Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Articles 233 and 234
Mains level: All India Judicial Services
The central government is preparing to give a fresh push to the establishment of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) on the lines of the central civil services.
All India Judicial Service (AIJS)
- The AIJS is a reform push to centralize the recruitment of judges.
- It would work at the level of additional district judges and district judges for all states.
- In the same way that the UPSC conducts a central recruitment process and assigns successful candidates to cadres, judges of the lower judiciary are proposed to be recruited centrally and assigned to states.
- This idea has been debated in legal circles for decades, and remains contentious.
How are district judges currently recruited?
- Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of district judges, and place it in the domain of the states.
- The selection process is conducted by the State Public Service Commissions and the concerned High Court since High Courts exercise jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
- Panels of High Court judges interview candidates after the exam and select them for an appointment.
- All judges of the lower judiciary up to the level of district judge are selected through the Provincial Civil Services (Judicial) exam.
Why has the AIJS been proposed?
The idea was to ensure:
- Efficient subordinate judiciary
- Address structural issues such as varying pay and remuneration across states
- Fill vacancies faster
- Ensure standard training across states
Beginning of the debate
- The idea of a centralized judicial service was first proposed in the Law Commission 1958 ‘Report on Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
- It was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978, which discussed delays and arrears of cases in the lower courts.
- In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee backed the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service, and also prepared a draft Bill.
What is the judiciary’s view on the AIJS?
- 1992: the Supreme Court directed the Centre to set up an AIJS in All India Judges’ Assn. vs Union of India
- 1993: In review of the judgment, the court left the Centre at liberty to take the initiative on the issue.
- 2017: The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the issue of appointment of district judges, and mooted a “Central Selection Mechanism”.
What is the opposition to the AIJS?
- Blow to federalism: AJIS is seen as an affront to federalism and an encroachment on the powers of states granted by the Constitution.
- Language of Business: Language and representation, for example, are key concerns highlighted by states. Judicial business is conducted in regional languages, whi ch could be affected by central recruitment.
- Quotas: Also, reservations based on caste, and even for rural candidates or linguistic minorities in the state, could be diluted in a central test, it has been argued.
- Separation of power: The opposition is also based on the constitutional concept of the separation of powers.
- Not a complete remedy: Additionally, legal experts have argued that the creation of AIJS will not address the structural issues plaguing the lower judiciary.
Why is the government seeking to revive the idea of AIJS?
- The government has targeted the reform of the lower judiciary in its effort to improve India’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.
- It will act as efficient dispute resolution is one of the key indices in determining the rank.
- AIJS is a step in the direction of ensuring an efficient lower judiciary.
Centre’s argument for AJIS
- The government has cited IAS officers’ examples.
- It has argued that if a central mechanism can work for administrative services — IAS officers learn the language required for their cadre — it can work for judicial services too.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Excise duty
Mains level: Petroleum pricing in India
The Government has finally reduced fuel prices by slashing excise duties on petrol and diesel by ₹5 and ₹10 per litre respectively.
What is Excise Duty?
- Excise duty is a form of tax imposed on goods for their production, licensing and sale.
- It is the opposite of Customs duty in sense that it applies to goods manufactured domestically in the country, while Customs is levied on those coming from outside of the country.
- At the central level, excise duty earlier used to be levied as Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duty, etc.
- Excise duty was levied on manufactured goods and levied at the time of removal of goods, while GST is levied on the supply of goods and services.
Purview of excise duty
- The GST introduction in July 2017 subsumed many types of excise duty.
- Today, excise duty applies only on petroleum and liquor.
- Alcohol does not come under the purview of GST as exclusion mandated by constitutional provision.
- States levy taxes on alcohol according to the same practice as was prevalent before the rollout of GST.
- After GST was introduced, excise duty was replaced by central GST because excise was levied by the central government.
- The revenue generated from CGST goes to the central government.
Types of excise duty in India
Before GST, there were three kinds of excise duties in India.
(1) Basic Excise Duty
- Basic excise duty is also known as the Central Value Added Tax (CENVAT).
- This category of excise duty was levied on goods that were classified under the first schedule of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.
- This duty applied on all goods except salt.
(2) Additional Excise Duty
- Additional excise duty was levied on goods of high importance, under the Additional Excise under Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957.
- This duty was levied on some special category of goods.
(3) Special Excise Duty
- This type of excise duty was levied on special goods classified under the Second Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.
- Presently the central excise duty comprises of a Basic Excise Duty, Special Additional Excise Duty and Additional Excise Duty (Road and Infrastructure Cess) on auto fuels.
Present taxation of Fuels
- Currently, taxes on petroleum products are levied by both the Centre and the states.
- While the Centre levies excise duty, states levy value-added tax (VAT).
- For instance, VAT on petroleum products is as high as 40% in Maharashtra, contributing over ₹25,000 crores annually.
- By being able to levy VAT on these products, the state governments have control over their revenues.
- When a national GST subsumed central taxes such as excise duty and state levies like VAT on July 1, 2017, five petroleum goods – petrol, diesel, ATF, natural gas and crude oil – were kept out of its purview.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GHGs, CO2 Equivalents
Mains level: Greenhouse Effect
The Global Methane Pledge was launched at the ongoing UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
What is the Global Methane Pledge?
