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CAG REPORT ON COAL BLOCKSAUCTIONING
According to comptroller
and aud itor generals draft report
titled Performance Audit Of Coal
Block Allocations, the
government lost Rs 10.67 lakh
crore by not au ctioning coal blocks
between 2004 and 2009. 155 coal
blocks were given to commercial
entities without auction between
2004 and 2009 thereby causing the
exchequer a loss of Rs 10.67 lakh
crore at 31 March 2011 pr ices . The
estimated loss is six times higher
than the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh
crore suffered for the 2G scam.
The government extended und ue
benefits totalling a m ind-boggling
Rs 10.67 lakh crore to commercial
entities between 2004 and 2009.
The beneficiaries include some 100
private companies, as well as
some publ ic sector uni t s , in
industries such as power, steel and
cement.
An estimate of the cost of
production for each block was
arrived at first by taking into
account the actual cos t of
prod uction in a similar Coal India
mine for the same year. Difference
between CILs sale pr ice and cost
of prod uction was then m ultiplied
by 90% of the reserves in each
block. The figure obtained was the
wind fall gain for that block. CAG
also specified the reason behind
taking 90% of the total reserves
ra the r t han the en t i r e l o t .
According to CAG, deta i ledexploration establishes reserves at
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a confidence level of 90%. CAG
report listed both private entities
and pu blic utilities as beneficiaries
of the alleged largesse. private
companies were believed to have
benefitted m ore than Rs 4.79 lakh
crore of the giveaway, whi le
around Rs 5.88 lakh crore went t o
cent ra l and s ta te government
utilities. The list did not name
Reliance Power, which is setting
up the Sasan and Tilaiya ultra-
mega power projects. Reliance
Power is missing from the list
because the section on Windfall
benefit to private comp anies does
not include 12 coal blocks given
for the governments showpiece
power projects since they were
allocated through a tariff based
competitive bidd ing route.
25% OF DELIVERIESBY UNTRAINEDHANDSIN 2010 IN INDIA
According to the registrar
general of Indias latest SampleRegistration System (SRS) 2010
data, two in 10 women in India
received medical attention by a
qualified professional in 2010
while delivering at hom e. It wa s
noted that fewer women in urban
India received medical attention
while delivering at hom e than in
rural India 10.8% agains t
16.2%. Near ly 1 in 4 births ov erall
were a t t ended by un t r a inedfunct ionar ies . Del ivery by
unt ra ined funct ionar ies were
found to vary from as high as
53.5% in Jharkhand to as low as
0.2% in Kerala. More wom en were
noted to have de l ive red in
government hospitals (41%) as
against pr ivate h ospitals (19.4%).
Kera l a r ecorded the h ighes t
deliveries in private hospitals
while Odisha recorded the least.
Tamil Nad u recorded the highest
num ber of wom en who d elivered
in a government hospital while
Jharkhand recorded the leas t
(19%). 55% of women in Delhi
delivered in governm ent hospitals
whi l e 23% went t o p r iva t e
hospitals. 17% of births at home
were carried out by a qualified
profess ional . Del iver ies
conduc ted by a qua l i f i ed
professional at home were as low
as 4.5% in Maharasht ra .
Untrained functionary deliveries
were as h igh as 47% in Bihar, 35%
in UP, 25% in West Bengal and
27% in Madhya Pradesh.
Ins t i tut ional del iver ies
(children being born in health
centres or hospitals and not in
their homes) were found to havepicked up in India. As per the d ata
released, more than three-fourths
of deliveries in India were found
to be occurring in institutional and
by qual i f ied profess ionals a t
present. Several states recorded
very low bi r ths by unt ra ined
functionar ies. They include Kerala
(0.2%), Tamil Nadu (0.9%),
Andhra Pradesh (1%), Punjab
(2.6%), Delhi (5.3%), Gujarat(8.8%), Haryana (6.3%) and
Karnataka (9.3%). Rur al regions in
several states recorded high rates
of delivery in private hospitals.
