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  • [pib] SAKSHAM Portal

    The Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) has launched SAKSHAM, a dynamic job portal for mapping the skills of Shramiks.

    The name SAKSHAM closely leans towards HRD, Employment and Entrepreneurship developments.  Make a note of it. It can create confusion while revision.

    SAKSHAM

    • SAKSHAM is an acronym for Shramik Shakti Manch.
    • The portal with the demand and supply data uses an algorithm and AI tools, for geospatial information on demand and availability of Shramiks, and also provides analysis on skill training programmes of Shramiks.
    • It would directly connect Shramiks with MSMEs and facilitate placement of blue-collar jobs.
    • The pilot portal originally initiated with two districts is now being launched as an all India portal.

    Key features

    • A dynamic job portal – an opportunity for Shramiks and MSMEs
    • Facilitate the creation of 10 lakh blue-collar jobs
    • Direct connect between Shramiks and MSMEs, no middleman in between
    • Minimise migration of Shramiks – job opportunity in proximate MSMEs

  • MTP amendment Bill

    The article discusses the provision of the medical board in the MTP (Amendment) Act and issues with it.

    Proposal of medical board

    • The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill (‘MTP Bill’) passed in the Lok Sabha is scheduled to be tabled for consideration in Rajya Sabha.
    • The Act prescribes the setting up of medical boards in every state and Union territory (UT), consisting of a gynaecologist, paediatrician, radiologist or sonologist and any other members as proposed by that state or UT.
    • Each board will be responsible for diagnosing substantial foetal abnormalities that necessitate termination of pregnancy after a 24-week gestation period.
    • Medical boards are a form of third-party authorisation and were not envisaged in the MTP Act, 1971.

    Issues with the proposal

    • In the context of the current healthcare budgetary challenges, this proposal to set up infrastructure across the country to regulate medical termination of pregnancies is both financially unsound and practically impossible.
    • India’s healthcare system has neither the financial investment nor the infrastructure to sustain the operation and functioning of medical boards in every state and UT.
    • Due to the weak healthcare infrastructure in the country, it would be practically impossible to constitute these boards with the requisite specialists.
    • Even where they are set up, the accessibility of such boards for pregnant persons, especially those living in rural areas, remains a major challenge.
    • More importantly, subjecting people to multiple invasive examinations is a grave violation of their rights to privacy and dignity.
    • Requiring pregnant persons to navigate a bureaucratic web of authorisation will inevitably lead to delays and thereby impede access to safe and legal abortion services.

    Poor public financing and privatisation of healthcare

    • At 1.6 per cent of GDP in 2019-20 India’s current level of public financing of health is one of the lowest in the world
    • This has meant that most health expenditure in the country is out of pocket (OOP) — borne by patients themselves.
    • OOP expenditure on healthcare is recorded at 58.7 per cent as per the National Health Accounts in 2016-17.
    • The central government has preferred to incentivise private players to set up or offer services, instead of building infrastructural and professional capacity.
    • Privatisation drives up costs of care and the handing over of public facilities to the private sector can have catastrophic consequences.
    • They additionally remain non-accountable to state authorities in terms of affordability or transparency for instance, through Right to Information enquiries, or to uphold fundamental rights like non-discrimination in treatment or employment, or even the fundamental right to health.
    • The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO)’s 75th report shows that less than 20 per cent of the population is covered by health insurance in India.
    • According to the National Health Profile 2017, India has only one doctor for roughly 10,200 people in the public sector.

    Consider the question “Discsss the changes made by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill and the challenges its provision could face.”

    Conclusion

    Poor public health infrastructure and absence of specialists across the country have meant that most abortions do not happen in the public sector, but at private centres or at home. With overwhelming shortfalls in specialist availability, especially in rural and scheduled areas, it would be impossible to constitute boards with requisite specialist representation as contemplated under the MTP Bill.

  • What is Division Voting?

