Relevance in - Prelims ( about the bill and its proposals + about 69th constitution amendment act) + Mains ( GS II Centre- State relations + governance)

What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) moved a bill in the Lok Sabha on where it proposed that "government" in the national capital territory of Delhi means the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
• The Bill gives discretionary powers to the L-G of Delhi even in matters where the Legislative Assembly of Delhi is empowered to make laws.
• The proposed legislation also seeks to ensure that the L-G is "necessarily granted an opportunity" to give her/his opinion before any decision taken by the Council of Ministers (or the Delhi Cabinet) is implemented.

The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991.

• Delhi is a Union Territory with a legislature and it came into being in 1991 under Article 239AA of the Constitution inserted by the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991.
• As per the existing Act, the Legislative Assembly of Delhi has the power to make laws in all matters except public order, police and land.

Know! about the bill

• The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Home Affairs
• The Bill proposes to amend Sections 21, 24, 33 and 44 of the 1991 Act.

Central government justification

• Section 44 of the 1991 Act deals with conduct of business and there is no structural mechanism for effective time-bound implementation of the said section.
• Further, there is no clarity as to what proposal or matters are required to be submitted to Lieutenant Governor before issuing order thereon
• Section 44 of the 1991 Act says that all executive actions of the L-G, whether taken on the advice of his Ministers or otherwise shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the L-G.

Now it is proposed to insert the following clause in the Act:

• "Provided that before taking any executive action in pursuance of the decision of the Council of Ministers or a Minister, to exercise powers of Government, State Government, Appropriate Government, Lieutenant Governor, Administrator or Chief Commissioner, as the case may be, under any law in force in the Capital, the opinion of Lieutenant Governor in term of proviso to clause (4) of article 239AA of the Constitution shall be obtained on all such matters as may be specified, by a general or special order, by Lieutenant Governor."

Other Proposal in the bill

• Article 239AA of the Constitution says the Council of Ministers will aid and advise the L-G in matters where the Legislative Assembly has the power to make laws except where the L-G can exercise discretion.
• The Bill seeks to amend Section 21 of the Act and clarify the expression "Government", which in the "context of legislations to be passed by the Legislative Assembly of Delhi" shall mean the L-G of the NCT of Delhi "consistent with the status of Delhi as a Union Territory to address the ambiguities in the interpretation of the legislative provisions."
• The LG is necessarily granted an opportunity to exercise the power entrusted to him under proviso to clause (4) of article 239AA of the Constitution, in select category of cases and also to make rules in matters which incidentally encroach upon matters falling outside the preview of the Legislative Assembly.
• It also seeks to provide for rules made by the Legislative Assembly of Delhi to be consistent with the rules of the House of the People
• The Bill seeks to amend Section 33 of the Act that empowered the Delhi Assembly to make rules to conduct its business by inserting the clause that it shall not be inconsistent with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in House of People.
• The amendment to Section 24 says that the L-G will not assent any bill passed by the Delhi Assembly that "covers any of the matters which falls outside the purview of the powers conferred on the Legislative Assembly."

Know! the past events ( Centre v/s Delhi government)

Miscellaneous
Reconstitution of the Advisory Committee for the Multidisciplinary Study of the River Sarasvati

Relevance in - Prelims ( about the advisory committee and its role)
What's the NEWS

• The Centre has reconstituted an advisory committee to chalk out a plan for studying the mythical Sarasvati river for the next two years, after the earlier panel's term ended in 2019.

Know! all about the committee

• The Archaeological Survey of India issued a notification for "reconstitution of the Advisory Committee for the Multidisciplinary Study of the River Sarasvati".
• The ASI had first set up the committee on December 28, 2017 for a period of two years.
• The committee would continue to be chaired by the Culture Minister and include officials from the Culture, Tourism, Water Resources, Environment and Forest, Housing and Urban Affairs Ministries; representatives of the Indian Space Research Organisation; officials from the governments of Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan; and an ASI official.
• The committee would review the work done by the previous panel and then formulate a plan.
• The committee would advise the Government Departments conducting research
• The research on tracing the course of the Vedic river in present day Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat was "incomplete".
• According to the ASI's 2017 notification, the committee was tasked with defining the Sarasvati river and its basin, identifying "special items of geotechnical nature for study of the Sarasvati basin and to suggest names of competent agencies/individuals" and identifying "archaeological sites and areas for multidisciplinary research and to assess their potential for development as centres of education and tourism".

National
Centre likely to allow residents to fill their NPR details online

Relevance in - Prelims ( about Census Exercise + NPR) + Mains ( GS II Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.

What's the NEWS

• The Centre will allow residents to fill the National Population Register (NPR) form on their own, through the online mode, a month before the door-to-door enumeration by Census officials starts.
• After filling the form online, residents will get a reference code that they can mention to the field enumerator at the time of her or his visit
• The details of the respondent will be displayed on a mobile application developed for conducting the Census exercise but no "biometrics or documents" will be collected. These details will then be stored in the system.

