Explanation :

• Article 161 deals with the Pardoning Power of the Governor.
• The Governor can grant pardons, reprieves, respites and remissions of punishments or suspend, remit and commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.

Difference between pardoning powers of the President and the Governor

• The Governor cannot Pardon a Death Sentence but the President can Pardon a Death Sentence.
• The Governor can only suspend, remit or commute a death sentence.
• The Governor cannot grant pardon, reprieve, respite, suspension, remission or commutation in respect to punishment or sentence by a court-martial. But the President can do so.

Explanation :

Context: Recently, Goa’s first Lokayukta Justice Prafulla Kumar Misra, who retired from the post of Goa Lokayukta, has highlighted the issues related to the state office and the proceedings.

About Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013

• Under the 2013 Act, the Lokpal should consist of a chairperson and such number of members, not exceeding eight, of whom 50% should be judicial members.
• The Act states that not less than 50% of the members of the Lokpal should be from among persons belonging to the SCs, the STs, OBCs, minorities and women.
• It mandates that all public officials should furnish the assets and liabilities of themselves as well as their respective dependents.
• Underthe Act, the Department of Personnel and Training needs to create a list of candidates who are interested to become the chairperson or members of the Lokpal.
• The list was then to be presented to the proposed eight-member search committee. The committee on receiving the list shortlists the names and place them before the selection panel, headed by the Prime Minister.
• The Lokpal has jurisdiction to inquire into allegations of corruption against anyone who is or has been Prime Minister, or a Minister in the Union government, or a Member of Parliament, as well as officials of the Union government under Groups A, B, C and D.
• Also covered are chairpersons, members, officers and directors of any board, corporation, society, trust or autonomous body either established by an Act of Parliament or wholly or partly funded by the Centre.
• It cannot inquire into any corruption charge against the Prime Minister if the allegations are related to international relations, external and internal security, public order, atomic energy and space, unless a full Bench of the Lokpal, consisting of its chair and all members, considers the initiation of a probe, and at least two-thirds of the members approve it.
• Such a hearing should be held in camera, and if the complaint is dismissed, the records shall not be published or made available to anyone.
• It also covers any society or trust or body that receives foreign contribution above Rs10 lakh.

Explanation :

Adjournment Motion

• It is introduced only in the Lok Sabha to draw the attention of the House to a definite matter of urgent public importance.
• It involves an element of censure against the government, therefore Rajya Sabha is not permitted to make use of this device.
• It is regarded as an extraordinary device as it interrupts the normal business of the House. It needs the support of 50 members to be admitted.
• The discussion on this motion should last for not less than two hours and thirty minutes.
• The power of adjournment lies with the presiding officer of the House.

Adjournment Sine Die

• Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
• In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.
• The power of adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House.

Explanation :

• Article 23 prohibits trafficking in human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced labour and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with the law.
• Article 24 says that “No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.”
• Article 29 provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same.It grants protection to both religious minorities as well as linguistic minorities. However, the Supreme Court held that the scope of this Article is not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as use of the word ‘section of citizens’ in the Article that include minorities as well as majority.
• Article 30 of the Indian Constitution states the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

Explanation :

• Article 129: The Supreme Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.
• Article 215: Every High Court shall be a court of record and shall have all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for contempt of itself.
• Article 32 of the Indian Constitution and Article 226 of the Indian Constitution lay down the provisions for filing Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Supreme Court and High Courts respectively.

Explanation :

• Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) of India is the apex authority responsible for external and internal audits of the expenses of the National and state governments.
• Part V of the Indian Constitution describes the role and responsibilities of this office in Chapter V.
• The CAG is mentioned in the Constitution of India under Article 148 – 151.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General is one of the few offices directly appointed by the President of India.
• He is the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department.
• CAG is the guardian of the public purse and controls the entire financial system of the country at both the levels- the centre and state.
• It audits all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of India and the Public Account of India as well as the Contingency Fund and Public Account of each state.
• He submits his audit reports relating to the accounts of the Centre and State to the President and Governor, who shall, in turn, place them before both the houses of Parliament and the state legislature respectively.
• He submits 3 audit reports to the President: audit report on appropriation accounts, audit report on finance accounts and audit report on public undertakings.

Explanation :

• A whip is an official of a political party who acts as the party's 'enforcer' inside the Legislative Assembly or House of Parliament.
• Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a Chief Whip, and he/she is assisted by additional Whips.
• India inherited the concept of the whip from the British parliamentary system.

Role

• They try to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party’s official policy.

What happens if a ‘whip’ is disobeyed?

• A legislator may face disqualification proceedings if she/he disobeys the whip of the party unless the number of lawmakers defying the whip is 2/3rds of the party’s strength in the house.
• Disqualification is decided by the Speaker of the house.

Limitations

• There are some cases such as Presidential elections where whips cannot direct a Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to vote in a particular fashion.

Types

• One-line whip: Issued to inform members of a party about a vote. It allows a member to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.
• Two-line whip: Issued to direct the members to be present in the House at the time of voting.
• Three-line whip: Issued to members directing them to vote as per the party line.

Explanation :

• Plea bargaining refers to a person charged with a criminal offence negotiating with the prosecution for a lesser punishment than what is provided in law by pleading guilty to a less serious offence.
• It primarily involves pre-trial negotiations between the accused and the prosecutor. It may involve bargaining on the charge or in the quantum of sentence.
• The Justice Malimath Committee2000) on reforms of the criminal justice system endorsed the various recommendations of the Law Commission with regard to plea bargaining.
• It was introduced in 2006 as part of a set of amendments to the CrPC as Chapter XXI-A, containing Sections 265A to 265L.

Circumstances in which it is allowed

• Cases for which the practice is allowed are limited.
• Only someone who has been charge-sheeted for an offence that does not attract the death sentence, life sentence or a prison term above seven years can make use of the scheme under Chapter XXI-A.
• It is also applicable to private complaints of which a criminal court has taken cognizance.
• Other categories of cases that cannot be disposed of through plea bargaining are those that involve offences affecting the “socio-economic conditions” of the country or committed against a woman or a child below 14.

Benefits

• Prolonged incarceration of undertrials without any progress and overcrowding of prisons were also other factors that may be cited in support of reducing pendency of cases and decongesting prisons.
• Moreover, it may help offenders make a fresh start in life.

Explanation :

• Article 72 and Article 161 empowers the President and the Governors respectively, the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
• Remission: It implies reducing the period of the sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for five years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.
• Respite: It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.
• Reprieve: It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation from the President.

Explanation :

• On 20^th February, 2020, the two hill states of northeast, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, celebrated their 32nd Statehood Day.

Mizoram

• Mizoram being a mountainous region was a district off Assam till 1972. It became a state with the implementation of North-Eastern Reorganization Act, 1972. It became the 23rd Indian state on February 20, 1987.

Arunachal Pradesh

• The state was called the North-East Frontier Agency. Later in 1975, an elected Legislative Assembly was constituted. After the Reorganization Act, 1972, Arunachal Pradesh remained as a Union Territory. It became a state in 1987.