14 July 2022

Daily Current Affairs Analysis 14 July 2022

1 – Enforcement Directorate: 

GS II

Topic à Statutory and Non-Statutory Bodies

Context:

• The Union government has decided to extend S K Mishra’s mandate, and the Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it will take it into consideration.

Enforcement Directorate (ED):

• Its history dates back to May 1, 1956, when the Department of Economic Affairs established a “Enforcement Unit.”
• The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was then intended to be used to handle violations of the Exchange Control Laws (FERA).
• Today’s ED is a multifaceted organisation that looks into economic offences under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and PMLA.

From where does the ED receive its authority from?

• The best approach to save proceeds of crime (property/money) is to stash it away somewhere where one is not accountable to anyone in the nation.
• As a result, it was necessary to regulate and stop money laundering.
• The PMLA was introduced in 2002 with this same purpose in mind, but it wasn’t implemented until 2005.
• The goal was to find the layers and trail of money and prevent parking of the money outside of India.
• In accordance with the Act, Sections 48 (authorities under Act) and 49 give the ED the authority to conduct investigations (appointment and powers of authorities and other officers).

When a crime is committed, at what point does the ED get involved?

• Every time a local police station registers a crime with proceeds of crime over Rs. 1 crore, the investigating police officer sends the information to the ED.
• As an alternative, if the Central agency learns about the offence, they may request the First Information Report (FIR) or the chargesheet, if it was submitted immediately by police officers.
• This will be carried out to determine whether any laundering has occurred.

Example of what distinguishes the local police and ED personnel in the investigation?

• The local police station will initially look into a theft that occurred in a nationalised bank.
• If it is discovered that the bank’s founder took the entire sum and kept it in his home without spending or using it, the crime is solely one of theft, and the ED won’t get involved because the money has already been seized.
• However, the stolen funds are returned to the market if they are utilised to buy certain properties four years after they were taken.
• Or there is “money laundering” if the funds are passed to someone else to purchase homes across the nation.
• In order to retrieve the money, the ED will need to intervene and check into the stacking and connection of properties.
• Police will look into a theft if the stolen jewellery is worth one crore rupees. However, in order to collect the sum of Rs. 1 crore, the ED will seize the accused’s property.

What are the ED’s additional responsibilities and duties?

• After determining that the money has been laundered, the ED uses Section 16 (the power of survey) and Section 17 (search and seizure) of the PMLA to examine property and seize money and documents.
• The authorities will decide whether an arrest is necessary in accordance with Section 19 based on that (power of arrest).
• In accordance with Section 50, the ED may also conduct a search and seizure without contacting the subject for questioning.
• It is not essential to call the individual first before beginning the search and seizure.
• Since the maximum sentence under the PMLA is seven years, the ED has 60 days after the arrest to file the prosecution complaint (chargesheet).
• The prosecution complaint and attachment order must be presented to the adjudicating body within 60 days if no one is detained and just the property is attached.

Can the ED look into money laundering instances in the past?

• There is no case under PMLA if illegally obtained property is acquired before 2005 (the year the statute was introduced) then sold.
• However, the colour of the money is still black and the person is subject to prosecution under PMLA if they had the proceeds of the crime before 2005, kept them in storage, and utilised them to purchase properties after 2005.
• A person is determined to have directly or indirectly sought to engage in or knowingly assisted a party engaged in one or more of the following activities, as defined by Section 3 of the PMLA, and is therefore guilty of money laundering.
• Use, projection as unspoiled property, acquisition as untainted property, concealment, possession as untainted property, etc.

Source à The Indian Express

2 – How Election Symbols are issued by Election Commission:

GS II

Topic à Election related issues

Context:

• Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena has sought the Election Commission to hear its side before making any decisions about claims to the party’s bow and arrow symbol in the wake of the split headed by Eknath Shinde. How does the EC resolve these disagreements?

First, how are political parties assigned symbols?

According to the rules, to receive a symbol:

• When submitting nomination papers, a party or candidate must list three symbols from the EC’s list of free symbols.
• One of these is given to the party or candidate first on a first-come, first-served basis.
• The Election Commission determines the emblem to be used when a recognised political party splits.

Election Commission’s authority:

• The Elections Commission (EC) is authorised to identify political parties and assign emblems by the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
• It can resolve disagreements between competing organisations or factions of a recognised political party asserting claim to its name and emblem under Paragraph 15 of the Order.
• A dispute or merger-related problems can only be decided by the EC. In the case of Sadiq Ali and others v. ECI in 1971, the Supreme Court recognised the law’s constitutionality.

How many different kinds of symbols exist?

Party emblems must be one of the following, as per the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) (Amendment) Order, 2017.

• Reserved:64 state parties and eight national parties have “reserved” symbols nationwide.
• Free:The Election Commission also maintains a pool of about 200 “free” symbols that are distributed to the thousands of regional parties that are not officially recognised but emerge before to elections.

What authority does the Electoral Commission have when a party splits over the election symbol?

• Symbols Order, 1968, Paragraph 15: “When the Commission is satisfied that there are rival sections or groups of a recognised political party, each of whom claims to be that party, the Commission may decide that one such rival section or group or none of such rival sections or groups is that recognised political party, and the decision of the Commission shall be binding on all such rival section.
• Disputes involving recognised national and state parties are covered under this (like the LJP, in this case). The EC typically encourages the fighting factions to resolve their disputes internally or to approach the court for splits in registered but unrecognised parties.
• Please be aware that prior to 1968, the EC issued executive orders and notifications in accordance with the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

Source à The Hindu

3 – Digilocker:

Prelims Specific Topic

• It is an important aspect of the Digital India Mission.
• The government is making an attempt to produce an electronic version of documents that is simple to verify and can be printed out and preserved.
• Users can keep their documents in a digital format, including insurance policies, medical records, PAN cards, passports, marriage certificates, school transcripts, and other documents.
• Individuals can access the locker using their mobile number.
• Users can save documents on servers provided by IT firms like Google and Dropbox.
• DigiLocker can hold a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) link to e-documents issued by several issuer departments in addition to e-documents themselves.

Source à The Indian Express

4 – India’s First HPC Vaccine:

Prelims Specific Topic

• The CEO of Serum Institute of India, Adar Poonawalla, declared on that the company plans to launch its domestically produced vaccine to prevent cervical cancer in women later this year.
• The first quadrivalent HPV vaccination (qHPV) to prevent cervical cancer in India was approved for production by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on July 12.
• The company had submitted a request to the DCGI for market authorisation of the qHPV following the completion of the phase 2/3 clinical study with help from the Department of Biotechnology.
• Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among women in India between the ages of 15 and 44.

Source à The Hindu