- Supreme Court to hear plea to include CJI on Election Commission selection panel
- The Supreme Court agreed to urgently hear a plea which said the centre could take unfair advantage while filling the two vacancies of Election Commissioners in the Election Commission of India following the unexpected resignation of Arun Goyal ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
- The plea was listed by the NGO Association for Democratic reforms which said that the Chief Justice of India should be brought back on board the high profile selection committee headed by the prime minister for appointments of Election Commissioner.
- The Selection Committee consists of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister, and the Leader of Opposition/leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha.
2. The underpinning of religion in the implementation of CAA is problematic
- The government has decided to implement the citizenship Amendment Act 2019.
- The law is strongly opposed by the Muslim community for introducing a religion based test for grant of citizenship to immigrants from three chosen countries.
- The law is also under legal challenge before the Supreme Court of India. It was not implemented until now as the government did not notify the rules to operationalize its provisions.
- National Register of Citizens, 1951 is a register prepared after the conduct of the Census of 1951 in respect of each village, showing the houses or holdings in a serial order and indicating against each house or holding the number and names of persons staying therein. The NRC was published only once in 1951 and since then, it has not been updated until recently.
3. Uttarakhand bill on uniform civil code gets president’s nod
- Uttarakhand has now become the first state in Independent India to have a uniform civil code after the president gave ascent to the bill.
- The bill has kept tribal people out of its ambit.
- The bill ensures that women are given equal rights in matters related to property and inheritance rights.
- Under article 201 of the Constitution of India the president gave ascent to the uniform civil code Uttarakhand 2024 bill passed by the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.
- Article 201 of the Constitution specifically states that When a Bill is reserved by a Governor for the consideration of President, the President shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he withholds assent therefrom
4. Supreme Court stops Assam government move to de notify rhino habitat
- The Supreme Court froze the Assam government’s move to withdraw an almost 26 years old notification constituting the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary which hosts one of the largest rhino populations in the country.
- The Assam Cabinet had on March 10 withdrawn the notification issued by the State Forest Department in 1998.
- The government reasoned that declaration of the century was made without settling the rights of the people living in villages in the area.
- Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world and second highest concentration in Assam after Kaziranga National Park.
5. Prime minister launches portal for marginalised sections
- PM-SURAJ portal was launched for Credit support to entrepreneurs from disadvantaged sections of society.
- The prime minister also disbursed around rupees 720 crore worth of credit to 1,00,000 beneficiaries from the scheduled casts and other tribes and backward classes.
- The portal will be a one stop point where people from disadvantaged sections of society can apply for and monitor the progress of all loan and credit schemes already available to them.
- Prime Minister inaugurated the ‘Pradhan Mantri Samajik Utthan and Rozgar Adharit Jankalyan’ (PM-SURAJ) portal. It is under Ministry of Social Justice.
6. REITs, InvITs and Muni bonds offer high growth opportunity
- Real estate investment trusts (REITs) infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) and Muni bonds have emerged as high growth areas for investment.
- SEBI said that the total value of these three bonds ecosystem can be one time of GDP.
- REITs and InvITs are investment vehicles that allow developers to monetise revenue-generating real estate and infrastructure assets, by securitising and allocating units to investors without physically transferring the assets. A municipal bond or muni bond is a debt instrument issued by municipal corporations or associated bodies in India. The funds raised are used to finance socio-economic development projects.
