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UPSCPORTAL Current Affairs : http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs

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CAG REPORT ON COAL BLOCKSAUCTIONING

According to comptroller

and aud itor generals draft report

titled Performance Audit Of Coal

Block Allocations, the

government lost Rs 10.67 lakh

crore by not au ctioning coal blocks

between 2004 and 2009. 155 coal

blocks were given to commercial

entities without auction between

2004 and 2009 thereby causing the

exchequer a loss of Rs 10.67 lakh

crore at 31 March 2011 pr ices . The

estimated loss is six times higher

than the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh

crore suffered for the 2G scam.

The government extended und ue

benefits totalling a m ind-boggling

Rs 10.67 lakh crore to commercial

entities between 2004 and 2009.

The beneficiaries include some 100

private companies, as well as

some publ ic sector uni t s , in

industries such as power, steel and

cement.

An estimate of the cost of

production for each block was

arrived at first by taking into

account the actual cos t of

prod uction in a similar Coal India

mine for the same year. Difference

between CILs sale pr ice and cost

of prod uction was then m ultiplied

by 90% of the reserves in each

block. The figure obtained was the

wind fall gain for that block. CAG

also specified the reason behind

taking 90% of the total reserves

ra the r t han the en t i r e l o t .

According to CAG, deta i ledexploration establishes reserves at

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a confidence level of 90%. CAG

report listed both private entities

and pu blic utilities as beneficiaries

of the alleged largesse. private

companies were believed to have

benefitted m ore than Rs 4.79 lakh

crore of the giveaway, whi le

around Rs 5.88 lakh crore went t o

cent ra l and s ta te government

utilities. The list did not name

Reliance Power, which is setting

up the Sasan and Tilaiya ultra-

mega power projects. Reliance

Power is missing from the list

because the section on Windfall

benefit to private comp anies does

not include 12 coal blocks given

for the governments showpiece

power projects since they were

allocated through a tariff based

competitive bidd ing route.

25% OF DELIVERIESBY UNTRAINEDHANDSIN 2010 IN INDIA

According to the registrar

general of Indias latest SampleRegistration System (SRS) 2010

data, two in 10 women in India

received medical attention by a

qualified professional in 2010

while delivering at hom e. It wa s

noted that fewer women in urban

India received medical attention

while delivering at hom e than in

rural India 10.8% agains t

16.2%. Near ly 1 in 4 births ov erall

were a t t ended by un t r a inedfunct ionar ies . Del ivery by

unt ra ined funct ionar ies were

found to vary from as high as

53.5% in Jharkhand to as low as

0.2% in Kerala. More wom en were

noted to have de l ive red in

government hospitals (41%) as

against pr ivate h ospitals (19.4%).

Kera l a r ecorded the h ighes t

deliveries in private hospitals

while Odisha recorded the least.

Tamil Nad u recorded the highest

num ber of wom en who d elivered

in a government hospital while

Jharkhand recorded the leas t

(19%). 55% of women in Delhi

delivered in governm ent hospitals

whi l e 23% went t o p r iva t e

hospitals. 17% of births at home

were carried out by a qualified

profess ional . Del iver ies

conduc ted by a qua l i f i ed

professional at home were as low

as 4.5% in Maharasht ra .

Untrained functionary deliveries

were as h igh as 47% in Bihar, 35%

in UP, 25% in West Bengal and

27% in Madhya Pradesh.

Ins t i tut ional del iver ies

(children being born in health

centres or hospitals and not in

their homes) were found to havepicked up in India. As per the d ata

released, more than three-fourths

of deliveries in India were found

to be occurring in institutional and

by qual i f ied profess ionals a t

present. Several states recorded

very low bi r ths by unt ra ined

functionar ies. They include Kerala

(0.2%), Tamil Nadu (0.9%),

Andhra Pradesh (1%), Punjab

(2.6%), Delhi (5.3%), Gujarat(8.8%), Haryana (6.3%) and

Karnataka (9.3%). Rur al regions in

several states recorded high rates

of delivery in private hospitals.

