Current Affairs - India

1. Current Affairs - India Nyayapati Gautam Triumphant Institute of Management Education P Ltd

2. Censorship of SNS • "Dare to think beyond ArindamChaudhuri - KapilSibal," tweeted @fakingnews. • KapilSibal had summoned officials responsible for the India operations of Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to his office on September 5 and took them on about the anti-government posts on their networks. • Sibal showed them the anti-Sonia Gandhi page and said that it was "unacceptable". • He asked them to devise ways to screen content before it is posted.

3. Censorship of SNS • Sibal wanted technicians from the companies to go through all the user-generated content and delete objectionable material before allowing it to be posted. • They were to come up with a pre-screening system by the next meeting fixed for November 28. • On December 5, the service providers told Sibal the truth that it cannot be done. The best that they could do is to continue to act on complaints as and when they get them. • According to experts Pre-screening is simply impossible, humanly and technically.

4. Censorship of SNS • The service providers claim they have their regulatory system in place which is working well. "There is a provision for reporting and blocking abusive and offensive posts. There have been hundreds of cases where such users have been blocked out of the site. The Government has approached us several times for help in tracing terror-related cases.“ • But Government sources complain that service providers take action only after court orders. • The problem is that the libel laws in the country are extremely weak.

5. Censorship of SNS • The Government is only left with the option of talking to service providers, who are not willing to cooperate. • “It suits their business model. The more sensational the stuff on their site, the more hits it gets. “ • When things went out of control, the minister told reporters that the government would look at ways of curbing "blasphemous" content which could hurt the religious sentiments of a large section of communities in India. • Officials have met SNS representatives 6 times but to no avail.

6. Censorship of SNS • As the controversy raged, Google had said there was a need to differentiate between what is controversial and what is illegal, adding that anything that went against statute was removed by their team, including content that went against their strict terms and conditions. • "But it also means that when content is legal but controversial, we don't remove it because people's differing views should be respected, so long as they are legal,"

7. Censorship of SNS • Google's Transparency Report says that most of the content removal requests it received pertained to criticism of the Government. • Between January and June 2011, Google received 358 requests for content removal. • 264 were about content on Orkut. • Among these, 236 were in the category of Government criticism, 13 for impersonation and two for hate speeches. • Of the 48 requests for objectionable content on YouTube, 19 were for Govtcriticism and six each for defamation and hate speeches.

8. Censorship of SNS Twitter • Twitter recently announced “the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world.” • This means a decision to block individual tweets on a country-by-country basis. • Is this not censorship? Twitter claims that it actually censors less. • That’s because the only alternative would be “global” censorship of the entire site in certain countries. • Twitter to be transparent when an individual tweet has been hidden.

9. Facebook • The FB IPO is the most anticipated public offering in a decade, with the company looking to bring in $5 billion in investment. • FB is looking at a $75 billion to $100 billion valuation in its IPO • Facebook is seeking a multiple of up to 27 times annual revenue. • Apple Inc - today, the world's most valuable technology corporation - went public at a valuation of just $1.19 billion in 1980, equivalent to 25 times revenue. • Google was valued at $23 billion at the time of its 2004 debut.

10. Lokpal Deficiencies of the current system • CVC • CVC is the apex body for all vigilance cases in Government of India. • Inadequate resources • CVC is merely an advisory body. • CVC cannot direct CBI to initiate enquiries against any officer of the level of Joint Secretary and above on its own. • CVC does not have powers to register criminal case. • It does not have powers over politicians • Appointments to CVC are directly under the control of ruling political par

11. Lokpal • CBI: • CBI has powers of a police station to investigate and register FIR. • CBI is overburdened and does not accept cases even where amount of defalcation is alleged to be around Rs 1 crore. • CBI is directly under the administrative control of Central Government.

12. Jan Lokpal • An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up • Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations. • Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.

13. Jan Lokpal • The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction. • How will it help a common citizen? • If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant. • You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off.

14. Jan Lokpal • Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years. • But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? • That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities through a completely transparent and participatory process. • What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? • The entire functioning of Lokpalwill be completely transparent. Any complaint against an officer shall be investigated and the guilty officer dismissed within two months.

15. Jan Lokpal • What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? • CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician. • It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.