    Parliament saw the first instance of division voting in times of the pandemic, with Major Ports Authorities Bill 2020 passed in Rajya Sabha as members voted through slips in view of social distancing norms in place.

    What is the news?

    • The Bill provides for the regulation of major ports and will replace the Major Port Trusts Act of 1963, and a board of Major Port Authority for each major port will replace the current port trusts.
    • The Opposition has charged that the Bill is aimed at privatization of ports.
    • Opposition members said the legislation would adversely affect states’ rights.

    What is Division Voting?

    • A motion is a binary question raised in Parliament for a decision to be taken by MPs.
    • A division is a type of voting which records how each MP voted on a motion.
    • There are three methods of holding a Division i.e.
    1. By operating  the  Automatic  Vote  Recorder
    2. By distributing ‘Ayes’  and  ‘Noes’  slips  in  the  House  and
    3. By members going into  the  Lobbies
    • However, the method of recording of votes in Lobbies has become obsolete ever since the installation of  Automatic  Vote Recording machine.
    • This procedure has not been used for the last two decades

    Not a usual practice

    In spite of the advantages offered by division, it is not the default method of voting in Parliament.

    • The division is only mandated for a set of motions which require a special majority of the house to be passed.
    • For example, constitutional amendment bills have to be passed by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of the House “present and voting”.
    • To ensure that this condition is fulfilled, a division is called for. On other occasions, individual MPs have to ask for a division.
    • During the term of the last Lok Sabha (2014-19), voting by division was held only on 108 occasions. Only half of these were asked for by MPs, the other half related to constitutional amendment bills.

    What is the preferred method?

    • The preferred method for making decisions in Parliament is through a voice vote.
    • In this method, MPs orally convey their agreement or disagreement to a motion.
    • It clubs the individual decisions of MPs in one loud chorus of “Ayes” or “Noes”.
    • Being an oral vote, it does not put on parliamentary record the stand of political parties and individual MPs on contentious political issues.

  • What is Breach of Privilege?

    An MP has issued a breach of privilege notice against an MP from Bengal in the Lok Sabha.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws etc. conferred by the constitution of delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation?

    (a) Committee on Government Assurances

    (b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation

    (c) Rules Committee

    (d) Business Advisory Committee

    What is the news?

    • The accused MP has cast some aspersions with respect to the conduct of a judge.
    • The question is whether the conduct of a judge can be discussed on the floor of the House or not.
    • Article 121 of the Constitution does not allow allegations to be levelled against a sitting or a former judge.

    Breach of Privilege

    • The powers, privileges and immunities of either House of the Indian Parliament and of its Members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution.
    • Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their Members and their committees.
    • Parliamentary privilege refers to the right and immunity enjoyed by legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties.

    What constitutes a breach of this privilege?

    • While the Constitution has accorded special privileges and powers to parliamentarians and legislators to maintain the dignity and authority of the Houses, these powers and privileges are not codified.
    • Thus, there are no clear, notified rules to decide what constitutes a breach of privilege, and the punishment it attracts.
    • Any act that obstructs or impedes either House of the state legislature in performing its functions, or which obstructs or impedes any Member or Officer of such House in the discharge of his duty, or has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such results is treated as a breach of privilege.
    • It is a breach of privilege and contempt to print or publish libel reflecting on the character or proceedings of the House or its Committees or on any member of the House for or relating to his character or conduct as a legislator.

    Procedure followed in cases of an alleged breach

    • The Legislative Assembly Speaker or Legislative Council Chairman constitutes a Privileges Committee consisting of 15 members in the Assembly and 11 members in the Council.
    • The members to the committee which has quasi-judicial powers are nominated based on the party strength in the Houses.
    • The Speaker or Chairman first decides on the motions.
    • If the privilege and contempt are found prima facie, then the Speaker or Chairman will forward it to the Privileges Committee by following the due procedure.
    • At present, there is no Privileges Committee in either House of the state legislature.
    • The Committee will seek an explanation from all the concerned, will conduct an inquiry and will make a recommendation based on the findings to the state legislature for its consideration.