Like Kerala, where 52% of births
in rural settings took place in a
pr ivate hosp ital, followed by 35%
in Andhra, 23% in Delhi, 36% in
Gujarat, 32% in H aryan a, 20% in
Karnataka, 36% in Maharashtra,
35% in Punjab and 24% in TN.
ELECTION COMMISSIONS POLLSYMBOL RULESUPHELD
Sup reme Court of Ind ia on 18
Apri l 2012 upheld Elect ion
commissions poll symbol rules,
which entitled a political party the
status of state party and comm on
symbol for its candidates only if
it secures not less than 6 percent
of the total votes polled in a state
and returns at least two members
to the assembly. The cour t
dismissed the petitions, which
challenged the poll symbols order
as discriminatory. The petitions
had challenged the constitutional
validity of Clause 6 B of Election
Symbols (Reservat ion and
Allotment) Order on the basis that
although smaller political partiessecured less than 6 percent votes,
t hey were ab l e t o ge t two
candidates elected to assembly.
Elect ion commission of India
amended the Election Symbols
Order , 1968 in December
2000(inserting clause 6 B) to set the
benchmarks for a political party
to get Elect ion Commissions
recognition as political pa rty.
AMENDMENT INTHE REGISTRATIONOF BIRTHSAND DEATHS ACT, 1969BILLAPPROVED
The Union Cabinet on 12
Apr il 2012 gave its approval to the
introduction of a Bill seeking an
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amend ment in the Registration of
Births and Deaths Act, 1969 to
include registration of marriages
as wel l , so that the exis t ing
administrative mechanisms will
be able to car ry out such
regis t ra t ion of marr iages in
accordance with the specified
procedures and be ab l e t o
maintain necessary records and
sta t i s t ics for regis t ra t ion of
marriages also.The Cabinet also
approved introducing a Bill in
Parliament to further amend the
Anand Marriage Act , 1909 to
provide for regis t ra t ion of
marriages under the Act . The
prop osed Bill is set to benefit the
women f rom unnecessa ry
harassment in matrimonial and
maintenance cases. It a lso seeks to
provide evidentiary value in the
matters of custody of children,
right of children born from the
wed lock of the two persons whose
marr iage is registered and the age
of the parties to the marriage.
UNION CABINET GAVE ITSAPPROVAL TO THE PUBLICPROCUREMENT BILL
Union Cabinet on 12 April
2012 gave its nod to the Public
Procurem ent Bill. The bill is aimed
at bringing transparency in the
b idd ing process fo r pub l i c
procurement. The bill will regulatethe government purchases of
above 50 lakh rupees through a
transparent bidding p rocess. At
present there is no legislation
exis t s governing publ ic
procurement by the cen t r a l
government and central public
sector enterprises. The General
Financial Rules, 2005, govern
procurements mad e by the Centre.
The present bill prov ides for a jail
term ran ging from six months to
five years for public servants
found guilty of demanding and
accepting bribes from bidd ers of
government con t r ac t s . The
legislation is largely based on the
suggestions made by Committee
on Public Procurement h eaded by
former bureaucrat Vinod Dhall
which were accepted by a Group
of Ministers to tackle corruption
on 22 February 2012. The GoM
headed by F inance Minis ter
Pranab Mukherjee had sent the
bill for the approv al of the Union
Cabinet.