16. The Lokpal Bill • The 74-page Lokpal Bill has two parts: first part is a constitutional amendment bill - needs 2/3 majority - so government will need support of opposition parties. • The 116th amendment seeks to give constitutional status to Lokpal - a new nine-member ombudsman agency that will receive complaints from the public about corrupt government servants and act on them. • Part B seeks to create the institution of Lokpal and Lokayuktas, who will serve as anti-corruption agencies in states. A simple majority is required to pass this part of the bill

17. The Lokpal Bill • Even before the bill is tabled, the government has decided on an amendment - to bring back the minority quota for the nine members of the Lokpal. • This means that the 50% reservation will extend to Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCs/STs), women, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and minorities. • The constitution does not allow for reservation on the basis of religion. So to get the amendment approved, a two-third majority is needed. The BJP is unlikely to support the amendment. Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav insist on it.

18. The Lokpal Bill • The Lokpal will be accountable to the Parliament • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will not be controlled administratively by Lokpal. Government will continue to decide its budget, transfers and postings of officials • Lokpalcannot initiate proceedings against an officer on its own; a complaint has to be lodged with the ombudsman before it orders an inquiry. • The Director of CBI to be chosen by panel of PM, Leader of Opposition and Chief Justice of India.

19. The Lokpal Bill • No sanction is required for prosecution of public servants. • No separation of prosecution and investigative wings of CBI, as was earlier suggested by some parties. • CBI will report to Lokpal on cases referred to it by the ombudsman. • Lokpal has the right to conduct preliminary inquiry through an inquiry wing, made up of police officers. • Lokpal can refer cases to other agencies like the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)

20. Smaller States • Chief Minister Mayawati has proposed breaking up UP roughly along regional cultural divides — Bundelkhand, Avadh Pradesh, Purvanchal, and PaschimPradesh. • This idea, broadly speaking, goes back to 1953 to the SRC. • Sardar K.M. Panikkar in the SRC in 1953, suggested bifurcation of the then Uttar Pradesh. • His note of dissent argued that Uttar Pradesh at that time accounted for one-sixth of India's population, which was equal to the combined population of Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala or larger than the population of Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh taken together.

21. Proposed division

22. He also argued that Uttar Pradesh was likely to create an imbalance to the Indian federal system. • He pointed out that accounting for 85 of the 499 members in the LokSabha and 34 in the RajyaSabha, Uttar Pradesh was likely to seek a dominant role. • This could lead to a feeling of distrust and resentment in other States. • The territories of a proposed new State of Agra as visualised by Panikkar included Meerut, Agra, and Jhansi divisions. Agra was proposed as the capital.

23. The SRC went on to evaluate these suggestions. • It principally took note of four arguments. • These were “unwieldy size”, which could adversely affect the “efficiency of the administration”; • the “lack of commonality in physical and geographical terms”; • the disparity among the different zones within U.P. and the backwardness of its eastern districts; • the State's size and the extent of its representation in Parliament, which could exercise a dominant influence in all-India affairs and create an imbalance “within the federal structure”.

24. The SRC's official report contended that “there are in fact no clear or necessary connections between the size of a State and the quality of its administration”. • The SRC concluded by majority vote that none of the arguments in favour of “reorganisation” was powerful enough to justify the “dislocation and disturbance” that would inevitably ensue if U.P. were divided.

25. Why the muted reaction to Mayawati’s decision? • The RLD has been for long demanding a separate Harit Pradesh, comprising the western districts of U.P. The contours of Paschim Pradesh correspond to the RLD's Harit Pradesh. • The BJP is for smaller States in principle and has been supporting the movement for the creation of Telangana by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh. • Sections of the Congress in at least three of the four proposed new States – Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Paschim Pradesh – have periodically articulated their support to the idea of dividing U.P.

26. Any other reasons? • So does this mean that we are more confident about the integrity of our nation today than we were earlier? • Much of our post Independence anxiety was, of course, because of the Partition and the fear of further balkanisation. • Perhaps, our economy is much more integrated today than it was in the past? • Perhaps also our status as a successful economic player has made us more self-confident? • Maybe secession is no longer a spectre that hangs over our heads.

