11 January 2023

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

 1 – Collegium System: GS II – Judiciary related issues

Context:

• The collegium of the Supreme Court recommended individuals for the high courts of Bombay, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gauhati, and Manipur on Tuesday.
• The collegium passed these resolutions a few days after Attorney General R. Venkatramani assured the Supreme Court that the government will adhere to the timelines set by the court for reviewing bids for judge appointments in High Courts.

About:

• The mechanism for the appointment and transfer of judges has evolved as a result of Supreme Court rulings, rather than being established by a statute passed by Parliament or a provision in the Constitution.

Modifications to the System:

• The First Judges Case of 1981 said that “cogent arguments” might be offered to disprove the “primacy” of the Chief Justice of India’s recommendation regarding judicial transfers and appointments.
• The Executive would have precedence over the Judiciary in appointing judges for the subsequent twelve years.
• In the Second Judges Case (1993), the SC ruled that “consultation” truly meant “concurrence,” establishing the Collegium system.
• It was further clarified that this was not the CJI’s personal judgement but rather a decision made by the institution in cooperation with the two senior judges of the SC.
• (1998) Third Judges Case: On the President’s advice (Article 143 of the SC), the Collegium was extended to five members, including the Chief Justice of India and his four seniorest associates.
• Who Is the Collegium Head of the System?
• The CJI is in charge of the SC collegium, which is made up of the four most senior judges on the court (Chief Justice of India).
• A collegium is made up of the three senior judges on the High Court, including the incumbent Chief Justice.
• Only the collegium system is utilised to nominate judges for the higher judiciary, and when the collegium has selected names, the government gets involved.

What are the procedures for judicial appointments?

CJI:

• The President of India appoints the Chief Justice of India and the other SC judges.
• In terms of the CJI, the outgoing CJI suggests his successor.
• The only deciding element in practise has been seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.

Other SC judges:

• For the other judges of the SC, the CJI makes the proposal.
• The CJI makes contact with the other Collegium members as well as the court’s senior-most judge who is a member of the High Court, where the suggested person is a member.
• The consultees are required to provide textual feedback, which should be saved in the file.
• The Collegium sends the recommendation to the Law Minister, who subsequently sends it to the Prime Minister for the President’s approval.

For the Chief Justice of the High Courts:

• The Chief Justice of the High Court is chosen in accordance with the custom of having Chief Justices from outside the different States.
• The Collegium decides whether to promote someone.
• The CJI and the two most senior justices form a Collegium that makes recommendations for High Court judges.
• The outgoing Chief Justice of the relevant High Court, however, initiated the recommendation after speaking with two of her most senior colleagues.
• The recommendation is given to the Chief Minister, who suggests that the Governor give it to the Union Law Minister.

What Issues Do the Collegium System Present?

• Executive exclusion: The complete isolation of the executive from the judicial selection process led to a system where a small number of judges covertly appoint the remaining judges.
• They are also not accountable to any administrative body, which increases the risk that they would choose the wrong candidate while omitting the right one.
• Favoritism and nepotism possibilities: The collegium system leaves a lot of room for nepotism and favouritism because it does not specify any specific criteria for screening CJI candidates.
• It has a negative impact on the nation’s ability to maintain peace and order by making the justice system less transparent.
• The check-and-balance principle is ineffective under this arrangement. In India, three organs function largely independently of one another, yet they keep one another in check and curb any organ’s excessive power.
• However, the collegium structure gives the judiciary a great deal of power, leaving few options for checks and balances and increasing the risk of misuse.
• Critics have called attention to the fact that this setup lacks a formal secretariat. It is believed that a collegium meets in private and renders decisions without the knowledge of the general public.
• Furthermore, there are no official records of collegium meetings.
• The other area of concern is the makeup of the upper court, where women are noticeably underrepresented.

What were the efforts to reform the appointment system?

• On the grounds that it threatened the independence of the judiciary, the court dismissed the attempt to replace it with a “National Judicial Appointments Commission” (through the 89th Amendment Act of 2014) in 2015.

Way Forward:

• The procedure for filling vacancies is continuous and has no deadline because it involves both the executive and judicial departments. The time has come, however, to think about establishing a long-lasting, independent organisation to institutionalise the process with adequate protections to preserve the independence of the judiciary and ensure judicial supremacy, but not judicial exclusivity.
• In addition to ensuring independence, displaying diversity, professionalism, and honesty, it should also embody those ideals.

Source The  Hindu

2 – Section 6 A of Citizenship Act: GS II – Constitution related issues

Context:

• On Tuesday, a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud stated that before making a judgement, it would first determine whether Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, has any “constitutional infirmities.”
• The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement reached on August 15, 1985, between the Rajiv Gandhi administration and leaders of the Assam Movement. It is a special provision added to the 1955 Act to safeguard and preserve Assamese culture, legacy, language, and social identity. The majority of the illegal immigrants in the State, who were primarily from Bangladesh’s neighbour, had been the target of a six-year campaign by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) to find and deport them.

About:

• Section 6A of the Citizenship Act of 1955 contains the citizenship rules that apply to people covered by the Assam Accord. (1985). This section was added as part of an amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955 in 1985. All those who entered Assam from the specified territory—which, at the time the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1985, included all territories of Bangladesh—on or after January 1, 1966, but before March 25, 1971, and have resided in Assam since that time are required to register for citizenship under section 18 of the act, in accordance with section 6A. As a result, the deadline for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in Assam is set by this ordinance at March 25, 1971.

What is the Assam Accord?