  • Centre’s new labour codes to allow 4-day work per week

    The Centre under its new labour codes would soon provide an option for organisations to allow their employees to work for four days in a week.

    What is the news?

    • The proposed new labour codes could provide companies with the flexibility of four working days in a week.

    What does this mean?

    • The working hour’s limit of 48 hours for a week will remain unchanged.
    • This implies that there will be long working hours if the working days are reduced.
    • Having a reduced number of working days does not mean a cut in paid holidays.
    • Therefore, when the new rules will provide the flexibility of four working days, it would imply three paid holidays.

    Roll out of the proposal

    • The Ministry of Labour and Employment is likely to complete the process to finalise the rules for four labour codes soon.
    • The provision of flexibility to have reduced working days of four days in the labour code rules will mean that companies will not require prior government nod to enact it.

    Why such a move?

    • The well-being of employees improves with less workload. Working parents can spare more time for the childcare.
    • It helps the economy and the environment since power and fuel consumption is reduced.

    Ahead of Labour reforms

    • The ministry is in the final phase of amalgamating 44 central labour laws into four broad codes.
    • The four Codes include- Code on Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) and Social Security Codes.

     

  • Places in news: Shahtoot Dam

    India and Afghanistan have signed an agreement to build the Shahtoot Dam in Kabul to provide drinking water facility in the Afghan capital.

    Try this question from prelims 2020:

    Consider the following pairs

    Sr. River Flows into
    1. Mekong — Andaman Sea
    2. Thames — Irish Sea
    3. Volga — Caspian Sea
    4. Zambezi — Indian Ocean


    Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 3 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 4 only

    Shahtoot Dam

    • It is a proposed dam in the Kabul river basin, one of the five river basins in Afghanistan.
    • This project will provide drinking, irrigation and Environmental water for Kabul province.
    • The dam will provide potable water to more than 2 million residents of Kabul, in addition to the irrigation of 4000 hectares of land in the district of Charasiab and Khairabad.
    • The dam will also provide water for irrigation to nearby areas, rehabilitate the existing irrigation and drainage network and help in flood protection and management efforts.
    • The project is expected to produce electricity for the region.

  • Need for rigorous scrutiny of constitutionality of the bills

    Farmers’  protests against the farm laws and staying of  implementation of these laws by the judiciary have once again brought into focus the process followed in the passage of laws by the parliament. This article highlights the importance of parliamentary committees.

    Need for introspection on the role of parliament

    • The Supreme Court’s order on the farm laws staying their implementation crossed the line of separation between the legislature and judiciary.
    • The order should trigger introspection in Parliament.
    • Since 2019, the constitutionality of statutes passed by it, like the abrogation of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act and recently the farm laws, has been challenged before the SC.
    • The highest lawmaking body should be asking itself whether it rigorously scrutinises the constitutionality of bills.

    Three mechanisms to examine the constitutionality

    • Parliament has three mechanisms for examining whether a government bill adheres to constitutional principles.
    • First, any member of the Parliament can oppose the introduction of a bill by stating that it initiates legislation outside the legislative competence of the Parliament.
    • Second, MPs also get an opportunity to discuss a bill’s constitutionality while debating it in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
    • But on both these occasions, the strength of the argument does not determine the legislative outcome.
    • The Parliament’s decision depends on the numbers that the treasury and opposition benches command on the house floor.
    • Third, the opportunity for probing a bill’s constitutionality arises when a parliamentary committee is examining it.

