GS- 3 Paper
Topic covered– Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019
Context
- Parliament passed the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019.
About the UAPA
- The UAPA is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA which was lapsed in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
- The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was originally passed in the year 1967.
- It was amended under the successive governments in 2004, 2008 and 2013.
- The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
Key features of the Bill
- The Bill amends the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The Act provides special procedures to deal with terrorist activities, among other things.
- The act defines that who may commit terrorism.
- Under the Act, the central government may designate an organisation as a terrorist organisation if –
- It commits or participates in acts of terrorism,
- It prepares for terrorism,
- It promotes terrorism,
- It is otherwise involved in terrorism.
- The Bill additionally empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds.
- The act grants approval for seizure of property by NIA.
- Under the Act, an investigating officer is required to obtain the prior approval of the Director General of Police to seize properties that may be connected with terrorism.
- The Bill adds that if the investigation is conducted by an officer of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the approval of the Director General of NIA would be required for seizure of such property.
- Under the Act, investigation of cases may be conducted by officers of the rank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police or above.
- The Bill additionally empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases.
- The Act defines terrorist acts to include acts committed within the scope of any of the treaties listed in a schedule to the Act.
- The Schedule lists nine treaties, including the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997), and the Convention against Taking of Hostages (1979).
- The Bill adds another treaty to the list. This is the International Convention for Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005).
Concerns
- The Act assigns absolute power to the central government.
- It is been claimed that in the name of tackling terror, fundamental rights of an individual can be violated.
- In case of seizure of property, there is no provision of judicial scrutiny.
- In case of designation an organization or an individual as terrorist, the “burden of proof” in these cases will fall on the investigating agency, in this case the NIA.
- However, the individual can appeal against the inclusion of his/her name and seek a hearing before the review committee, constituted by the Central government under UAPA.
Way forward
- Terrorism is not just fostered by the gun. Terrorism is also the spread of hate and radicalism.
- A comprehensive non-discriminatory definition of terrorist must be defined.
- The court proceeding must be open and transparent.
- Clear reason must be given before banning any organization.
GS- 2 Paper
Topic covered– Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
Institutions of Eminence
Context
The UGC has considered the reports of the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) recommending (15) Public institutions and (15) Private institutions for considering to give status of Institutions of Eminence (IoEs).
About
The institutes of eminence scheme under the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry aims to project Indian institutes to global recognition.
The selected institutes will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.
The aim of the scheme is to bring higher educational institutions selected as IoEs in top 500 of world ranking in the next 10 years and in top 100 eventually overtime.
Empowered Expert Committee (EEC)is appointed by Government under the Chairmanship of Shri N Gopalaswami.
Objectives
- To provide for higher education leading to excellence and innovations in such branches of knowledge as may be deemed fit at post-graduate, graduate and research degree levels and award degrees, diplomas and other academic distinctions.
- To engage in areas of specialization to make distinctive contributions to the objectives of the university education system.
- To developing the capacity of the students and the researchers to compete in the global tertiary education marketplace through the acquisition and creation of advanced knowledge in those areas.
- To provide for high quality teaching and research and for the advancement of knowledge.
- To pay special attention to teaching and research in unique and emerging areas of knowledge, which are regarded as important for strategic needs of the country.
- To aim to be rated internationally for its teaching and research as a top hundred Institution in the world over time.
Features
- Under this scheme, IoEs will have freedom to choose their own path to become world class institutions.
- Institutions shall be selected as IoEs by the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC), constituted for this purpose.
- The EEC shall conduct their appraisal based on their 15 years strategic vision plan and 5 years implementation plan as well as any other measure of demonstrated commitment to the cause of developing an Institution of Eminence.
- The EEC will make its recommendation after engagement with the Institutions to study their proposals, hear presentations from them and after a thorough scrutiny, rank the Institutions for their suitability for inclusion in this scheme.
- Each Public Institution selected as IoE will be provided financial assistance up to Rs. 1000 Cr over a period of five years.
- In case of the private institutions proposed as Institutions of Eminence, there will be no financial support, but they will be entitled for more autonomy as a special category Deemed University.
- The Greenfield Institutions would get 3 year period to establish and operationalise the institution, and thereafter, EEC will consider giving IoE status to such institutions.
Selected institutions are –
Public Sector–
- In accordance with the above principles, the UGC has ranked the list of (15) recommendations as per the QS-2020 World Rankings.
