Indian Polity - Current Affairs for February, 2017

Former Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang was appointed as Finance Advisor to the state government.

He was appointed by the Governor P B Acharya.

This post will be in the rank of a cabinet minister and will receive the pay and allowances admissible to a cabinet minister.

Zeliang had resigned from the CM's post on February 19, 2017 following protest of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) and Nagaland Tribal Action Committee (NTAC).

This was due his decision to hold elections to urban bodies with 33% reservation for women and violating customary laws of Nagas.

TR Zeliang: Know More

• Born: 21 February 1952, Peren district
• Party: Indian National Congress
• Constituency: Peren district
• Chief Minister of Nagaland from 2014 to 2017.

Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) president Shurhozelie Liezeitsu will be sworn in as the state’s eleventh CM.

Zeliang stepped down in the wake of violent protests that broke out when his government wanted to hold municipal elections with 33 per cent reservation for women.

The 81-year-old Liezietsu along with 11 ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Acharya at the Raj Bhavan.

The new Chief Minister is at present not a member of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly. He will have to get elected within six months from taking office.

Liezietsu on 20th Feb 2017 became the consensus candidate for the CM's post after the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) unanimously elected him leader of its legislature party at its meeting attended by 59 MLAs.

Nagaland has a 60-member Assembly.

Liezietsu , who is the Naga People's Front president, succeeds T R Zeliang who stepped down on amidst of protests by various tribal organisations against the state government's decision to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in urban local body elections.

Liezietsu had been member of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly for eight terms but did not contest the 2013 assembly elections.

He is also chairman of the ruling DAN.

The ministers inducted today were Kiyanilie Peseyie, Yanthungo Patton, P Longon, C Kipili Sangtam, C L John, Yitachu, Paiwang Konyak, Vikheho Swu, Chotisuh Sazo, Imkong L Imchen and G Kaito Aye.

Out of 11, Imkong L Imchen and G Kaito Aye are the new additions.

Shurhozelie Liezeitsu

• Liezietsu had been member of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly for eight terms.
• He had not contested the 2013 assembly elections.
• He is also chairman of the ruling DAN alliance.

The Telangana Government signed an MoU with NABARD here for a loan of Rs 874 crore to the Horticulture Development Corporation to cover 3.15 lakh acres under Micro Irrigation scheme for 2016-17 and 2017-18.

A Government release quoted Agriculture Secretary Parthasarathi as saying agriculture in the state is rain-fed and about 42.82 lakh acres depend on bore wells for irrigation.

Due to change in climatic conditions, the ground water level is decreasing and it is the need of the hour for the farmer to use micro irrigation.

Parthasarathi said the target for the year 2016-17 under the NABARD project is to cover 2.23 lakh acres allotted to all districts in the state.

NABARD: Know More

• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Established: 12 July 1982
• Chairman: Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala
• Currency: ₹ (Rupees)
• Website: www.nabard.org

EK Palaniswami won a floor test to remain Tamil Nadu chief minister when lawmakers today voted in his favour.

The Sasikala acolyte needed the votes of at least 117 MLAs to win the trust vote. As many as 122 MLAs voted in his favour.

Palaniswami's win means the waning of the political star of caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam, who also belongs to the AIADMK.

Close to 100 opposition lawmakers were missing after violence and chaos over a demand for secret voting.

But the trust vote may only be the first of many battles that the 63-year-old Chief Minister will have to fight.

O Panneerselvam has promised that he had lost the battle, not the war, and would go back to the people.

Palaniswami, 63, is the proxy of AIADMK chief VK Sasikala who could not become Chief Minister because the Supreme Court convicted her for corruption and sent her to jail.

The Chief Minister had to prove that at least 117 legislators in the 234-member state assembly back him.

But the numbers changed in Mr Palaniswami's favour once the Speaker evicted DMK's 88 members and the Congress' eight members also walked out in protest.

This reduced the effective strength of the house to 134, also lowering the number of votes that the Chief Minister needed to hold on to his seat.

Edapaddi Palaniswami, who was nominated for the post by late chief minister Jayalalitha's aide Sasikala Natarajan, will be sworn in as TN CM.

Sasikala, who only uses one name, was nominated as chief minister by the state's ruling party.

However her conviction in a corruption case means she cannot hold office.

She had to surrender to authorities to serve a four-year jail term on 15th Feb 2017, but appointed Mr Palaniswami before she left.

He met State Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on 16th Feb 2017 morning, with proof that he had the support of a majority of lawmakers.

Mr Rao agreed to appoint him as chief minister on condition that he proves his majority in the state assembly within 15 days.

O Panneerselvam, who was sworn in as caretaker chief minister after the death of Jayalalitha in December, was vacillating between rebellion and loyalty to Sasikala.

Sasikala's elevation by the party had been questioned by acting chief minister O Panneerselvam, who said he had been "forced" to resign to make way for her.

Her candidacy for the top job had been questioned, since she has never been elected to public office.

Sasikala's role was always that of aide and confidante.

VK Sasikala/Sasikala Natarajan

• Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala, is also known as Sasikala Natarajan
• She is an Indian politician who is the acting general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
• Born: 1957, Mannargudi
• Party: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

The Supreme Court on 14th Feb 2017 dealt a body blow to Jayalalitha associate V K Sasikala's vaulting ambition to be chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

The SC ordered that she be sent back to jail immediately to serve out the remaining three years, 10 months and 27 days of a four-year sentence for corruption, handed down to her by a trial court in September 2014.

