Background: A bunch of pleas had been filed raising questions whether lawmakers, who face criminal trial, can be disqualified from fighting elections at the stage of framing of charges against them.

What did the court say? The court observed that it cannot enter the legislative arena to provide disqualification of candidates, who are facing serious criminal cases against them. However, it asked the candidates to put in bold letter her/his criminal antecedents in the required affidavit.

The SC said each political party will put on its website the criminal antecedents of each of its candidates so as to allow the voters to make an informed choice.

What does the RPA say? Currently, under the Representation of Peoples (RP) Act, lawmakers cannot contest elections only after their conviction in a criminal case.

Section 8 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951 disqualifies a person convicted with a sentence of two years or more from contesting elections. But those under trial continued to be eligible to contest elections. The Lily Thomas case (2013), however, ended this unfair advantage.

Protecting the parliamentary system from criminalisation has been the intention of the law from the beginning.

Efforts by SC in this regard: The SC has repeatedly expressed concern about the purity of legislatures. In 2002, it made it obligatory for all candidates to file an affidavit before the returning officer, disclosing criminal cases pending against them. The famous order to introduce NOTA was intended to make political parties think before giving tickets to the tainted.

In its landmark judgment of March 2014, the SC accepted the urgent need for cleansing politics of criminalisation and directed all subordinate courts to decide on cases involving legislators within a year, or give reasons for not doing so to the chief justice of the high court.

The trend: According to the ADR’s analysis of EC data, 187 MPs in the current Lok Sabha face criminal charges (that is, 34.4 per cent). Of them, 113 face serious criminal charges. The number has gone up from 162 (76 serious) charges in 2009 and 128 (58 serious) in 2004.

Main reasons for Criminalization: Corruption Vote bank. Lack of governance.

What is the way out? There are three possible options. One, political parties should themselves refuse tickets to the tainted. Two, the RP Act should be amended to debar persons against whom cases of a heinous nature are pending from contesting elections. Three, fast-track courts should decide the cases of tainted legislators quickly.

Suggested measure to curb criminalization of politics: Bringing greater transparency in campaign financing is going to make it less attractive for political parties to involve gangsters. The Election Commission of India (ECI) should have the power to audit the financial accounts of political parties, or political parties’ finances should be brought under the right to information (RTI) law. Broader governance will have to improve for voters to reduce the reliance on criminal politicians.

Fast-track courts are necessary because politicians are able to delay the judicial process and serve for decades before prosecution. The Election Commission must take adequate measures to break the nexus between the criminals and the politicians. The forms prescribed by the Election Commission for candidates disclosing their convictions, cases pending in courts and so on in their nomination papers is a step in the right direction if it applied properly.

Way ahead: Corruption and criminalisation of politics is hitting at the roots of democracy. Therefore, Parliament must take steps urgently to curb this menace. Candidates and political parties must give wide publicity to criminal cases pending against her/him in the local media, both print and electronic, after s/he files nomination to contest elections.

The EC has asked the court to declare whether it amounts to “paid news” if widely circulated daily newspapers cover statements issued by, and in the name of, a candidate.

Concerns: Such news are not only laudatory of his or her record and achievements but also are a direct appeal to voters by the candidate. Therefore, politicians cannot say that it is part of their fundamental right to free speech to spew out “motivated propaganda”.

If such motivated propaganda is allowed in the name of free speech during the election period, candidates with a strong network of connections will exploit their sphere of influence in society. This will have the unequal advantage of encashing such silent services.

Background: The commission has moved the court in appeal against a decision of the Delhi High Court to set aside the disqualification of a MP in Madhya Pradesh. ECI’s National Level Committee on Paid News found that five newspapers, with a wide circulation, had published 42 news items that were biased and one-sided and aimed at furthering the prospects of the leader. Some of the reports were advertisements in favour of him. The committee concluded that the items fitted the definition of “paid news”.

