LOKPAL BILL

• The Bill: The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011
•  Piloted by: Law Minister Kapil Sibal
• The word 'lokpal' was coined by: Dr L.M.Singhvi in 1963.
• In 1966, Morarji Desai led First Administrative Reforms Commission recommended setting up of Lokpal at Centre and Lokayukta in states to look into complaints against public functionaries, including MPs
• Sending out a clear message against corruption in high places ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Rajya Sabha has passed by voice vote a Bill for setting up a Lokpal with vast powers to look into complaints against the Prime Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and Central Government officials, conduct searches, attach property and supervise the CBI and the CVC.

STRUCTURE:

• The Lokpal will have a chairperson, who is/has been a Chief Justice of India, a judge of the Supreme Court or an eminent person.
• It will have a maximum of eight members, half of whom will be judicial members.
• The chairperson and the members will be appointed by the President on the recommendations of a five-member selection committee, headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or his nominee and one eminent jurist.
• The chairperson and the members can be removed only on a petition signed by at least 100 MPs and on an inquiry conducted by the Supreme Court.

 POWERS:

• The Lokpal will have powers to give direction to the Delhi Special Police Establishment in respect of matters referred to it for preliminary inquiry, summon and enforce attendance of any person and examine him on oath, utilize the services of any officer, organization or investigating agency of the Central Government or any state government.
• At the recommendations of the Lokpal, the Central Government shall constitute special courts to hear and decide the cases arising out of the Prevention of corruption Act.
• The bill also incorporates provisions for attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while prosecution is pending.

 CBI:

• For independence of the CBI, in the new bill a directorate of prosecution will be formed. Appointment of the director of prosecution will be on the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commissioner.
• Transfer of officers of CBI investigating cases referred by Lokpal will be only with the approval of Lokpal who will also have superintendence over CBI in relation to Lokpal referred cases.

 INVESTIGATION:

• Inquiry has to be completed within 60 days and investigation to be completed within six months. Lokpal shall order an investigation only after hearing the public servant.
• Inquiry against the prime minister has to be held in-camera and approved by two-thirds of the full bench of the Lokpal.

PENALTY:

• False and frivolous complaints - imprisonment up to one year and a fine of up to Rs.1 lakh. Public servants - imprisonment up to seven years. Criminal misconduct and habitually abetting corruption - jail term up to 10 years.
• The Bill is an improvement over the one passed by the Lok Sabha in 2011. Under the amended Bill, no hearing will be granted to public servants before a preliminary inquiry to retain the element of surprise raids. Secondly, CBI officers investigating cases cannot be transferred without the Lokpal’s consent. The Bill delinks Lokpal and Lokayuktas. Asserting federal principles, states have got the right to have Lokayuktas of their choice.

GHI REPORT 2013

• The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI) has been brought out by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and two international charities Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. 
• Calculated for 120 countries

 INDICATORS USED:

• The three indicators used are:
• The proportion of people who are undernourished
• The proportion of children under five who are underweight
• The mortality (death) rate of children younger than age five.

 HIGHLIGHTS:

• The number of hungry people in the world was estimated at 842 million in 2011-13 
•  About a quarter of the world's hungry, or 210 million, are in India alone.
• In India the proportion of undernourished declined from about 21% of the population to 17.5%, the proportion of underweight children declined from 43.5% to about 40% and under-five mortality declined from 7.5% to about 6%.

 The number of hungry people appears to have declined slightly from the 870 million estimated in 2010-12, but the current GHI report says that this is due to a recalculation of how undernourishment is measured by the UN-linked Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Since 2006, the absolute number of undernourished people has remained unchanged but their proportion to total world population is declining because the world population is growing. 

