07, March 2019 07/03/2019 – Posted in: Daily News

Section 8 of RTI and Freedom of Press

News Flash

Attorney General in Supreme Court said that the reports published in The Hindu and other media publication on purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force were from ‘stolen documents’ from defence ministry and threatened to invoke provisions of Official secrets Act 1913. The Hindu group Chairman said that he has the protection of article 19 (2) and section 8 -1(i) and 2 of the RTI act.

Section 8 of the act is related to ‘exemption from disclosure of information,’ in certain cases. And the above mentioned sections are related to the official documents and OSA-1923.

Section 8-1(i): Exertion in case of —cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers: Provided that the decisions of Council of Ministers, the reasons thereof, and the material on the basis of which the decisions were taken shall be made public after the decision has been taken, and the matter is complete, or over: Provided further that those matters which come under the exemptions specified in this section shall not be disclosed.

Section 8-2 :Notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (19 of 1923) nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with sub-section (1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests.

Official Secrets Act: It is a generic term that is used to refer to a law — originally invented by the British, and then exported across the Commonwealth — that is designed to keep certain kinds of confidential information involving the affairs of state, diplomacy, national security, espionage and other state secrets.

Right to Information Act: Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information.

Background: In 1993 the Supreme Court held that Right to Information is part of and incidental to the Right to Expression under Article 19(1) (a). In 2002, a weak Freedom of Information Act was legislated but never came into force. In 2004 RTI Bill was tabled and received presidential assent in June 2005. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerise their records for wide dissemination and to proactively certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

Governance and implantation mechanism of the Act:

Governed by two major bodies:

• Central Information Commission (CIC) – Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their own public Information officers (PIO)s. CICs are directly under the President of India.
• State Information Commissions – State Public Information Officers or SPIOs head over all the state department and ministries. The SPIO office is directly under the corresponding State Governor.

Rafale Deal India in September 2016 consented to an Inter-Governmental Arrangement (IGA) with France to obtain 36 Rafale fighter jets in fly-away condition for €7.8 billion. Rafale aircraft Rafale is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft designed and built by French company Dassault Aviation. The fighter jet, furnished with a wide scope of weapons, is expected to perform air supremacy, airborne surveillance, ground support, inside and out strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear or atomic deterrence missions. The fighter jet is fitted with an onboard oxygen generation system (OBOGS) which suppresses the need for liquid oxygen re-filling or ground support for oxygen production. It is capable of carrying out a wide range of missions: air-defence/air-superiority, reconnaissance, close air support dynamic targeting, air-to-ground and air-to-air mission. The Rafale is referred to as an ‘omnirole’ aircraft by Dassault, as it has the capability to perform several actions at the same time, such as firing air-to-air missiles at a very low altitude, air-to-ground and interceptions during the same sortie. Aircraft variants Rafale C single-seat land-based version. Rafale B twin-seat land-based version. Rafale M single-seat carrier-based version. Why does India need Rafale aircraft The Indian government felt the need to revamp its IAF fleet of MiG aircrafts. After the Kargil experience, India seeks some multi-role combat aircraft. In 2007, Indian Air Force also raise the requirements for Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).

Source: The Hindu

 

 

Indian hyenas ‘Near Threatened’ species

News Flash

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorised it as ‘Near Threatened’ species on a global scale.

Striped Hyaena or Hyaena hyaena of India

Indian striped Hyenas are smallest among the other species of Hyenas. It is found in human-dominated landscapes in Rajasthan. It belongs to thr class Mammalia.

• This large carnivore predominantly scavenges on domestic and wild ungulate carcasses.
• The striped hyena is a species of hyaena native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Their population has taken a severe beating, because of:

• Habitat destruction
• Retaliatory killings due to popular beliefs
• Conflicts with other aggressive species like the jackal

Source: The Hindu

 

 

Google launches “Bolo” app

News Flash

Tech giant Google has unveiled a speech-based reading-tutor app called Bolo for Android based Smartphone’s.

• It will provide access to close to 100 stories in Hindi and English that the children can read out loud and improve their reading.
• The app does not require an active internet connection.

