UPSC Key- March 22, 2023: Know about Guillotine, Right to Health Bill, Vienna Convention and Layoffs

Budget Session may be cut short; meetings by Speaker, V-P fail to end House deadlock

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– With meetings called by presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha failing to end the stalemate between the government and Opposition, there is uncertainty over whether the Budget Session will continue till its scheduled date of April 6. Sources said the BJP leadership held a high-level meeting on Tuesday morning to initiate discussions on the strategy regarding passing the Budget, if the House proceedings remain stalled.

• What exactly opposition is demanding-joint parliamentary committee or joint sitting of both the houses?

• What is Joint parliamentary committee?

• A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is a permanent body or an ad-hoc body?

• How many members are there in Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)?

• Who decides the specifics of the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s composition and topics?

• What can a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) do?

• How many Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) have been established so far?

• How successful have Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) been?

• Are their suggestions (JPCs) binding on the government?

• How much time has already been lost in Parliament, and how many important bills are still pending?

• What is the meaning of ‘Guillotine’?

• A guillotine is a device used to effectively carry out beheading executions. Why then is this phrase used in government, particularly in relation to budget?

• What happens after the guillotine is applied?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍JPC vs PAC

📍Demanding Adani JPC, Opposition takes its House protest to the first floor

Power shortage: Grid managers brace for 18 ‘alert days’ in April

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-India’s Electricity grid is bracing for a tough summer, with an over 8 per cent surge in anticipated peak demand of 230 GW (giga watt) this year and the system operators bracing for an estimated 18 “alert days” in April where a serious power crunch could be on the cards, according to projections by the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). Last year’s peak demand of 211.6 GW was recorded in July.

• India’s electricity demand and supply-know the statistics

• To tide over the surge in demand this summer, a series of steps have been initiated-What are they?

• What Section 11 of the Electricity Act says?

• Despite adding renewable capacity, there is increasing realisation that India’s electricity grid is still dependent on an aging fleet of thermal plants-why?

• The country’s current installed generation capacity is 410 GW- Know the performance of Generation from all sources

• What is National Electricity Plan?

• Why is India facing a power crisis?

• India’s electricity sector faces many issues-what are they?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India can achieve energy independence by 2047: US study

📍Why India’s power demand has surged: Reasons vary across states

Rajasthan passes Right to Health Bill: Free services in govt, some pvt facilities

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Rajasthan on Tuesday became the first state to pass in Assembly the Right to Health Bill, which gives every resident of the state the right to avail free Out Patient Department (OPD) services and In Patient Department (IPD) services at all public health facilities. Also, similar healthcare services will be provided free of cost at select private facilities. The Bill was passed despite protests by the opposition BJP, which wanted to bring in certain changes to the provisions, as well as an agitation by a section of doctors, who have been demanding withdrawal of the legislation.

• Right to Health Bill-Know key highlights

• For Your Information-According to the Bill, free healthcare services, including consultation, drugs, diagnostics, emergency transport, procedure and emergency care, will be provided at all public health institutions and select private facilities subject to conditions specified in the rules, which will be formulated now. Also, all residents will be entitled to emergency treatment and care for accidental emergency without prepayment of any fee or charges. Importantly, in a case of medico-legal nature, no public or private hospital can delay treatment merely on the grounds of receiving police clearance. The legislation also says that “after emergency care, stabilisation and transfer of patient, if patient does not pay requisite charges, the healthcare provider shall be entitled to receive requisite fee and charges or proper reimbursement from the state government”. The law extends a total of 20 rights to the residents of the state.

• Right to Health Bill-What is the rationality behind this bill?

• What is right to health under Indian constitution

• Is Right to health a part of Article 21 of Indian constitution?

• Right to Health and Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP)-Connect the dots

• What is Vincent v Union of India case?

• What Supreme Court said in Vincent v Union of India case?

• This Article has been regarded as the heart of Indian Constitution, the most organic and progressive provision in the Indian Constitution-Name the Article

• The Bill was tabled in the Assembly in September last year but was sent to the Select Committee following objections by the opposition-Why opposition is opposing?

• What are the issues and Challenges with Right to Health Bill?

• What are the possible implications of mandating free healthcare?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The Rajasthan Right to Health Bill, 2022

GOVT & POLITICS

SC to look if Constitution bench should hear pleas against poll bond; hearing on April 11

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Main Examination: General Studies II: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Supreme Court will hear on April 11 arguments on whether it should refer petitions challenging the 2018 Electoral Bonds Scheme to a Constitution bench. A two-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, which took up the petitions on Tuesday, initially decided to hear it on May 2, as the court would be busy with some other Constitution bench matters in April.

• What exactly is the issue before Supreme Court?

• For Your Information-Taking up the petitions in January this year, the Supreme Court had said that they raised three separate issues: a challenge to electoral bonds, whether political parties should be brought under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, and amendments made to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). The court had said it would hear all three issues separately.

• What are Electoral Bonds?

• Electoral Bonds-Key Features

• Which Bank is the only bank authorised to sell Electoral Bonds?

• Electoral Bonds and associated issues

• When are the bonds available for purchase?

• Are electoral bonds taxable?

• Why were electoral bonds introduced in India?

• Why are electoral bonds being so vehemently opposed by transparency activists?