UN RESOLUTION ON CHILD MARRIAGE

• The first-ever global resolution on early and forced marriage of children floated by the UN Human Rights Council stressed the need to include child, early and forced marriage in post-2015 international development agenda and acknowledged the multi-faceted impact of early marriage on the "economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls" as well as "the development of the community as a whole".
• The resolution was supported by a cross-regional group of over 107 countries, including almost all countries with high rates of child marriage—Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Chad, Guatemala, Honduras and Yemen.

 INDIA’S STAND:

• India, the world's child marriage capital refused to sign the resolution on early and forced marriage of children led by the UN.
• India has the record of having the highest absolute number of child brides: about 24 million. This represents 40% of the 60 million world's child marriages.
• The percentage of women between the ages of 20 and 24 who were married before 18 years of age has decreased from 54% in 1992-93 to 43% in 2007-08, thus showing a reduction of 11% in 15 years.
• India introduced laws against child marriage in 1929, and set 12 years as the legal age for marriage. Later, it was increased to 18 years in 1978.

India refusing to sign the resolution is highly disappointing. Child marriage is a social ill across south Asian countries. However, Nepal probably is the only country that signed the resolution. Both India and Bangladesh which have high rates of child marriages didn't sign in. Child marriage does not constitute a single rights violation - rather, every instance of child marriage triggers a continuum of violations that continues throughout a girl's life. Child marriage endangers the survival and well-being of women and girls by exposing them to forced initiation into sex and sexual violence as well as to early, unplanned and frequent pregnancies. Further, women and girls married as children are often denied educational opportunities, are isolated from society and face a lifetime of economic dependence.

RIGHT TO REJECT

• In a judgment that can catalyze an electoral revolution, the Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to give the voter the right to reject all the contesting candidates if he finds none of them “worthy of his vote,” thereby, forcing political parties to field only those “who are known for their integrity” and ensuring “proper governance of the country.”
• A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that negative voting would foster purity and vibrancy of elections and ensure wide participation as people who are not satisfied with the candidates in the fray would also turn up to express their opinion rejecting contestants.
• The bench noted that the concept of negative voting is prevalent in 13 countries and even in India; parliamentarians are given an option to press the button for abstaining while voting takes place in the House.
• The court said right to reject candidates in elections is part of fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression given by the Constitution to Indian citizens.

 NOTA BUTTON:

• The SC said the voter could be facilitated to cast his negative vote by providing one more button on the electronic voting machine (EVM) called "None of the Above" (NOTA)
• The EC could implement the order in a phased manner or at one go

 SECTION 49 (O):

• The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, already gives Indians the right to not vote for any candidate, through Section 49 (O).
• Under this section, used by a minuscule number of well-informed voters, voters can have their finger inked, and then tell the presiding officer that he/she does not wish to vote for any of the candidates and this is then recorded in a register. This implies that a voter declares openly that he is rejecting the candidates.
• The SC decision provides to citizens the right to a secret ballot even while exercising his right to reject all the candidates.
• Pressure on political parties to field meritorious candidates is always welcome, but merely introducing the right to reject would hardly suffice on its own. If the number of those who select the None Of The Above option exceeds the number of those who voted for any candidate, a candidate with a minor fraction of votes polled could still emerge victorious. An amendment in law would be required.

PM-SHARIF TALKS

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has confirmed he would be meeting his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on September 29 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York.
• The low-key announcement was indicative of the extreme caution with which the Indian side is approaching the first meeting of the two Prime Ministers

 WHAT INDIA WANTS:

• India will ask Pakistan to take concrete steps to restore the “tranquillity of the LoC” before agreeing to restart the dialogue process
• Manmohan will ask Sharif to speed up the trial of the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks
• New Delhi is keen Pakistan moves forward on what an official source termed “the unfinished agenda” on economic and trade affairs, including MFN status

 ON PAK’S AGENDA:

• Nawaz Sharif is likely to offer “full normalization” of trade relations with India
• This, apart from granting Most Favoured Nation status to India, would push for a bilateral free-trade agreement that will enhance investment flow between the nations
• He will also push for a resumption of the stalled dialogue process