    Advantages of scrutiny of the bill by  parliamentary committee

    • The most important opportunity of the above mentioned three opportunities is scrutiny by the parliamentary committee.
    • In the past too, the parliamentary committees have subjected the bills to strict scrutiny on the issue of constitutionality.
    • For example, the committee examining the land acquisition bill 2011 was concerned about the bill infringing upon the state governments’ power.
    • Similarly, during the deliberations on the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, the joint committee explicitly asked the government whether the bill would violate the spirit of Articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution.
    • The committee process also has the advantage of drawing on constitutional expertise outside of the law ministry.
    • The government has also fielded the attorney general to appear before parliamentary committees.

    Weakness of parliamentary committee process

    • Our parliamentary committee process has a fatal flaw.
    • Government bills do not automatically go to committees for examination.
    • Ministers get an option to refer their bill to a select committee, they often don’t exercise this option.
    • While countries like Sweden and Finland pass their bills through two parliamentary committees.
    • One committee looks at the technical aspects of a proposed law, and a specialised committee focuses on a bill’s constitutional validity.

    Consider the question “Several laws passed by the government have been challenged before the judiciary on the ground of unconstitutionality. This highlights the importance of strict scrutiny of the bills by the Parliament. In light of this, examine the role played by the parliamentary committees in the scrutiny of the bills.” 

    Conclusion

    Lack of robust scrutiny processes weakens Parliament’s image as the highest legislative institution and encourages judicial encroachment on its powers. After all, lawmaking should not be a mechanical stamping of the government’s legislative proposals but their careful examination by the Parliament.

  • What is Immunity Passport?

    In a bid to ease travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, countries like Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Chile, UK have announced a new ‘immunity passport.’

    Try this question form mains:

    Q.Discuss various ethical issues evolved during the outbreaks of pandemics (of the scale of COVID-19).

    Immunity Passport

    • They are the recovery or release certificate or a document attesting that its bearer is immune to a contagious disease.
    • The concept has drawn much attention during the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential way to contain the pandemic and permit faster economic recovery.
    • The can be used as a legal document granted by a testing authority following a serology test demonstrating that the bearer has antibodies making them immune to a disease.

    Ethical issues involved

    • Issuing ‘immunity certificates’ to people who have recovered can be an ethical minefield.
    • Doctors do not generally prefer immunity to be induced by natural infection compared with vaccines. It seems logical, but there are multiple challenges.
    • There might be long-term health complications in those who had COVID-19, whereas the vaccine will have minimal or no adverse health consequences.
    • There is a danger that similar arguments will be made for other vaccine-preventable diseases for which we have a universal immunisation programme.

    Public health risk

    • People whose livelihood has have been affected would be encouraged to adopt risky behaviour so as to get infected rather than taking precautions to stay protected from the virus.
    • This would lead to a sharp increase in cases across the country with huge numbers requiring hospitalization.
    • Such a situation would lead to testing capabilities getting overwhelmed, crumbling of the health-care systems and increased deaths.

    Threats over malpractices

    • Immunity certification will include a system for identification and monitoring, thus compromising privacy.
    • Other contentious issues would be profiteering by private labs performing tests, and the menace of fake certificates which we have already seen in some Indian states.
    • In the end, an immunity passport will further divide the society with different ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.

    Way forward

    • We need to look at COVID-19 with a sense of balance and not hysteria.
    • Terms such as immunity passports may not have relevance as we do not know anything about specific kinds of immune responses and the duration of protection in people.
    • There is currently not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’.
    • The permission to travel or work should be decided on a case by case basis, according to the principles of ethics while dealing with a pandemic.

  • Dickinsonia fossil discovered in Bhimbetka

    Researchers have found the first-ever fossil in India of a Dickinsonia —the Earth’s ‘oldest animal’, dating back 570 million years — on the roof of what’s called the ‘Auditorium Cave’ at Bhimbetka.

    Dickinsonia

    • Dickinsonia is an extinct genus of basal animal that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, Russia and Ukraine.
    • The individual Dickinsonia typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval.
    • Its affinities are presently unknown; its mode of growth is consistent with a stem-group bilaterian affinity, though some have suggested that it belongs to the fungi or even an “extinct kingdom”.
    • The discovery of cholesterol molecules in fossils of Dickinsonia lends support to the idea that Dickinsonia was an animal.

