Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 2
- SC restores President’s Rule, stays HC order till April 27 {Judicial review}
- On going beyond Bommai {Judicial review}
- Growing cracks in the U.S-Saudi alliance{International affairs}
- Govt. casts Aadhaar net wider at banks {Government schemes}
- GS PAPER 3
- RCEP draft moots tough curbs on cheap medicines {Foreign Trade}
GS PAPER 2
[1] SC restores President’s Rule, stays HC order till April 27
Context
Supreme court restores President’s rule after Uttarakhand High Court had invalidated Centre’s decision, which had imposed President’s Rule in the state
About President’s Rule – Hasty cure for a familiar malady
Arguments of both sides and Judicial review- Even President’s decision can go terribly wrong, says HC
Why has SC allowed President’s Rule till april 27
- For the simple reason that the judgment, dictated on April 21 by Uttarakhand Chief Justice K.M. Joseph in open court, was not yet available in the public domain
- So High Court decision will be in suspended animation till april 27
- It further directed the High Court to release the signed judgment by April 26 to the parties, who will file copies in the apex court.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi
Gave undertaking that govt would not revoke President’s rule before april 27 as a ploy to install BJP govt(The High Court, in its judgment, had scheduled a floor test on April 29)
[2]On going beyond Bommai
Context
Recent happenings in Uttarakhand, where High court had quashed centre’s decision of President’s Rule.
Why High Court did this
Going with the laws laid in the famous S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case, the High court made it clear that to ascertain the majority of a government was the floor of the House.
High court examined 3 contentions which according to it did not add up to breakdown of constitutional machinery
- Unusual passage of the Appropriation Bill through a voice vote rather than a division (following which the Bill was not sent for approval to the Governor)
- Disqualification of 9 party legislators who opposed
- A sting video where CM Rawat allegedly offering inducement to get back support of those opposers
What is S. R. Bommai v. Union of India case
Landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India, where the Court discussed at length provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India and related issues. This case had huge impact on Centre-State Relations. The misuse of Article 356, popularly known as “President’s rule”, to impose central authority on states, was stopped after this judgement.
The Principles laid down by Supreme Court
- The majority enjoyed by the Council of Ministers shall be tested on the floor of the House.
- Centre should give a warning to the state and a time period of one week to reply.
- The court cannot question the advice tendered by the CoMs to the President but it can question the material behind the satisfaction of the President. Hence, Judicial Review will involve three questions only:
a. Is there any material behind the proclamation
b. Is the material relevant.
c. Was there any mala fide use of power. - If there is improper use of A356 then the court will provide remedy.
- Under Article 356(3) it is the limitation on the powers of the President. Hence, the president shall not take any irreversible action until the proclamation is approved by the Parliament i.e. he shall not dissolve the assembly.
- A356 is justified only when there is a breakdown of constitutional machinery and not administrative machinery
A356 shall be used sparingly by the centre, otherwise it is likely to destroy the constitutional structure between the centre and the states. Even Dr. Ambedkar envisaged it to remain a ‘dead letter’ in the constitution.
How is Article 356 is misused
Chief Ministers cling on to posts even after dissidents have clearly reduced their governments to a minority, and partisan Speakers manipulate floor tests by a selective application of the anti-defection law.
[3] Growing cracks in the U.S-Saudi alliance
News
- Barack Obama arrived Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- to attend a regional summit of Gulf leaders
- He was welcomed by local governor not by the monarch, Salman Bin Abd al-Aziz.
- But he welcomed other country leaders.
It implies that there is some gap between the two countries.
Reason for Obama visit
- To see issues of Iran and other contentious issues such as the civil war in Syria
- But it does not reaped any fruit.
Both the countries are different in their outlook USA is a democracy that has even embedded human rights issues into foreign policy actions. The other is a closed society ruled by a conservative, authoritarian family.
USA and Saudi Arabia had a win win relation earlier.
Why the relation took a bitter turn?
- Because Washington refused to protect the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian dictator, when he was threatened by mass protests.
- President Obama declined to bomb Syria.
- Iranian nuclear deal was signed.
- USA thinks a collapse of the state in Syria would help the Islamic State.
- USA wants Iran to play a more responsible role in regional politics, especially in stabilising Iraq and defeating the IS in Syria
- All these are vital for American interest.
[4]Govt. casts Aadhaar net wider at banks
News
- Now government will treat all bank accounts receiving government subsidies as Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts
Why
- to widen the scope of Aadhaar
- Finance Ministry said all accounts getting benefits from the consolidated fund of India be treated as Jan Dhan accounts.
What is Consolidated Fund of India
- A consolidated fund or the consolidated revenue fund is the term used for the main bank account of the government in many of the countries in the British Commonwealth of Nations.
- The Indian government and each Indian state government maintain their own consolidated funds.
- Article 266 of the Constitution of India requires revenues received by the Government of India to be paid to the Consolidated Fund of India. It also requires state revenues to be paid to a respective state consolidated fund.
People got Jan dhan account under prime minister Jan dhan yojana who did not have accounts earlier. A scheme to bring financial inclusion in the country.
Supreme Court gave a green light for using Aadhaar number for different schemes like me Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the PMJDY, and pension schemes of states and the Centre.
Government will knock the doors of the SC to release more avenues for using Aadhaar.
In between government is creating a single household database of citizens, known as social security platform,
Why social security platform?
- to identify government scheme beneficiaries.
- An inter-ministerial meeting was held in the Cabinet Secretariat recently, officials said, and a concept note on the social security platform was circulated.
- As most of the beneficiaries are household
- So government is planning to integrate the Aadhaar numbers with the National Population Register (NPR) data and Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data to create a family database along with the socio-economic profile of the beneficiary.
GS PAPER 3
[1] RCEP draft moots tough curbs on cheap medicines
Context
Next round of RCEP trade talks in Australia between April 23-29, and few drafts of the trade talks have leaked out
What is RCEP
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) between members of ASEAN and six Countries with which ASEAN has FTAs
RCEP is one among three huge FTA’s in the world, others are:
- Trans Pacific Partnership(TPP) led by US
- Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment partnership(TTIP) between US and EU
RCEP comprises of 46% of world population
It accounts for 40% world trade
11th round happened in February in Brunei
12th round will happen at Perth, Australia in April
ASEAN(Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)
Six others countries are – Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand
What the draft says
- Some TPP member who are also part of RCEP are trying to push TPP standards in RCEP
- Japan and Korea are working to introduce some of the worst ideas from the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), the TPP and other trade agreements in the RCEP chapter on Intellectual Property
- There are proposals for patent extensions, restrictive rules on exceptions to copyright, and dozens of other anti-consumer measures, illustrating the power of rights-holder groups to use secret trade negotiations to influence democratic decisions that impact access to knowledge, the freedom to innovate and the right to health in negative ways
- A proposal by Japan and Korea demanding patent term extension — from the current 20 years by an additional five years — in ASEAN countries that are not party to the TPP
How it will affect Least developed countries(LDC’s)
They were given an exemption under Trade-Related of Intellectual Property Rights(TRIPS) till 2033, like Myanmar, Cambodia, laos were exempted to implement IP laws, but in the draft it seems that the exemption has been withdrawn
TRIPS plus
From India’s point of view, the draft proposals will compel governments to commit to newer Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provisions like TRIPS plus — including the Patent Law Treaty (Geneva, 2000), which involve harmonisation in the examination of patent applications and requirements of patentability.
But if these are implemented people in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos will have limited access to affordable Indian medicine
1. The lead article of the day is covered under Editorial Today. Click here to read.
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