Daily Current Affairs : 29th September 2022

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. PFI Ban 
2. UAPA Tribunal
3. CDS 
4. Mercy Petition 
5. Facts for Prelims

1 . Unlawful Association

Context : The central government has announced a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI), the organisation whose leaders and offices were raided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in states across the country on September 22. The ban was notified on September 27, and published in the gazette on Wednesday (September 28) morning.

What does the ban notification say?

• The notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) imposed a ban on the PFI and its associate organisations, including the Rehab India Foundation (RIF) and Campus Front of India, for five years under The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967.
• The notification gave a number of reasons, including that “the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts operate openly as socio-economic, educational and political organization but, they have been pursuing a secret agenda to radicalize a particular section of the society working towards undermining the concept of democracy and show sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority and constitutional set up of the country”.
• It also said that “the PFI and its associates or affiliates or fronts have been indulging in unlawful activities, which are prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country and have the potential of disturbing public peace and communal harmony of the country and supporting militancy in the country”.
• Therefore, the notification said, the central government had decided to declare the PFI and its various fronts as an “unlawful association” with “immediate effect”.

So what does the “ban” on the PFI mean?

• The UAPA, India’s main law against terrorism and terrorist activities, allows the government to declare an organisation an “unlawful association” or a “terrorist organisation”, which is often colloquially described as a “ban” on the organisations.
• Under Section 3 of the UAPA Act, the government has powers to declare an association “unlawful”. Apart from a gazette notification, the government is required to notify such association by affixing a copy on its offices or by “proclaiming by beat of drum or by means of loudspeakers, the contents of the notification in the area in which the activities of the association are ordinarily carried”.

What happens when an association is declared unlawful?

• Declaring an organisation an unlawful organisation, as has happened in the case of the PFI now, has serious consequences in law, which include the criminalisation of its membership and the forfeiture of the properties of the organisation.
• Under Section 7 of the UAPA, the government has power to prohibit the use of funds of an unlawful association and, under Section 8, all places that are used by the unlawful association can be notified and seized. The law allows any person aggrieved by a prohibitory order to make, within 15 days of the date of the service of such order, an application to the Court of the District Judge within the local limits.
• Also, a person who “is and continues to be a member of such (unlawful) association; or takes part in meetings of such association; or contributes to, or receives or solicits any contribution for the purpose of, such association; or in any way assists the operations of such association” is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.

And how is an “unlawful association” defined?

• Section 2(1)(p) of the UAPA defines an “unlawful association” as an association which has for its object any unlawful activity or offence defined under Sections 153A or 153B of the Indian Penal Code — that is, promoting enmity between different groups and making imputations, assertions that are prejudicial to national integration.
• An unlawful association is also one that “encourages or aids persons to undertake any unlawful activity, or of which the members undertake such activity”.

What is the process to declare an association unlawful?

• Under Section 4 of the UAPA, the government is mandated to send the notification to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal within 30 days of issuing the gazette notification to have the ban ratified.
• The Ministry will have to make a reference to the Tribunal along with details of cases the National Investigation Agency, Enforcement Directorate, and state police forces have registered against PFI and its cadres across the country.
• The Tribunal, which is required to be headed by a retired or sitting judge of a High Court, will then issue a show-cause notice to the PFI asking it to reply in writing about why it should not be banned. After arguments from both sides, the Tribunal can hold an inquiry to decide within six months on whether there is sufficient evidence to declare PFI an “unlawful association”.
• Such inquiries by the Tribunal are also held in areas where the association ordinarily conducts its activities for the general public to give their views.
• The ban becomes applicable for a period of five years once the Tribunal approves it.

2 . UAPA Tribunal

Context: The Popular Front of India (PFI), declared an “unlawful association” under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the Centre, will now have the option to present its case before a tribunal that must confirm the government notification for the ban to continue.

What is a UAPA tribunal?

• The UAPA provides for a tribunal under a High Court judge to be constituted by the government for its bans to have long-term legal sanctity.
• Orders to declare an organisation as “unlawful” are issued by the Centre under Section 3 of the UAPA.
  • The provision says that “no such notification shall have effect until the tribunal has, by an order made under Section 4, confirmed the declaration made therein and the order is published in the Official Gazette”.
• Thus, a government order would not come into effect until the tribunal has confirmed it.
• However, in exceptional circumstances, the notification can come into effect immediately once the reasons for it are recorded in writing. The tribunal can endorse or reject it.

The procedure

• According to Section 4 of the UAPA, after the Centre declares an organisation “unlawful”, its notification must reach the tribunal within 30 days to adjudicate “whether or not there is sufficient cause” for the move.
• After this, the tribunal calls upon the association, by notice in writing, to show cause within 30 days why it should not be declared unlawful.
• Once this is done, the tribunal holds an inquiry and decides the matter within six months.