In a unanimous judgment on a 21-year-old case of disproportionate assets, which also bars her from holding public office for 10 years, a two-judge SC bench "unhesitatingly" set aside the Karnataka HC's judgment .

This judgement was "erroneously" acquitting Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and two others in May 2015 and SC upheld the conviction of the trial court, which it found to be "flawless".

The split is now in the 134 MLA-strong ruling AIADMK between supporters of acting CM O Panneerselvam and Sasikala, who like Jaya before her, appears intent on ruling the state from behind bars.

Party elected Sasikala loyalist and strongman of Salem Edappadi K Palaniswami as the leader of the legislature party. Soon after- wards,

He visited governor C Vidyasagar Rao along with other senior leaders to stake claim to form government.

OPS contested the rival's bid.

Having won 89 seats in the May 2016 assembly election and with eight Congress representatives and two allies adding strength, DMK's neutral position in the 234-member assembly has only deepened the crisis in the AIADMK.

Britain's House of Commons gave its final approval on 7^th Feb 2017 to a bill authorizing the government to start exit talks with the European Union.

This is despite fears by opposition lawmakers that the UK is setting out on the rocky path to Brexit with a sketchy roadmap.

But the decisive 494-122 result was another big step on Britain's road to the EU exit door.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords, which has the power to delay - but not to derail - the legislation.

It should become law within weeks.

Lawmakers had backed the bill by a 498-114 margin during an earlier vote last week.

It came after three days of debate. In this, opposition lawmakers tried to pass amendments guaranteeing Parliament a bigger role in the divorce process.

Also emphasised was setting rules for the government's negotiations with the 27 other EU nations.

Pro-EU lawmakers had hoped to prevent an economy-shocking "hard Brexit," in which Britain loses full access to the EU's single market and faces restrictions or tariffs on trade.

One amendment would have committed the government to continuing tariff-free trade with the EU.

Another sought to guarantee the residency rights of EU citizens already living in Britain.

Yet another called for a new referendum on the eventual divorce terms.

All were defeated, as pro-EU lawmakers from Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party backed the government despite their reservations.

The government didn't want to let Parliament debate the bill that passed recently at all.

It was forced to introduce the legislation after a Supreme Court ruling torpedoed May's effort to start the process of leaving the 28-nation bloc without a parliamentary vote.

Most British lawmakers backed the losing "remain" side in last year's EU membership referendum, but voted to trigger Brexit out of respect for voters' wishes.

The bill is likely to face further challenges in the House of Lords.

The government wants to pass the bill through Parliament by early March and trigger Article 50 of the EU's key treaty - starting a two-year divorce process - by March 31.

The Nagaland Cabinet has decided to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to issue an ordinance to exempt the state from the provision of Part IX A of the Constitution.

This part is related to municipalities and ULBs, and their composition.

The decision comes after various tribal organisations opposing elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) with 33 per cent reservation of seats for women.

State Cabinet, in an emergency meeting attended by special invitees comprising of legislators from all tribes yesterday, decided to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to amend the Constitution through an ordinance.

The Nagaland Cabinet has decided to take the matter to New Delhi to demand that Nagaland be exempted from the purview of Part IX A.

All 60 legislators of the state, both the MPs, the chairman and vice chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland will submit the memorandum jointly for which an early appointment with the Prime Minister has been sought.

Tribal organisations are observing an indefinite bandh in the state against the functioning of state government offices and vehicles and demanding the resignation of Chief Minister T R Zeliang and his cabinet.

On February 2, violent mobs had set afire government offices and vehicles in Kohima, and also vandalised the State Election Commission office.

However, the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) Kohima has expressed shock over the decision of state Cabinet to submit a memorandum to the PM to amend the provision of Part IX A.

For the first time since the Supreme Court recognized transgender people as a third gender in 2014, as many as 18 students in Bihar have been allowed to appear under the third-gender category for the Board exams conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB).

The exams for Class 12 begin on February 14 and for Class 10 from March 1.

According to board officials, 10 third-gender students will be taking the Class 12 exams and eight would be writing the Class 10 exams.

So far, the BSEB did not allow students to take Board exams under the ‘third gender’ category because the examination form specified only two categories, male and female.

Monika Das had to appear in the Board examination under the male category with the name of Gopal Kumar.

She is a law graduate from Patna University and proudly claims to be the first third gender banker of the country.

AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala was on 5th Feb 2017 elected as legislature party leader by MLAs during a party meeting. This was paving way for her to become next Tamil Nadu CM.

"Chinnamma all set to become the Next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu," AIADMK said in a tweet.

Panneerselvam proposed Sasikala's name at the meeting of AIADMK legislators.

Earlier, Panneerselvam and other ministers met Sasikala at the Poes Garden residence of late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa where Sasikala continues to live.

The ostensible purpose of the meeting was to discuss the government's activities, issues pertaining to various constituencies and the manner in which Jayalalithaa's birth anniversary on February 24 is to be celebrated.

The meeting was called a day after Sasikala appointed some former ministers and others who were earlier shunted out by Jayalalithaa to various party posts.

AIADMK: Know More

• Abbreviation: AIADMK
• Founder: M. G. Ramachandran
• Founded: 1972
• Split from: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
• Ideology: Social democracy, Populism, Paternalism
• Political position: Centre
• ECI Status: State Party
• Alliance: National Democratic Alliance (1998-1999 & 2004-2006); Third Front (2008–present)