Daily Current Affairs   Date :7^thMarch,2022

 (30+ Questions hit in Prelims 2021 from this series)

Covers 4 Most relevant Sources

• The Hindu
• Indian Express
• PIB
• Mint

Index

• International Court of Justice(IE)
• Swiss Challenge Method of Public Procurement (IE)
• Social Stock Exchanges (SSE) and Social Enterprises (SEs) (IE)
• CBI and ‘General Consent’ granted to Investigate Cases in the State (TH, pg 1)
• UnionPay System(TH, pg 13)
• Democracy Report 2022: Autocratisation Changing Nature? (TH, pg 15)
• HANSA-NG: Indigenous Aircraft Trainer (TH, pg 10)

 

1. International Court of Justice(IE)

• Context: The International Court of Justice at Hague is hearing the application by Ukraine against Russia in the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
• Note: You have already prepared this topic in detail from the3 March 22 file.

 

2. Swiss Challenge Method of Public Procurement (IE)

• Context:The Union Government is looking at forming a national policy framework for the Swiss Challenge method, as part of a larger review of the General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017 that guide the public procurement process in the country.

Analysis

• A Swiss Challenge is a method of bidding, often used in public projects, in which an interested party initiates a proposal for a contract or the bid for a project.
• The government then puts the details of the project out in the public and invites proposals from others interested in executing it.
• On the receipt of these bids, the original contractor gets an opportunity to match the best bid.
• The method was upheld by the Supreme Court of India for awarding public projects and the Government of India has tried out this method in road and railway projects.

Why is it important?

• The Swiss Challenge allows a seller to mix-and-match the features of both an open auction and a closed tender to discover the best price for an asset.
• If Swiss Challenge is applied to bankruptcy cases, banks may get to squeeze out more from the auction of stressed assets.
• If applied to public projects, it may lead to more innovative project proposals and quicker execution, as a bidder with a good idea needn’t wait for the government to set the ball rolling.
• But on the flip side, by allowing a bidder to initiate an idea and giving him the first right of refusal, the Swiss Challenge can promote favouritism in the award of public projects, opening the doors to corruption.
• To guard against this, legal experts suggest an open list of public projects that allow Swiss Challenge and full public disclosure of bid details when the government receives a proposal.

 

3. Social Stock Exchanges (SSE) and Social Enterprises (SEs) (IE)

• Context:In the spirit of financial inclusion, the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the creation of Social Stock Exchanges (SSE) in September 2021.
• Social enterprises (SE) struggle for sufficient fund support. SSE is a regulated funding platform, projected as an enabler of capital access for such SEs.

Analysis

• SSEs shall encompass non-profit organizations & for-profit companies under their ambit of social enterprises (SE).
• All such SEs that demonstrate social intent & impact as their primary goal are eligible to participate in SSE.
• Such primacy will be determined by the public benefit test devised with three filters of target population, activities engaged, and activity volumes.

• It ought to target the underserved and less privileged, in any of the 15 broad categories of social welfare activities specified in the SEBI technical committee report, 2021 such as eradication of malnutrition, poverty, inequality, promotion of gender equality education, healthcare, preservation of nature etc.
• And, 67% of the SE’s activities ought to qualify as eligible social welfare activities to be able to list themselves on the SSE.

• Presently, the SEs receive funding via CSR, philanthropic donations, crowdfunding etc. The listed SEs will be able to raise capital through equity, zero-coupon bonds, mutual funds, social impact funds, and development impact bonds.
• Corporate foundations, political or religious organizations/ activities, professional or trade associations, infrastructure and housing companies (except affordable housing) will not be allowed to raise funds through SSEs.
• SSE, providing a unified funding channel, will act as an umbrella organization to monitor due diligence, reporting and standardized disclosures of the listed SEs.
• The SSE shall be a separate segment under the existing stock exchanges like: BSE or NSE.
• Globally, SSEs have been set up in many countries.
• Although the listed SEs will enjoy tax benefits, they would be subject to mandatory social audits.

Conflict of interest

• Operating at an intersectional hybrid blend of commercial imperatives and social philanthropy, meeting ambitious growth targets might plague the listed SEs to sway away from the social mission.
• The 2010 Andhra Pradesh microcredit crisis is one such instance where the SE became embroiled in aggressive debt collection practices owing to over-lending in the growth stage, leading to debt-traps and suicides.
• Such drifts in financing trends from grant-based to equity-based affirms the need for monitoring and regulation. SSE might be able to strike balance with the complicated proposition of unlocking large pools of social capital via conventional capital structures, subject to healthy practices.
• The SEs will now be subject to close monitoring and regulation of transactions made by them, the need for which has been highlighted in use of trusts to evade taxes in the Pandora papers leak.
• Usage of SEs like trusts as a tax avoidance model for corporations has been a routine stratagem. Corporations now shall not be able to erode off profits in the name of philanthropy and CSR via listed SEs. However, the unlisted SEs are still beyond the purview of these regulations.

 

4. CBI and ‘General Consent’ granted to Investigate Cases in the State (TH, pg 1)

• Context:Meghalaya has withdrawn consent to the CBI to investigate cases in the state, becoming the ninth state in the country to have taken this step.

• Therefore, CBI will now have to take permission from such State governments on a case-to-case basis.

• Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPE Act) provides that a member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment cannot exercise powers and jurisdiction under the Act in any area in a State without the consent of the Government of that State.

Analysis

• During the period of World War II, a Special Police Establishment (SPE) was constituted in 1941 in the Department of War of the British India to enquire into allegations of bribery and corruption in the war related procurements.
• Later on,it was formalized as an agency of the Government of India to investigate into allegations of corruption in various wings of the Government of India by enacting the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946.
• In 1963, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was established by the Government of India with a view to investigate

• serious crimes related to Defence of India,
• corruption in high places,
• serious fraud,
• cheating and embezzlement
• social crime particularly of hoarding, black-marketing and profiteering in essential commodities, having all-India and inter-state ramifications.

• CBI derives its legal powers to investigate crime from the DSPE Act, 1946.

CBI and Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946

• In exercise of powers under the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, the Central Government constitutes a Special Police Force for investigation in any Union Territory.
• The power and jurisdiction of this Special Force can be extended to any other areas/State not being Union Territory for investigation of any offences or classes of offences notified by the central government under the DSPE Act, 1946 with the consent of the Government of that State.
• The Central Government can authorize CBI to investigate such a crime in a State but only with the consent of the concerned State Government.

• The Supreme Court and High Courts, however, can order CBI to investigate such a crime anywhere in the country without the consent of the State.

• The powers and jurisdiction of members of the DSPE (CBI) may extend for investigation in the state only:

• Once general or specific consent is granted under Section 6 of DSPE Act, 1946 by the State Government where the case is registered;
• Or when the case is entrusted to them by the Constitutional courts

• Withdrawal of consent, if any, by a State Government can be effected prospectively and not retrospectively.
• Further, in the cases which are referred by the Constitutional Courts, the entry of CBI cannot be denied by that State as these do not require the consent of the State.

Director CBI

• The CBI is headed by a Director.
• The Central Government shall appoint the Director on the recommendation of the Committee consisting of—

• (a) the Prime Minister — Chairperson;
• (b) the Leader of Opposition recognised — Member (as such in the House of the People or where there is no such Leader of Opposition, then the Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in that House)
•  (c) the Chief Justice of India or Judge of the Supreme — Member.

• For appointment as the Director, the person is chosen from amongst officers belonging to the Indian Police Service on the basis of

• seniority,
• integrity and
• experience in the investigation of anti-corruption cases

• Director continues to hold office for a period of not less than two years from the date on which he assumes office.

Can CBI take over the investigation of a criminal case registered by the State Police?

• Though, Law and Order is a State subject and the basic jurisdiction to investigate crime lies with State Police. But in the following situations it can undertake investigations:
  (i) The concerned State Government makes a request to that effect and the Central Government agrees to it (Central Government generally seeks comment of CBI before deciding upon the request of the State)
  (ii) The State Government issues notification of consent under section 6 of the DSPE Act and the Central Government issues notification under section 5 of the DSPE Act
  (iii) The Supreme Court or High Courts orders CBI to take up such investigations.

Who exercises supervision over CBI?

• The superintendence of CBI related to investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988lies with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

• In other matters supervision lies with the Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT) in the Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Grievances of the Government of India.

What types of Crime CBI investigate today?

• CBI has grown into a multidisciplinary investigation agency over a period of time. Today it has the following three divisions for investigation of crime:

• (i) Anti-Corruption Division – for investigation of cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Public officials and the employees of Central Government, Public Sector Undertakings, Corporations or Bodies owned or controlled by the Government of Indiaand Central Financial Institutions – it is the largest division having presence almost in all the States of India.
• (ii) Economic Offences Division – for investigation of major financial scams and serious economic frauds, including bank frauds, financial frauds, Import Export & Foreign Exchange violations, large-scale smuggling of narcotics, antiques, cultural property and smuggling of other contraband items, crimes relating to Fake Indian Currency Notes, Cyber Crime etc.
• (iii) Special Crimes Division – for investigation of serious, sensational and organized crime under the Indian Penal Code and other laws on the requests of State Governments or on the orders of the Supreme Court and High Courtssuch as cases of terrorism, bomb blasts, sensational homicides, kidnapping for ransom and crimes committed by the mafia/the underworld.

What is the difference between the nature of the cases investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the CBI?

• The NIA has been constituted after the Mumbai terror attack in November 2008 mainly for investigation of incidents of terrorist attacks, funding of terrorism and other terror related crime, whereas CBI investigates crime of corruption, economic offences and serious and organized crime other than terrorism.

Can CBI suo-moto take up investigation of any crime anywhere in the Country?

• CBI can suo-moto take up investigation of offences notified in section 3 only in the Union Territories.
• Taking up investigation by CBI in the boundaries of a State requires prior consent of that State as per Section 6 of the DSPE Act.

 

 

5. UnionPay System(TH, pg 13)

• Russian banks have said that they planned to issue cards using China’s UnionPay system after Visa and Mastercard moved to suspend operations in Russia over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine.

 

6. Democracy Report 2022: Autocratisation Changing Nature? (TH, pg 15)

• The V-Dem Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg has come out with their annual democracy report.
• The study is titled ‘Democracy Report 2022: Autocratisation Changing Nature?’.
• The V-Dem institute uses aggregate expert judgments to produce estimates of critical concepts by gathering data from a pool of over 3,700 country experts who provide judgments on different concepts and cases.
• The report classifies countries into four regime types based on their score in the Liberal Democratic Index (LDI): Liberal Democracy, Electoral Democracy, Electoral Autocracy, and Closed Autocracy.
• It classifies India as an electoral autocracy ranking it 93rd on the LDI, out of 179 countries.

 

7. HANSA-NG: Indigenous Aircraft Trainer (TH, pg 10)

• A first-of-its-kind indigenous aircraft trainer, HANSA-NG, developed by the CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), has completed sea-level trials in Puducherry, a necessary condition before evaluation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
• HANSA-New Generation is reportedly one of the most advanced flying trainers.