27. Are smaller states good? • Uttarakhand: • Carved out of 13 hill districts of Uttar Pradesh, has emerged as a major growth story. • The State's growth rate today is pegged at 11.3 per cent compared with 2.9 per cent in 2000. • In the past 10 years, it has notched up an average growth rate of over 10 per cent, while Uttar Pradesh has been lagging behind at 5-6 per cent • In 2000, the State had 13,500 kilometres of roads. Now it boasts a road network of 32,000 km. • Between 2003 and 2010, the annual industrial growth rate in the State was over 24 per cent; • Now it is still a respectable 8-9 per cent.

28. Uttarakhand: • But the growth has been achieved at a huge environmental cost. • Frenetic road construction, exploitation of the hydroelectric potential and the rush to achieve industrial development have also meant that forests are cut with impunity and rivers have been diverted into tunnels for the generation of hydel power. • The local population is up in arms against the environmental degradation. • Following one such agitation, the government stalled the work on many hydropower projects. • The NTPC project at Loharinagpala on the Bhagirathi.

29. Chhattisgarh: • Chhattisgarh has managed to achieve a high growth rate owing to its immense mineral and natural resources. • When it turned 10 the State posted the highest economic growth rate of 11.49 per cent among all Indian States, followed by Gujarat at 10.53 per cent. • The State has a per capita energy consumption of 1,547 units as against the 779 units at the national level. • It is an energy surplus State today, which was not the case when it was part of Madhya Pradesh. • It has managed to maintain an average growth rate of 10.05 per cent for the past six years, which is the highest for any State in India.

30. Chhattisgarh: • It is a major rice-producing State, the second largest in India in terms of procurement. • It procures approximately 50 lakhtonnes of paddy annually. • The State has achieved a 75 per cent increase in the outlay for agriculture and allied sectors, which stands at Rs.1,385.02 crore. • The procurement process in the State is done online, which ensures total transparency. • Details of every farmer are available online and nearly 10 lakh farmers receive computer-generated cheques without delay. • Fifty lakhcheque leaves, worth Rs.16,777 crore, have been given to farmers since 2007-08.

31. Chhattisgarh: • The State has received accolades for putting in place an effective public distribution system (PDS) as well. • It has 10,846 fair price shops, which means one in each gram panchayat. • The State has ensured that by the sixth of every month, commodities are supplied to fair price shops. Steps have been taken to prevent pilferage.

32. Telangana • The demand for Telangana is one of the oldest concerns for a separate state in independent India. • It has seen its share of talks and violence since the early 1960s. Here's looking back to understand what the Telangana agitation is all about. • Telanganacomprises ten of Andhra Pradesh's 23 districts. Originally, the region was part of the erstwhile Nizam's princely state of Hyderabad. • In 1948, India put an end to the rule of the Nizams and a Hyderabad state was formed. • In 1956, the Telangana part of Hyderabad was merged with the Andhra state. • The Andhra state had been carved out of Madras presidency in 1956

33. The people from Telangana were against merger with Andhra as they feared job losses as education levels and development in Andhra were better than in Telangana. There were cultural differences too. • Under Nizam’s rule the culture and language in Telangana bore influence of North India. • In 1969, the Telangana movement intensified under the leadership of MarriChanna Reddy and the TelanganaPrajaSamiti. There was widespread violence and over 350 protestors were killed in police firing and lathi charge. • However, the movement could not last long as Channa Reddy went on to merge his party with Congress and was eventually made Chief Minister by Indira Gandhi.

34. In 2001, the movement revived once again when K ChandrashekharRao quit the Telugu Desam and formed the TelanganaRashtraSamithi. In 2004, the Congress joined hands with Rao promising separate Telangana but later back tracked.

35. Present Day: • Claiming that the movement for Telangana was very much alive, the Telangana political joint action committee said it would soon embark on the TelanganaSadhana bus yatra across the region to enlighten people on the necessity for the speedy formation of Telangana state. • TJAC chairman M Kodandaram Reddy said on Tuesday that they would target all those who have been creating obstacles for the formation of Telangana, especially elected representatives from both TDP and Congress. • Meanwhile, the Telangana Employees’ JAC has threatened to take up a 100-day SJS if the government backed out on its assurance to lift all police cases on employee leaders.