Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 April 2017
:: National ::
PM made appeal to Kashmiri youth to leave terrorism
Inaugurating the country’s longest tunnel of 9.28 km in Jammu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Kashmiri youth to make a choice between tourism and terrorism.
“Kashmiri youths have two options, tourism and terrorism. For 40 years, terrorism gave you nothing but bloodshed, deaths and destruction. Had you chosen tourism, the world would have been at Kashmir’s feet,” said Mr. Modi.
Built at a cost of Rs. 3.720 crore, the all-weather tunnel is an engineering feat, and will reduce the travel time between Srinagar and Jammu by two hours and bypass several treacherous and landslide prone areas.
The Prime Minister said every Indian dreams of visiting Kashmir. “More the tourists, the better it will be for the economy. The entire country is with Jammu and Kashmir if tourism is the focus,” he stressed.
Mr. Modi said, “I want to tell the Kashmiri youth what actually is the power of stones. On one side, youth in Kashmir throw stone. On the other, people are giving their blood and sweat, cutting rocks for Kashmir's development.”
Describing the tunnel as “a big leap for J&K’s development,” Mr. Modi said it would be a boon for Kashmir's farmers and fruit growers, whose produce will reach Delhi quickly without spoiling.
He said the tunnel will be discussed not only in India but also by climate activists in the world. “We have worked to safeguard the Himayalas and the environment,” said Mr. Modi.
J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti described Mr. Modi a “courageous leader” and pushed for the initiation of a dialogue.
Election commission says EVM’s are temper proof
Asking the Aam Aadmi Party to introspect on why it did not perform as expected in the Punjab Assembly polls, the Election Commission said the only alternative for verification of the results was to file a petition before the High Court.
It reiterated that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tamper-proof.
It cited Rule 93 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, to say: “You are informed that after declaration of result, only alternative available to verify the data of votes cast is to file an Election Petition before the High Court concerned.”
The rule states that while in the custody of the district election officer or the returning officer, all the vital documents related to the elections cannot be opened by any person or authority, except under the order of a competent court.
The Commission said the Supreme Court had never expressed any doubt on use of EVMs in the election process, strongly objecting to “wrong and imaginary exploration” of the Court order.
Dismissing the allegations of EVM tampering, the EC said various High Courts had also unequivocally reiterated that, given the effective technical and administrative safeguards, the voting machines could not be tampered and integrity of the electoral process was fully preserved.
On AAP’s contention that some foreign countries had stopped using EVMs, the EC said such comparisons were both misplaced and misguided as those used by EC were stand-alone machines.
The EC said nothing could be written on the chip after manufacturing and so, the machines used in India were fundamentally different from those adopted in various foreign countries.
As regards the use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines for further transparency and verifiability, the Commission said they would be deployed in a phased manner given the financial constraints and production capacity.
The government will soon launch the electoral bonds scheme
The government will soon launch the electoral bonds scheme to fund political parties as proposed in this year’s Budget, Union Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said.
The Minister said the government had sought suggestions from all parties on the contours of the scheme, including whether such bonds should be issued only during elections.
Mr. Jaitley defended the decision to lift the cap on corporate funds to political parties and said it was an improvement from the current situation, where companies siphon funds from their business activities to fund parties with ‘unclean money.’
Till the 1970s and the early 80s, the bulk of political funding in India used to come from political workers going from home-to-home, shop-to-shop, cutting out vouchers for small donations of Rs. 10, Rs. 50 and Rs. 100.
That amount now, because of inflation, can increase.Stressing that a system where large parties would get thousands and millions of supporters giving donations online would be the cleanest way.
Amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation Act) made last year to change rules that labelled an Indian company as a foreign source of funds if it had some NRI or foreign shareholders.
Now when sectoral caps have been lifted in almost every sector to 74% and 100%, you won’t find ten donors in India who won’t get covered by that definition.
So, for instance, a telecom or tobacco company doing business in India — Indian company doing 100% business in India, but within the meaning of FCRA would be debarred.