Delhi HC order and why was it challenged? The Delhi HC order had not only overturned the EC’s order on disqualification, but it also stated that the Commission’s remit is limited to election expenditure incurred by candidates and not content of speech. While the EC does not usually move court on its own, this was seen as a fit case as it was felt that the Delhi HC order had dealt a major blow to the fight against paid news. It was also felt that unless the legal position on the issue was corrected, the EC’s role and power to check paid news in elections will be irreparably undermined. Legal advice taken also weighed in favour of moving the Supreme Court.

Paid news menace: Over 600 paid news complaints were forwarded by EC to Press Council of India with reference to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the government had informed Parliament. EC has repeatedly been asking the law ministry to treat paid news as a cognisable offence and the 2015 Law Commission reports call for amendments in laws to check the menace. The UPA government had also set up a Group of ministers to examine the issue.

Need of the hour: The ECI has written to the Union government before, suggesting that paid news be made an electoral offence under the RPA. A Law Commission report from 2015 also recommends amending the RPA to this effect.

Guidelines: Severely malnourished children must be fed freshly cooked food prepared from locally available cereals, pulses and vegetables. This is to be distributed by anganwadi centres, as part of the country’s first-ever guidelines for nutritional management of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

The guidelines outline the role of anganwadi workers and auxillary nurse midwives (ANMs) in identifying severely wasted children. According to the recommendations, anganwadi workers have to provide modified morning snacks, hot cooked meals and take home ration for SAM children.

They have to segregate those with oedema or medical complications and sending them to the nearest health facility or nutrition rehabilitation centres. The remaining children are enrolled into “community based management”. This includes provision of nutrition, continuous monitoring of growth, administration of antibiotics and micro-nutrients as well as counselling sessions and imparting of nutrition and health education.

The morning snacks and hot-cooked meals, which are served at anganwadis to children between the age of three to six years, should be “prepared freshly and served at the centralised kitchen/ anganwadi centres. Locally available cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables and tubers, vitamin C rich fruits, as well as fresh milk and 3-4 eggs every week” have also been prescribed.

Importantly, the government has also revised the method to be used to measure wasting and advised calculating weight based on the height of children instead of the mid-upper arm circumference.

What necessitated this? The government had, till now, only put in place guidelines for the hospitalization of severely wasted children who develop medical complications.

What is severe acute malnutrition? Severe acute malnutrition is the most extreme and visible form of undernutrition. Its face is a child – frail and skeletal – who requires urgent treatment to survive.

Children with severe acute malnutrition have very low weight for their height and severe muscle wasting. They may also have nutritional oedema – characterized by swollen feet, face and limbs. About two thirds of these children live in Asia and almost one third live in Africa. Severe acute malnutrition is a major cause of death in children under 5, and its prevention and treatment are critical to child survival and development.

Across the globe, an estimated 16 million children under the age of 5 are affected by severe acute malnutrition. This number is staggering – most importantly, because children with severe acute malnutrition are nine times more likely to die than well-nourished children. These deaths are the direct result of malnutrition itself, as well as the indirect result of childhood illnesses like diarrhoea and pneumonia that malnourished children are too weak to survive.

Severe acute malnutrition can increase dramatically in emergencies. But despite what we see in the headlines, the majority of cases occur in developing countries not affected by emergencies. These settings are plagued by chronic poverty, lack of education, poor hygiene, limited access to food and poor diets. The result is significant barriers to sustainable development in these nations.

Terms of reference: The committee’s duties will include looking into the problems of jails across the country including overcrowding in prisons, issue of human rights of prisoners and issues concerning women prisoners languishing in cells for years.

After studying the problems, the committee would be required to suggest measures to deal with them.

Background: The Supreme Court had said on August 8, 2018 that it would constitute a committee under the chairmanship of its retired judge to look into the problems in jails, on a day-to-day basis and suggest measures to tackle the problems. The SC had expressed its displeasure saying that the government had collected a huge amount under the orders of the apex court but the funds were not being utilised properly.

Need for reforms: NHRC figures show that prisoners cut off from family and friends had a 50% more chance of committing suicide than those outside. The average suicide rate among the general public for this period is 11 (per 100,000) whereas the average suicide rate in prison is 16.9 (per 100,000). In other words, the average suicide rate in prisons is over 50% more than in normal conditions.

