News Crux

Civil Services Chronicle Online, April, 2020 :

Centre Can’t Brand An Organisation As ‘Political’: SC

  • The Supreme Court of India has held that the central government cannot brand an organisation as political and deprive it of its right to receive foreign funds for using legitimate forms of dissent to aid a public cause.
  • The Court observed that an organisation which supports the cause of a group of citizens agitating for their rights without a political goal or objective cannot be penalised by being declared as an organisation of a political nature.
  • However, foreign funding could be stopped if an organisation took recourse to these forms of protest to score a political goal.

Rights Of An Accused To Be Defended

  • The Karnataka High Court has observed that it is unethical and illegal for lawyers to pass resolutions against representing accused in court.

Constitutional Provisions for the the Rights of an Accused

  • Article 22(1): It gives the fundamental right to every person not to be denied the right to be defended by a legal practitioner of his or her choice.
  • Article 14: It provides for equality before the law and equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.
  • Article 39A: It is part of the Directive Principles of State Policy. It states that equal opportunity to secure justice must not be denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, and provides for free legal aid.

NCTC & Cri-MAC

  • Union Minister for Home affairs has launched the Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) and National Cybercrime Training Centre (NCTC).
  • NCTC: The National Cybercrime Training Centre (NCTC) is meant for professional quality eLearning services on cyber crime investigation on large scale to police officers, judges, prosecutors and other stakeholders. 
  • Cri-MAC: Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) aims to share information between various police forces on heinous crimes and other issues related to inter-state coordination.

SAREX-2020

  • The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has conducted the National level Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX-2020) in Goa to test the efficiency of operations and coordination of the stakeholders involved in Search and Rescue in the Indian Ocean Region. 

Swavalamban Express

  • Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has announced the start of Swavalamban Express- a train journey to promote budding business aspirants and entrepreneurs.

Native Fury

  • “Native Fury” is a biennial military exercise between the US Marines and UAE Emirati forces. The latest 2020 edition was conducted at Abu Dhabi.

India, France Conduct Joint Patrols From Reunion Island

  • India and France have conducted joint patrols from the Reunion Island for the first time.
  • Reunion Island is a remote Indian Ocean island located between Madagascar and Mauritius. It is an overseas region of France.

UK Apologises For Windrush Scandal

  • The UK Government has apologised for the Windrush Scandal which involved Windrush generation - the immigrants who came to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries - being wrongly detained or deported.
  • The immigrants came at the invitation of the British government which was facing a labour shortage due to the destruction caused by World War II in a ship - named ‘Windrush’.

50 Years Of NPT

  • The Non-proliferation Treaty is an international treaty signed in 1968 and came into force in 1970.
  • The five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council issued a statement on the successful 50 years of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which came into force on March 5, 1970.
  • The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before 1 January 1967; these are the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China.
  • The other nuclear armed states—India, Israel and Pakistan have not joined the treaty. Further, North Korea and South Sudan have also not signed the treaty.

UN CSW Adopts Political Declaration On Women’s Rights

  • The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women has adopted a political declaration to reaffirm the 1995 Beijing Declaration to achieve gender equality.
  • Beijing Declaration: It was a resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. 
  • Commission on the Status of Women (CSW): The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was established in 1946 as a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

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