Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Pardoning Powers of Governor
- NLMC
- UPI 123 Pay
- Facts for Prelims
1 . Pardoning Powers of Governor
Context : The Supreme Court on Wednesday released Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict A.G. Perarivalan on bail, taking into account the fact he has suffered over 30 years of imprisonment, in spite of vehement objections raised by the Centre.
Background
- Arrested at the age of 19 in the case, Perarivalan was sentenced to death in May 1999. He was accused of purchasing the 9-volt battery used to trigger the belt bomb that killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
- In 2014, his sentence and that of two others, Murugan and Santhan (both Sri Lankans), was commuted to life over the long pendency of their mercy petitions. Soon after, the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu had ordered the release of all the seven convicts in the case.
- While a pardon request moved by Perarivalan in 2015 was not considered by the Governor, a Supreme Court order on a related petition in September 2018 clarified that the Governor was “deemed fit” to decide on the pardon. Within three days, the AIADMK government had recommended that all seven convicts be released.
Key Observation by the court
- According to the court said Perarivalan’s case concerned the “important issue” about the power or discretion of the Tamil Nadu Governor to sit on a mercy plea for months and then refer it to the President instead of taking an independent call on it under Article 161 of the Constitution. This was despite the fact that the Tamil Nadu Ministry recommended Perarivalan’s release on September 9, 2018.
- “After sleeping over for five years in the Article 161 [pardon] petition and sitting over the recommendation of the State Cabinet to release the petitioner for more than good two and half years, the Union of India, on February 4, has filed an affidavit [in the Supreme Court] stating that the Governor has sent the petition to the President, whereas the law is clear that the Governor does not have independent discretion,” Perarivalan had contended in the Supreme Court recently.
Article 161 of the Constitution
- Article 161 provides power of Governor to grant pardons, etc, and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases
- According to Article the Governor of a State shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends
Pardoning Power of the Governor
- Pardoning powers of the Governor form the part of his judicial powers. Similar to the Pardoning Power of the President, pardoning power of the Governor grants the following:
- Pardon : Completely absolves the offender. However, the governor cannot pardon the death sentence which only the Indian President can do.
- Reprieve : Temporary suspension of the sentence
- Respite : Awarding a lesser sentence on special ground
- Remission : Reducing the amount of sentence without changing its character
- Commute : Substitution of one form to another ie replace the punishment with less severe punishment. For example for Rigorous imprisonment with simple imprisonment.
2 . National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC)
Context : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the setting up National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC) as a wholly owned Government of India company with an initial authorized share capital of Rs 5000 crore and paid-up share capital of Rs 150 crore.
About NLMC
- NLMC will undertake monetization of surplus land and building assets of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and other Government agencies.
- The proposal is in pursuance of the Budget Announcement for 2021-22.
Functions
- At present, CPSEs hold considerable surplus, unused and under used non-core assets in the nature of land and buildings. For CPSEs undergoing strategic disinvestment or closure, monetization of these surplus land and non-core assets is important to unlock their value. NLMC will support and undertake monetization of these assets.
- NLMC is also expected to own, hold, manage and monetize surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and the surplus non-core land assets of Government owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment. These assets may be transferred to NLMC to hold, manage and monetize these assets.
- NLMC will also advise and support other Government entities (including CPSEs) in identifying their surplus non-core assets and monetizing them in a professional and efficient manner to generate maximum value realization. In these cases (e.g., on-going CPSEs and listed CPSEs under strategic disinvestment), NLMC will undertake surplus land asset monetization as an agency function.
- It is expected that NLMC will act as a repository of best practices in land monetization, assist and provide technical advice to Government in implementation of asset monetization programme.
Benefits
- With monetization of non-core assets, Government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetizing unused and under-used assets.
- This will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process of Government owned CPSEs.
- This will also enable productive utilization of these under-utilized assets to trigger private sector investments, new economic activities, boost local economy and generate financial resources for economic and social infrastructure.
Structure
- NLMC will have necessary technical expertise to professionally manage and monetize land assets on behalf of CPSEs and other Government agencies. The Board of Directors of NLMC will comprise senior Central Government officers and eminent experts to enable professional operations and management of the company. The Chairman, non-Government Directors of the NLMC will be appointed through a merit-based selection process.