Indian prisons face three long-standing structural constraints: overcrowding, thanks to a high percentage of undertrials in the prison population, understaffing and underfunding. The inevitable outcome is sub-human living conditions, poor hygiene, and violent clashes between the inmates and jail authorities.

Besides, while 33% of the total requirement of prison officials still lies vacant, almost 36% of vacancy for supervising officers is still unfulfilled. In the absence of adequate prison staff, overcrowding of prisons leads to rampant violence and other criminal activities inside the jails.

Way ahead: Indian jails have often been dubbed as a university for grooming criminals due to pathetic and inhumane conditions. In the absence of a robust Whistleblower Protection Act and structural changes to address the issues of overcrowding and understaffing, India’s prisons will continue to be heaven for politically connected criminals and hell for socio-economically disadvantaged undertrials, some regular media uproars notwithstanding.

Fundamental rights of prisoners cannot be placed in the back-burner and the Centre and the states need to be more pro-active in sensitising staff about the need to treat prisoners as humanely as possible.

About NeVA: NeVA is a member-centric, decentralized digital application that makes information available on digital platform about day to day functioning of Legislative Houses covering various businesses of the Houses. The application would host a secure page for each Member of the House for submitting Questions & other Notices.

The mNeVA (NeVA-mobile app) is a device neutral and user friendly app that has made information on conduct of business in Legislatures accessible anytime, anywhere to everyone.

It is a work-flow based app deployed in Cloud (Meghraj) which helps the Chair of the House to conduct the proceedings of the House smoothly and the members to carry out their duties in the House efficiently.

NeVA has made live for Rajya Sabha in respect of Monsoon Session 2018 and information in respect of Lok Sabha is being updated.

e-Vidhan Project: e-Vidhan is a Mission Mode Project to digitize and make the functioning of State Legislatures paperless. This is part of Digital India programme. It is to be used by the Legislatures as well as all the Government Departments.

About Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) mission: PDV mission is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region at an altitude above 50 km of the earth’s atmosphere DRDO. The PDV is slated to replace the existing Prithvi Air Defense (PAD)/Pradyumna Ballistic Missile Interceptor, which has a maximum interception altitude of 80 kilometers.

The new two-stage solid-fueled PDV interceptor is fitted with an Imaging Infrared (IIR) seeker, developed by DRDO, to distinguish between incoming warheads and decoys.

It is guided by high-accuracy Inertial Navigation System (INS) supported by Redundant Micro Navigation System for estimating point of interception.

The government of Nepal recently announced that there are now an estimated 235 wild tigers in the nation, nearly double the number from around 121 in 2009.

Significance: The success of Nepal in doubling tiger numbers has been largely attributed to the country’s political commitment and the adoption of innovative tools and approaches towards tiger conservation. Nepal was the first country to achieve global standards in managing tiger conservation areas, an accreditation scheme governed by the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS).

About ‘Tx2’ programme: The World Wildlife Foundation had launched its ambitious TX2 programme at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010. The programme aims to double the world tiger population by 2022, which is the year of the tiger in the Chinese calendar.

WHAT IS WWF’S ROLE? WWF remains a major driving force behind Tx2. It aims at: Driving political momentum to ensure tigers remain a top priority for world leaders. Professionalising wildlife protection by training rangers, developing conservation standards (CA|TS) and technology (SMART) to achieve Zero Poaching.

Tackling the illegal wildlife trade through our partnership with TRAFFIC. Focusing efforts in key tiger landscapes. Ensuring there is space for both tigers and people in the future.

WHO ARE THE TIGER RANGE COUNTRIES? Wild tigers are found in a variety of habitats across Asia. There are currently 13 tiger range countries; Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Viet Nam.

COAL PRODUCTION: · Coal Production increased from 565.77MT in 2013-14 to 662.79MT in 2016-17. · CIL has increased its production from 462.41 MT in 2013-2014 to 554.14 MT in 2016-17. The increase of 91.73 MT in actual production achieved by CIL in the last three years took more than six years to achieve before 2013-14.

