BENEVOLENT IAS ACADEMY, COIMBATORE (DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS)

BENEVOLENT IAS ACADEMY

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Dated 24.07.2020

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UPSC-IAS|IPS|IFS (PRELIMS+MAINS FOCUS)

IN NEWS According to an analysis by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), about

24% of the sitting Rajya Sabha members have declared criminal cases against themselves. It also found out from their self-sworn affidavits that 89% have declared assets estimated at over Rs. 1 crore.

EXAM POINT OF VIEW - GS Prelims & Mains GS II – Parliament – Representation of People Act

What about ADR?

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) is an Indian non-partisan, non-governmental organization which works in the area of electoral and political reforms. Along with National Election Watch (NEW), ADR is striving to bring transparency and accountability in Indian politics and reducing the influence of money and muscle power in elections.

[ADR came into existence in 1999 when a group of Professors from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad and Bangalore filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the Delhi High Court regarding the disclosure of the criminal, financial and educational background of the candidates contesting elections. The PIL was upheld by the Delhi High Court in 2000 but the Government of India appealed to the Supreme Court of India against the High Court judgement. However, in 2002 and subsequently in 2003, the Supreme Court made it mandatory for all the candidates contesting elections to disclose their criminal, financial and educational background prior to the polls by filing an affidavit with the Election Commission of India]

Reasons: Section 8 of the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act, 1951 disqualifies a person convicted with a sentence of two years or more from contesting elections. But those under trial continued to be eligible to contest elections.

Therefore, in order to curb criminalization of politics, Parliament needs to bring an amendment in the Act.

BENEVOLENT IAS ACADEMY, COIMBATORE (DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS)

JUDICIAL POINT OF VIEWS

Measures Taken by the Supreme Court

Case/Year Judgment/Measures

Union of India (UOI) vs. Association for Democratic Reforms, 2002

The Supreme Court held that every candidate, contesting an election to the Parliament, State Legislatures or Municipal Corporation, has to declare their criminal records, financial records and educational qualifications.

Ramesh Dalal vs. Union of India, 2005

A sitting Member of Parliament (MP) or Member of State Legislature (MLA) shall also be subject to disqualification from contesting elections if he is convicted and sentenced to not less than 2 years of imprisonment by a court of law.

Lily Thomas vs. Union of India, 2013

Section 8(4) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951 was declared unconstitutional which allowed MPs and MLAs who were convicted to continue in office till an appeal against such conviction was disposed of.

People's Union for Civil Liberties vs. Union of India, 2013

The Supreme Court asked Election Commission to provide 'none of the above' choice to voters to exercise their right to express no confidence in all candidates.

2017 The Supreme Court had directed the Centre to set up special fast-track courts to exclusively try lawmakers and politicians facing criminal cases.

Election Commission's Recommendations:

In 1997, Election Commission directed all the Returning Officers (ROs) to reject the nomination

papers of any candidate who stands convicted on the day of filing the nomination papers even if his

sentence is suspended.

BENEVOLENT IAS ACADEMY, COIMBATORE (DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS)

It recommended that if a person is found guilty by a commission of Inquiry then he shall be

disqualified from contesting elections.

The First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system shall be replaced by the 2-ballot

system under which a candidate is declared elected from a territorial constituency on the

basis of majority principle.

If no one wins 50 percent of the vote, all candidates except the top two are

excluded and voters are asked to vote a second time. In the second round,

the candidate who wins the most votes is elected.

The 2-ballot system will make winning elections very difficult for criminals

as they will have to garner the widest possible support from the voters to

get the majority votes.

Along with the 2-ballot system, the negative vote shall also be introduced.

What is FPTP system in India?

In a first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP; sometimes formally called single-member plurality voting or SMP) electoral system, voters cast their vote for a candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins, even if they received less than half of the votes.

Former British colonies tend to use the same voting

system as Westminster. Many, including Australia,

New Zealand, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and South

Africa have since stopped. But the US, Canada, India,

and many Caribbean and African states still do.

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5-15% 40-45% .

Solution may be;- (findings)

Citizens must vote in elections based on character, conduct and capability of the candidates and not based

on cash, caste, community and criminal prowess. This could be the ultimate solution to check money power

in politics.

BENEVOLENT IAS ACADEMY, COIMBATORE (DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS)

TODAY IMPORTNANT CURRENT AFFAIRS

TNPSC|SSC|RRB|BANK

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has launched the India-

Russia Joint Technology Assessment and Accelerated Commercialization

Programme.

India and Israel have decided to work together to develop a set of COVID-19

tests that will bring the entire testing process down to 30 seconds, it will also

be widely available and will help the open economies.

Karnataka State Government approved the formation of the Karnataka

Digital Economy Mission. The Mission was aimed to promote over 7,000

start-ups, e-commerce, and other gig economy companies in the State.

Pakistan's Punjab government has banned over 100 textbooks for having

"blasphemous and objectionable content" such as not showing Pakistan-occupied

Kashmir as part of the country. Some books had not printed the correct date of the birth

of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and national poet Allama Muhammad

Iqbal.

Sahil Seth has been appointed as the honorary adviser to the steering committee of the

BRICS Chamber of Commerce (CCI) young leaders for the period of 2020-2023.

The Indian Government amended the General Financial Rules 2017 to impose

restrictions on public procurement from countries that share a land border with India

on national security grounds.

BENEVOLENT IAS ACADEMY, COIMBATORE (DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS)

TODAY’S IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS

TNPSC Group I, II, IIA, IV & VAO

Due to covid-19 non availability of staffs no such details today updated.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

MODEL QUESTION FOR TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1. Which nation has imposed restrictions on public procurement from countries that it

shares land border with?

a)China

b)Bangladesh

c)Pakistan

d)India

2. India will work together with which nation to develop 30-second COVID-19 tests?

a)US

b)Japan

c)Israel

d)UK

3. Who has been appointed as honorary adviser to steering committee for BRICS Chamber

of Commerce?

a)Kaushik Basu

b)Raghuram Ranjan

c)Sahil Seth

d)Jayati Ghosh