Constitution of the tribunal

• The tribunal consists of only one person, who has to be a High Court judge.
• If a vacancy (other than a temporary absence) occurs in the Tribunal, the Centre appoints another judge, and the proceedings continue from the stage at which the vacancy is filled.
• The Centre is to provide the tribunal with such staff as necessary for the discharge of its functions. All expenses incurred for a tribunal are borne out of the Consolidated Fund of India.

Power of the Tribunal

• The tribunal has power to regulate its own procedure, including the place at which it holds its sittings.
• Thus, it can hold hearings in different states for allegations pertaining to those states.
• To make inquiries, the tribunal has the same powers as vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
• These can be exercised in summoning a witness and examining him on oath; production of any document or other material object producible as evidence; the reception of evidence on affidavits; the requisitioning of any public record from any court or office; and the issuing of any commission for the examination of witnesses.
• All proceedings before the Tribunal are deemed to be judicial proceedings.

Its record

• Proceedings of the tribunal have been criticised for being somewhat opaque.
• The UAPA permits public non-disclosure of information on bans given the sensitivity involved. It has been said that often, the government gives evidence in sealed cover, leaving no opportunity for an organisation to defend itself.

3 . Chief of Defence Staff

Context: The government appointed Lt. Gen. Anil Chauhan (retd.), former General Office Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Army Commander, as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

About Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)

• Chief of Defence Staff is first among equals. The CDS and chiefs of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force are the only four-star officers in the country. The Chief of Defence Staff is the highest-ranking officer on active duty in India’s military.
• With an age limit that the retired officer should not have attained 62 years on the date of appointment, retired Service chiefs are largely ruled out, especially so for the present consideration.
• Functions:
  • He is chief military adviser to India’s defence minister.
  • He is also the head of the Department of Military Affairs (DoMA) in the Ministry of Defence.
  • The CDS is also the single point of contact for the government for giving military advice and is the senior-most bureaucrat in the defence ministry which has four major departments.
  • The Chief of Defence Staff is the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and acts as the Principal Military Adviser to Raksha Mantri on all tri-services matters so as to provide impartial advice to the political leadership.
  • He is also the member of National Security Council, Defence Acquisition Council, Defence Planning Committee, Nuclear Command Authority, Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency.

Establishment

• The Kargil Review Committee, headed by Shri K Subrahmanyam in 1999 had recommended comprehensive review of the National Security framework for improved decision-making in defence matters.
  • The Committee also recommended that the mechanisms established between the Defence Ministry and the Service Headquarters and the interface between them, should be holistically studied and reorganised.
• Based on Shri K Subrahmanyam Committee Report, a Group of Ministers (GoM) in 2001 recommended creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff.
• The Cabinet Committee on Security created the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) to enhance the quality of Military Advice to Political Leadership through integration of Service inputs. 
• It aims to develop and foster expertise in defence matters for better and more informed decision making.
• In addition, the DMA was created as the fifth department in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) with the CDS functioning as its secretary.

4 . Mercy Petition

Context: The Supreme Court criticised the delay on the part of the government to decide a mercy petition filed by a person who has been on death row for nearly 27 years for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

 Key highlights

• A Bench led by Chief Justice of India noted that even the top court’s order directing the government to take a call in the next two months seemed to have gone unheeded.
• The accused person’s plea of Presidential mercy has been delayed despite the government having decided in 2019 to spare his life in commemoration of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
• The Court gave the Centre time of two days to file an affidavit detailing the progress made on the mercy plea.
• The court had said the law was settled that once the government decided to recommend Presidential pardon for a man, the pendency of appeals in the Supreme Court of his co-accused cannot delay the process initiated under Article 72 (Presidential pardon) of the Constitution.

About mercy petition

• As per the Constitutional framework in India, mercy petition to the President is the last constitutional resort a convict can take when he is sentenced by the court of law. A convict can present a mercy petition to the President of India under Article 72 of the Constitution of India.
• Similarly, the power to grant pardon is conferred upon the Governors of States under Article 161 of the Constitution of India.
• Article 72 provides:
  • The President 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—
    • in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial;
    • in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
    • in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.
• Thus, Article 72 empowers the President to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases.
• While Article 161 provides:
  • Power of Governor to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases 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.
• Even though the President and Governor are the executive heads, but they cannot exercise their discretion with regard to their powers under Articles 72 and 161.
  • Both the executive heads are required to act on the advice of the appropriate government–Central and State Government. The advice of the appropriate Government binds the Head of State.
• The President can either accept or reject the mercy plea as per the advice by the council of ministers.
  • However, the Constitution doesn’t provide for a specified time limit to accept/reject the mercy petition.
  • He can keep the petition in abeyance for an indefinite period if he wishes to.

