Daily Current Affairs : 11th May

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. SC/ST Quota in Promotions
2. Four new mouths in Chilika Lake after Fani
3. Chandrayaan 2
4. Shortage of Healthcare Providers
5. Competition Commission of India
6. Blue Origin & Blue Moon

1 . SC/ST Promotion Quota

Context : The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Karnataka law which grants reservation in promotion and consequential seniority to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in government services in the State.

Background of Reservation in Promotion

• In Indra Sawhney vs Union of India (1992), the Supreme Court had held that reservations under Article 16(4) could only be provided at the time of entry into government service but not in matters of promotion. It added that the principle would operate only prospectively and not affect promotions already made and that reservation already provided in promotions shall continue in operation for a period of five years from the date of the judgment. It also ruled that the creamy layer can be and must be excluded.
• Parliament, acting in its constituent capacity, adopted the seventy-seventh amendment by which clause (4A) was inserted into Article 16 to enable reservation to be made in promotion for SCs and STs (1995). The validity of the seventy-seventh and eighty-fifth amendments to the Constitution and of the legislation enacted in pursuance of those amendments was challenged before the Supreme Court in the Nagaraj case.
• Upholding the validity of Article 16 (4A), the court then said that it is an enabling provision. “The State is not bound to make reservation for the SCs and STs in promotions. But, if it seeks to do so, it must collect quantifiable data on three facets — the backwardness of the class; the inadequacy of the representation of that class in public employment; and the general efficiency of service as mandated by Article 335 would not be affected”.

What is Consequential Seniority and Catch up Rule

• Consequential seniority means that seniority attained due to some consequences will be retained, no matter what.
• For example. 2 persons Ram and Ramesh both are working as Grade C or level-3 in a job. Ram (General Category) is 2 years senior to Ramesh (Reserved Category)
• While Ram is senior but due to reservation, Ramesh gets promoted first. Now B is at level-2 or Grade B and A at level-3. So Ramesh becomes senior to Ram.
• Now, next year, Ram also gets promoted to Grade B or level 2.
• As per consequential seniority, Ramesh will remain senior to Ram even when Ram had more experience than Ramesh
• Catch up rule : According to this, Ram will become senior owing to his earlier senior position/or more experience.

Background of the case

• The Karnataka Determination of Seniority of the Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of the Reservation (to the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act 2002 was held to be unconstitutional [in BK Pavitra 1] on the ground that an exercise for determining ‘inadequacy of representation’, ‘backwardness’ and the impact on ‘overall efficiency’ had not preceded the enactment of the law.
• Thereafter, the Government of Karnataka constituted the Ratna Prabha Committee headed by the Additional Chief Secretary to the State of Karnataka to submit a report on the backwardness and inadequacy of representation of SCs and STs in the State Civil Services and the impact of reservation on overall administrative efficiency in the State of Karnataka.
• On the basis of the Ratna Prabha Committee report, the Government of Karnataka introduced the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (to the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Bill 2017 which received assent of the President on 14 June 2018 and was published in the official Gazette on 23 June 2018.
• Various writ petitions were filed before the Supreme Court contending that the Reservation Act 2018

Court Observations

• The judgment pertained to the principal challenge through a batch of cases against the validity of the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (to the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act 2018. According to this Act, employees belonging to SC/ST will get one-time promotion, and it was referred as a “catch-up” clause.
• Court upholded the validity of the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (to the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act, 2018, said it “has cured the deficiency” on account of which a 2002 law on reservation in promotions had been quashed in 2017.
• The “deficiency” referred to was the lack of an exercise to determine and collect quantifiable data on inadequacy of representation, backwardness and the impact on overall efficiency before the law was enacted, as mandated by the Supreme Court’s 2006 judgment in M Nagaraj vs Union of India.

2 . Four new mouths in Chilika Lake after Fani

Context : The extremely severe cyclone Fani has created four new mouths in Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lake, connecting to the Bay of Bengal, officials said.

What is Mouth of a river or lake

• The place where a river enters a lake, larger river, or the ocean is called its mouth.

