SEPTEMBER 2020 CA KAMARAJ IAS ACADEMY P a g e | 1 4. UN Gender Equality at COVID times 5. Health of India’s Religious Communities CURRENT AFFAIRS 6. Report on Literacy in India 7. Transgender Rules SEPTEMBER, 2020 8. Ideal Weight for Indian Men and Women INDEX F. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY A. POLITY AND GOVERNANCE 1. NASA’s Sonification Project 1. Question Hour and Zero Hour 2. Black Holes Merger 2. Mission Karmayogi 3. Phosphine Gas in Venus 3. Epidemic Diseases Bill 4. Solar Cycle 25 4. Suspension of MPs 5. Breach of Legislature’s privilege G. DEFENCE 6. Kesavananda Bharti Case 1. Pinaka Rocket System 7. National Medical Commission 2. Special Frontier Force 8. Alternative Medicine – Bills 3. Assam Rifles 4. Golden arrow B. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 5. Scramjet Vehicle – HSTDV 1. India – Bangladesh 2. G20 H. PRELIMS TIT BITS 3. Afghan Talks 4. Singapore Convention on Mediation 5. G4 6. India- Sri Lanka C. ECONOMY 1. States Startup Ranking 2019 2. Stressed Sector 3. Retrospective Taxation 4. GTAM 5. Priority Sector Lending 6. BRAP 2019 7. FCRA licence 8. PM Matsya Sampada Yojana 9. Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 10. D-SIIs 11. IBC (Amendment) Bill, 2020 12. Force Majeure 13. Farm Bills 2020 14. Labour Codes 2020 D. ENVIRONMENT 1. Project Dolphin 2. Living Planet Report 3. Global Biodiversity Outlook Report 4. Namami Gange Projects E. SOCIAL ISSUES 1. Decline in farmers suicide 2. Global Innovation Index 3. Prison Statistics in India AP - 127, AF block, 6 th street, 11th Main Rd, Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600040 SEPTEMBER 2020 CA KAMARAJ IAS ACADEMY P a g e | 2 A. POLITY AND GOVERNANCE ii. But there are two days when an exception is made. 1.Question Hour out, Zero Hour curtailed in iii. There is no Question Hour on the day the session amid Covid President addresses MPs from both Houses What’s in News? in the Central Hall. iv. The President’s speech takes place at the The monsoon session of Parliament, cut short beginning of a new Lok Sabha and on the due to the pandemic, will not have Question first day of a new Parliament year. Hour; Zero Hour, during which members raise v. Question Hour is not scheduled either on matters of public importance, will be curtailed; the day the Finance Minister presents the and there will be no private members’ Bill. Budget. Question Hour: Kinds of Questions asked in Question Hour: i. Lok Sabha starts everyday with the i. Parliamentary rules provide guidelines on Question Hour. the kind of questions that can be asked by ii. It is during this one hour that Members of MPs. Parliament ask questions of ministers and ii. Questions have to be limited to 150 words. hold them accountable for the functioning iii. They have to be precise and not too of their ministries. general. iii. The questions that MPs ask are designed to iv. The question should also be related to an elicit information and trigger suitable area of responsibility of the Government of action by ministries. India. iv. With the broadcasting of Question Hour v. Questions should not seek information since 1991, Question Hour has become about matters that are secret or are under one the most visible aspects of adjudication before courts. parliamentary functioning. vi. It is the presiding officers of the two v. Prior to Independence, the first question Houses who finally decide whether a asked of government was in 1893. question raised by an MP will be admitted vi. It was on the burden cast on village for answering by the government. shopkeepers who had to provide supplies vii. Parliament rules limit the number of to touring government officers. starred and unstarred questions an MP can vii. The presiding officers of the two houses ask in a day are the final authority with respect to the viii. An MP may submit a maximum of five conduct of Question Hour. questions per day. viii. Parliamentary records show that during the Chinese aggression in 1962, the Winter Type of Questions: Session was advanced. Thereafter, (i) Starred Questions following an agreement between the ruling and the Opposition parties, it was decided A Starred Question is one to which a to suspend Question Hour. member desires an oral answer from the ix. The 33rd (1961), 93rd (1975), 98th (1976) Minister in the House and is required to be 99th (1977) sessions when there was no distinguished by him/her with an asterisk. Question Hour, as those sessions were Answer to such a question may be summoned for special purposes of “Orissa, followed by supplementary questions by Proclamation of Emergency, 44th members. Amendment, President’s Rule TN/Nagaland” (ii) Unstarred Questions Exception to the Question Hour: An Unstarred Question is one to which written answer is desired by the member i. Question Hour in both Houses is held on and is deemed