- Accordingly, the following are recommended for grant of IoE status-
- IIT Bombay (INI)
- IIT Delhi (INI)
- IISC Bangalore (Deemed Univ)
- IIT Madras (INI)
- IIT Kharagpur (INI)
- Delhi University (Central Univ)
- University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad (Central Univ)
- Jadavpur University, Kolkata (State Univ)
- Anna University, Chennai (State Univ)
- BHU, Varanasi (Central Univ)
- Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune (State Univ)
- AMU, Aligarh (Central Univ)
- Tezpur University (Central Univ)
- Panjab University, Chandigarh (State/Central Univ)
- Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (State Univ)
Private Institutions-
- UGC has ranked the list of the (15) private institutions recommended by the EEC.
- BITS Pilani, Rajasthan
- Manipal Academy of Higher Education
- Jio Institute (Reliance Foundation, Maharashtra)
- Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bangalore
- VIT Vellore,Tami Nadu
- Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi
- Kalinga Instt. of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar
- P JINDAL University, Haryana
- Shiv Nadar University, Uttar Pradesh
- Bharti (Satya Bharti Foundation), Delhi
- Azim Premji University, Bangalore
- Ashoka University, Sonepat, Haryana
- KREA University (IFMR), Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- IIHS (Indian Institute for Human Settlements), Bangalore
- Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar
The State Universities
- Jadavpur University and Anna University can be considered for issue of the IoE status.
- If the respective State Governments have issued an official communication allocating their share of the funds (up to 50%).
GS- 2 Paper
Topic covered– Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
SANKALP Schemes
Context
Skill India’s SANKALP Scheme to focus on district level skilling ecosystem through seamless convergence and coordination.
About
- SANKALP is an outcome-oriented centrally sponsored programme of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
- It has been supported from World Bank.
Aims of the scheme
- SANKALP is an outcome focused schemes marking shift in government’s implementation strategy in vocational education and training from inputs to results.
- SANKALP will provide market relevant training to 3.5 crore youth.
- It has special focus on decentralised planning and quality improvement.
- It focuses on the overall skilling ecosystem covering both Central & State agencies.
- SANKALP aims to implement the mandate of the National Skill Development Mission (NSDM).
- Under SANKALP four key result areas have been identified –
- Institutional Strengthening (at National, State & District level)
- Quality Assurance Quality Assurance of skill development programs
- Inclusion of marginalised population in skill development
- Expanding Skills through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)
District Skill Development Plan (DSDP) Awards
- The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE has launched an award to promote skill planning at the district level, namely “District Skill Development Plan (DSDP) Awards”.
- Under this, 225 districts across the country participated by submitting their DSDPs.
- Of these, 25 districts were invited to Delhi for presenting their DSDP.
- The final evaluation is underway and the best DSDPs would be awarded accordingly.
For prelims-
National School of Drama
Context
Vice President of India awarded Diploma to more than 200 students at the Convocation of National School of Drama.
About NSD
- National School of Drama Established in 1959 is the only one of its kind in India.
- It is an autonomous organization and fully financed by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
- NSD was incepted under the aegis of the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent entity in 1975.
- It offers a 3-year, full-time, residential training program in every aspect of theatre with a special focus on the practical implementation of theories.
- There are two performing wings of NSD –
- The Repertory Company that started in 1964.
- Theatre-in- Education Company (TiE) that started in 1989.
- National School of Drama had been declared as deemed university by University Grant Commission in 2005.
Time Release Study (TRS)
Context
The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, as part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade, is conducting India’s first national Time Release Study.
Highlights
- The TRS is an internationally recognized tool advocated by World Customs Organization to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of international trade flows.
- It aims to find bottlenecks in the trade flow process and taking necessary measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures.
- This initiative will help India maintain the upward trajectory on Ease of Doing Business, particularly on the Trading across Borders indicator which measures the efficiency of the cross border trade ecosystem.
- Previously individual customs formations had been independently conducting TRS studies at the port level.
- The national TRS has evolved a uniform, multi-dimensional methodology which measures the regulatory and logistics aspects of the cargo clearance process and establishes the average release time for goods.
- The exercise will be conducted at the same time across 15 ports including sea, air, land and dry ports within India.
- The national TRS will establish baseline performance measurement and have standardized operations and procedures across all ports.
- Based on the results of the TRS, government agencies associated with cross border trade will be able to diagnose existing and potential bottlenecks which act as barriers to the free flow of trade, and take remedial actions for reducing the cargo release time.
- The initiative is on ground lead by the Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs.