• Assam saw extraordinary levels of racial violence, state government collapse, and president’s control between 1979 and 1985. During the government-run elections, violence driven by linguistic and communal identities resulted in the deaths of thousands of people in the state. Finally, to resolve the matter, the movement’s leaders and the Rajiv Gandhi administration at the time signed the Assam Accord Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) on August 15, 1985. According to this Agreement
• It was intended to provide all foreigners who had entered Assam between 1951 and 1961 full citizenship, which included the right to vote.
• Deportation was required for those who had immigrated after 1971.
• Those who arrived between 1961 and 1971 were granted all other citizenship rights, but their right to vote was suspended for ten years.

Source The  Hindu

3 – Earthquake Mitigation in India: GS I – Geography

Context:

• The Center announced on Tuesday that micro seismic surveillance equipment would be deployed in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath, a village that is slowly sinking into the Himalayas.
• According to Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh, who made the announcement at the India-U.K. Workshop of Geosciences in this location, the surveillance systems will be in place by Wednesday.

Why are some regions of India more prone to earthquakes?

• Indo-Austral and Eurasian lithological plates, as well as the Burmese and Java-Sumatra plates, are colliding in the Himalayan belt. The collision of two continental plates has put subsurface rocks under a lot of stress. Earthquakes are the outcome of this tension.
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands –
• The movement of the ocean floor and undersea volcanoes disturb the equilibrium of the earth’s surface.
• What safety measures are necessary in the event of an earthquake?
• The lack of infrastructure ready on the part of society, according to seismologists, rather than the earthquake itself, is what results in thousands of fatalities.
• Steps needed:
• Prior to identifying the risk, one must first acknowledge its presence. The general people has to be made aware of this risk.
• Risk mapping entails dividing the region’s locations into zones according to the level of risk there.
• Risk reduction – To do this, money must be invested in research and development to produce reasonably priced earthquake-resistant designs. Because this cannot be utilised for commercial purposes, public financing is essential. Indigenous knowledge must also be shared and put to use. Assam tupe houses or ikora-style buildings, for instance, are built with plaster walls encircled by a timber structure and walls made of bamboo or reed mesh (ikora). They have light tin roofs and earthquake-resistant timber flooring. Lightweight and flexible structures can wobble during earthquakes without significantly harming people or sustaining major damage.

Observations from Japan:

• 80% of earthquake-resistant buildings in Japan are in compliance. fake drills changes to the curriculum.
• It uses an early warning system for earthquakes, which notifies users when seismic waves are detected. Because electric signals move more fast than seismic waves, the lead time is used to alert the public via the media, the internet, as well as trains, elevators, and automatically stopping industrial machinery. These technical fixes can reduce property damage and other types of harm.
• In Japan, building earthquake-resistant structures is tax-favored. Such financial incentives could be used to promote the building of earthquake-resistant structures in high-risk areas of India.

Government initiatives:

• Two mobile apps, including “India Quake,” were released by the government with the aim of distributing earthquake parameters.
• “Sagar Vani” will rapidly transmit ocean-related information and alarms to guarantee user community safety (such as strong waves and Tsunami early warnings).

Source The  Hindu

4 – Prithvi II Missile: GS III – Internal Security

Context:

• India successfully carried out a test launch of the tactical ballistic missile Prithvi-II on Tuesday from a test location off the coast of Odisha.
• “A successful training launch of a short-range ballistic missile, Prithvi-II, was carried out on January 10 from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the coast of Odisha,” the ministry stated in a statement.

About:

• The Prithvi-II was a domestically developed Surface-to-Surface Missile Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM) with a range of 250–350 km and a payload capacity of one tonne.
• The Prithvi II series of single-stage liquid-fueled missiles can carry warheads weighing between 500 and 1000 kg.
• The missile is a tried-and-true weapon with a high degree of accuracy that can hit targets.
• To find its target, the advanced missile uses an adjustable trajectory and an advanced inertial guiding system.
• It was first created with the Indian Air Force in mind as its principal client, and the Indian Army later adopted it.
• Even though it was only officially introduced to India’s Strategic Forces Command in 2003, it was the first missile developed under the IGMDP.
• The weapon was created by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of India as part of its Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).

What Are the Prithvi Missiles?

• The Prithvi missile system is made up of many tactical Surface-to-Surface Short-Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBM).
• The development of this first domestically produced ballistic missile in India began in 1983.
• The SHAR Center in Sriharikota hosted its initial test firing in 1988.
• Between 150 and 300 kilometres is its range.
• The naval version of the Prithvi I and Prithvi III class missiles is code-named Dhanush.
• The propulsion system was probably based on the SA-2 Soviet surface-to-air missile.
• Soviet Union’s SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missile
• The SA-2, developed in the middle of the 1950s, was the first effective surface-to-air missile of the Soviet Union.
• It was designed as a missile for use on the battlefield and, as a tactical nuclear weapon, it was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
• The Indian Army has been employing Prithvi I missiles since 1994.
• Prithvi I missiles are reportedly replacing Prahar missiles, according to reports.
• Prithvi II missiles have been in use since 1996.
• The 350 km longer-range Prithvi III was successfully tested in 2004.
• The Integrated Guided Missile Development Program is referred to as IGMDP.
• The Indian Ministry of Defence ran the IGMDP, a research and development programme for many different types of missiles.
• The project was started in 1982–1983 under Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s supervision.
• Because of this effort, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is now referred to as India’s missile man.
• The integrated guided missile programme was completed in 2008.

Source The  Hindu