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aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBas ‘Daddy’s girl’While hailing the Centre’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status under Article 370as a “historic decision”, the dossier has accused Abdullah of trying to stoke publicFEBRUARY2020VOL.66anger to trigger violent protests.The two former chief ministers have been under preventive detention since August5 last yearmoOMAR Abdullah’s ability to “convince his electorate to vote in huge numbers”and Mehbooba Mufti being “referred (to) as ‘Daddy’s girl’ and ‘Kota Rani’” for “herc.mdangerous and insidious machinations and usurping profile and nature” are amongthe reasons cited by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration for invoking theurfostringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against the two former chief ministers.The PSA dossier prepared by the police on National Conference leader OmartnAbdullah says that “the capacity of the subject to influence people for any causearipcan be gauged from the fact that he was able to convince his electorate to come outand vote in huge numbers even during the peak of militancy and poll boycotts”.While hailing the Centre’s decision to revoke J&K’s special status under Articlesa370 as a “historic decision”, the dossier has accused Abdullah of trying to stokepublic anger to trigger violent protests.“Despite the fact that the subject has been a mainstream politician, he has beenplanning his activities against the Union of India under the guise of politics. Andwhile enjoying the support of gullible masses, he has been successful in executionof such activities,” it says. “After revocation of Article 370 and Article 35A, in orderto secure support of common people, the subject removed all covers/ curtains andNationalwhile resorting to his dirty politics has adopted a radical methodology by way ofinstigating general masses against the policies of central government”.The PSA dossier on PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, who headed the PDPBJP coalition government in the state before the two parties parted ways in June2018, says: “(The) subject is recognised as hot-headed and scheming person,Visit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBknown for dangerous and insidious machinations . She has been promotingseparatism as corroborated by several confidential reports filed by (intelligence)agencies The subject is referred, for her dangerous and insidious machinationsFEBRUARY2020VOL.66and usurping profile and nature, by the masses as ‘Daddy’s girl’ and ‘Kota Rani’,based on the profile of a medieval queen of Kashmir, who rose to power by virtueof undertaking intrigues ranging from poisoning of her opponents to ponyardingsmo(sic).”While terming the creation of PDP as dubious, the dossier says the “green colourc.mof the party flag reflects (its) radical origin”. It claims that the PDP’s symbol (inkpotand pen) has “been taken from Muslim United Front” — an alliance of severalurfoparties including the Jamat-e-Islami which contested the 1987 elections againstthe NC-Congress alliance.tnIt also lists Mufti’s refusal to sign a bond, stating that she will not talk about thearipscrapping of Article 370, as among the reasons for invoking PSA against her.Quoting her tweets on triple talaq, lynchings and the curbs on civilian movementin February last year to allow unhindered movement of security convoys in thesaValley, it says she has been issuing “provocative statements that led to incitementof violence” and accuses her of invoking religion to create a divide.The two former chief ministers have been under preventive detention since August5 last year, when the Centre announced abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation ofthe erstwhile state into two union territories — Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.They were booked under the PSA on the night of February 6. Sources said thegovernment took the decision since it was becoming “legally untenable” to keepNationalthem under preventive detention for longer.The reasons cited in the police dossier are also reflected in the grounds of detentionlisted by District Magistrate (Srinagar) Shahid Iqbal Choudhary.Omar’s father, Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister and currently a member ofLok Sabha, was booked under the PSA in September last year.Visit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBThe PSA allows the administration to detain a person without trial for three to sixmonths. It was promulgated in 1978 by a government led by Farooq Abdullah’sfather and then Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah as an administrative measureFEBRUARY2020VOL.66aimed at keeping timber smugglers “out of circulation”.However, it has been misused by the successive governments against politicalopponents and to stifle dissent.aripsaurfotnmoc.mSC upholds changes to SC/ST atrocities lawThe March 20, 2018 verdict of the court had led to widespread violence.Despite Justice Bhat’s caveat, all three judges on the Bench have upheld theconstitutionality of Section 18A of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act of 2018. The sole purpose of Section18A was to nullify a controversial March 20, 2018 judgment of the Supreme CourtNationaldiluting the stringent anti-bail provisions of the original Scheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court had on March 20, 2018, held that therewas no “absolute bar” on accused person obtaining anticipatory bail under Section438 CrPC, “if no prima facie is made out or if judicial scrutiny reveals the complaintVisit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBto be prima facie malafide”.The March 20, 2018 judgment was a response to the court’s belief that the atrocitieslaw was abused to file false complaints.FEBRUARY2020VOL.66The March 20, 2018 verdict had led to widespread violence. Consequently,Parliament amended the 1989 law and inserted Section 18A into it. Section 18Are-affirmed the original legislative bar on pre-arrest bail.moA number of petitions were filed in the Supreme Court to declare Section 18A in theAmendment Act as “arbitrary and unconstitutional”. All of them were dismissed byc.mthe Bench as without merit.urfoImplementation of Skill India policy at odds with politicaltneconomy, says studyaripThe implementation of the Skill India policy has not sufficiently anchored the realityof India’s political economy, reveals a recent study by two Bengaluru institutessa— the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and the Institute for Socialand Economic Change (ISEC).According to the researchers, skill training is pushing “needy young people” intoprecarious, informalised and low-paying jobs that are unlikely to lead to a bettereconomic future or social mobility, or equip them with the means to improve theirown lives.The study titled, ‘India’s Changing Cityscapes: Work, Migration and Livelihoods’,Nationalwasfunded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. “The preponderanceof informal service work — even in the organised sector — makes the future oftheskilled service worker almost as bleak as that of the unskilled worker,” saidSupriya RoyChowdhury of ISEC who did the study along with Carol Upadhya ofNIAS.Visit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBMs. RoyChowdhury said that having a policy approach to skill development itselfhad created problems. “While greater attention to the relevance of skills to localjob markets will make skill training more useful for workers, there is also a need forFEBRUARY2020more focussed and critical attention towhat kind of jobs are available.,” she said.VOL.66moMukkombu barrage to have automatic monitoring systemsaurfotnaripc.mWaterflow can be adjusted to maintain the desired levelThe Public Works Department plans to install an automatic reservoir monitoring andcontrol system, which is an advanced computerised control and flood monitoringmechanism, at Mukkombu barrage near here.It is part of the Rs. 387.60- crore project to build a barrage across the Kollidamto replace the existing one, a portion of which collapsed in August 2018 becauseof heavy floods. Larsen and Toubro is executing the project for the Public WorksNationalDepartment.The new barrage will probably be the first in the region to get such an automaticreservoir monitoring system.Apart from continuously monitoring the water level, the system would envisageincreasing or decreasing the level by taking into consideration the geographicalVisit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBcontours of the area and other factors.A sensor will measure the rise or fall in water level. The software allows the exactmonitoring and the adjustment of water outflow to maintain the required level.FEBRUARY2020VOL.66There will be a mechanism to get the visual display of various aspects of waterlevel, gate positions and others.Sources told The Hindu that the system would measure the rate of inflow into themobarrage. The water level can be maintained by setting optimum level by openingand closing the gates automatically.c.mA senior PWD official said the new barrage would have 55 hydraulic shutters.While the southern arm would have 45 shutters, the northern arm would have 10urfoshutters.The average weight of each shutter would be 10 kg. However, each of them wastnbeing customised as per the requirement.aripA fabrication unit had been set up at the barrage construction site to modify oradjust the shutters as per the site requirement.saSlapping Sec. 144 during CAA protests ‘illegal’: HCThe HC said the City Police Commissioner, discharging his duty as the DistrictMagistrate (DM) had failed to give “reasons” in his December 18, 2019, orderinvoking Section 144 in contravention to the parameters laid down by the SupremeCourt in the cases of Anuradha Bhasin Vs Union of India and the Ramlila MaidanNationalIncident Vs Union of India .A division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and JusticeHemant Chandangoudar passed the order while partly allowing a batch of petitions,in which legality and correctness of imposition of prohibitory order was questionedas several permissions for holding rallies and protests were cancelled due toVisit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBinvoking of Section 144.Also, making it clear that it has not gone into the grounds on which the prohibitoryorder was passed, the Bench said even assuming that there were valid reasons forFEBRUARY2020VOL.66imposing Section 144, the order passed on December 18, 2019, by the DM can’tstand to scrutiny of law in view of Supreme Court’s orders.Observing that the DM is expected to form an opinion citing reasons in his order formoimposing Section 144, the Bench said that in the present instance, the DM has onlyreferred to the recommendations made by eight Deputy Commissioners of Policec.mto invoke Section 144 and ‘there was no indication of independent application ofmind by the DM.”urfoReferring to a communication issued by the Director-General and Inspector Generalof Police emphasising the need for imposing Section 144 in various parts of thetnState, the Bench said Section 144 cannot be imposed merely relying upon opinionaripof superior officer as the DM has to record reasons on subjective satisfaction aboutthe need for such prohibitory orders.The Bench also said the DM, after receiving inputs from DCPs, should havesaconducted an enquiry and suuggested that the parameters of the enquiry couldhave been different as the inputs he had received were from DCPs. The Bench alsopointed out that barring a few, communications from the DCPs were identical.EC takes up Aadhaar-voter list linkageNationalThe Election Commission discussed pending electoral reforms, including Aadhaarlinkage with the electoral rolls, with officials of the Legislative Affairs Department ofthe Union Law Ministry, a panel statement said.Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that over 40 electoral reforms hadbeen pending, and the EC was discussing some of these proposals, the statementVisit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBsaid. Mr. Arora, Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra,Legislative Affairs Department Secretary Narayan Raju and EC and Law Ministryofficers participated in the talks.FEBRUARY2020VOL.66Mr. Arora thanked the Department for facilitating postal ballot facilities for PwD[persons with disabilities] and electors aged above 80 and those belonging toessential services through a recent amendment to the Conduct of Election Rules.moAmong the matters discussed at the meeting were having more than onequalification date every year to become eligible to be a voter, making paid news andc.mfiling false affidavits electoral offences or corrupt practices, covering print mediaand social media intermediaries under Section 126 of the Representation of theurfoPeople Act, 1951 that prohibits use of cultural events for campaigning, substitutingthe term “wife” with “spouse” in the Act to “facilitate electoral registration to thetnspouse of women service officials in the category of service voter” and amendingaripthe contribution form.saGovt. sees bid to sensationalise CAG reportChief Secretary says report leaked to media, SPC being unfairly targetedThe State governmentappeared to push back on what a senior official termedas an entrenched attempt to sensationalise the CAG’s report to target State PoliceChief Loknath Behera personally.Chief Secretary Tom Jose denounced on record “attempts” to single out “anyNationalone officer” for vilification by sensationalising the CAG’s report and presentinginformation in a cherry-picked manner. Mr. Jose, in a veiled comment on theOpposition, wondered how the media had got bits and pieces of the CAG’s reportbefore it was tabled in the Assembly.Congress legislator P.T. Thomas had sought an anti-corruption inquiry against Mr.Visit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBBehera in the Assembly the previous day by raising some details that subsequentlyfigured in the CAG’s report. Mr. Jose said there was credible ground to suspectthat at least parts of the report were leaked to media before legislators saw theFEBRUARY2020VOL.66document. The Chief Secretary’s statement could open the door for the ruling frontlegislators to petition the Speaker citing breach of parliamentary privilege. Mr. Josesaid the audit covered the period between April 2013 and March 2018 and spannedmothe terms of two governments.Officials said Mr. Jose felt that the report in the public domain appeared to unfairlyc.msuggest that the findings were only for the period of the current government.Media criticisedurfoHe said that some sections of the media had gone beyond the ambit of the CAG’sfindings to disparage individual officers personally. Mr. Jose termed the trendtnunfortunate. The government had modalities of answering the CAG’s queries. Thearipresponse required processing time. However, the media appeared to have jumpedthe gun.