- Recognizing the wide range of specialized skills and expertise required for asset monetization in real estate market research, legal due diligence, valuation, master planning, investment banking, land management etc. It has been decided to hire professionals from the private sector, similar to other specialized Government companies like National investment and infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Invest India.
- NLMC will be a lean organization with minimal full time staff, hired directly from the market on contract basis. Flexibility will be provided to the Board of NLMC to hire, pay and retain experienced professionals from the private sector.
- Going forward, Department of Public Enterprise, Ministry of Finance, will set up the company and act as its administrative ministry.
3 . UPI123Pay
Context : On March 8, the Reserve Bank of India launched a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments solution for feature phone users dubbed ‘UPI123Pay’. UPI, which was introduced in 2016, has become one of the most used digital payments platforms in the country. The volume of UPI transactions has already reached ₹76 lakh crore in the current year, compared to ₹41 lakh crore in FY21 , RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said. However, at present, efficient access to UPI is available largely via smartphones, the Central bank noted.
How does the new solution work?
- The new UPI-based service is designed to bring the digital payments platform closer to a significant number of feature phone mobile subscribers in the country, which is estimated to be more than 40 crore.
- UPI123Pay will materially improve the options for such users to access UPI, who could earlier access the digital transactions platform through the USSD-based process, using the short code of *99#, which according to RBI is not popular. The USSD-based process is considered cumbersome, with users required to send multiple messages and charged for the same, and not supported by all mobile service providers
- With the UPI123Pay, feature phone users will be required to go through an onboarding process where they have to link their bank account to their feature phone and then set a UPI PIN using their debit card for authenticating transactions. Once they have completed this initial process, users will be able to use the new UPI facility for person-to-person as well as merchant transactions, among others, through one of the four distinct payment options that don’t require an internet connection.
- “The launch of UPI123Pay makes facilities under UPI accessible to that section of society which was so far been excluded from the digital payments landscape. In that way, it is promoting great amount of financial inclusion in our economy
How will users make payments without internet?
- The new UPI payments system offers users four options to make payments without internet connectivity: Interactive Voice Response (IVR), app-based functionality, missed call facility and proximity sound-based payments. Using the IVR option, users would be required to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined IVR number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions like money transfer, mobile recharge, EMI repayment, balance check, among others.
- The missed call facility will allow users to access their bank account and perform routine transactions such as receiving, transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments, etc., by giving a missed call on the number displayed at the merchant outlet. The customer will receive an incoming call to authenticate the transaction by entering UPI PIN.
- They could also install an app on their feature phone through which several UPI functions, available on smartphones, will be available on their feature phone, except scan and pay feature which is currently not available.
- Finally, they could utilise the proximity sound-based payments option, which uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device.
4 . Facts for Prelims
WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM)
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the establishment of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM) in Jamnagar, Gujarat by signing a Host Country agreement between the Government of India and the World Health Organization (WHO).
- The WHO GCTM would provide leadership on all global health matters related to traditional medicine as well as extend support to member countries in shaping various policies related to traditional medicine research, practices and public health.
- The WHO GCTM will be established in Jamnagar under the Ministry of AYUSH. This would be the first and only global outposted Centre (office) for traditional medicine across the globe.
- Traditional medicine is a key pillar of health care delivery systems and plays a crucial role in maintaining good health and well-being. Safe and effective traditional medicine will play a significant role in ensuring all people have access to quality essential health care services and safe, effective and affordable essential medicines as the world approach the ten-year milestone for Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. The WHO-GCTM will identify various challenges faced by the countries in regulating, integrating and further positioning Traditional Medicine in respective countries.
- Benefits:
- to position AYUSH systems across the globe
- to provide leadership on global health matters pertaining to traditional medicine.
- To ensure quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine.
- To develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies, for collecting data undertaking analytics, and assess impact. Envisage WHO TM Informatics centre creating a collaborative of existing TM Data banks, virtual libraries, and academic and research institutes.
- To develop specific capacity building and training programmes in the areas of relevance to the objectives and conduct training programmes in campus, residential, or web-based, and through partnerships with the WHO Academy and other strategic partners.