General Awareness

GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES - July 2019

Jul 2019

Jul 28, 2019

Triple Talaq Bill

In a setback to the government's efforts to pass the triple talaq Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Janata Dal(U), a National Democratic Alliance partner, said that it would oppose the draft legislation in the Upper House.
Party spokesperson K.C. Tyagi slammed the Bill, which criminalises instant divorce by Muslim men with a jail term of up to three years, and said that it was of an imposing nature and would definitely create a lack of trust in society.
As per Tyagi, ours is a nation based on a delicate balance in respect of laws and governing principles for different religious and ethnic groups. We must not impose any view without obtaining substantive consultations.
The JD(U) does believe in reforms, but these should be brought after in-depth consultations with various religious and ethnic groups, he said.
The Bill may be tabled in the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha had passed it on July 25 and if the Rajya Sabha passes it, it will become law, replacing an ordinance which had enacted a similar provision through an executive decree.

Jul 27, 2019

Bill on Scrutiny of Projects

The Legislative Assembly passed the A.P. Infrastructure (Transparency through Judicial Preview) Bill, 2019, paving the way for scrutiny of projects estimated to cost more than Rs. 100 crore by a committee headed by a sitting or retired judge to be appointed by the High Court.
It is for ensuring that all infrastructure projects, including Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), are in compliance with the procedures, rules and guidelines laid down by the State and the Central governments. Its underlying objective is to check corruption by optimally utilising the public resources (taxpayers' money) and adopting efficient methods like reverse tendering.
As per this path-breaking legislation, the tender documents would be kept in public domain for a week for obtaining suggestions, and the committee would take a decision in eight days thereafter.
The Bill enables the government to provide experts to the judge for lending technical assistance or the judge to pick up experts of his or her choice. Any component that is segregated, divided or tendered separately but forming part of the original work will be deemed as an integral part of the project.

Jul 26, 2019

Triple Talaq Bill Gets LS Nod

The Lok Sabha passed a bill that penalises talaq-e-biddat (triple talaq), a practice of divorce in the Muslim community, amid strong protests by the Opposition which demanded that the bill be referred to a parliamentary panel for review as it criminalized a civil right issue.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2019 was passed by a voice vote after the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, and key Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally, Janata Dal (United), among other Opposition parties staged a walkout.
The bill, which will now be sent to the Rajya Sabha, makes the practice of instant triple talaq — under which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by uttering the word "talaq" thrice in succession — a cognizable offence, attracting up to three years' imprisonment and a fine. A cognizable offence is one in which the police may carry out an arrest without a warrant, and is used for serious crimes such as theft, rape and murder.
The bill allows the wife or her relatives to file a complaint, and has a provision for a magistrate to grant bail to the accused. It also leaves scope for reconciliation between the couple.
In the 2017 Shayara Bano versus Union of India and Others case, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court held in a 3-2 majority verdict that instant triple talaq, polygamy and nikah halala (in which a woman must marry and divorce another man to re-marry her first husband) were unconstitutional practices.
The previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government then tabled a version of the bill, which was passed by the Lower House in December 2018, but remained pending in the Upper House.
With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha, the bill lapsed and was introduced in the first session of the newly elected Lok Sabha. The previous NDA government also promulgated two ordinances—in September 2018 and February 2019 — penalising the practice.

Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 Passed in Rajya Sabha

The Narendra Modi government cleared a major legislative hurdle in the Rajya Sabha when it managed to pass the contentious Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Upper House despite having fewer numbers than the Opposition.
The bill itself was passed by a "voice vote". However, the government faced voting for the first time in its current tenure when the Opposition demanded that its motion to send the bill to a select committee for further scrutiny be put to vote. The motion was defeated 117 versus 95, subject to correction.
The Congress bristled at the bill, which changes the tenure and salaries of key bureaucrats tasked with providing information, but the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) sailed through by managing to enlist the support of a few neutral regional parties: the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
The House saw brief adjournments on four occasions, as Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party members raised constant slogans in the well of House.
The bill changes the fixed fiveyear term of chief information commissioner and information commissioners provided for in the Right to Information Act, 2005, and states that the central government will notify the term of office of these officials.
The bill also states that the salaries, allowances and other terms of service of these officials will now be determined by the central government, as against the 2005 Act that says the salary of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners at the central level will be equivalent to that of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners; and the salary of the chief information commissioner and information commissioners at the state level equivalent to that of the election commissioners and the chief secretary to the state government.
The Opposition and several activists contend that these provisions weaken the RTI Act and bring the department firmly under the government's control.

