Source: The Hindu, Live Mint and Indian Express
ELECTORAL BONDS
Context: The Supreme Court passed interim directions, directing political parties to provide full information on each and every political donor and contributions made through electoral bonds in sealed cover to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Essentials
What are electoral bonds?
- Electoral bonds were announced in the Union Budget of 2017-18.
- The electoral bond scheme is being implemented by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
- An electoral bond is a bearer instrument like a Promissory Note — in effect, it will be similar to a bank note that is payable to the bearer on demand and free of interest.
- A bearer instrument, or bearerbond, is a type of fixed-income security in which no ownership information is recorded and the security is issued in physical form to the purchaser.
- The holder is presumed to be the owner, and whoever is in possession of the physical bond is entitled to the coupon payments.
- Promissory Note is a signed document containing a written promise to pay a stated sum to a specified person or the bearer at a specified date or on demand.
- The bonds will be issued in multiples of ₹1,000, ₹10,000, ₹1 lakh, ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore and will be available at specified branches of State Bank of India.
- SBI is the ‘Sole Authorized Bank’ by the Government of India for selling Electoral Bonds.
- The minimum amount for donation in Electoral Bonds is Rs 1000. There is no maximum limit for donation.
- Donors, with a KYC-compliant account, can donate the bonds to their party of choice which can then be cashed in via the party’s verified account within 15 days.
- The bonds do not bear the name of the donor, and the details are not made public.
What are the other conditions?
- Every party that is registered under section 29A of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 and has secured at least one per cent of the votes polled in the most recent Lok Sabha or State election will be allotted a verified account by the Election Commission of India.
- Electoral bond transactions can be made only via this account.
- The bonds will be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in the beginning of every quarter, i.e. in January, April, July and October as specified by the Central Government.
- An additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the Central Government in the year of Lok Sabha elections.
Who is eligible to Donate through Electoral Bonds?
- The Electoral Bonds under this Scheme may be purchased by a Person, who is a Citizen of India or Incorporated or Established in India.
- The definition of “Person” includes-
- an Individual;
- a Hindu Undivided Family;
- a Company;
- a Firm;
- an Association of Persons or a Body of Individuals, whether incorporated or not;
- every Artificial Juridical Person, not falling within any of the preceding subclauses; and
- any Agency, Office or Branch owned or controlled by such person.
- Whether joint holding will be allowed? Electoral Bonds can be purchased either Singly or Jointly with other Individuals but not more than three Applicants per Application Form. No name(s) will be printed on the Bond.
- Can Electoral Bonds be purchased multiple times by same Applicant? Every application will be treated as fresh request for Electoral Bonds purchase and every time fresh KYC documents will be given.
- All payment for the issuance of the Electoral Bonds will be accepted in Indian Rupees only.
- Once the Electoral Bond is purchased it cannot be cancelled and no amount will be refunded to the Purchaser.
- Political Party cannot open more than one Current Account for Electoral Bond redemption.
- However, a Political Party can use this Current Account for other operations also.
- If the Political Party becomes de-notified before the next issuance of Electoral Bonds, then Bank will change the product code of their account to a regular Current Account code, so that Electoral Bonds cannot be deposited in the account.
- The electoral bonds will not bear the name of the donor. In essence, the donor and the party details will be available with the bank, but the political party might not be aware of who the donor is.
- The intention is to ensure that all the donations made to a party will be accounted for in the balance sheets without exposing the donor details to the public.
- The maximum amount of cash donation that a political party can receive is capped at ₹2,000 and that parties are entitled to receive donations by cheque or digital mode, in addition to electoral bonds.
NOTE
- Data shows 99.9% of all electoral bonds bought so far are worth Rs 10 lakh or 1 crore.
- The bonds of Rs 1 crore are the most popular among all the electoral bond purchases so far.
- Before the introduction of the Scheme, cash donations of over Rs 20,000 could not be anonymous.
- The fact that donations through electoral bonds remain anonymous as well as tax exempt, and given most have been of high value, has raised concerns among experts.
- The amendment to Section 29C of the Representation of the People Act has made it no longer mandatory for the parties to report the details of donations received through the bonds.
MANUFACTURING CRASHES TO A 20-MONTH LOW
Context: This is a routine news and we need to cover some basics under this news.
Essentials
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
- It is computed and published by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on monthly basis.
- It measures the short-term changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products.
- It is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under,
Broad sectors, namely, Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity
2. Use-based sectors, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods and Intermediate Goods. - The base year for IIP is 2011-12.