    What are the new findings?

    Like the awe-inspiring rock shelters themselves, this fossil was discovered by chance.

    • Dickinsonia fossils have shown that they could exceed four feet in length but the one found in Bhimbetka is 17 inches long.
    • Eleven feet above the ground, almost blending with the rock and easily mistaken by laymen for prehistoric rock art, they found imprints of the Dickinsonia.
    • It is believed to be one of the key links between the early, simple organisms and the explosion of life in the Cambrian Period, about 541 million years ago.

    Cambrian Explosion and Dickinsonia

    • The ‘Cambrian Explosion’ is the term given to the period of time in history when complex animals and other macroscopic organisms such as molluscs, worms, arthropods and sponges began to dominate the fossil record.
    • Researchers from Australian found the Dickinsonia fossil since its tissue contained molecules of cholesterol a type of fat that is the hallmark of animal life.

    Do you know?

    Cosmogenic nuclide dating is deployed to determine time of earliest human culture. India’s oldest stone-age tools, up to 1.5 million years old, are at a prehistoric site near Chennai.

    About Bhimbetka

    • The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the prehistoric Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period.
    • It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times.
    • It is located in the Raisen District in Madhya Pradesh about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south-east of Bhopal.
    • It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 km (6.2 mi).
    • At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago.
    • Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are about 10,000 years old (c. 8,000 BCE), corresponding to the Indian Mesolithic.
    • These cave paintings show themes such as animals, early evidence of dance and hunting.
    • The Bhimbetka rock shelters were found by V S Wakankar 64 years ago. Since then, thousands of researchers have visited the site, but this rare fossil went undetected.

  • US moves to rejoin UN Human Rights Council

    The Biden administration is set to reengage with the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council that former Donald Trump withdrew from almost three years ago.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following:

    1. Right to education.
    2. Right to equal access to public service.
    3. Right to food.

    Which of the above is/are Human Right/Human Rights under “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) Only 1

    (c) 1, 2 and 3

    (d) Only 3

    Why did the US pulled-out earlier?

    • Trump pulled out of the world body’s main human rights agency in 2018 due to its disproportionate focus on Israel.
    • Israel had received by far the largest number of critical council resolutions against any country.
    • The Trump administration took issue with the body’s membership, which currently includes China, Cuba, Eritrea, Russia and Venezuela, all of which have been accused of human rights abuses.

    About UN Human Rights Council

    • The UNHRC describes itself as “an inter-governmental body within the UN system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe.
    • It addresses situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.
    • The first session took place from June 19-30, 2006, three months after the Council was created by UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251 on March 15 that year.
    • The UNHRC has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year.
    • The HRC replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR).

    HRC Meetings

    • The Human Rights Council holds no fewer than three regular sessions a year, for a total of at least 10 weeks.
    • The meetings take place for four weeks in March, for three weeks in June, and for another three weeks in September.
    • The sessions are held at the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland.
    • If one-third of the Member States so request, the HRC can decide at any time to hold a special session to address human rights violations and emergencies.

    Membership

    • The Council is made up of 47 UN Member States, which are elected by the UNGA through a direct and secret ballot.
    • The General Assembly takes into account the contribution of the candidate states to the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as their voluntary pledges and commitments in this regard.
    • Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
    • As of January 1, 2019, 114 UN Member States have served on the HRC. Both India and Pakistan are on this list.
    • The HRC has a Bureau of one President and four Vice-Presidents, representing the five regional groups. They serve for a year, in accordance with the Council’s annual cycle.

    Seat distribution

    • African States: 13 seats
    • Asia-Pacific States: 13 seats
    • Latin American and Caribbean States: 8 seats
    • Western European and other States: 7 seats
    • Eastern European States: 6 seats