COAL BLOCK ALLOCATION- · 89 Coal Mines successfully allocated- 31 through e-auction and 58 to Government Companies. · 50 coal mines allocated to the regulated sector i.e. power, 26 coal mines to the non -regulated sector (NRS) i.e. iron & steel, cement and captive power as well as 13 coal mines for sale of coal.

· Estimated Proceeds from auction and allotment: Rs. 3.20lakh crores+ · Status: Rs. 4577.11/ crores generated form coal mines on account of auction/allotment proceeds from allocation of mines. 40.57 MT coal has already been produced till January 2018 from the operational coal mines after allocation.

Power Sector Linkage Policy- SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India) New More Transparent Coal Allocation Policy for Power Sector, 2017- Shakti put in place from 22.05.2017.

Coal Projects Monitoring Portal (e-CPMP) Set up in the Coal Ministry to fast track clearances and pending issues of coal projects at State Government as well as Central Ministries. It has facilitated the resolution of all pending issues in 76 coal projects worth Rs. 52,600 crores till date.

Mining Surveillance System (MSS): Satellite- based monitoring system to establish a regime of responsive mineral administration, through public participation, by curbing instances of illegal mining activity through automatic remote sensing detection technology.

Online Coal Clearances System: Coal Allocation Monitoring System (CAMS to monitor the allocation of coal by Coal India Limited (CIL) to states, States to State Nominated Agencies (SNA) and SNA to consumers in a transparent manner.

Contract Labour Payment Management System: Contract Labour Payment Management System, also known as CLIP has been launched on 4th May 2016. CLIP portal has been adopted by CIL and all its subsidiaries.

The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitley launched here today a transformative initiative in MSME credit space. The web portal www.psbloansin59minutes.com will enable in principle approval for MSME loans up to Rs. 1 crore within 59 minutes from SIDBI and 5 Public Sector Banks (PSBs). It is a strategic initiative of SIBDI led PSB consortium incubated under the aegis of Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance. The Portal sets a new benchmark in loan processing and reduces the turnaround time from 20-25 days to 59 minutes. Subsequent to this in principle approval, the loan will be disbursed in 7-8 working days.

A first in MSME banking credit space, www.psbloansin59minutes.com is one of its kind platform in MSME segment which integrates advanced fintech to ensure seamless loan approval and management. The loans are undertaken without human intervention till sanction and or disbursement stage. A User Friendly Platform has been built where MSME borrower is not required to submit any physical document for in-principle approval. The solution uses sophisticated algorithms to read and analyse data points from various sources such as IT returns, GST data, bank statements, MCA21 etc. in less than an hour while capturing the applicants basic details using Smart analytics from available documents. The system simplifies the decision making process for a loan officer as the final output provides a summary of credit, valuation and verification on a user-friendly dashboard in real time.

The key features of the contactless platform include:

Majority stake of SIDBI & big 5 PSBs- SBI, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Vijaya and Indian Bank.

A first for MSME borrowers-Connect with multiple banks without visiting the branch.

Advanced Digital Platform for MSME Financing with Services Driven Architecture and highest level of Information Security.

Only Platform in the market with a Banker Interface which covers the Branch Level integrations (with maker-checker-approver) in tune with current systems of PSBs.

Only Platform that enables Bankers to create Loan Products in line with the Scoring models & assessment methods within their approved credit policy.

Only Platform that has an integrated GST, ITR, Bank Statement Analyzer, Fraud Check and Bureau Check as well as host of other features which at present is not available with any other player in the market.

Only Platform that has been integrated with CGTMSE for checking the eligibility of Borrowers. MSME borrower gets loan up to Rs.2 crore without any collateral, which is major relief for MSME borrower.

Following sportspersons were conferred with Dronacharya Awards for the year 2018:

Following sportspersons were conferred with Arjuna Awards for the year 2018:

            *Players could not be present

Following sportspersons were conferred with Dhyan Chand Awards for the year 2018.

Following entities were conferred with Rashtriya Khel ProtsahanPuruskar for the year 2018.

            Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards, 2017 were conferred on the following: