Indian Polity - Current Affairs for May, 2016

Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee was sworn in as CM of WB for the second successive five year term on May 27, 2016

• Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi administered the oath of office and secrecy
• This is the first time CM will take oath on Red Road
• Banerjee is the state’s 8th CM and the first woman CM of WB.
• On May 19, 2016, Banerjee’s party swept the electoral mandate bagging 211 of 294 seats

The Union HRD Minister, Smt Smriti Zubin Iani launched the multilingual knowledge portal www.bharatvani.in at Lucknow today.

• While launching the app the Minister said that under the Prime Minister Shri Modi’s Digital India Mission, Bharatavani App will perform the task of bringing about digital revolution in the county.
• The Government’s mission is to showcase the Indian culture and heritage to the world through the medium of technology.
• Given India’s diversity, Bharatavani is an attempt to bring the people of India under one portal, its goal being to bridge the Digital and language divide, with the idea to publish as well as involve people in the Open Knowledge movement.

After 15 years of Congress rule, Assam gets its first BJP government headed by Sarbananda Sonowal. The BJP coalition won a comfortable 86 seats in the 126-member Assembly.

• The BJP had alliances with smaller parties and ethnic groups like the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), the Bodo People's Front (BPF) and the Rabhas and the Tiwa community, which also paved the way for its stronghold in the state.

The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, from the Council of Ministers, with immediate effect.

• Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has directed that Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, shall be assigned the Independent charge of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, in addition to his existing portfolios.
• Sonowal was elected BJP legislature party leader at a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs in Guwahati this afternoon and has been invited by Governor P B Acharya to form the government. He began his political career with the All Assam Students Union before moving to AGP and later to BJP in 2011. He was made president of the Assam unit of the BJP in 2012. He was declared BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in January 2016.

HP CM Virbhadra Singh launched PEHAL- a vision document of the Shimla District Administration for raising educational standards

• Five areas identified under PEHAL are Primary Education, Forest Rights, Health and Sanitation, Campaign against drugs and skill development and Women Empowerment.
• District authorities have already begun work with a district strategy through this area
• Under PEHAL, empowering people with requisite skills under the livelihood mission will comprise electrical work, basic masonry, home appliance repairing and plumber courses.

Assembly election results of five states — Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry — were declared on May 19, 2016. BJP won in Assam while INC won 17 of 30 seats in Puducherry. BPS also emerged as a strong party with government in 9 states and power sharing in 4 states.

• Congress is in power in only 6 of 29 states.
• Pime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power for the first time in the northeastern state of Assam.
• The Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 91 seats with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) at 47 in a state that has stuck to its trend of not voting the same government in twice.
• Tamil Nadu has bucked a similar trend of yo yo politics, handing Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa a second successive term. The AIADMK won 134 seats, well past the half-way mark at 118, while the DMK-Congress got 98 seats.
• Mamata Banerjee has constructed another sweep, with her Trinamool Congress winning 211 of the state’s 294 seats. The Left-Congress alliance was far behind at 77.

BJP president Amit Shah on 17th May appointed a low profile Santhal leader Tala Marandi, MLA from Borio assembly constituency in Sahebganj district, chief of party's Jharkhand unit. Marandi replaced BJP MP Ravindra Rai who was at the help for around three years.

• BJP spokesperson Pradeep Sinha said a fax with regard to the appointment of the new president was sent to party's state headquarters from party national headquarters on Tuesday evening.
• The ruling BJP is currently the largest political party in Jharkhand.

To streamline the patent regime, government has modified rules offering option of Tatkal for clearance of applications by start ups or those entities which opt for India as first filing of patent.

• Government also plans to cut down time period for giving grants to patients two and a half years immediately and one and a half years by March 2018.
• The current period is 5 to 7 years
• According to modified patent rules, entitles can choose fast clearance route for obtaining patent through payment of extra fees if they select India as International Search Authority or International Preliminary Examining Authorities and file applications in India first
• Benefits of modified rules will be applicable for fresh applicants only.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on 14 May 2016 released 'Simhastha Declaration' at Ninora village in Ujjain.51 sacred points have been included in this declaration for betterment of mankind and these elixir points will start new discourse for India and the world.