to be laid on the Table of all days of the session. the House by Minister. AP - 127, AF block, 6 th street, 11th Main Rd, Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600040 SEPTEMBER 2020 CA KAMARAJ IAS ACADEMY P a g e | 3 Thus it is not called for oral answer in the iv. This period is usually used to raise matters House and no supplementary question can that are urgent and cannot wait for the be asked thereon. notice period required under other procedures. (iii) Short Notice Questions 2.MISSION KARMAYOGI What’s in News? i. The Union Cabinet cleared major changes in the way civil services officers will be skilled and trained across the country. ii. ‘Mission Karmayogi’ or National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) was envisaged for A member may give a notice of question this purpose on a matter of public importance and of Mission Karmyogi or National Programme for urgent character for oral answer at a notice Civil Services Capacity Building: less than 10 days prescribed as the minimum period of notice for asking a i. Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare Civil question in ordinary course. Servants for the future by making them Such a question is known as ‘Short Notice more creative, constructive & innovative Question’. through transparency and technology. ii. Mission Karmayogi is an endeavour to (iv) Questions to Private Members reincarnate a government servant as an A Question may also be addressed to a ideal karmayogi to serve the nation, by Private Member (Under Rule 40 of the enabling him to be creative, to be Rules of Procedure and Conduct of constructive, to be proactive, and Business in Lok Sabha), provided that the technically empowered subject matter of the question relates to iii. The stated aim of Mission Karmayogi is to some Bill, Resolution or other matter provide a mechanism to continuously build connected with the business of the House capacity, update the talent pool, and for which that Member is responsible. provide equal opportunities for personal and professional growth and esteem of The procedure in regard to such questions government officials at all levels. is same as that followed in the case of iv. Karmayogi seeks to shift the focus from questions addressed to a Minister with ‘rule-specific’ to ‘role-specific’ such variations as the Speaker may v. It will improve the Human Resource consider necessary. management practices in the Government Zero Hour: and will use scale & state of the art infrastructure to augment the capacity of i. While Question Hour is strictly regulated, Civil Servants. Zero Hour is an Indian parliamentary vi. There will be more focus on 'on-site innovation. learning' in complementing "off-site ii. The phrase does not find mention in the learning". rules of procedure. iii. The concept of Zero Hour started Implementation Mechanism: organically in the first decade of Indian i. The mission will be steered by four new Parliament, when MPs felt the need for bodies, and will be available for civil raising important constituency and national servants from the rank of assistant section issues. officer to Secretary, across services. AP - 127, AF block, 6 th street, 11th Main Rd, Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600040 SEPTEMBER 2020 CA KAMARAJ IAS ACADEMY P a g e | 4 ii. The new entities will be d) Special Purpose Vehicle a) a Prime Minister’s Public Human SPV which will be set up as a not-for-profit Resources Council, a Capacity company to own and manage the iGOT- Building Commission, Karmayogi platform. b) a Coordination Unit, which will be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It will create and operationalise the content, and c) a technological platform for online manage key business services of the platform training, and relating to content validation, independent d) a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that proctored assessments, and telemetry data will own and operate the digital assets availability. and It will also own all Intellectual Property Rights a) Public Human Resources Council: on behalf of the Government of India. i. The Prime Minister’s Public Human Funding and Other Criterias: Resources Council will be headed by the PM, and will have select Union Ministers, i. Mid-career training will not be restricted to Chief Ministers, eminent academics, HR senior officials, but will now be mandatory practitioners, global thought leaders, and for all ranks of civil servants, and across public service functionaries as members. the services. ii. It will be the top body that will provide ii. The project, which will cover around 46 strategic direction to the task of civil lakh central government employees services reform and capacity building, iii. It will be set up at a cost of Rs 510.86 and approve and monitor the capacity crore over the next five years.