Aim

• Help children in rural India with their reading skills.
• Help children in primary school learn to read in Hindi and English.
• It is also aimed at helping kids who are unable to go to schools or have no access to it.

Why this needed

ASER (Annual Status of Education report- rural) reports have shown continuously that the nearly half of the students lack the reading skill in primary schools. Lack of reading ability will impact further education.

Source: Indian Express

 

 

The Model Code of Conduct

News Flash:

The Election Commission of India has geared up for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Model Code

The model code refers to a set of norms laid down by the Election Commission of India, with the consensus of political parties to ensure free and fair elections.

• It is not statutory.
• It is not enforceable by law.
• It spells out the dos and don’ts for elections.
• The code comes into force on the announcement of the poll schedule and remains operational till the process is concluded, as provided in the notification.
• It determines eight norms dealing with general conduct, meetings, processions, polling day, polling booths, observers, the party in power, and election manifestos.

Evolution

In 1962, the EC circulated the code to all recognised parties, which followed it “by and large”. In October 1979, the EC came up with a comprehensive code that saw further changes.

Mechanism to take note of the offence

• Joint task forces of enforcement agencies and flying squads.
• Election Commission of India has introduced cVIGIL mobile app through which audio-visual evidence of malpractices can be reported.

cVIGIL

• “cVIGIL” is a user-friendly and easy to operate Android application. It will be operational only where elections are announced.
• “cVIGIL” will allow anyone in the election-bound state to report violations of Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
• By using this app, citizens can immediately report on incidents of misconduct within minutes of having witnessed them.
• The vigilant citizen has to click a picture or record a video of upto two minutes’ duration of the scene of violations of the model code.
• The photo or video is to be uploaded on the app. The automated location mapping will be done by the app using the Geographic Information System.
• The app has inbuilt features to prevent its misuse.

Corrupt practice under the Representation of the People Act. :

• Any activity aggravating existing differences or creating mutual hatred or causing tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.
• Making an appeal to caste or communal feelings to secure votes.
• Using places of worship for campaigning.
• Bribery to voters is both a corrupt practice and an electoral offence under the Act and Section 171B of the Indian Penal Code.
• Intimidation of voters is also an electoral offence, while impersonating them is punishable under the IPC.
• Serving or distributing liquor on Election Day and during the 48 hours preceding it is an electoral offence.
• Holding public meetings during the 48-hour period ending with the hour fixed for the closing of the poll is also an offence.

The code ensures that the party in power — whether at the Centre or in the States— does not use its official position for campaigning.

Ministers and other government authorities cannot announce financial grants in any form.

No project or scheme which may have the effect of influencing the voter in favour of the party in power can be announced.

Ministers cannot use official machinery for campaign purposes.

 

Source: The Hindu

 

 

Search for dark matter

News Flash

CERN, which hosts the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator is planning a new experiment to look for particles associated with the mysterious dark matter which makes up about 27% of the universe.

• CERN announced that it has approved the experiment designed to look for light and weakly interacting particles at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
• FASER, or the Forward Search Experiment, will complement CERN’s ongoing physics programme, extending its discovery potential to several new particles.
• LHC, a giant lab in a 27-kilometre tunnel straddling the French-Swiss border.
• CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Dark Matter

The term ‘dark’ is used to indicate the unknown. So dark energy relates to an unknown energy. Furthermore, dark matter relates to unknown matter whose properties are uncertain to researchers.

Facts about Dark Matter

• It interacts only by the way of gravity and the weak atomic force.
• It is estimated that 80% of the matter in universe is dark matter.
• It is an important constituents of the galaxies and clusters of galaxies and puts them together.
• Some of the galaxies is moving extra fast than possible due to this Dark Matter, which does not emit any electromagnetic radiation but exerts gravity.

Composition of Dark Matter

• Nobody has a real idea, but researchers guess works divide into two thoughts.
• One support Massive Compact Halo Object (MACHOS).
• Other support Weekly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS).

Implications on shape of Universe

• Dark matter in the universe exerts a gravitational pull.
• The more dark matter there is in the universe, the more likely it would be that the universe would have a closed geometry, and that the universe would have a closed geometry, and that the universe would end in a huge crunch.
• Continues increase in dark energy.

Source: The Hindu