- Global Methane Pledge is an agreement to reduce global methane emissions.
- One of the central aims of this agreement is to cut down methane emissions by up to 30 per cent from 2020 levels by the year 2030.
- The pledge was first announced in September by the United States and the European Union.
- So far, over 90 countries have signed this pledge.
Why methane?
- According to the UN, 25 % of the warming that the world is experiencing today is because of methane.
- Methane is the second-most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, after carbon dioxide.
- According to IPCC, methane accounts for about half of the 1.0 degrees Celsius net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era.
About Methane
- Methane is a greenhouse gas, which is also a component of natural gas.
- There are various sources of methane including human and natural sources.
- The anthropogenic sources are responsible for 60 per cent of global methane emissions.
- It includes landfills, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining, wastewater treatment, and certain industrial processes.
- The oil and gas sectors are among the largest contributors to human sources of methane.
- These emissions come primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, decomposition in landfills and the agriculture sector.
What is Coal-based Methane?
- CBM, like shale gas, is extracted from unconventional gas reservoirs — where gas is extracted directly from the rock that is the source of the gas (shale in case of shale gas and coal in case of CBM).
- The methane is held underground within the coal and is extracted by drilling into the coal seam and removing the groundwater.
- The resulting drop in pressure causes the methane to be released from the coal.
Try this PYQ:
Q. With reference to two non-conventional energy sources called ‘coalbed methane’ and ‘shale gas’, consider the following ‘statements:
- Coalbed methane is the pure methane gas extracted from coal seams, while shale gas is a mixture of propane and butane only that can be extracted from fi ne-grained sedimentary rocks.
- In India abundant coalbed methane sources exist, but so far no shale gas sources have been found.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
Why is dealing with methane important for climate change?
- Methane has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime (12 years as compared to centuries for CO2).
- However, it is a much more potent greenhouse gas simply because it absorbs more energy while it is in the atmosphere.
- The UN notes that methane is a powerful pollutant and has a global warming potential that is 80 times greater than carbon dioxide, about 20 years after it has been released into the atmosphere.
Back2Basics: CO2 Equivalents
- Each greenhouse gas (GHG) has a different global warming potential (GWP) and persists for a different length of time in the atmosphere.
- The three main greenhouse gases (along with water vapour) and their 100-year global warming potential (GWP) compared to carbon dioxide are:
1 x – carbon dioxide (CO2)
25 x – methane (CH4) – I.e. Releasing 1 kg of CH4into the atmosphere is about equivalent to releasing 25 kg of CO2
298 x – nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Water vapour is not considered to be a cause of man-made global warming because it does not persist in the atmosphere for more than a few days.
- There are other greenhouse gases which have far greater global warming potential (GWP) but are much less prevalent. These are sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).
- There are a wide variety of uses for SF6, HFCs, and PFCs but they have been most commonly used as refrigerants and for fire suppression.
- Many of these compounds also have a depleting effect on ozone in the upper atmosphere.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Parole and Furlough
Mains level: Prison reforms in India
The Gujarat government has decided to grant 15-day parole to prisoners above 60 years of age and women prisoners, except those booked in serious offences, as a ‘Diwali gift’.
What is Parole?
- Furlough and parole envisage a short-term release from custody, both aimed as reformative steps towards prisoners.
- Parole is granted to meet a “specific exigency” and cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
- Both provisions are subject to the circumstances of the prisoner, such as jail behaviour, the gravity of offences, sentence period and public interest.
How is it different from Furlough?
- Furlough may be granted without any specific reason after a convict spends a stipulated number of years.
- It is a matter of right although cannot be claimed as an ‘absolute legal right’.
Is ‘parole as Diwali gift’ an extraordinary move?
- The state governments often take a compassionate view on applications for parole during festivals of Diwali, Rakshabandhan, etc.
- The legislature/politicians do not have direct powers to grant parole on suo-motu cognizance.
- The announcement only indicates that prisoners will have to make applications to the authorities concerned, which in turn will be considered with leniency and expeditiously.
- The applications will, however, be subject to scrutiny and the prisoners’ conduct and gravity of their offence.
Who can opt for parole and how?
- The provision of parole is available to convicts found guilty by a court and such a prisoner.
- The prisoner’s relative/legal aid may submit an application to the prison superintendent.
- He/she in turn forwards the application to the ‘competent authority’, often under the jurisdiction of district magistrate concerned and comprising prison and police authorities, to sanction release.
- After due verification of reasons and prisoner’s conduct by the competent authority, an order for grant of release on parole will be issued.
- In case of rejection of the said application, a convict may approach the High Court.
Duration of Parole
- The Prison rules state that parole period may be granted for not more than 30 days.
- The competent authority may exercise its discretion in case of serious illnesses or death of “nearest relative such as mother, father, sister, brother, children, spouse of the prisoner, or in case of natural calamity.”
- Parole or extension of parole cannot be granted without a report of the police
- Apart from the remedy to approach a high court for parole in case of a rejected application, a prison can also approach the high court directly in case of an extraordinary emergency.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2021:
Q. With reference to India, consider the following statements:
- When a prisoner makes a sufficient case, parole cannot be out denied to such prisoner because it becomes a matter of his/her right.
- State Governments have their own Prisoners Release on Parole Rules.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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