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Daily Current Capsules - 27th August 2019

Judiciary
SC to examine validity of new triple talaq law, issues  notice to Centre

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about triple talaq - contentious issues ) + GS II ( structure organisation and functioning of the executive and the judiciary)
What's the NEWS
  • The Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea challenging the newly-minted law which criminalizes the practice of instant triple talaq
  • A bench of justices N.V. Ramana and Ajay Rastogi issued a notice to the Centre on a batch of petitions which claimed that the Act violates the provisions of the Constitution.
  • The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, makes instant triple talaq a cognizable offence attracting up to three years of imprisonment with a fine. Under the act, an accused can be arrested without a warrant.
Know! more about the petition filed
  • Petitions challenging the criminalization of instant triple talaq were filed by Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, a religious organization of Sunni Muslim scholars; Amir Rashid Madni, a politician and Islamic scholar; and Jamiat Ulama- I- Hind.
  • The religious organization contended that the Act allows for penal actions against a specific class of people based on their religion.
  • The petitioners also said the bill violates the fundamental rights under Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
  • The petition by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind contended that the Act is discriminatory in nature, as it allows for penal actions against a class of people belonging to a certain religion. It has sought direction from the Supreme Court to declare the Act as "unconstitutional", as the law is violative of fundamental rights to equality, non-discrimination, life and liberty.
  • The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind questioned the 3-year jail term prescribed under the new triple talaq law and called it both "disproportionate and excessive".
  • The Muslim body pointed out that while triple talaq has been made a non-bailable offence with punishment amounting to 3 years of imprisonment, desertion of a wife by the husband is not even an offence in India.
Health Sector
WCD Minister Smriti Irani confers POSHAN Abhiyaan Awards

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the POSHAN Abhiyaan scheme) + Mains ( GS II issues relating to the development and management of social sector/services like health + social justice)
What's the NEWS
  • Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani gave away the Poshan Abhiyaan Awards for the year 2018-19 in different categories
Know! more about the award and about Poshan Abhiyaan
  • The awards were given to the States, Districts, Blocks and Anganwadi Workers for their contributions in scaling up the Abhiyaan and ensuring that it reaches every household in the country.
  • Poshan Abhiyaan is a multi - ministerial convergence mission with the vision to address malnutrition with a targeted approach by 2022 across the country.
  • Nine states and three Union Territories were awarded during the ceremony including Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram and Chandigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
  • The states and UTs were given 23 excellence awards comprising a certificate and cash prize worth Rs. 1 crore to the state/UT at 1st position and Rs 50 lakh to the 2nd position for ICDS-CAS implementation and capacity building, convergence, behaviour change and community mobilisation.
Know! more about POSHAN Abhiyaan
  • The WCD Minister, Smriti Irani also launched #ThankyouAnganwadiDidi- a short film on the occasion, which recognises the contribution of Anganwadi workers towards the development of a healthy child.
Further, the WCD Minister highlighted the 5 pillars of POSHAN Abhiyaan, which are as follows:
  1. Importance of First 1000 days
  2. Detection and right treatment of Anaemia & Diarrhoea
  3. Personal Hygiene
  4. Sanitation
  5. PaushtikAahaar
Bilateral Relations
India and France

