Daily Current Affairs : 20th July

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill 2019
2. Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019
3. Apollo Missions

1 . Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill 2019

Context : The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha. The Bill amends the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

About the Amendments 

• Composition of NHRC: Under the Act, the chairperson of the NHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  The Bill amends this to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or a Judge of the Supreme Court will be the chairperson of the NHRC. 
•  The Act provides for two persons having knowledge of human rights to be appointed as members of the NHRC. The Bill amends this to allow three members to be appointed, of which at least one will be a woman.  Under the Act, chairpersons of various commissions such as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, and National Commission for Women are members of the NHRC.  The Bill provides for including the chairpersons of the National Commission for Backward Classes, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as members of the NHRC.
• Chairperson of SHRC: Under the Act, the chairperson of a SHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court.  The Bill amends this to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court will be chairperson of a SHRC.  
• Term of office: The Act states that the chairperson and members of the NHRC and SHRC will hold office for five years or till the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier.  The Bill reduces the term of office to three years or till the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier.  Further, the Act allows for the reappointment of members of the NHRC and SHRCs for a period of five years.  The Bill removes the five-year limit for reappointment. 
• Powers of Secretary-General: The Act provides for a Secretary-General of the NHRC and a Secretary of a SHRC, who exercise powers as may be delegated to them.  The Bill amends this and allows the Secretary-General and Secretary to exercise all administrative and financial powers (except judicial functions), subject to the respective chairperson’s control.
• Union Territories: The Bill provides that the central government may confer on a SHRC human rights functions being discharged by Union Territories.  Functions relating to human rights in the case of Delhi will be dealt with by the NHRC.  

2 . Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Context : Government introduced in Lok Sabha the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which proposes to give the Centre the powers to set the salaries and service conditions of Information Commissioners at central as well as state levels.

About the Amendment

• The Bill amends Sections 13 and 16 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
• Section 13 of the original Act sets the term of the central Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners at five years (or until the age of 65, whichever is earlier). The amendment proposes that the appointment will be “for such term as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.
• Section 13 states that salaries, allowances and other terms of service of “the Chief Information Commissioner shall be the same as that of the Chief Election Commissioner”, and those of an Information Commissioner “shall be the same as that of an Election Commissioner”. The amendment proposes that the salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.
• Section 16 of the original Act deals with state-level Chief Information Commissioners and Information Commissioners. It sets the term for state-level CICs and ICs at five years (or 65 years of age, whichever is earlier). The amendment proposes that these appointments should be for “such term as may be prescribed by the Central Government”. And while the original Act prescribes salaries, allowances and other terms of service of the state Chief Information Commissioner as “the same as that of an Election Commissioner”, and the salaries and other terms of service of the State Information Commissioners as “the same as that of the Chief Secretary to the State Government”, the amendment proposes that these “shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.

Concerns

• Amendments are being viewed as implying that, in effect, the terms of appointment, salaries and tenures of the Chief Information Commissioners and Information Commissioners can be decided on a case-to-case basis by the government.
• The Opposition has argued that this will take away the independence of the RTI authorities.

Evaluation of RTI Act

• The RTI Act is regarded as one of the most successful laws of independent India. It has given ordinary citizens the confidence and the right to ask questions of government authorities. According to estimates, nearly 60 lakh applications are being filed every year. It is used by citizens as well as the media. The law is seen as having acted as a deterrent for government servants against taking arbitrary decisions.

3 . Apollo Missions

Apollo Missions

• The Apollo program was designed to land humans on the Moon and bring them safely back to Earth.
• Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal.
• Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data.
• Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photography of the lunar surface.
• Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction, but also returned photographs.
• The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data and almost 400 kilograms of lunar samples. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.

Apollo 11

• This was man’s first landing on the Moon. Armstrong and Aldrin moved around on the surface of the Moon for over two hours.
• They collected rock and soil samples, carried out experiments, and planted an American flag. They spent a total of 21 hours, 36 minutes on the Moon’s surface, most of it inside the lunar module. Their third colleague, Michael Collins, remained in the command module in the lunar orbit.

Apollo 12

• This mission marked the second human landing on the Moon in less than six months. Charles Conrad Jr and Alan Bean stepped on the lunar surface while their colleague Richard Gordon Jr remained in the command module. The mission brought back pieces of the Surveyor III, a lander mission that had reached the Moon two years previously.

Apollo 15

• Humans drove a vehicle on the Moon’s surface for the first time, travelling a distance of more than 25 km. The crew comprising David Scott and James Irwin spent 18 hours on the Moon’s surface. They also performed a gravitation test to show that a heavy iron hammer and a light feather fall simultaneously in the absence of air drag on the Moon. Alfred Worden was the third astronaut on board, who remained in the command module.

Apollo 17

• This was the last mission of the Apollo programme. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spend three days on the Moon, and did three extended Moonwalks of seven hours each. The mission brought back more than 240 kg of lunar samples