Like Kerala, where 52% of births

in rural settings took place in a

pr ivate hosp ital, followed by 35%

in Andhra, 23% in Delhi, 36% in

Gujarat, 32% in H aryan a, 20% in

Karnataka, 36% in Maharashtra,

35% in Punjab and 24% in TN.

ELECTION COMMISSIONS POLLSYMBOL RULESUPHELD

Sup reme Court of Ind ia on 18

Apri l 2012 upheld Elect ion

commissions poll symbol rules,

which entitled a political party the

status of state party and comm on

symbol for its candidates only if

it secures not less than 6 percent

of the total votes polled in a state

and returns at least two members

to the assembly. The cour t

dismissed the petitions, which

challenged the poll symbols order

as discriminatory. The petitions

had challenged the constitutional

validity of Clause 6 B of Election

Symbols (Reservat ion and

Allotment) Order on the basis that

although smaller political partiessecured less than 6 percent votes,

t hey were ab l e t o ge t two

candidates elected to assembly.

Elect ion commission of India

amended the Election Symbols

Order , 1968 in December

2000(inserting clause 6 B) to set the

benchmarks for a political party

to get Elect ion Commissions

recognition as political pa rty.

AMENDMENT INTHE REGISTRATIONOF BIRTHSAND DEATHS ACT, 1969BILLAPPROVED

The Union Cabinet on 12

Apr il 2012 gave its approval to the

introduction of a Bill seeking an




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amend ment in the Registration of

Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to

include registration of marriages

as wel l , so that the exis t ing

administrative mechanisms will

be able to car ry out such

regis t ra t ion of marr iages in

accordance with the specified

procedures and be ab l e t o

maintain necessary records and

sta t i s t ics for regis t ra t ion of

marriages also.The Cabinet also

approved introducing a Bill in

Parliament to further amend the

Anand Marriage Act , 1909 to

provide for regis t ra t ion of

marriages under the Act . The

prop osed Bill is set to benefit the

women f rom unnecessa ry

harassment in matrimonial and

maintenance cases. It a lso seeks to

provide evidentiary value in the

matters of custody of children,

right of children born from the

wed lock of the two persons whose

marr iage is registered and the age

of the parties to the marriage.

UNION CABINET GAVE ITSAPPROVAL TO THE PUBLICPROCUREMENT BILL

Union Cabinet on 12 April

2012 gave its nod to the Public

Procurem ent Bill. The bill is aimed

at bringing transparency in the

b idd ing process fo r pub l i c

procurement. The bill will regulatethe government purchases of

above 50 lakh rupees through a

transparent bidding p rocess. At

present there is no legislation

exis t s governing publ ic

procurement by the cen t r a l

government and central public

sector enterprises. The General

Financial Rules, 2005, govern

procurements mad e by the Centre.

The present bill prov ides for a jail

term ran ging from six months to

five years for public servants

found guilty of demanding and

accepting bribes from bidd ers of

government con t r ac t s . The

legislation is largely based on the

suggestions made by Committee

on Public Procurement h eaded by

former bureaucrat Vinod Dhall

which were accepted by a Group

of Ministers to tackle corruption

on 22 February 2012. The GoM

headed by F inance Minis ter

Pranab Mukherjee had sent the

bill for the approv al of the Union

Cabinet.