Know! more about the Census Exercise

• The first phase of the decennial Census exercise - the House-listing and Housing Census - along with updating the NPR was scheduled to be held from April 1, 2020.
• It was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is unlikely to be held this year.
• The second and main phase of Census - the population enumeration - was to be concluded by March 5 this year.
• The residents were to be given an option to self-enumerate only in the second phase.
• As per an annual report of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the option will now be made available for updating the NPR also.
• The NPR earlier collated in 2010 and 2015 has an electronic database of more than 119 crore residents.

Know! about NPR

• The National Population Register (NPR) is a Register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
• A usual resident is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.
• The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.
• The data for National Population Register was collected in 2010 alongwith the house listing phase of Census of India 2011.
• The updation of this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey. The digitisation of the updated information has been completed.
• Now it has been decided to update the National Population Register along with the House listing phase of Census 2021 in all the States/UTs except Assam.

Information given by the Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

Deep Ocean Mission

Relevance in - Prelims ( about deep ocean mission)
What's the NEWS

• The Deep Ocean Mission is proposed as multi-ministerial multi-disciplinary programme with emphasis on development of deep sea technology, exploration of deep sea mineral resources and biodiversity, acquisition of a research vessel for exploration, deep sea observations, and capacity building.
• Ministry of Earth Sciences is the nodal agency for implementing the programme.

The major objectives proposed under Deep Ocean Mission are as follows:
i. Development of technologies for deep sea mining, underwater vehicles and underwater robotics;
ii. Development of ocean climate change advisory services;
iii. Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep sea biodiversity;
iv. Deep ocean survey and exploration;
v. Proof of concept studies on energy and freshwater from the ocean; and
vi. Establishing advanced marine station for ocean biology

• The Deep Ocean Mission is proposed to be a Central Sector Scheme and no separate allocation for States is envisaged.
• The funds are expected to be allocated based on the above estimates.
• It is proposed to collaborate with non-governmental organizations for research collaboration for various components of Deep Ocean Mission.
• Under Deep Ocean Mission, it is proposed to develop, test and demonstrate the mining technology for harvesting of polymetallic nodules from the Test Mine Site (TMS) in the allocated area of 75000 sq. km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB).
• A manned submersible for 6000 m depth is also proposed to be developed as an ocean exploratory tool.

NITI Aayog
Atal Innovation Mission partners with Aster DM Healthcare to transform Health Care Innovations in India

Relevance in - Prelims ( about Atal Innovation Mission + about the partnership + steps taken to promote digital health) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources

What's the NEWS

• Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog has partnered with Aster DM Health care to support proactively the mission's innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives across the country with an aim to change and improve health care innovations and outcomes.

Know! about the agreement

• A Statement of Intent (SoI) of a strategic partnership between AIM and Aster was signed and exchanged between the two for the same.
• The purpose of SoI aims to support the various initiative of AIM programs and AIM beneficiaries in India to promote innovation and entrepreneurship amongst the aspiring entrepreneurs in the area of digital health care.
• A unit of Aster DM Healthcare Group, Aster Digital Health Incubator (ADHI) will play a major role in supporting various Atal Incubation Centers (AICs), Established Incubation Centres (EICs),Atal Community Innovation Centres (ACICs) and Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) amongst other initiatives of AIM within the country.
• The goal is to deeply engage with AICs, EIC, and ATLs across the country to achieve milestones in the area of health care innovative solutions with a focus on digital primary care and establishing a rich eco-system of digital health entrepreneurship.
• In accordance with SoI with AIM, Aster will also be providing access to Aster Clinical Simulation Lab, Aster Federated Learning Data bank for AI healthcare research, ADHI, Aster Digital Health Center of Excellence, and other relevant facilities to the startups under various AIM initiatives.

Benefits (digital health)

• Collaborative value-adding partnerships with the private sector and international organizations is key to AIM's initiatives to boost Innovation and Entrepreneurship nationwide.
• The partnership of AIM with Aster will greatly value add in the efforts to innovate in India's medical devices and health care ecosystem leveraging advances in digital health research and innovation that Aster would enable
• Digital health powered by deep learning/ AI has transformative ability to make healthcare accessible and affordable in India. Digital health startups often face the challenge of generating evidence of their utility as well focusing on the need felt by doctors and patients.
• With Aster's clinical simulation lab, a unique initiative from Aster's Innovation and Research Centre, startups can validate their models with real world data available at Aster Data Bank.
• Taking advantage of the hospital immersion program startups can gain insights from nurses, doctors, health workers and CXOs which is going to be critical for their market adoption.

Flagship schemes/initiatives of NITI Aayog
Atal Tinkering Lab

• In ATLs, students of class 6th to 12th acquire a problem-solving attitude, develop innovative solutions leveraging technologies like 3D printers, robotics, miniaturised electronics, IOT and programming and DIY kits, with support from teachers and mentors.

Atal Innovative Mission

• AIM is the Government of India's flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
• AIM's objective is to develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy, provide platform and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, create awareness and create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country.

Six major initiatives of AIM:

• Atal Tinkering Labs-Creating problem-solving mindset across schools in India.
• Atal Incubation Centers-Fostering world class start-ups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
• Atal New India Challenges-Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
• Mentor India Campaign- A national Mentor network in collaboration with public sector, corporates and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
• Atal Community Innovation Centre- To stimulate community centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
• ARISE-To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS