Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Motion to remove Speaker
- Pardoning power of governor
- New DraftArctic Policy
- Cost og Guaranteed MSP
- Facts for Prelims
1 . Motion to remove Speaker
Context: Kerala Assembly rejected a motion, after nearly four hours of heated debate, moved by the Opposition seeking the removal of Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan alleging his role in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case and reckless expenditure in the various activities by the Legislature Secretariat.
Process of Removal of Speaker
- Article 179(c) of constitution provides that a member holding office as a Speaker or Deputy Speaker of an Assembly may be removed form his office by a resolution of the Assembly passed by a majority of all the then Members of the Assembly
- Provided that no resolution for the purpose shall be moved unless at least fourteen days’ notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution. Rule 11 of the Assembly Rules provides that:-
Rule 11
(1) As soon as may be after the receipt of notice of a resolution to remove the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker from his office under Article 179 (c) of the Constitution, the Speaker shall read the notice to the Assembly and shall then request Members who are in favor of leave being granted to move the resolution to rise in their places and if not less than 23 Members rise accordingly, the Speaker shall allow the resolution to be moved.
(2) As soon as may be after leave is given, a copy of the resolution shall be forwarded to the Leader of the House who shall find time for its discussion, and the motion shall be taken up on the day fixed by the Leader of the House for the purpose.
The resolution is discussed on such day time as may be fixed for the purpose by the Leader of the House or on the report of the Business Advisory Committee adopted by the House. On the day so fixed the resolution is taken up after questions hour. Subject to the provisions of Article 181 of Constitution, the Speaker, or the Deputy Speaker or such other person as is referred to in clause (2) of Article 180, presides when a resolution for the removal of the Speaker or Deputy Speaker is taken for consideration.
2 . Pardoning Power of the Governor
Context : A call on the Tamil Nadu government’s recommendation to pardon Rajiv Gandhi assassination convict A G Perarivalan will be taken by the Governor within three-four days, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court Thursday.
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.
3 . New Draft Arctic Policy
Context : India has unveiled a new draft ‘Arctic’ policy that, among other things, commits to expanding scientific research, “sustainable tourism” and mineral oil and gas exploration in the Arctic region.
Background
- India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic in 2007 and set up a research station ‘Himadri’ in the international Arctic research base at Ny-Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway.
- It has two other observatories in Kongsforden and Gruvebadet. Himadri is manned for about 180 days a year.
- Since its establishment, over 300 Indian researchers have worked in the station. India has sent 13 expeditions to the Arctic since 2007 and runs 23 active projects.
About Arctic Region & Importance
- The Arctic is home to almost four million inhabitants, of which approximately one-tenth are considered as indigenous people.
- Five Arctic littoral states — Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia and the USA (Alaska) — and three other Arctic nations — Finland, Sweden and Iceland — form the Arctic Council.
About the New Arctic Policy of India
- India expects the Goa-based National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research to lead scientific research and act as a nodal body to coordinate among various scientific bodies to promote domestic scientific research capacities by expanding “earth sciences, biological sciences, geosciences, climate change and space related programmes, dove-tailed with Arctic imperatives in Indian Universities.”
- Other objectives of the policy include “…putting in place Arctic related programmes for mineral/oil and gas exploration in petroleum research institutes and encouraging tourism and hospitality sectors in building specialised capacities and awareness to engage with Arctic enterprises,
Importance
- Climate change has meant that seasons in the Arctic influence tropical weather. The Arctic influences atmospheric, oceanographic and biogeochemical cycles of the earth’s ecosystem.
- The loss of sea ice, ice caps, and warming of the ocean and atmosphere would lower salinity in the ocean, increase the temperature differential between land and oceans in the tropical regions, dry subtropical areas and increase precipitation at higher latitudes.
- Arctic research will help India’s scientific community to study melting rates of the third pole — the Himalayan glaciers, which are endowed with the largest freshwater reserves in the world outside the geographic poles
4 . Cost of guaranteed MSP
Context : Farmer unions protesting on Delhi’s borders are raising two fundamental demands. The first is for repealing the three agricultural reform laws enacted by the Centre. The second is to provide legal guarantee for the minimum support prices (MSPs) that the Centre declares for various crops every year. Currently, there is no statutory backing for these prices or any law mandating their implementation.
