Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- UN Human Rights Council
- International Atomic Energy Agency
- Central Bureau of Investigation
1 . UNHRC
Context : India on Friday abstained on a vote at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as the Council decided to set up an international commission of enquiry into Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
About the News
- The resolution, the strongest one to be adopted by the UN system yet, “strongly condemned” aggression by Russia, and said it was “gravely concerned” about reports of rights violations by Russian forces, civilian casualties and the forced displacement of 6,60,000 refugees due to Russian “bombing and shelling”.
- India was among 13 countries of the 47-member council elected from UN members that abstained from the resolution, along with China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
- Significantly the vote followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at a meeting of Quad leaders hosted by U.S. President Joseph Biden, as well as a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing where senior officials made it clear that the U.S. has “spared no effort” to push India to change its position, with little success.
- Thirty-two countries, or nearly two-thirds of the Council voted for the resolution that asked the HRC president to appoint three human rights experts for a year.
About UNHRC
- The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.
- The Human Rights Council is a forum empowered to prevent abuses, inequity and discrimination, protect the most vulnerable, and expose perpetrators.
- The Human Rights Council is a separate entity from Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- The Human Rights Council replaced the Commission on Human Rights
2 . IAEA
Context : United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members expressed alarm at the prospect of a nuclear incident in Ukraine, at an emergency meeting on Friday, convened hours after a training building at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant caught fire, as Russians moved in on the facility and seized control of it. The International Atomic Energy (IAEA) chief told the Council that no reactors had been damaged.
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), autonomous intergovernmental organization dedicated to increasing the contribution of atomic energy to the world’s peace and well-being and ensuring that agency assistance is not used for military purposes.
- The IAEA was created in 1957 in response to the deep fears and expectations generated by the discoveries and diverse uses of nuclear technology.
- The Agency’s genesis was U.S. President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on 8 December 1953. The U.S. Ratification of the Statute by President Eisenhower, 29 July 1957, marks the official birth of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
- The IAEA is strongly linked to nuclear technology and its controversial applications, either as a weapon or as a practical and useful tool.
- IAEA’s headquarters is in Vienna, Austria.
Functions
- The main functions of the IAEA are to: encourage and assist research, development and practical application of atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world; establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that such activity assisted by the Agency is not used to further any military purpose; apply safeguards to relevant activities at the request of Member States; apply, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other international treaties, mandatory comprehensive safeguards in non-nuclear weapon States (NNWS) Parties to such treaties.
- Under Safeguards Agreements, IAEA inspectors regularly visit nuclear facilities to verify records maintained by State authorities on the whereabouts of nuclear material under their control, to check IAEA-installed instruments and surveillance equipment, and to confirm physical inventories of nuclear material. These and other safeguard measures provide independent, international verification that governments are abiding by their commitments to the peaceful use of nuclear technology. A precondition for the implementation of safeguards is a formal safeguards agreement between the Agency and the State.
3 . CBI
Context : Meghalaya has withdrawn consent to the CBI to investigate cases in the state, becoming the ninth state in the country to have taken this step. Meghalaya is ruled by Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
How CBI operates
- CBI is considered as a Central investigative agency but it was not constituted by an Act of Parliament like the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
- The CBI was founded under a Delhi government law called the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946 (DSPE Act).
- Since the CBI has jurisdiction only over Central government departments and employees, it can investigate a case involving state government employees or a violent crime in a state only after the government concerned gives consent.
When can CBI Take over the Case registered by State Police
- The CBI can take over a criminal case registered by a state police only in three situations:
- First, the state government concerned makes a request to that effect and the Centre agrees to it pursuant to receiving comments from the CBI.
- Second, the state government issues notification of consent under Section 6 of the DPSE Act, and the Centre also issues a similar notification.
- Finally, if the Supreme Court or the high court orders the CBI to take up a case.
About General Consent
- The consent of the state government to CBI can be either case-specific or general.
- General consent is normally given by states to help the CBI in seamless investigation of cases of corruption against central government employees in their states. This is consent by default, in the absence of which the CBI would have to apply to the state government in every case, and before taking even small actions
- General consent is given by states so that the CBI can seamlessly conduct its investigation and not seek the state government nod for every case — unlike the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has jurisdiction across the country.
Impact of Withdrawal of General Consent
- The withdrawal of “general consent” will not have a bearing on cases that CBI has already been investigating. Also, withdrawal only means that the agency cannot register an FIR in Maharashtra. It can still register FIRs in other states and probe anyone in the state, as per a 2018 order of the Delhi High Court.
- There is also no bar on the investigation into cases that are already being probed by the CBI, although the CBI now cannot file any new FIRs in any new cases.
- Now CBI will need consent from the state for every case, if the Supreme Court asks the agency to take up a case, the withdrawal will not bar it from taking up the investigation