CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE EXCEL QUEST POLITY & GOVERNANCE Kerala Assembly passes resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act The Kerala passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), becoming the first State in the country to do so. CPI(M)-ruled Kerala was the first to take the legislature route to register its opposition to the law. Key Highlights The Kerala CM argued that the CAA was against the "secular" outlook and fabric of the country and would lead to religion-based discrimination in granting citizenship. The Chief Minister noted that the Act had triggered widespread protests among various strata of Society and dented India's image in the eyes of the international community. He also assured that there won’t be any detention Centres in the state. Both the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF government and Congress-led UDF government jointly opposed the centre’s CAA act and supported the anti-CAA resolution. The lone BJP member in the Assembly, O Rajagopal, objected to the resolution calling it "illegal and unconstitutional", as the CAA act was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament. Background Kerala has already put on hold all the activities in connection with the National Population Register (NPR) considering the anxiety among people that it relates to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Parliament had passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019. The act had triggered widespread protests across India and created fear of discrimination based on religion. The Union Home Ministry released a document with answers to some of the frequently asked questions on the CAA in an attempt to clear doubts regarding the law. The Ministry reiterated that the CAA will not impact any Indian citizen including Muslims. The clarification has failed to have any impact on the protests, with many States announcing that they will not implement the law. What is the CAA? According to the CAA, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Parsi migrants who have entered India illegally-that is, without a visa-on or before December 31, 2014 from the Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and have stayed in the Country for five years, are eligible to apply for Indian Citizenship. Why is the provision extended only to people of six religions, and not Muslims, and why does it apply only to people coming from these three countries? www.excelacademy.com February - 2020 Page 1 CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE EXCEL QUEST The Union government claims that people of these six faiths have faced persecution in these three Islamic countries, Muslims haven't. It is, therefore, India's moral obligation to provide them shelter. Swachh Survekshan League 2020 It was launched by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister. Indore (Madhya Pradesh) and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) have topped the cleanliness charts for two consecutive quarters among cities with over 10 lakh population and with 1 lakh to 10 lakh population respectively. Kolkata ranked at the bottom of the ranking of 49 major cities across both quarters as West Bengal did not participate in the nationwide exercise. Among cantonment boards, Tamil Nadu's St.Thomas Mount Cantt was ranked 1st in quarter 1 whereas Delhi Cantt ranked first in the 2nd quarter. Secunderabad Cantonment Board in Hyderabad is the worst performer among other cantonment Boards. It is the 5th edition of the annual urban cleanliness survey conducted by the Ministry. Aim The Swachh Survekshan League has been launched with the aim of sustaining the on-ground performance of cities along with continuous monitoring of service level performance in cleanliness. The SS League 2020 will be conducted in 3 quarters April- June, July – September and October- December 2019. It will have a weightage of 2000 marks for each quarter, which will be evaluated on the basis of monthly updation of SBM-U online MIS by Cities along with Citizen’s validation on the 12 service level progress indicators through outbound calls. These two parameters will determine the quarterly ranking of Cities. The ranks will be assigned in two categories: Cities with population of one lakh and above Cities with population of less than 1 lakh The exercise will cover all ULBs that have come into existence on or before 31 December 2018. Swachh Survekshan League 2020: Significance The high performance of the Indian cities in Swachh Survekshan League 2020 will be crucial, as it will impact their ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2020, as 25 percent weightage of the quarterly assessment will be included in the annual survey in January 2020. Swachh Survekshan Survey www.excelacademy.com February - 2020 Page 2 CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE EXCEL QUEST Objectives of Swachh Survekshan The annual cleanliness survey aims to encourage large scale participation of citizens in cleanliness drives. It aims to ensure sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage free and open defecation free cities. It aims to create awareness among all sections of the society regarding the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in. The survey also aims to foster healthy competition among towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens, towards creating cleaner cities. About Swachh Survekshan Survey The first edition of the annual cleanliness survey was conducted in January 2016. It involved the ranking of 73 cities. The ‘Swachh Survekshan-2017’ was conducted for 434 cities in January-February 2017. The third edition of the survey, which was held in 2018, was conducted across 4,203 cities in 66 days. It became the largest-ever pan-India sanitation survey in the world. The fourth edition of the cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan 2019 covered 4237 cities in a record time of 28 days. The survey was fully digitized and paperless. While Mysuru was judged as the cleanest City in India in the 2016 Swachh Survekshan, Indore was ranked as the cleanest city in India in the last three editions of the annual cleanliness survey. Railways renames RPF as Indian Railway Protection Force Service The Railways has renamed its security force RPF (Railway Protection Force) as Indian Railway Protection Force Service. The ministry has accorded organised Group A status to RPF and renamed it www.excelacademy.com February - 2020 Page 3 CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE EXCEL QUEST Consequent upon grant of organized group A status (OGAS) to RPF in the light of Cabinet decision arising from honourable Court's Orders, it is hereby informed that RPF will be known as Indian Railway Protection Force Service," the Order stated. About RPF The RPF was formed under the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957. Under the act, the RPF personnel have powers to search, arrest, investigate and prosecution However, the ultimate power lies in the hands of Government Railway Police. RPF works under the control of Ministry of Railways. Government Railway Police (GRP) These Police forces are different from that of the RPF. The GRP was established under Railway's Act, 1989. The duties of GRP are same as that of District Police such as patrolling. But they hold their jurisdiction only on railway property. They observe law and order within the railway stations in the country. Also, the GRP examine empty train carriages, prevent overcrowding and control vehicle traffic inside the station premises. PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana PM-Kisan Yojana is an initiative by the Government of India for the families of farmers across India. The purpose of the Scheme was to provide financial support to the small and marginal farmers. Third Installment of the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana has been released by Prime Minister . The scheme was first introduced in Telangana as “Rythu Bandhu” scheme. Why it is needed Declining prices of agricultural commodities in the international market and fall in food inflation in India since 2017-18, relative to non-food sector, therefore reduced the returns from farming. To increase the income of farmers as small and fragmented land holdings and their further divisions has contributed in declined income. To provide structured income support for procuring inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, equipment, labour and other needs. Features of the programme Vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs 6,000 per year. Income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal installments of Rs 2,000 each. www.excelacademy.com February - 2020 Page 4 CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE EXCEL QUEST This programme will entail an annual expenditure of Rs 75,000 Crores and will be funded by Government of India. Around 12 Crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this. Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS) The Election Commission of India has launched a “Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS)”. The salient feature in the PPRTMS is that the applicant, who is applying for a political party registration from 1st January, 2020 will be able to track the progress of his/her application and will get status updates through SMS and e-mail. Registration of political parties is governed by the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. An association seeking registration under the above mentioned Section has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days following the date of its formation. Niti Aayog for PPP model to link private Medical Colleges with District Hospitals The Government Think Tank released its Draft “Model Concession Agreement for Setting Up Medical Colleges under Public Private Partnership” guideline document. The Think Tank has suggested Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to link private Medical Colleges and District Hospitals. The suggestion will address the issues of limited resources and finances in Medical Education.