Process of making a mercy petition:

• There is no statutory written procedure for dealing with mercy petitions, but in practice, after extinguishing all the reliefs in the court of law, either the convict in person or his relative on his behalf may submit a written petition to the President.
• The petitions are received by the President’s secretariat on behalf of the President, which is then forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs for their comments and recommendations.
• A convict under the sentence of death is allowed to make the petition within a period of seven days after the date on which the Superintendent of jail informs him about the dismissal of the appeal or special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court.
• The Home Ministry in consultation with the concerned State Government discusses the merits of the petition.
• After the consultation, recommendations are made by the Home Minister and then, the petition is sent back to the President for his decision.

5 . Facts for Prelims

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY) 

• The scheme handled the poverty level during the lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• This was valid till September 30, 2022. Currently, it has been extended to December 31, 2022. 
• Under this scheme, the center provides 5kg of free food grains per month to the poor. This is in addition to the subsidized (Rs 2-3 per kg) ration provided under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to families covered under the Public Distribution System (PDS). 
• Initially, when the scheme was introduced in the year 2020-21, it was available for only three months in (phase-I) from April, May and June 2020. 
• The next phase was from July to November 2020. 
• To control the post-pandemic situation, the government reintroduced the free ration scheme from May to June 2021. 
• And again got extended for five more months till November 2021. 
• Later in Phase V, the ration scheme was extended till March 2022 and again to six more than till September 30, 2022. 
• And now the total expenditure has crossed around Rs 3.40 lakh crore. 
• These food grains under the PMGKAY scheme are provided at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kg. 
• At the end of Phase VI, the government must have spent an amount of 1,000 lakh tonnes of free food grains under this scheme. 

Varaha Sculpture 

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) earlier this year discovered Buddhist caves and stupas, and Brahmi inscriptions, dating back to the 2nd century, and Hindu temples from the 9th-11th centuries, and possibly the world’s largest Varaha sculpture also dating to the same period, at the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. 
• The Varaha sculpture is among the many monolithic sculptures of the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu discovered by the ASI at the national park earlier this year.  
• The exploration took place 84 years after the last such effort in 1938. 
• The caves and some of their remains had Chaitya [rounded] doors and stone beds typical of Mahayana Buddhism sites. 
• This discovery brings the total number of caves found in the Bandhavgarh reserve to 76, as 50 are already in the records since the last survey. 
• Of all the visualisations of Varaha lifting up Bhudevi, a few sculptures of the Gupta era (4th to 6th centuries) stand out from the rest as great masterpieces of Indian art.  
• Udayagiri, near Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh), contains 20 rock-cut caves, including a large niche (Cave 5), which covers the myth in a panel of outranking scale and incomparable magnitude. 
• The composition and its meaning could only be grasped at the site of the work or with the aid of dozens of photographs, but not just one.  
• The Varaha figure is shown wearing a pleated garment around his waist and a long and thick vana maala (flower garland), the typical attribute of Vishnu.  
• He stands firmly with his right leg on the ground, and the left on the coils of Nagaraja (serpent king), who apparently came up from the sea floor, and is paying his homage to the divinity.  
• The body, which is inclined a bit to the left with noticeable forward thrust, clearly hints that the lifting of the Goddess has happened just a few moments earlier.  
• The hand gestures—the right one firmly holding the hip, and the left inflexibly resting on the left knee—vividly suggest the pride with which the victorious rescuing had been accomplished by the divinity. Bhudevi, who is still clinging on to the boar’s tusk, appears to be trying to sit on the left shoulder of her saviour. 

Bandhavgarh Tiger reserve 

• Bandhavgarh National Park is a national park of India, located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh.  
• Bandhavgarh, with an area of 105 square kilometres (41 sq mi), was declared a national park in 1968 and then became Tiger Reserve in 1993. The current core area is spread over 716 square kilometres (276 sq mi). 
• This park has a large biodiversity. The park has a large breeding population of leopards, and various species of deer. One of the biggest attractions of this national park is the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). 
• Maharaja Martand Singh of Rewa captured the first white tiger in this region in 1951. This white tiger, Mohan, is now stuffed and on display in the palace of the Maharajas of Rewa. 
• Historically villagers and their cattle have been under a threat from the tiger.  
• Rising mining activities around the park are putting the tigers at risk.  
• The Park derived its name from the most prominent hill of the area which is said to have been given by Lord Rama to his brother Laxman to keep a watch on Lanka.