SUPREME COURT UPHELD TH ECONSTITUTIONAL VALIDITY OF THERTE ACT, 2009
The Sup reme Court of Ind ia
up held the constitutional validity
of theRight to Education Act, 2009,
which man dates 25 per cent free
seats to the poor in government
and pr iva t e una ided school s
un iform ly across the count ry. The
apex cour t c lar i f ied that i t s
jud gm en t w ill co me in to force
from 12 April 2012. How ever, the
act wi l l apply uni formly to
government and unaided p rivateschools except unaided private
minority schools.A three-judge
bench of Chief Justice S H Kapad ia
and justices K S Radhakrishnan
and Swantanter Kumar gave the
ruling. The bench had reserved
its verdict on 3August 2012 on a
batch of pet i t ions by pr ivate
unaided institutions which had
contended that the section 12
(1)(c) of RTE Act violates the rights
of privat e educational institutions
u n d e r A rt ic le 19 (1) (g)which
provided autonomy to private
management s t o run the i r
institutions without governm ental
interference.Right to Edu cation
Act (RTE) was passed by the
Indian parliament on 4 August
2009.The act came into force on 1
Apr il 2010. It has the p rovision of
free and compu lsory education for
child ren between 6 and 14 in India
under Article 21A of the Indian
Constitu tion. Ind ia became on e of
135 countries to make education
a fundamental r ight of every
child. Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE
act says that every recognized
school imp ar t i ng e l ementa ry
education is obliged to admit
underprivileged children even if
it is not aiaded by the government
to meet its expenses.
MEDIA SHOULD NOT REPORT ONMOVEMENTOF TROOPS
The Lucknow Bench of the
Allahabad High Court directed
the Union government of India
and the Ut t a r P radesh
government to ensure that there
is no reporting on movement oftroops by the print or electronic
media. Acting on a PIL, a bench
comprising justices Uma Nath
Singh and Virendra Kumar Dixit
ruled that th e issue of movement
of army troops does not require
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public discussion at the cost of
defence secrecy and the security
of the count ry. The cour t ,
however, dismissed the plea for a
high-level probe into the repor t by
a national d aily alleging un usual
movem ent of troops on the night
of 16 January 2012, the day the
Army Chief Gen VK Singh
approached the Supreme Court on
the issue of his d ate of Birth.
SUPREME COURT SOUGHT DETAILSOF 18 MERCY PLEA PENDINGBEFORETHE PRESIDENT
The Sup reme Court of Ind ia
on 3 April 2012 directed the Union
government to p rovide records of
all 18 mercy p leas, pend ing before
the President of India. The courtasked Addi t ional Sol ic i tor -
General Harin Raval to furnish
detai ls of al l the mercy pleas
pend ing consideration before the
President for periods ranging
from one to seven years . A
Sup reme Court bench comp rising
ju s t ices G S Sin ghv i an d S J
Mukhopad haya also asked Ram
Jethm alani, amicus curiae, to file
written submissions on whether
the President should objectively
app ly mind w hile deciding mercy
pet i t ions . The apex cour t
observed that the role of the state
was perhaps advisory and the
f inal verdic t l ies wi th the
President. The court directions
came wh ile hearing a plea filed by
death convict Devender Pal Singh
Bhullar, challenging the undue
delay in disposal of his mercy
petition by the President.
CVC RECONSTITUTEDTHE ADVISORY
BOARD
The Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) on 29 March
2012, reconstituted the advisory
board on bank, commercial and
financial frauds. The board, with
former Deputy Governor of RBI
Shyamala Gopinath as i t s
chairman, wil l help CBI in
inves t igat ing cases of bank,
commercial and financial frauds.
The six-member board, which is
the part of the organizational set
up of CBI, will have a tenure of
two years . The board wi l l be
provided with the operat ional
funding by the RBI. The other
members on the reconst i tuted
board i nc lude r e t i r ed Ind i an
Ad ministra tive Service officer
Vivek Mehrotra, retired Indian
Police Service officer Balwinder
Singh, former Chai rman and
Managing Director , Bank of
Maharashtra, A S Bhat tacharya, ex
Executive Director of Corp orat ion
Bank, Asit Pal and Chartered
Accountan t, T N Man oharan.