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the important takeaways of this bilateral meeting) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS
  • PM Modi holds talks with French Prez; India, France to expand cooperation in areas of counter terrorism, security
  • India and France released a joint statement after detailed talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
  • The Prime Minister is on an official state visit to France at the invitation of the French President for a bilateral summit on August 22-23 in Paris and to participate in the G7 Summit on August 25-26 in Biarritz. During the talks, both the leaders discussed their bilateral relations and ways to open new areas of cooperation.
Know! about the Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the two nations
Development of bilateral trade and economic relations
  • The India-France Administrative Economic and Trade Committee (AETC) provides an appropriate framework to assess and find ways to further promote the bilateral trade and investment as well as to speed up the resolution of market access issues to the benefit of economic operators.
Space Cooperation
  • Exploration together, the concerns planetary exploration or human spaceflight.
  • To train medical support personnel for Indian astronauts, who will be part of India's manned space mission by 2022. The training will be carried out both in France and in India.
  • Arrangement for the establishment of a framework for the realization of joint maritime domain awareness mission.
  • The launch of a Space Climate Observatory that further enhances Indo-French cooperation on combating climate change, besides TRISHNA joint mission and accommodating Argos in Oceansat 3.
Energy
  • Negotiations in progress between NPCIL and EDF since the conclusion of the Industrial Way Forward Agreement between the two parties in 2018 for the construction of six nuclear power reactors in India in Jaitapur, Maharashtra.
  • MoU between the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) concerning cooperation with the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP) in January 2019 for another five years, the signing of the Implementing Agreement between the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the CEA on the safety of Light Water Reactors (LWR) in September 2018.
  • Joint partnership in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactors (ITER) and European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) projects.
Education
  • Student mobility between the two countries, which has been aided by the teaching of French in India and the creation of the network of schools for Excellence in French.
  • The student exchange target of 10,000 set in 2018 is expected to be fulfilled this year itself and therefore both sides decided to enhance the target to 20,000 students by 2025.
Defence Cooperation
  • Signing of an agreement regarding the Provision of Reciprocal Logistics Support.
  • To strengthen the cooperation in defence industry field and extended their support to existing and upcoming partnerships between the defence companies of the two countries in the spirit of "Make in India" and for the mutual benefit of both countries.
Digital Space
  • Both leaders adopted cybersecurity and digital technology road map aimed at expanding Indo-French bilateral cooperation, particularly in the strategic sectors of high-performance computing and Artificial Intelligence, with the target of bringing the start-up ecosystems in both the nations closer to each other.
Cultural Ties
  • To further enhance people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges. The two leaders agreed to set up a regular dialogue on consular matters, which will facilitate exchange and mobility
  • Overall, around 700 000 Indian tourists visited France in 2018, which 17 percent more than in 2017 and more than 250,000 French tourists visited India in the same year.
  • The Country of Honour for the 2020 edition of Livre Paris, the Paris international book fair and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi will hold the first exhibition in India of French artist Gérard Garouste in January 2020, while the Musée national d'art moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou) will hold a dedicated exhibition of the works of Indian artist Sayed Haider Raza in 2021.
  • India will organise Namasté France, in 2021-2022 and the two countries will adopt a Plan of Action by the end of 2019 aimed at enhancing co-produced projects, distribution, and training in the fields of cinema, video games and virtual reality. France and India agreed to cooperate shooting of films in both countries.
Climate Change
  • France and India urged all stakeholders to contribute to the success of the Climate Action Summit convened by the United Nations Secretary-General on 23rd September 2019 and to encourage the global efforts towards combating climate change.
Renewable energy
  • The progress made by the International Solar Alliance in capacity building and sharing of best practices to harness solar energy among the member nations.
  • Implementation of Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and welcomed the progress achieved by the World Bank and the French Development Agency in Solar Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI) projects for enhancing investors' confidence.
Indian Ocean Region
  • White Shipping agreement, India and France welcome the appointment of a French liaison officer at the Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram.
  • The two nations further intend to coordinate their action at the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and undertake, along with interested states, a joint project for reinforcing assets for combatting piracy and all kinds of maritime trafficking in the Southern Indian Ocean.
  • France also intends to work concertedly with India at the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), over which it will preside from 2020 to 2022.
Economic Developments
RBI to transfer Rs.1.76 lakh crore to government
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the committee suggestions and reasons behind the transfer) + Mains ( Economic development)

Highlights
  • RBI to transfer surplus of Rs 1.76 lakh cr to govt
  • It is the highest-ever surplus amount transferred by the RBI to govt
  • Since 2013-14, the RBI has been paying 99 per cent of its disposable income to gov
What's the NEWS
  • The Central Board of the RBI decided to transfer a sum of Rs.1,76,051 crore to the Government of India comprising Rs.1,23,414 crore of surplus for the year 2018-19 and Rs.52,637 crore of excess provisions identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework (ECF) adopted at the meeting of the Central Board.
Know! more about the committee and its report
  • The RBI, in consultation with the government, had constituted an expert committee to review the Extant Economic Capital Framework of the Reserve Bank of India.
  • The excess reserve transfer is in line with the recommendation of former RBI governor Bimal Jalan-led panel constituted to decide size of capital reserves that the central bank should hold.
  • The government was represented by Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar in the panel which finalised its report on August 14 by consensus.
  • The receipts from the RBI will give a fillip to the government's efforts to boost the economy from a five-year low.
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had last week announced a slew of measures to prop up growth even as the government tried to stick to the target of keeping fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of the GDP. The additional cash will now give the Centre more headroom for stimulating the economy.
  • The Modi government and the RBI under its previous governor Urjit Patel had been at loggerheads over the optimum level of surplus capital with the central bank.
  • As a result, the RBI in its crucial November 2018 board meeting decided to form a committee to review the economic capital framework (ECF) for the Reserve Bank.
  • The committee's recommendations were based on the consideration of the role of central banks' financial resilience, cross-country practices, statutory provisions and the impact of the RBI's public policy mandate and operating environment on its balance sheet and the risks involved.
  • The committee's recommendations were guided by the fact that the RBI forms the primary bulwark for monetary, financial and external stability.
  • Hence, the resilience of the RBI needs to be commensurate with its public policy objectives and must be maintained above the level of peer central banks as would be expected of a central bank of one of the fastest growing large economies of the world.

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