Daily Current Affairs : 2nd May

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Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

  1. Masood Azhar
  2. Section 9 and 33(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
  3. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
  4. Facts for Prelims : 99942 APOPHIS, Crude Oil Suppliers

1 . Masood Azhar

Context : Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was listed as a designated terrorist by the UN Security Council 1267 Committee on Wednesday. Significantly, the reasons for listing did not mention the Pulwama attack of February 14, for which the JeM had claimed responsibility, and which found mention in the latest (February 27) listing request for Azhar 

1267 Sanction

  • The 1267 sanctions regime was initially based on three UNSC resolutions.
  • First, UNSCR 1267 (1999), adopted following the Al-Qaeda attacks on United States (US) embassies in East Africa, imposed a limited air embargo and assets freeze on individuals and entities connected with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
  • Second, UNSCR 1333 (2000), extended those sanctions to individuals and entities associated with Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. This regime evolved to include asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes against individuals and entities named on the 1267 Sanctions List, without the requirement of any territorial connection and for a potentially unlimited period of time (UNSCR 1390 (2002)). A Sanctions Committee was established to oversee the regime. In 2011, UNSCR 1988 split the regime in two: a new Taliban sanctions regime was established alongside the Al-Qaida sanctions regime.
  • Finally, UNSCR 2253 (2015) extended the Al-Qaida Sanctions List to individuals and entities connected with the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), changing the title of the Sanctions Committee3 and of the Sanctions List, now the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.
  • Under the listing procedure, any UN member state may submit names to the Sanctions Committee to request their inclusion on the Sanctions List. The committee approves or rejects the listing requests, unless a UNSC member objects within a certain period. Once an individual or entity is placed on the Sanctions List, all UN member states are obliged to implement the asset freeze, arms embargo and travel ban against them

Background

  • The P-3 or group of three permanent UNSC members, the U.S., the U.K. and France, had co-sponsored a listing request at the Committee on February 27, weeks after the Pulwama attack that killed over 40 security personnel.
  • However, China placed a hold on the request — which normally lasts for three months
  • At the end of March, the U.S. circulated a draft resolution (to sanction Azhar) among the UNSC members, i.e., outside the 1267 Committee, presumably to pressure China into either supporting the listing or having to take a stand in open proceedings and risk being seen as supporting terror.
  • After April 23 meeting to list Azhar at the U.N. kicked off a silence period (when objections can be raised). The period ended on May 1 and following no objections from China this time, it went through.
  • This was the fourth such attempt to designate Azhar

Importance

  • Listing Masood Azhar as designated Terrorist would mean a travel ban, arms embargo and asset freeze on Azhar.

2 . Section 9 & 33 (3) in The Representation of the People Act, 1951

Context : The District Magistrate, also the Returning Officer of the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency,rejected nomination of Samajwadi candidate on the grounds that he did not submit proper documents explaining his dismissal as per Section 9 and 33(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Section 9 of RP Act, 1951 –  Disqualification for dismissal for corruption or disloyalty

  • Section 9 (1) – A person who having held an office under the Government of India or under the Government of any State has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State shall be disqualified for a period of five years from the date of such dismissal.
  • Section 9 (2) – For the purposes of sub-section (1), a certificate issued by the Election Commission to the effect that a person having held office under the Government of India or under the Government of a State, has or has not been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State shall be conclusive proof of that fact: Provided that no certificate to the effect that a person has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the State shall be issued unless an opportunity of being heard has been given to the said person.

Section 33 of RPA – Presentation of nomination paper and requirements for a valid nomination

  • Section 33 (3) – Where the candidate is a person who, having held any office referred to in 4[section 9] has been dismissed and a period of five years has not elapsed since the dismissal, such person shall not be deemed to be duly nominated as a candidate unless his nomination paper is accompanied by a certificate issued in the prescribed manner by the Election Commission to the effect that he has not been dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the State.

3 . US Commission on International Relegious Freedom

Context : The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan, independent federal government commission, has said there is an “overall deterioration of religious freedom conditions in 2018” in India, in its 2019 report released earlier this week. 

Details of the Report

  • India continues to remain a Tier 2 country, according to the Commission, a list it has been unable to get off of since 2009.
  • Tier 2 countries are those in which “violations engaged in or tolerated by the government during 2018 are serious and characterised by at least one of the elements of the ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious’ CPC [Country of Particular Concern] standard”.
  • The CPCs are designated by the State Department and the latest list, from November 2018, contains 10 countries (including Myanmar, China, Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia). In these countries the government has tolerated or engaged in “particularly severe religious freedom violations, meaning those are systematic, ongoing, and egregious.
  • In India, it is increasingly difficult to separate religion and politics, a tactic that is sometimes intentional by those who seek to discriminate against and restrict the rights of certain religious communities.
  • Conditions for minorities have deteriorated over the last decade due to the extremist groups, anti-conversion laws, cow-protection lynch mobs, concerns regarding NRC etc

4 . Facts for Prelims

99942 APOPHIS

  • A near-Earth asteroid will cruise by Earth about 31,000 km above the surface in the year 2029 is called as 99942 APOPHIS
  • It is a 340 m wide, it is rare for an asteroid this size to pass by Earth so close. Although scientists have spotted small asteroids, on the order of 5-10 metres, flying by Earth at a similar distance, asteroids the size of Apophis are far fewer in number and so do not pass this close to Earth as often.
  • Among potential lessons from Apophis, scientists are hoping they can use its flyby to learn about an asteroid’s interior.
  • Apophis is one of about 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, and scientists also hope their observations might help gain important scientific knowledge that could one day be used for planetary defence.

Crude Oil Suppliers

  • Iraq has, for the second year in a row, become India’s top crude oil supplier, meeting more than a fifth of the country’s oil needs in 2018-19 fiscal year.
  • Iraq is followed by Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Venezuela,

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