SUPREME COURTREFUSEDTO PASSORDERON CLEMENCY PETITION
The Sup reme Court of Ind ia
on 30 March 2012 refused to passany ord er on a m ercy petition in
the death sentence to Balwant
Singh Rajoana, awarded death
sentence for assass inat ion of
former Punjab Chief Minister
Beant Singh. A Supreme Court
Bench of Justices T S Thakur and
Gyan Sud ha Misra observed th at
since the convict has n ot filed any
petition before the court and the
petitioner Abhinav Ramakrishnahas no locus standi to plead on his
behalf, the court can not pass any
order in the clemency petition.
Petitioner Abhinav Ramakrishna,
an ad vocate, was told by the court
that since petition was filed und er
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Art icle 32, it cannot be entertained
as in no way, any fundamental
r i gh t o f t he pe t i t i oner was
violated. The bench ruled th at the
Article 32 of Indian Constitution
could only be invoked by a p erson
whose fundamenta l r i gh t i s
violated.
UNION CABINET APPROVED THEMARRIAGE LAWS (AMENDMENT)BILL, 2010
The Union Cabinet of India
on 23 March 2012 approved the
redra f t ed M ar r i age l aws
(Amendment) Bill, 2010. The bill
seeks to give a wom an share in her
husbands property in case of a
divorce but the quantu m of share
will be decided by the courts on
case by case basis. It also aims a t
giving rights to adop ted children
on p ar w ith biological off-springs.
According to the redrafted bill,
adop ted children w ill have rights
on p ar w ith biological off-spr ings
of a couple in case the p arents go
for a divorce. It is important to
note that all these changes in the
bi l l were based on the
recommendations made by the
P ar l i amenta ry S t and ing
Committee on Law and Justice
and Personnel . The Marr iage
Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010,
was introd uced in the Rajya Sabha
in August 2010 and then it wasreferred to the Parl iamentary
Stand ing Committee on Law and
Justice and Personn el. Earlier, The
Union Cabinet of Ind ia on 10 Jun e
2010 had approved the
introd uction of a Bill, nam ely, the
Marr iage Laws (Amend ment) Bill,
2010 to further amend the Hind u
Marr iage Act, 1955 and the Special
Marriage Act, 1954, to provide
therein irretrievable break d own
of mar r i age as a g round of
divorce. The Bill would provide
safeguard s to parties to marr iage
who fi le pet i t ion for grant of
d ivorce by consen t f rom the
harassment in court if any of the
party does not come to the court
or try to avoid the court to keep
the d ivorce p roceed ings
inconclusive.
THE UNION GOVERNMENTOF INDIANOTIFIED NCTC
The Union Government of
India notified the setting up of the
anti-terror body calledN ational
Counter Terrorism Centre
(NCTC).NCTC wi l l have the
power to carry out operat ions
including ar res t , search and
seizure. It will d raw its fun ctional
power of search and seizures
und er the provisions of the UAPA
(Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act.It will work as an integral
part of Intelligence bureau. The
notification man dates the terror-
fighting agencies to share their
inputs with NCTC and i t also
app oints the director and his core
team. Director of NCTC will have
full functional autonomy and he
wi l l have the power t o seek
informat ion on ter ror f rom
National Investigation Agency,
NATGRID, intelligence units of
CBI, National Technical Research
Organisation and directorate of
revenue intelligence in ad d ition to
all seven central armed police
forces including NSG. He will
report to t he IB chief and the home
ministry. The notification was
issued u nder theArticle 73 of the
Constitution of India.
CARETAKERS CAN T CLAIMOWNERSHIPOF PROPERTY
The Supreme Cour t o f
India ruled that one cannotacquire title to a property only
because he or she had been
allowed to stay in the prem ises
for long. The apex cour t
di rected the cour ts to deal
firmly with those involving
innocent ow ners in p rolonged
real estate litigation. A three-
jud ge bench includ ing justices
Dalveer Bhandar i , Deepak
Verma and HL Dattu gave theruling. The bench also set fresh
guidel ines that care takers ,
servants and watchman do not
acquire property merely because
of i ts possession by them for
several years.
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