Daily Current Capsules - 19^th JULY 2019

International Organisations
Kulbhushan Jadhav Verdict: ICJ directs Pakistan to review death sentence and provide him consular access.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about ICJ and facts of the verdict) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The International Court of Justice has put Kulbhushan Jadhav's execution on hold.
• ICJ has directed Pakistan to review the death sentence order, to reconsider it and give Kulbhushan Yadav a fair trial by providing him consular access.
• The ICJ ruled in favour of India by 15 to 1 votes.

Know! more about the verdict

• The ICJ held that the denial of consular access constituted a "breach" of article 36 para 1(b) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (1963) which Pakistan is a signatory to, which stipulates that all foreign nationals arrested must be given access to their government or local embassy, and rejected Pakistan's counter-claim that the Vienna convention didn't apply in a case of espionage.
  
• ICJ found that India had been deprived of ‘right to communicate with and have access to Jadhav, to visit him in detention and to arrange for his legal representation', which meant that Pakistan had breached obligations incumbent upon it under Article 36, paragraph 1 (a) and (c), of Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The provisions of 1963 Vienna Convention define a framework for consular relations between countries.

Know! all about the Kulbhushan Jadhav Case

• Kulbhushan Jadhav a retired Indin Navy officer, was allegedly arrested by Pakistani security forces. He was arrested in Pakistan's restive province of Balochistan in 2016.
• He is accused of terrorism, spying, and fomenting trouble in Balochistan. Later in 2017 he was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in 2017.
• India acknowledged that Jadhav was an Indian national, who had been kidnapped by Pakistani agents from Iran, where he had gone on a business trip after his retirement from Indian Navy.
• In May 2017, India approached the Hague-based ICJ, which restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of case.

Know! about ICJ

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.
• The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America).
• The Court's role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.
• The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.

Health Reforms
Bill to revamp medical education cleared
National Medical Commission Bill
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the provisions of National Medical Commission Bill) + Mains ( GS II issues relating to development and management of social sectors/services like health)
What's the NEWS

• In a move to bring sweeping changes to the medical education sector, the Centre plans to introduce the National Medical Commission Bill in this session of Parliament and repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.
• The National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 which provides for setting up of a National Medical Commission in place of Medical Council of India (MCI)

Know! more about the National medical commission bill

• The Union Cabinet approved a revised version of the Bill, almost two years after the original version was introduced in Parliament in December 2017.
• The 2017 Bill, which had provoked widespread protests over a proposal for bridge courses to allow AYUSH practitioners to prescribe allopathic medicines, was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee and amended to remove that contentious initiative. However, it lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.
• The current Bill proposes to convert the final year MBBS examination into a licentiate exam, which will be a requirement for doctors to practise medicine.
• The examination, to be called the National Exit Test (NEXT), will also be used for entrance into post-graduate medical courses, and act as a screening test for foreign medical graduates.

Know! the Features of Bill
Role of NEXT

• Common final year MBBS Exams (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) will be known as National Exit Test (NEXT) which would serve as Licentiate Exam, for entrance to Post Graduate (PG) medical course and as screening test of foreign medical graduates.
• It provides that National Entrance Test i.e. NEET, Common Counselling, NEXT will also be applicable to Institutes of National Importance (INIs) such as AIIMS to have common standards in country.

Role of NMC

• National Medical Commission an autonomous commission will regulate fee and all other charges for 50% seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities.
• NMC will ensure a transparent admission process and also reduce admission fee, and regulate fee in private colleges as well.

NMC will have 4 Autonomous Boards

• Under-Graduate Medical Education Board
• Post-Graduate Medical Education Board
• Medical Assessment and Rating Board
• Ethics and Medical Registration Board

The role of NMC and respective boards

• To ensure a dynamic and modern educational environment,
• To achieve norms of global standards and an effective grievance redressal mechanism.
• These new measures will ensure a transparent admission process and will also bring down admission fee.

Infrastructure Development/ Environment Conservation
Dam Safety Bill gets nod from CCEA
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the Dam safety bill 2019) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development + disaster management)
What's the NEWS

• The Centre is set to introduce the Dam Safety Bill, 2019 in Parliament after it was cleared by the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Know! more about the bill

• A version of the Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2018 but it subsequently lapsed.
• It aims to put in place a systematic procedure to ensure that India's 5,600 dams are made and maintained safely.
• Various editions of the Bill have been introduced since 2010 but it has never been successfully passed, largely due to opposition by States at various times. Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha have opposed the Bill on the grounds that it encroaches upon the sovereignty of States to manage their dams.

Know! the key features of the bill

• The Bill applies to all specified dams in the country. These are dams with: (i) height more than 15 metres, or (ii) height between 10 metres to 15 metres and subject to certain additional design and structural conditions.
• The Bill provides for the constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety. The Committee will be chaired by the Chairperson, Central Water Commission.
• The Bill provides for a National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body to implement the policy The Authority will be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Additional Secretary who will be appointed by the central government.
• The Bill provides for the establishment of State Dam Safety Organisations (SDSOs) by the state governments. All specified dams situated in a state will fall under the jurisdiction of that state's SDSO. However, in certain cases the National Dam Safety Authority will act as the SDSO.
• The Bill lays the onus of the dam safety on the dam owner and provides for penal provisions for wilful "commission and omission of certain acts.

The CCEA also approved the Rs.1,600-crore pre-investment expenditure for the Dibang Multipurpose Project in Arunachal Pradesh, India's largest hydropower project.

About Dibang Multipurpose Project

• Dibang MPP, a storage based hydro-electric project is the largest ever Hydro Electric Projects to be constructed in India. The envisaged height of Concrete Gravity Dam is 278 metres and on completion it will be highest dam in India.
• Project is located on Dibang River, in Lower Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh. It envisages construction of a 278 m high Concrete Gravity Dam (above deepest foundation level)
• Objective behind construction of Dibang MPP is flood moderation as it shall prevent sizeable downstream area from floods.
• Dibang MPP is one of the components of master plan of Brahmaputra Board for flood moderation of all rivers contributing to river Brahmaputra.
• After implementation of Brahmaputra Board's master plan sizable area will be protected from flooding and help in mitigating perennial damage due to floods in Assam.

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