• How popular are electoral bonds as a route of donation?

• What does the Supreme Court have to say on electoral bonds?

• What is the Election Commission’s stand on electoral bonds?

• Reserve Bank of India on electoral bonds scheme?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Why the electoral bonds scheme has been challenged in Supreme Court

EXPRESS NETWORK

US condemns vandalism at Indian Consulate: It’s a punishable crime

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Role of civil services in a democracy

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-AS New Delhi lodged a strong protest with Washington over the vandalism at its Consulate in San Francisco, the US administration — from the White House to the State Department condemned the incident and called it “absolutely unacceptable”. It warned that violence against diplomatic facilities within the US is a “punishable crime”. “We condemn the acts of violence against the Indian Consulate in San Francisco. We are committed to the safety and security of these facilities and the diplomats who work within them,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan tweeted. “The State Department is in touch with local law enforcement on the next steps in this matter,” he said.

• A diplomatic mission or foreign mission-Mandate and Role

• What is the difference between Embassies and High Commissions?

• What is Embassy?

• What is Consulate?

• What are Key Differences Between Consulate and Embassy?

• The history of diplomatic missions-Know in brief

• What is the Vienna Convention?

• For Your Information-The term “Vienna Convention” can refer to any of a number of treaties signed in Vienna, most of which are related to the harmonisation or formalisation of the procedures of international diplomacy. The treaty being referred to by the MEA in this instance is the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), which “provides a complete framework for the establishment, maintenance and termination of diplomatic relations on a basis of consent between independent sovereign States”, as per an introductory note on the treaty in UN’s Audiovisual Library of International Law. Most notably, the Convention codifies the longstanding custom of diplomatic immunity, in which diplomatic missions are granted privileges that enable diplomats to perform their functions without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country. It affirms the concept of “inviolability” of a diplomatic mission, which has been one of the enduring cornerstones of international diplomacy. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations entered into force on April 24, 1964 and is nearly universally ratified, with Palau and South Sudan being the exceptions.

• Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations-Know in detail

• What does the Vienna Convention say about obligations of a “receiving State”?

• Did the UK not fulfil its obligations in this instance?

• Know about Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Vandalism by pro-Khalistan protestors at Indian High Commission in London: What is the Vienna Convention, invoked by MEA

📍Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates

ECONOMY

Why Amazon will lay off 9,000 more employees?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Months after it announced its largest-ever round of layoffs, e-commerce giant Amazon on Monday (March 20) said it would eliminate another 9,000 jobs in the next few weeks, bringing the total number of workers it has fired in 2023 to 27,000. The development signals the state of crisis the tech industry in the United States finds itself in. Companies like Meta, Amazon and Google, emblematic of the sector’s rapid growth over the last decade, are faltering. Banks such as Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) which specialised in dealing with tech companies had to be shut down over solvency issues. There have been spill over effects in India too, with Indian start-ups facing the wrath of SVB’s shutdown, and workers being laid off en masse.

• Why is Amazon laying off workers again?

• Tumultuous times for tech companies-Why?

• Why layoffs are rising?

• How it will impact India?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Amazon to cut 9,000 jobs in second round of layoffs

EXPLAINED

IMF’S BAIL OUT FOR SRILANKA FINALLY COMES THROUGH: WHY THIS MATTERS

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Six months after Sri Lanka qualified for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility of $2.9 billion to tide over the worst economic crisis in its history, the IMF Board finally signed off on the arrangement after receiving requisite financial assurances to restore debt sustainability from the country’s biggest bilateral donors — China, India and Japan.

• Economic Crisis-How did Sri Lanka get here?

• What happens with Sri Lanka’s foreign debt?

• International Monetary Fund (IMF)-Objective, History, Role and Functions

• What do you know about IMF’s ‘Rapid Credit Facility and Rapid Financing Instrument’?

• What Is a Currency Swap?

• How a Currency Swap Works?

• What Is a Credit Line?

• How Does a Credit Line Work?

• Who is helping Sri Lanka?

• How India is helping Sri Lanka in this crisis Situation?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Sri Lanka to get first tranche of IMF fund in next two days

THE WORLD

After talks with Xi, Putin says Chinese peace plan may work once West ready

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- China’s President Xi Jinping is on an enormously significant three-day visit to Russia, having landed in Moscow days after the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes, and as bloody fighting continued in eastern Ukraine 13 months after the Russian invasion began. The two leaders spoke for more than four hours on Monday, discussing a Chinese proposal for a de-escalation and eventual ceasefire, and warmly praised each other as “dear friend”, Reuters reported, quoting Russian media. Meanwhile, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida flew to Kyiv from New Delhi on Tuesday with a message of solidarity and support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Xi’s visit to Moscow was an indication that “China feels no responsibility to hold the Kremlin accountable for the atrocities committed in Ukraine”.

• What is Chinese peace plan?

• What does Xi hope to achieve by this visit to meet Putin?

• The China-Russia relationship matters to Beijing for several reasons-What are they?

• Does China want the war to end? Does it have influence on Putin enough to get him to stop?

• Are the US and China, too, in talks over the war?

• How does the war affect China?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Xi’s power play in Moscow

📍In surprise visit, Kishida offers support to Ukraine

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