Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

KANISHKBIOSCIENCE E -LEARNING PLATFORM - Help you think beyond the issue but relevant to the issue from UPSC prelims and Mains exam point of view. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event.  Also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background. This helps you study a topic holistically and add new dimensions to every current event to help you think analytically.

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiDqLyxXg_CtLFZoWTFOWjw  

Diminishing role of Parliament:

Context:

How the present government’s actions are undermining the role of Parliament today.

Actions that have diminished the role of Parliament:

PM Modi has spoken only 3.6 times a year in Parliament: 22 times in six years.

1    This illustrates the populist style of communication of Modi, who prefers to communicate directly with the people, either on the radio (like Indira Gandhi in the 1970s) or via social media (like the US President Donald Trump).
2    Now the main concern here is that these methods reflect a preference for one-way messaging, which obviates the risk of contradiction, and questioning by the receiver.

Ordinance route: In order to circumvent Parliament, the Modi government has often followed the ordinance route.

    While ordinances are usually resorted to by minority governments or coalition governments, the Modi government has used it more than any of his predecessors despite the BJP enjoying a majority in the Lok Sabha.
    The average number of ordinances jumped from six a year under Manmohan Singh to 11 a year under Modi.

No role for Parliamentary Committees:

1    The number of Bills that have been referred to parliamentary committees — the deliberative core of parliamentary work — has shrunk dramatically, from 68 (71 per cent of the total) in the 15th Lok Sabha to 24 (25 per cent of the total) in the 16th Lok Sabha — and zero in 2020.

Resort to money Bill route:

    Several key pieces of legislation have been passed as Money Bills, despite the fact that they did not fit this category.

Less discussions:

    Ordinary Bills are not so much discussed, either because their texts are handed over to the MPs at the last minute or because there is little time for debates.

Role and significance of Parliament in deliberations:

By definition, Parliament is the crucible of criticism, deliberation and even consensus-making.

Parliamentarism stands poles apart from populism, not only because it epitomises representative democracy, but also because it treats opponents as adversaries, not as enemies.

So, what’s the main concern now?

Clearly, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are ceasing to be places for debates.



Prelims Link:

 1    Difference between Parliamentary vs Cabinet committees.
 2    Standing vs select vs finance committees.
 3    Who appoints chairperson and members of these committees?
 4    Committees exclusive to only Lok Sabha.
 5    Committees where Speaker is the chairperson.

Mains Link:

What are Parliamentary Standing committees? Why are they necessary? Discuss their roles and functions to bring out their significance.

Sources: Indian Express.  Issues related to education.

World Bank’s STARS project:

Context:

Cabinet approves Rs. 5718 crore World Bank aided project STARS.

What is it?

STARS stands for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS).

STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.

It is a project to improve the quality and governance of school education in six Indian states.

1    Six states are- Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
2    Some 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) in 1.5 million schools, and over 10 million teachers will benefit from the program.

Reform initiatives under the project include:

1 Focusing more directly on the delivery of education services at the state, district and sub district levels by providing customized local-level solutions towards school improvement.
2    Addressing demands from stakeholders, especially parents, for greater accountability and inclusion by producing better data to assess the quality of learning; giving special attention to students from vulnerable section.
3    Equipping teachers to manage this transformation by recognizing that teachers are central to achieving better learning outcomes.
4    Investing more in developing India’s human capital needs by strengthening foundational learning for children in classes 1 to 3 and preparing them with the cognitive, socio-behavioural and language skills to meet future labour market needs.

Unique components of the project:

Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC):

The project includes a Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) under the National Component which would enable it to be more responsive to any natural, man-made and health disasters.

1    It will help the government respond to situations leading to loss of learning such as school closures/infrastructure damage, inadequate facilities and use technology for facilitating remote learning etc.
2    The CERC component would facilitate the rapid re-categorization of financing and the utilization of streamlined financing request procedures.

PARAKH:

 A major component of the project is the establishment of PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) as a National Assessment Centre.

1    Included in the National Education Policy 2020, this autonomous institution under the Union 

2 Education Ministry will set norms for student assessment and evaluation for all school boards across the country, most of which currently follow norms set by State governments.
3    It will also guide standardised testing to monitor learning outcomes at the State and national levels, according to the NEP

 

 Prelims Link:

1    States covered under the STARS project.
2    About World Bank and its funding.
3    Institutions of World Bank.
4    World Bank Group.
5    What is open data initiative?
6    What is PARAKH?

Mains Link:

Write a note on World Bank’s STARS project.

Sources: PIB.

 

  Issues related to health.

Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna:

Context:

Union Health Minister launches 2nd phase of “Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojna”.

About the scheme:

Launched in 2017, this scheme is a Coal India CSR funded Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) program.

    It aims to provide a one-time cure opportunity for Haemoglobinopathies like Thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Disease for patients who have a matched family donor.

What is Thalassemia?

It is a chronic blood disorder. It is a genetic disorder due to which a patient cannot make enough hemoglobin found in Red Blood Cells (RBC’s). This leads to anemia and patients also require blood transfusions every two to three weeks to survive.

• India is the thalassaemia capital of the world with 40 million carriers and over 1,00,000 thalassaemia majors under blood transfusion every month.

  Prelims Link:

   1 What is Thalaseemia?
   2 How is it caused?
   3 Is it a genetic disorder?

Sources: PIB.

   India and its neighbourhood- relations.

What’s behind Thailand’s protests?

Context:

Anti-government protests have escalated in Thailand in the last three months.

What are the demands of protesters?

1    Removal of present Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
2    A new constitution.
3    An end to the harassment of activists.
4    Demands to reform the monarchy

What’s the problem with the present system?

It all started in 2017 when King’s constitutional powers were increased.

 

1. Pro-democracy activists say Thailand is backtracking on the constitutional monarchy established when absolute royal rule ended in 1932. They say the monarchy is too close to the army and argue that this has undermined democracy.
2. Protesters also seek the scrapping of lese majeste laws against insulting the king.
3. They want the king to relinquish the personal control he took over a palace fortune estimated in the tens of billions of dollars, and some units of the army.

What do the Lese majeste laws mean?

The monarchy is protected by Section 112 of the Penal Code, which says whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent shall be jailed for three to 15 years.

Challenges ahead:

Some conservatives are against reforming the monarchy. They say, monarchy is an institution the constitution says is “enthroned in a position of revered worship”.

                                                 
 

Sources: Indian Express.

{ With input from news agency language)

 

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