Jul 25, 2019

LS Passes Ponzi Scheme Bill

In a bid to save gullible investors from ponzi schemes, Lok Sabha unanimously passed the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 that seeks to put in place a mechanism by which poor depositors get back their hard earned money.
The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 replaced the Ordinance on the same.

Pocso Amendment Bill Clears Rajya Sabha Test

The Rajya Sabha passed the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which proposes death penalty in cases of serious sexual assaults and stringent punishment for other crimes against children.
The bill, which was introduced in upper house of Parliament by minister of women and child development Smriti Irani on July 18, 2019, will now be sent to the Lok Sabha for approval. It is aimed at amending the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the country's flagship law to protect minors from various sexual offences.
Members from opposition parties demanded that the proposed law ought to cover sexual offences committed on children during communal or sectarian clashes under the "aggravated penetrative assault" category, as mentioned in the existing law.
They claimed this provision was present in the Pocso Act, 2012, which the bill sought to amend. Sexual assault during "communal or sectarian violence" was being replaced with "assault committed during a natural calamity, or in any similar situations of violence".
The clause classifying 'sexual assault on child in course of sectarian and communal violence' as aggravated penetrative sexual assault has been substituted in this Bill by 'violence during natural calamity'. These categories of offences are not comparable.
The law defines "aggravated penetrative sexual assault" as cases of sexual assault on children by a police officer, a military person or a public servant. It also covers cases where the offender is a relative of the child or if the assault results in injury of the sexual parts of the child or the child becomes pregnant.
Currently, the punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault may range from 10 years to life imprisonment, along with a fine. The new law enhances the minimum punishment from 10 years to 20 years, while providing the maximum punishment of death penalty.
The bill increases the minimum punishment from seven years to 10 years for any kind of "penetrative sexual assault". If the molested child is below 16 years, the convict will be punishable with a jail term of between 20 years to life, with a fine.
The law also penalises persons using children for "pornographic purposes resulting in sexual assault". It defines child pornography as any "visual depiction" of sexually explicit conduct involving a child including photograph, video, digital or computer generated image indistinguishable from an actual child".
According to official data, about 12,609 rape cases were registered under the Pocso Act in 2019 so far.

Amendments to an Anti-terror Law Passed in LS

The Lok Sabha passed amendments to an anti-terror law that home minister Amit Shah said were essential to keep security agencies a step ahead of terrorists as the government sought to allay a combative Opposition's apprehensions that the legislation could be misused and was in contravention of India's federal structure.
The amendment bill seeks to designate an individual (as opposed to organisation) suspected to have terror links as a terrorist and allows the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to attach properties linked to a terror investigation without taking permission from the state police.
Under the original UAPA Act, the central government may designate a group as a terrorist organisation if it commits or participates in acts of terrorism, prepares for terrorism, promotes terrorism or is otherwise involved in terrorism.

New Committee on Harassment

Three heavyweights of Prime Minister Modi cabinet are now part of the "reconstituted" Group of Minister (GoM) on "Sexual Harassment at Work Place."
The GoM is headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Women and Child Development minister Smriti Irani are part of the group.
Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhrial Nishank is also part of the GoM.
The newly constituted GoM will consult "stakeholders" and examine the suggestions received

Jul 24, 2019

Madhya Pradesh Gives 27% Reservation to OBCs

The Madhya Pradesh assembly unanimously passed an amendment bill to increase reservation enjoyed by other backward classes (OBCs) in government jobs to 27% from existing 14%.
The assembly passed the MP Public Service (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Amendment Bill 2019 that will now go to the President for his assent.
With passage of the bill, total quota in government jobs rose to 73%, including 10% reservation for economic weaker section (EWS) from upper castes.

Motor Vehicles Bill Gets LS Nod

The Lok Sabha passed the Motor Vehicles (amendment) Bill that seeks to weed out corruption, improve road safety, promote the use of technology to regulate traffic and bring down the number of deaths as a result of road accidents.
To allay the concerns of the opposition parties, the government assured the House that rights of the states would not be taken away.
The bill was passed by the 16th Lok Sabha, but lapsed with the dissolution of the House after it failed to get the Rajya Sabha nod.
The bill proposes a National Transportation Policy for formulating guidelines on the transportation of goods and passengers.

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