‘No wrong in vehicle use’saThe government would reply to the points raised by the CAG. It would also stateits case before the Public Accounts Committee. Mr. Jose said as Chief Secretaryhe could requisition any government vehicle for his use and commuting to work ina Police Department vehicle was no great wrong.NationalPoll panel working on remote voting systemThe model of an Aadhaar-linked electronic voting system, which will enable electorsto cast their votes from any part of the country — irrespective of where they areregistered to vote — or even abroad, is being prepared for the Election Commissionof India by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), ECI officials said.Visit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBThe model is likely to be presented before the Commission next month and ifapproved, a prototype can be readied by the year-end or early next year, DeputyElection Commissioner Sandeep Saxena told The Hindu . If the project is givenFEBRUARY2020VOL.66the go-ahead by the EC, election laws will have to be changed. “The IIT-M isdeveloping a system for two-way remote voting in controlled environment usingblockchain technology. It will have to be integrated with our ERO Net so if a personmovotes remotely, the electoral roll will reflect that,” he said. With the proposed linkingof Aadhaar with voter IDs at an “advanced stage”, the official said, the two-wayc.msystem would be possible only when the linking is complete.The ECI had used a one-way electronic system for service electors for the first timeurfoin the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.The postal ballots were transmitted electronically to the service electors, which ledtnto an increased turnout or 60.14%.saaripWomen Army officers eligible for permanent commission:SCChandrachud dismisses govt.’s view that women are physiologically weakerThe Supreme Court dismissed the Union government’s submissions that womenare physiologically weaker than men as a “sex stereotype” and declared that ShortService Commission (SSC) women officers are eligible for permanent commissionand command posts in the Army irrespective of their years of service.National“Women officers of the Indian Army have brought laurels to the force Their trackrecord of service to the nation is beyond reproach. To cast aspersion on theirabilities on the ground of gender is an affront not only to their dignity as women butto the dignity of the members of the Indian Army — men and women — who serveas equal citizens in a common mission. The time has come for a realisation thatVisit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBwomen officers in the Army are not adjuncts to a male dominated establishment,whose presence must be ‘tolerated’ within narrow confines,” a Bench of JusticesD.Y. Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta observed in a 54-page judgment.FEBRUARY2020VOL.66The verdict came on a nearly 10-year-old appeal filed by the government againsta March 12, 2010 decision of the Delhi High Court to grant SSC women officerspermanent commission. The Supreme Court ordered the government to implementmoits judgment in three months.The order castigated the government for submitting a note containing writtenc.msubmissions portraying women as physiologically unfit for answering the “callbeyond duty” of the Army. The note had shown women officers in a poor light,urfosaying isolation and hardships would eat into their resolve and that they would haveto heed to the call of pregnancy, childbirth and family. The note had mentioned thattnwomen ran the risk of capture by enemy and being taken prisoner of war.aripJustice Chandrachud, who wrote the judgment, countered that 30% of womenofficers were deputed in conflict zones. He said the note screamed of the age-oldpatriarchal notion that domestic obligations rested only with women. The courtsafound the remarks in the note not only constitutionally invalid but also discriminatory,affecting the dignity of women officers.IDSA renamed Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studiesand AnalysesNational“The decision has been taken to honour the commitment and legacy of the lateManohar Parrikar,” says Defence Ministry IDSA to be named after ManoharParrikarThe Union government has decided to rename the Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses (IDSA), a think tank, the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence StudiesVisit aspirantforum.com for Guidance and Study Material for IAS Exam

aspirantforum.comTHE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIBand Analyses. “The decision has been taken to honour the commitment and legacyof the late Manohar Parrikar.” the Defence Ministry said in a statement . Parrikarwas the Defence Minister from November 9, 2014, to March 14, 2017 and initiatedFEBRUARY2020VOL.66several reforms in the Ministry. The IDSA, an autonomous body under the Ministryof Defence, was established in New Delhi in 1965. It is dedicated to objectiveresearch and policy- relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security.aripsaurfotnmoc.mART Bill proposes national registry of clinicsBoard will formulate minimum standards for labs and lay down code of conduct forpersonnelThe Union Cabinet approved the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill,2020 to monitor medical procedures used to assist people to achieve pregnancy.The Bill provides for a national Board which will lay down a code of conduct to beNationalobserved by those operating clinics.It will also formulate mini

THE CRUX OF THE HINDU AND PIB aspirantforum.com FEBRUARY 2020 VOL.66 . Banking, SSC and other exams that have a current affairs section.The material is being provided in such a manner that it is helpful . to secure