SUPREME COURT UPHELD TH ECONSTITUTIONAL VALIDITY OF THERTE ACT, 2009

The Sup reme Court of Ind ia

up held the constitutional validity

of theRight to Education Act, 2009,

which man dates 25 per cent free

seats to the poor in government

and pr iva t e una ided school s

un iform ly across the count ry. The

apex cour t c lar i f ied that i t s

jud gm en t w ill co me in to force

from 12 April 2012. How ever, the

act wi l l apply uni formly to

government and unaided p rivateschools except unaided private

minority schools.A three-judge

bench of Chief Justice S H Kapad ia

and justices K S Radhakrishnan

and Swantanter Kumar gave the

ruling. The bench had reserved

its verdict on 3August 2012 on a

batch of pet i t ions by pr ivate

unaided institutions which had

contended that the section 12

(1)(c) of RTE Act violates the rights

of privat e educational institutions

u n d e r A rt ic le 19 (1) (g)which

provided autonomy to private

management s t o run the i r

institutions without governm ental

interference.Right to Edu cation

Act (RTE) was passed by the

Indian parliament on 4 August

2009.The act came into force on 1

Apr il 2010. It has the p rovision of

free and compu lsory education for

child ren between 6 and 14 in India

under Article 21A of the Indian

Constitu tion. Ind ia became on e of

135 countries to make education

a fundamental r ight of every

child. Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE

act says that every recognized

school imp ar t i ng e l ementa ry

education is obliged to admit

underprivileged children even if

it is not aiaded by the government

to meet its expenses.

MEDIA SHOULD NOT REPORT ONMOVEMENTOF TROOPS

The Lucknow Bench of the

Allahabad High Court directed

the Union government of India

and the Ut t a r P radesh

government to ensure that there

is no reporting on movement oftroops by the print or electronic

media. Acting on a PIL, a bench

comprising justices Uma Nath

Singh and Virendra Kumar Dixit

ruled that th e issue of movement

of army troops does not require




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public discussion at the cost of

defence secrecy and the security

of the count ry. The cour t ,

however, dismissed the plea for a

high-level probe into the repor t by

a national d aily alleging un usual

movem ent of troops on the night

of 16 January 2012, the day the

Army Chief Gen VK Singh

approached the Supreme Court on

the issue of his d ate of Birth.

SUPREME COURT SOUGHT DETAILSOF 18 MERCY PLEA PENDINGBEFORETHE PRESIDENT


on 3 April 2012 directed the Union

government to p rovide records of

all 18 mercy p leas, pend ing before

the President of India. The courtasked Addi t ional Sol ic i tor -

General Harin Raval to furnish

detai ls of al l the mercy pleas

pend ing consideration before the

President for periods ranging

from one to seven years . A

Sup reme Court bench comp rising

ju s t ices G S Sin ghv i an d S J

Mukhopad haya also asked Ram

Jethm alani, amicus curiae, to file

written submissions on whether

the President should objectively

app ly mind w hile deciding mercy

pet i t ions . The apex cour t

observed that the role of the state

was perhaps advisory and the

f inal verdic t l ies wi th the

President. The court directions

came wh ile hearing a plea filed by

death convict Devender Pal Singh

Bhullar, challenging the undue

delay in disposal of his mercy

petition by the President.

CVC RECONSTITUTEDTHE ADVISORY

BOARD

The Central Vigilance

Commission (CVC) on 29 March

2012, reconstituted the advisory

board on bank, commercial and

financial frauds. The board, with

former Deputy Governor of RBI

Shyamala Gopinath as i t s

chairman, wil l help CBI in

inves t igat ing cases of bank,

commercial and financial frauds.

The six-member board, which is

the part of the organizational set

up of CBI, will have a tenure of

two years . The board wi l l be

provided with the operat ional

funding by the RBI. The other

members on the reconst i tuted

board i nc lude r e t i r ed Ind i an

Ad ministra tive Service officer

Vivek Mehrotra, retired Indian

Police Service officer Balwinder

Singh, former Chai rman and

Managing Director , Bank of

Maharashtra, A S Bhat tacharya, ex

Executive Director of Corp orat ion

Bank, Asit Pal and Chartered

Accountan t, T N Man oharan.