- IIP is first deflated by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) of the corresponding categories, released by the Office of the Economic Adviser, Ministry of Industry.
- The scope of the IIP as recommended by the United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO) includes mining, manufacturing, construction, electricity, gas and water supply. But due to constraints of data availability, the IIP compiled in India has excluded construction, gas and water supply sectors.
- IIP is compiled using data received from 14 source agencies
- (i) Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP);
- (ii) Indian Bureau of Mines;
- (iii) Central Electricity Authority;
- (iv) Joint Plant Committee, Ministry of Steel;
- (v) Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas;
- (vi) Office of Textile Commissioner;
- (vii) Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals;
- (viii) Directorate of Sugar & Vegetable Oils;
- (ix) Department of Fertilizers;
- (x) Tea Board;
- (xi) Office of Jute Commissioner;
- (xii) Office of Coal Controller;
- (xiii) Railway Board; and
- (xiv) Coffee Board.
Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA)
- It is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
- Its main functions are:
- Compiling and releasing monthly Index of Core Industries Production.
- Compiling and releasing monthly Wholesale Price Indices.
- Monthly Statistical compilation of macro indicators.
- Developing other Indices on experimental basis, e.g. select business service price indices.
- Supervising as a source agency.
PLEA TO REMOVE DUAL CONTROL OF ASSAM RIFLE
- Context: The Delhi High Court has sought the response from the Cabinet Committee on Security on a petition seeking directions to bring the Assam Rifles out of the dual control of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence as the dual leadership was causing administrative problems like “discrimination” in terms of promotion.
Essentials
- The Assam Rifles is a Central Para Military Force along with two other forces – Special Frontier Force and Coast Guard.
- However, only the Assam Rifles functions under the administrative control of the Union Home Ministry.
- The Assam Rifles functions under the administrative control of the Home Ministry but headed by Army personnel who come under the Ministry of Defence.
- The Assam Rifles was formed under the British in 1835 by the name of Cachar Levy.
- At present, it has 46 battalions and fulfils the dual role of maintaining internal security in the Northeastern region and guarding the Indo-Myanmar Border.
- The HQs of all the Central Para Military Forces are located at Delhi, except that of Assam Rifles (AR) which is at Shillong.
- Note: The status of “Ex- Servicemen“ is currently given only to the personnel of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
BAISAKHI
- Baisakhi Festival falls on April 14th and marks the beginning of the solar year in Punjab.
- It is celebrated with lot of joy and enthusiasm in the northern state of Punjab and Haryana.
- Farmers are jubilant over the festival as for them Baisakhi marks the time for harvest of rabi crops.
- Baisakhi has special significance for Sikhs as on this day in 1699, their tenth Guru Gobind Singh Ji organized the order of the Khalsa.
Essentials
Major Harvest Festival in the Country
- Bihu: Assam
- Bihu is the national festival of Assam celebrated three times in a year, Maagh in January, Bohaag in April and Kaati in October.
- Rongali Bihu or Bohag Bihu is the major among the other and most popular Bihu festival celebrated as the Assamese New Year in mid April along with Spring season.
- Hareli and Cher-Chera: Chhattisgarh
- Vishu and Onam: Kerala
- The ancient festival has a significance of homecoming of the legendary Emperor Mahabali and harvest of rice and rain flowers in Kerala.
- Nuakhai/Nabanna: Orissa
- Kut: By Kuki-Chin tribes of Manipur
- Tokhu Emong: By the tribes of Lotha Nagas.
- Pongal: Tamil Nadu
- Ugadi: Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
- Bhogi: Andhra Pradesh
- Uttarayan: Gujarat, Associated with flying of colourful kites.
THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
Context: President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pf Algeria were forced to resign in the recent past due to popular protests.
- President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes.
Essentials
The International Criminal Court
- The ICC is the world’s only permanent international criminal tribunal.
- It is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, and is charged with investigating and prosecuting crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, aggression, and war crimes.
- The ICC has jurisdiction over the gravest instances of atrocity crimes and targets only the highest priority perpetrators of these crimes.
- The ICC prosecutes individuals, not organizations or governments.
- The ICC is not part of the United Nations.
- The Rome Statute is the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court.
- The UN Security Council is empowered, under the Rome Statute, to refer complaints against non-member nations to the International Criminal Court.
- Burundi is the first member-country to leave the ICC because, in September 2017, a UN commission investigating violence for over two years under President Pierre Nkurunziza recommended a criminal investigation by the court.