• Apart from this, PM Modi also appealed saints to hold Vichar Kumbh every year with devotees and discuss issues like the need to plant trees or educate the girl child.
• Calling the Kumbh as the biggest example of excellent management, he advised academic institutions to adopt Kumbh as a case study.

Supreme Court on 13 May 2016 upheld constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation. The two-judge bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant said the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to reputation.

• The apex court was hearing the matter based on 24 petitions alleging that the provisions of criminal sanction act as a censoring device, violates the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution.
• They argued that criminal defamation travels beyond the Constitution's article 19(2) that imposes reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression.

President's Rule will be revoked from the hill state soon. The Congress's Rawat got the support of 33 of the 61 MLAs who voted.

• The floor test, also called a trust vote, was held to ascertain whether the ousted chief minister still enjoys a majority in the House.
• The Centre imposed President's Rule in Uttarakhand on March 27 saying Rawat lost his majority when nine Congress legislators rebelled.
• Congress President Sonia Gandhi had yesterday hailed the floor test as a "victory for democracy”.
• Uttarakhand has plunged into crisis when former CM Vijay Bahugana went against the government.

Parliamentary Committee on estimates chaired by BJP LS member Murli Manohar Joshi suggested an apex body headed by the Prime Minister for better coordination and implementation of all the schemes of the cleaning of India’s national river in a time bound manner. Committee suggested that the apex body should be backed by a legislative framework with statutory power to take decisions on different aspects of the river rejuvenation projects including land acquisition for sewage treatment plants and uninterrupted flow of the river or regulation of water withdrawal for agriculture, industrial and domestic use.

• So far GoI has identified 30 projects of inter linking rivers across the country.
• Only three links- Ken Betwa, Damanganga Pinjal and Par Tapi Narmada have been adopted for implementation.

Government has approved the NHP or National Hydrology project under CSS as an externally aided project with WB support

• It will facilitate informed decision making through Decision Support Systems for flood management. drought management, reservoir operations etc
• State and central organisations will build capacity in water resource management through the use of this information system

GoI has entered the process for issuing a Unique Business Identification Number of UBIN to entrepreneurs to set up business without delay

• DIPP under Ministry of Commerce and Industry has kickstarted this initiative
• The UBIN would be automatically linked to Ministry Of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal after it is issued to the intended beneficiary. It will be subsequently sent to the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) which would nomenclature it as PAN for UBIN.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the renewed Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation with European Union (EU) for another period of 5 years as effective from May 17, 2015 until 2020 reaffirming their shared commitment to research and innovation as drivers of social and economic development.

• The purpose of the Agreement is to strengthen the co-operation in research and development activities in science & technology fields of common interest between the research institutions of the European Union Member States and India on the basis of parity, reciprocity and co-investment of resources including funds.
• The cooperation activities include supporting joint research and development projects; exchange of scientists and experts, sharing of advanced research facilities, joint seminars, symposia and workshops, sharing of relevant information on science, technology and innovation policy, program and research & development projects.

The Government has launched ‘Watan Ko Jano’ initiative for the orphans, children from militancy hit families and weaker sections of the society in Jammu and Kashmir.

• Under the programme, groups of educated youth in the age group of 15-24 years visit various parts of the country and are exposed to the diverse social and cultural heritage of the country.
• The groups during their trip interact both at inter-state and intra-state level and participate in cultural activities at different places. Under the program 769 children have participated so far.
• GoI has also a multi pronged approach which include construction of fencing, floodlighting, Border out Posts (BoPs), induction of latest surveillance equipments like Hand Held Thermal Imager (HHTI), Long Range Recce Observation System (LORROS), Nightvision Goggle/Devices, etc.
• Beside this Government of India has also decided to deploy technological solutions in the form of integration of Radars, Sensors, Cameras, Communication Networks and Command and Control Solutions in various difficult terrains where fencing could not be installed.