SUPREME COURTREFUSEDTO PASSORDERON CLEMENCY PETITION


on 30 March 2012 refused to passany ord er on a m ercy petition in

the death sentence to Balwant

Singh Rajoana, awarded death

sentence for assass inat ion of

former Punjab Chief Minister

Beant Singh. A Supreme Court

Bench of Justices T S Thakur and

Gyan Sud ha Misra observed th at

since the convict has n ot filed any

petition before the court and the

petitioner Abhinav Ramakrishnahas no locus standi to plead on his

behalf, the court can not pass any

order in the clemency petition.

Petitioner Abhinav Ramakrishna,

an ad vocate, was told by the court

that since petition was filed und er




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Art icle 32, it cannot be entertained

as in no way, any fundamental

r i gh t o f t he pe t i t i oner was

violated. The bench ruled th at the

Article 32 of Indian Constitution

could only be invoked by a p erson

whose fundamenta l r i gh t i s

violated.

UNION CABINET APPROVED THEMARRIAGE LAWS (AMENDMENT)BILL, 2010

The Union Cabinet of India

on 23 March 2012 approved the

redra f t ed M ar r i age l aws

(Amendment) Bill, 2010. The bill

seeks to give a wom an share in her

husbands property in case of a

divorce but the quantu m of share

will be decided by the courts on

case by case basis. It also aims a t

giving rights to adop ted children

on p ar w ith biological off-springs.

According to the redrafted bill,

adop ted children w ill have rights

on p ar w ith biological off-spr ings

of a couple in case the p arents go

for a divorce. It is important to

note that all these changes in the

bi l l were based on the

recommendations made by the

P ar l i amenta ry S t and ing

Committee on Law and Justice

and Personnel . The Marr iage

Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010,

was introd uced in the Rajya Sabha

in August 2010 and then it wasreferred to the Parl iamentary

Stand ing Committee on Law and

Justice and Personn el. Earlier, The

Union Cabinet of Ind ia on 10 Jun e

2010 had approved the

introd uction of a Bill, nam ely, the

Marr iage Laws (Amend ment) Bill,

2010 to further amend the Hind u

Marr iage Act, 1955 and the Special

Marriage Act, 1954, to provide

therein irretrievable break d own

of mar r i age as a g round of

divorce. The Bill would provide

safeguard s to parties to marr iage

who fi le pet i t ion for grant of

d ivorce by consen t f rom the

harassment in court if any of the

party does not come to the court

or try to avoid the court to keep

the d ivorce p roceed ings

inconclusive.

THE UNION GOVERNMENTOF INDIANOTIFIED NCTC

The Union Government of

India notified the setting up of the

anti-terror body calledN ational

Counter Terrorism Centre

(NCTC).NCTC wi l l have the

power to carry out operat ions

including ar res t , search and

seizure. It will d raw its fun ctional

power of search and seizures

und er the provisions of the UAPA

(Unlawful Activities (Prevention)

Act.It will work as an integral

part of Intelligence bureau. The

notification man dates the terror-

fighting agencies to share their

inputs with NCTC and i t also

app oints the director and his core

team. Director of NCTC will have

full functional autonomy and he

wi l l have the power t o seek

informat ion on ter ror f rom

National Investigation Agency,

NATGRID, intelligence units of

CBI, National Technical Research

Organisation and directorate of

revenue intelligence in ad d ition to

all seven central armed police

forces including NSG. He will

report to t he IB chief and the home

ministry. The notification was

issued u nder theArticle 73 of the

Constitution of India.

CARETAKERS CAN T CLAIMOWNERSHIPOF PROPERTY

The Supreme Cour t o f

India ruled that one cannotacquire title to a property only

because he or she had been

allowed to stay in the prem ises

for long. The apex cour t

di rected the cour ts to deal

firmly with those involving

innocent ow ners in p rolonged

real estate litigation. A three-

jud ge bench includ ing justices

Dalveer Bhandar i , Deepak

Verma and HL Dattu gave theruling. The bench also set fresh

guidel ines that care takers ,

servants and watchman do not

acquire property merely because

of i ts possession by them for

several years.




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