justice issued an Extraordinary Gazette Notification, declaring the United Arab Emirates to be a “reciprocating territory” under Section 44 A of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. The notification also declared a list of courts in the UAE to be “Superior Courts” under the same section.
• Apart from UAE, the other countries declared to be “reciprocating territories” are: United Kingdom, Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Trinidad & Tobago, New Zealand, the Cook Islands (including Niue) and the Trust Territories of Western Samoa, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Aden.

Reciprocating Territory

• Essentially, orders passed by certain designated courts from a ‘reciprocating territory’ can be implemented in India, by filing a copy of the decree concerned in a District Court here.
• The courts so designated are called Superior Courts.
• It simply means that the foreign civil decrees passed by courts in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can now be executed in India.

Limitations

• The scope of the Section is restricted to decrees for payment of money, not being sums payable in respect of taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of a fine or other penalty.

Impact

• The move is widely seen to act as a major deterrent for those fleeing to India after committing major financial fraud, including bank loan default in UAE.

Explanation :

• The idea of creation of Zonal Councils was mooted by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1956 when during the course of debate on the report of the States Re-organisation Commission.
• The Zonal Councils are the statutory (and not the constitutional) bodies, established by an Act of the Parliament- States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The act divided the country into five zones- Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern and provided a zonal council for each zone.
• North Eastern Council (NEC) is a statutory advisory body constituted under the NEC Act 1971 and came into being on the 7th November, 1972 at Shillong. Eight States of Northeast India viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, are members of the council, with their respective Chief Ministers and Governors representing them.

Composition

• The Zonal Council meetings are chaired by the Union Home Minister. The Chief Ministers and two Ministers from the member States are the members ineach Zonal Council. In case of UTs, there are two members from each UT.

Zonal Councils and Member States

• The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, , Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territories of Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
• The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim and West Bengal.
• The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
• The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

Explanation :

• On 2^nd January, 2019, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) set up New, Emerging and Strategic Technologies (NEST) division, as a nodal division within the ministry to deal with issues like new and emerging technologies.
• NEST will help the country to collaborate with other countries in the field of 5G and artificial intelligence which are in line with India’s security goals.

Roles and Responsibilities of NEST

• The NEST will be empowered to formulate India's external technology policy in coordination with domestic stakeholders which are in line with India's developmental priorities and national security goals.
• It will also assist in evaluating foreign policy and international legal implications of new and emerging technologies and technology-based resources.
• It will also recommend a suitable foreign policy choice. Further, in multilateral and plurilateral frameworks, it will negotiate technology governance rules, standards, and architecture that are best suited for India's condition.
• The division will also be holding responsibility for matters that involves negotiations with multilateral fora like the United Nations,G20. This will help to safeguard India’s interests as such forums govern the rules of access to such technologies.

Explanation :

• The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Bill was approved by the President on September 11, 1958. It became known as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958.
• AFSPA gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”. They have the authority to prohibit a gathering of five or more persons in an area, can use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs would usually enforce this Act where necessary, but there have been exceptions where the Centre decided to forego its power and leave the decision to the State governments.
• Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission (2005) in its report recommended to repeal AFSPA, citing the Act a symbol of hate, oppression and instrument of high handedness .
• Presently, AFSPA is operational in entire States of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur (except Imphal Municipal area), three districts namely Tirap, Changlang and Longding of Arunachal Pradesh and the areas falling within the jurisdiction of the 8 police stations in the districts of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the State of Assam.

Explanation :

• Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2014 enables any person (i.e. a whistleblower) to report an act of corruption, willful misuse of power or discretion, or criminal offence by a public servant.
• This includes all public servants, including Ministers, Members of Parliament, the lower judiciary, regulatory authorities, central and state government employees,
• Such disclosures are made to a specified Competent Authority who must conduct a discreet inquiry and conceal the identity of the complainant and public servant.
• The maximum time period for making a complaint is seven years.
• The act is not applicable to the Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel and officers, constituted under the Special Protection Group Act, 1988.
• The Whistleblowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced in LokSabha on May 11, 2015 and passed in that House on May 13, 2015. Bill amends the Act to prohibit the disclosure of 10 categories of information to a Competent Authority.

Explanation :

• Department of Disinvestment was renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) from 14th April, 2016.
• It is mandated to look in to the matters relating to the management of Central Government investments in equity including disinvestment of equity in Central Public Sector Undertakings and sale of Central Government equity through offer for sale or private placement or any other mode in the erstwhile Central Public Sector Undertakings.
• Public Sector Units (PSUs) for strategic sale were identified by NITI Aayog till now but from now onwards, DIPAM and NITI Aayog will jointly identify PSUs for strategic disinvestment.

Vision

• Promote people’s ownership of Central Public Sector Enterprises to share in their prosperity through disinvestment.
• Efficient management of public investment in CPSEs for accelerating economic development and augmenting Government’s resources for higher expenditure.

Explanation :

• Incorporated in 1958 as a Government of India fully owned public enterprise, NMDC is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.
• The company has been categorised by the Department of Public Enterprises as " NAVRATNA" Public Sector Enterprise in 2008. In 1998, it was conferred the Mini Ratna status.
• NMDC is India's single largest iron ore producer, producing about 30 million tonnes of iron ore.
• Since inception it has been involved in the exploration of wide range of minerals including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, beach sands etc.

Navratna Companies

• Navratna scheme was introduced in 1997, to identify Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) that had comparative advantages and to support them in their drive to become global giants.
• It gives a company enhanced financial and operational autonomy and empowers it to invest up to 1000 crore or 15% of their net worth on a single project without seeking government approval.
• The prime criteria for getting Navratna status is that the renowned company must holds a status of Miniratna category-1 along with few independent directors at Miniratna level.

Explanation :

• Barcode only holds information in the horizontal direction, a QR can do so vertically as well, and hence QR code is capable of carrying 100 times more information than barcode.
• A QR code generally has an error margin of 7-30%, which means that even if the QR code is tampered to an extent it can be deciphered easily. Due to this reason QR codes are extensively used by the sellers. A barcode cannot be deciphered if it is damaged.

Explanation :

• In 1976, in the Raj Narain vs. the State of UP, it was held by the Supreme Court that people cannot speak unless they know. Hence, the Right to Information is embedded in Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.
• Disclosure of Personal Information which has no relation with the public Interest can be denied under RTI.

Explanation :

• Section 8 of the RTI Act deals with the exemptions under RTI.
• Information that can lead to incitement of violence, information that can affect the relationship with neighboring countries etc. can be curtailed under Section 8 of RTI Act.