How can MSP be made legally binding?
- There are two ways it can be done.
- The first is to force private buyers to pay it. In this case, no crop can be purchased below the MSP, which would also act as the floor price for bidding in mandi auctions. There’s already a precedent: In sugarcane, mills are required by law to pay growers the Centre’s “fair and remunerative price” – Uttar Pradesh and Haryana fix even higher “state advised prices” – within 14 days of supply.
- The second route is, of course, the government itself buying the entire crop that farmers offer at the MSP.
But how much of farmers’ produce can the government buy at MSP?
- The MSP is now applicable on 23 farm commodities: 7 cereals (paddy, wheat, maize, bajra, jowar, ragi and barley), 5 pulses (chana, arhar, moong, urad and masur), 7 oilseeds (groundnut, soyabean, rapeseed-mustard, sesamum, sunflower, nigerseed and safflower) and 4 commercial crops (sugarcane, cotton, copra and raw jute).
MSP value of production. - The chart shows that the MSP value of the total production of the 23 crops worked out to around Rs 10.78 lakh crore in 2019-20.
- Not all this produce, however, is marketed. Farmers retain part of it for self-consumption, seed for the next season’s sowing and also for feeding their animals.
- The marketed surplus ratio for different crops is estimated to be at an average of 75% would yield a number of just over Rs 8 lakh crore. This is the MSP value of production that is the marketable surplus — which farmers actually sell.
MSP value of production.Factors to consider in case of compulsory MSP
- Paddy, Wheat, Cotton and also pulses and oilseeds are already procured and combined MSP value of the procured quantities of these would have exceeded Rs 2.7 lakh crore in 2019-20 excluding sugarcane as paying cane MSP lies on sugar mills and not the government.
- Government agencies don’t have to buy every single grain that comes to the market. Mopping up even a quarter or third of the market arrivals is usually enough to lift prices.
- Crop bought on government account also gets sold. While such sales in wheat and paddy – which are distributed at super-subsidised rates under the National Food Security Act – entail heavy losses, those are far less in the remaining MSP crops. The revenues realised from sales would partly offset the expenditures from MSP procurement.
- All in all, the additional fiscal outgo, from the government undertaking the maximum required procurement for guaranteeing MSP to farmers, may not be more than Rs 1-1.5 lakh crore per year.
That isn’t much, right?
- The government undertaking to buy at MSP is definitely better than forcing private players. If the record of sugar mills – their inability to pay farmers on time despite statutory provisions of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 issued under the Essential Commodities Act – is any guide, no trader or processer will purchase crops at prices beyond what the market supply-demand dynamics permit. Their going out of business would ultimately hurt farmers most.
Challenges
- Even assured government MSP-based procurement is fraught with problems.
- The coverage of MSPs today does not extend to fruits, vegetables and livestock products that together have a 45% share in the gross value of output of India’s agriculture, forestry and fishing sector. The value of milk and milk products alone is more than that of all cereals and pulses combined.
- Extending MSP to all farm produce and guaranteeing it through law is hugely challenging, fiscally and otherwise. It also explains why economists increasingly are in favour of guaranteeing minimum “incomes” rather than “prices” to farmers. One way to achieve that is via direct cash transfers either on a flat per-acre (as in the Telangana government’s Rythu Bandhu scheme) or per-farm household (the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) basis.
5. Facts for Prelims
Jerenga Pothar
- Jerenga Pothar, an open field in Sivasagar town, is popularly connected to the valour of 17th century Ahom princess Joymoti. While the courage of Ahom kings is well-documented, Joymoti’s story — little-known until the latter part of the 19th century — is today celebrated and invoked as a symbol of inspiration.
- While the Jerenga Pothar itself is not a protected archaeological site, its vicinity includes a number of protected sites, including the Na Pukhuri tank to its east and the Pohu Garh, a natural zoo built during the Ahom era, to its west. Close by is the large Joysagar tank, built by Ahom king Swargadeo Rudra Singha in 1697, and the Vishnu Dol temple.