Daily Current Affairs MCQ - 30th March, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

To bridge the gap between projected budgetary requirements and budget allocation for defence and internal security and to provide greater predictability for enabling critical defence capital expenditure, the Commission has recommended setting up of a dedicated non-lapsable fund, the Modernisation Fund for Defence and Internal Security (MFDIS), with four specific sources: (a) Transfers from the Consolidated Fund of India, (b) disinvestment proceeds of DPSEs, (c) proceeds from the monetisation of surplus defence land and (d) proceeds of receipts from defence land likely to be transferred to state governments and for public projects in the future.

President Ram Nath Kovind has prorogued the fifth session of 17th Lok Sabha. The session had commenced on 29th January. President also prorogued the Rajya Sabha. The House was adjourned sine die on 25th of this month.

• Termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President under article 85(2) is called 'prorogation'.

• The President in exercising the power to prorogue the House acts on the advice of the Prime Minister.

• Usually, prorogation follows the adjournment of the sitting of the House sine die.

• The time-lag between the adjournment of a House sine die and its prorogation is generally two to four days, although there are instances when a House was prorogued on the same day on which it was adjourned sine die.

• It is not necessary that both the Houses should be prorogued simultaneously.

Effects of prorogation on different categories of business pending before the House

• Article 107(3) of the Constitution of India expressly provides that a Bill pending in Parliament shall not lapse by reason of the prorogation of the House. This also covers Bills pending before a Select or Joint Committee of the House(s).

• Notices of intention to move for leave to introduce Bills also do not lapse on prorogation and no fresh notice is necessary in the next session for that purpose except where any sanction or recommendation granted under the Constitution in respect of a Bill has ceased to be operative.

• On the prorogation, all pending notices of Motions and Resolutions except those relating to introduction of Bills as mentioned above, lapse and fresh notices must be given for the next session.

• Any business pending before a committee shall not lapse by reason only of the prorogation of the House and the committee shall continue to function notwithstanding such prorogation.

• On prorogation of either House of Parliament, the President has the power to issue Ordinances under article 123.

• Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.

Union Minister for Environment has congratulated Mahinder Giri, range officer of Rajaji Tiger Reserve for being the only ranger from Asia to win the prestigious International Ranger Award for his contribution towards conservation.

• The award has been announced for 10 professionals across the world by the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN and World Commission on Protected Areas WCPA.

• Developed through a collaboration between the IUCN WCPA, the International Ranger Federation, Global Wildlife Conservation, and Conservation Allies, these awards, created in 2020, aim to highlight and felicitate the extraordinary work that rangers do in protected and conserved areas worldwide.

• Hence, option (d) is the correct answer.

Eight Core Industries are Electricity, steel, refinery products, crude oil, coal, cement, natural gas and fertilizers.

Exceptions under the law:

• Legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances.

• The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators favor the merger.

• In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.

• The decision of the Presiding Officer is subject to judicial review

Article 280 of India's Constitution provides for a Finance Commission as a quasi-judicial body. It is constituted by India's president every fifth year or at such earlier time as he considers necessary.

The commission submits its report to the president. He lays it before both the Houses of Parliament along with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken on its recommendations.

The recommendations made by the Finance Commission are only advisory and hence, not binding on the government. It is up to the Union government to implement its recommendations on granting money to the states.

The Election Commission's recent decision to change the rules for appointing polling agents has sparked off a debate in West Bengal.

• A polling agent is a person appointed as a representative of a political party as it is not possible for a candidate to be physically present at every polling booth on the day of the elections.

• Therefore, the Election Commission allows a candidate to appoint a polling agent who keeps an eye on the voting process.

• As per the Election Commission's rules, a polling agent should be familiar with the rules and procedures to conduct elections using EVMs and VVPATs, and with the working of these machines.

• Towards this end, a polling agent attends the demonstrations arranged by the Returning Officer, where the functioning and operation of these machines are explained.

New regulations:

• As per the new regulations, a political party can now nominate a polling agent for any booth within the assembly segment he/she is a voter from.

• Earlier, the polling agent had to be a voter of the booth or an adjoining booth that he/she is working at.

• The Trinamool has been opposing the change in rules, calling it "arbitrary, motivated and biased" and has also written to the Election Commission seeking withdrawal of the order.

• Hence both statements are correct.

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court by Wasim Rizvi seeking declaration of 26 verses of the Quran as unconstitutional, non-effective and non- functional on the ground that these promote extremism and terrorism.

• Under Indian law, only a "law" can be challenged as unconstitutional.

• Article 13(3) defines law, which includes any ordinance, order, by-law, rule, regulations, notification, custom or usage having in the territory the force of law.

• "Laws in force" on the Constitution's commencement include laws enacted by a legislature or other competent authority.

• This definition certain does not cover any religious scripture including the Quran. Similarly, neither the Vedas nor the Gita, nor the Bible, nor the Guru Granth Sahib can be said to be "law" under Article 13 and thus challenged in a court of law.

• The divine books can be sources of law but not law in themselves. Thus, Quran in itself is not "law" for the purposes of Article 13.

• It is the paramount source of Islamic law and Muslim jurists extract laws from it through interpretation and also taking into account other sources of law such as Hadees (Prophet's sayings), Ijma (juristic consensus), Qiyas (analogical deductions), Urf ( customs), Istihsan (juristic preference) and Istisilah (public interest).

Reaction to the petition

• The petition has led to protests among Muslims, and several clerics have issued fatwas against the petitioner.

• In Vishwa Lochan Madan (2014), the Supreme Court has already observed that such fatwas have no validity.

• Hence both statements are correct.

The Centre plans to issue a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year.

• It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis, according to a parliamentary standing committee report submitted to the Lok Sabha last week.

• The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme has been launched in 10 States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, the Department of Land Resources told the Standing Committee on Rural Development.

• An official, who did not wish to be named, described it as "the Aadhaar for land" — a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in rural India, where land records are outdated and disputed.

• The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude of the land parcel, and is dependent on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps.

• This is the next step in the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew.

• The Department has taken new initiatives under the programme like NGDRS [or the National Generic Document Registration System], ULPIN, linking of court to land records, integration of consent based Aadhaar number with land records etc. which necessitated its further extension beyond 2020-21 till 2023-24.

• Hence both statements are correct.

As the preeminent nuclear watchdog under the UN, the IAEA is entrusted with upholding the principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970. Established as an autonomous organisation on July 29, 1957, at the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the IAEA claims that it "works with its member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies". Though established independently of the UN through its own international treaty, the agency reports to both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.