About Chilka Mouth

• Chilika lagoon had only two active mouths — the point where it meets the sea before Fani hit the Odisha coast.
• Four new mouths have opened due to wave energy with high tidal prism
• While three new mouths have come up between the two functional mouths near Sanpatna and Arakhakuda, a smaller mouth has been noticed on the northern side.

Effects on Chilika Ecosystem

• Chilika Lake is a mixture of saline and fresh water.
• A lot of sea water is entering Chilika Lake. If sea water ingression goes up, fish migration will increase and the biodiversity will get richer. But its long term impact is still unknown.
• Three of the four sectors of Chilika are more or less marine ecosystems. The rise in salinity will lead to increase in productivity.
• The three new mouths may ultimately merge with the two functional mouths

3 . Chandrayaan 2

Context : Chandrayaan-2, the lunar lander mission planned to be launched during July 9-16, will have 14 Indian payloads or study devices, a mission update of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

Details of the mission

• The 3,800-kg spacecraft includes an orbiter which will circle the moon at 100 km;
• Five-legged lander called Vikram that will descend on the moon
• A robotic rover, Pragyan, that will probe the lunar terrain around it.
• All three modules will carry payloads. The orbiter alone will have eight payloads or instruments. The lander will carry four while the rover will be equipped with two instruments.
• ISRO has chosen a landing area at the hitherto unexplored lunar south pole, making it the first agency to touch down at the south pole if it succeeds in its first landing attempt.
• ISRO will send the mission on its heavy lift booster, the MkIII, from Sriharikota.

4 . Shortage of Health care Providers

Context : Despite the health sector employing five million workers in India, it continues to have low density of health professionals with figures for the country being lower than those of Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, United Kingdom and Brazil, according to a World Health Organisation database. 

Issues

• India faces the problem of acute shortages and inequitable distributions of skilled health workers. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are the worst hit while Delhi, Kerala, Punjab and Gujarat compare favourably.
• The health workforce in India comprises broadly eight categories, namely: doctors (allopathic, alternative medicine); nursing and midwifery professionals; public health professionals (medical, non-medical); pharmacists; dentists; paramedical workers (allied health professionals); grass-root workers (frontline workers); and support staff.
• Government statistics for 2008, based on vacancies in sanctioned posts showed 18% of primary health centres were without a doctor, about 38% were without a laboratory technician and 16% were without a pharmacist

How it can be addressed

• The need of the hour is to design courses for different categories of non-physician care providers. Competencies (and not qualification alone) should be valued and reform must be brought in regulatory structures to provide flexibility for innovations

5 . Competition Commission of India

Context : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has started a probe against Google for alleged anti-competitive practices with respect to its popular Android platform for mobile phones, an official said on Friday.

Need of Competition Commission of India

• Competition is the best means of ensuring that the ‘Common Man’ or ‘Aam Aadmi’ has access to the broadest range of goods and services at the most competitive prices. With increased competition, producers will have maximum incentive to innovate and specialize.
• This would result in reduced costs and wider choice to consumers. A fair competition in market is essential to achieve this objective.
• Goal is to create and sustain fair competition in the economy that will provide a ‘level playing field’ to the producers and make the markets work for the welfare of the consumers.

The Competition Act

• The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, follows the philosophy of modern competition laws.
• The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.

Competition Commission of India

• The objectives of the Act are sought to be achieved through the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which has been established by the Central Government
• CCI consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.
• It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.
• The Commission is also required to give opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.

6 . Blue Origin & Blue Moon

About the News

• Jeff Bezos, who heads both Amazon and space company Blue Origin, unveiled a lunar lander which would be used to transport equipment, and possibly human beings, to the south pole of the moon by 2024.
• Lunar lander will be known as Blue moon
• It will be capable of carrying scientific instruments, the four small rovers, and also a future pressurised vehicle for humans.
• The goal is to land on the moon’s south pole, where ice deposits were confirmed in 2018. Water can be exploited to produce hydrogen, which in turn could fuel future exploration of the solar system.