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Supreme Court on National Anthem:

 Jana Gana Mana was written by Rabindranath Tagore

 It was first sun on December 27, 1911 in Kolkata (Calcutta)
 It was adopted as National Anthem by the Constituent Assembly
on January 24, 1950
 Its rendition takes 52 seconds

 Our tradition teaches tolerance; our philosophy preaches

tolerance; our constitution practises tolerance; let us not dilute
it.”- SC in 1985
 There is no provision of law which obliges anyone to sing the
National Anthem nor is it disrespectful to the National Anthem if
a person who stands up respectfully when the National Anthem is
sung does not join the singing. Proper respect is shown to the
National Anthem by standing up when the National Anthem is
sung. It will not be right to say that disrespect is shown by not
joining in the singing. Standing up respectfully when the National
Anthem is sung but not singing oneself clearly does not either
prevent the singing of the National Anthem or cause disturbance
to an assembly engaged in such singing so as to constitute the
offence

 The national anthem must be played in all cinema halls across the
country before a film is screened and everyone present must stand
to pay respect to it. Supreme Court on November 30,2016

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 It said that the order should be distributed to Chief Secretaries of

States and Union Territories. It shall be widely published by the
electronic and print media so that "people wake up to see the order
in its letter and spirit". The order should be implemented within a
week hence.
 "Universalism is alright but little still Bharat is the epitome of
culture, knowledge... Gyaan and Vigyaan," - Justice Misra.
 Citizens should take pride in national anthem and they should be
taught how to sing national anthem.
 People must feel this is my country. This is my
motherland... Arrey, who are you? You are an Indian first. In
other countries, you respect their restrictions. In India, you do
not want any restrictions?" Justice Misra

"People now-a-days don't know how to sing national anthem

and people must be taught. We must respect national anthem
 The Supreme Court also said that the along with the anthem the
national flag should also be show on the movie screen.
 Time has come when people must respect national anthem which
is part of constitutional patriotism. People must feel that it is their
country. It is because of the country that they are enjoying
freedom and liberty,
 The SC said the national anthem must not be played
on entertainment TV shows as it cannot be commercially
exploited. There should not be any dramatization while singing
and playing the national anthem either.
 The anthem must not be printed on an "undesirable place’.

Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act of 1951.

Whoever in any public place or in any other place within public view
burns, mutilates, defaces, defiles, disfigures, destroys, tramples upon
or otherwise shows disrespect to or brings into contempt (whether by
words, either spoken or written, or by acts) the Indian National Flag or

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the Constitution of India or any part thereof, shall be punished with

imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years or fine or both

Think:
The concept of a good bank and bad bank may not be relevant for India
since much of the assets backing the banks’ loans are viable or can be
made viable.

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Electoral Reforms:

 The information given in Form 26 must be genuine. Else must be

disqualified and punished with an imprisonment for 2 years
 Distribution of money to the people should be treated severely
and must be punished for 2 years
 Contesting candidates should not have any debts to the
government
 One candidate should not be permitted to contest from more than
one constituency
 NRI should be permitted to vote in the elections and necessary
arrangements must be made.
 In the Legislative Council elections electors must show and vote
 Totalisers must be used effectively
 Many political parties are getting registered and not contesting in
the elections and getting the benefits of income tax. This
exemption should be there only for political parties those win
seats in the legislatures
 Legislative council members election expenditure should be half
that of assembly elections
 Every political parties must disclose the donations received.
 Election expenditure accounts must be submitted to the election
commission should be reduced to 20 days
 Opinion polls and exit polls results should not be released from
the date of first notification till the last elections
 Advertisements in electronic and print media must be stopped by
the candidates 48 hours before the elections

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Italy – Referendum

 Capital City - Rome

 Colosseum – is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of
Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest
amphitheatre ever built. The Colosseum is situated just east of the
Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian
in AD 72, and was completed in AD 80 under his successor and
heir Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of
Domitian (81–96)

The PM Matteo Renzi (Democratic Party) resigned following the

defeat on a Constitutional reforms referendum.

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The Italian Parliament is described as a perfectly symmetric bicameral

legislature, in that it has a lower house (the Chamber of Deputies) and
an upper house (the Senate of the Republic) with the following
characteristics:

 The two houses are elected simultaneously and for the same five-
year term.
 The Government must have each house's confidence, and is
responsible to both of them.
 All legislation must be passed in the same text by both houses:
whenever a bill is amended by either house, it must be sent to the
other one in a potentially endless process known as the navetta
parlamentare (parliamentary shuttle).

Referendum

Do you approve the text of the

Constitutional Law concerning
'Provisions for overcoming equal
bicameralism, reducing the number of
Members of Parliament, limiting the
operating costs of the institutions, the
suppression of the CNEL and the
revision of Title V of Part II of the
Constitution' approved by Parliament
and published in the Official Gazette no.
88 of 15 April 2016?

In accordance with Article 138 of the Constitution, a referendum was

called because the constitutional law had not been approved by a
qualified majority of two-thirds in each house of parliament in the
second vote. The constitutional amendment will not become law
unless it receives the support of a majority of votes cast in the
referendum. This was the third constitutional referendum in the history
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of the Italian Republic. The other two were in 2001 (in which the
amending law was approved) and in 2006 (in which it was rejected).

Proposals in the referendum:

The Senate represents territorial institutions. It shares the legislative
power with the Chamber of Deputies, but the vote of the Senate is only
required to enact laws regarding specific matters. For all other laws, the
vote of the Senate is optional and can be overruled by a second vote of
the Chamber of Deputies.
Senators enjoy the same immunities as the deputies, but receive no
remuneration.
The Government does not need to have the confidence of the new
Senate, and the Senate cannot pass a motion of no confidence against
the Government.

The reform differentiates between two main legislative procedures:

a unicameral procedure (in which the role of the Senate is mostly
consultative) and a bicameral procedure (in which a bill must be
approved by both Chambers).

 The majority required to elect the President is increased to three

fifths of the members of the Parliament in joint session after the third
round of balloting, and changed to three fifths of votes after the sixth
round. (The pre-reform Constitution mandates an absolute majority
of the members of Parliament after the third round of balloting.)
 Two judges of the Constitutional Court are elected by the Senate,
three by the Chamber of Deputies. (In the pre-reform Constitution,
the Parliament in joint session elects five judges.)
 The initiative of 150,000 voters is required to propose new
legislation. Once the text is received, the Parliament will be obliged
to discuss it. (The pre-reform Constitution requires only 50,000
signatures to propose a bill but it doesn't require the Parliament to
discuss it.)
 When a referendum is requested by more than 800,000 voters, it
only requires a reduced turnout to be valid (more than half of the
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turnout registered in the last general election, down from the

absolute majority of voter turnout in the pre-reform Constitution).
 Electoral laws are subject to a pre-emptive constitutional review by
the Constitutional Court, as an additional guarantee for
parliamentary minorities.
 A state of war can be declared by the Chamber of Deputies only
(instead of requiring the approval of both houses as in the pre-reform
Constitution); however, it must be approved by an absolute majority
of its members (currently, a simple majority vote is sufficient).

Q: Who of the following is the Secretary General designate of

UNO?
a. Ban Ki Moon
b. Antonio Guterres
c. Peter Thompson
d. Christian Lagarde

Answer: B

Q: Who of the following is the new Chief Justice of India from

January 4, 2017?
a. Justice Jasti Chalameshwar
b. Justice Ranjan Gogoi
c. Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar
d. Justice Deepak Mishra

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Answer: C

Q: ISRO has launched a satellite through PSLV C-36 on

December 7, 2016. The name of the satellite
a. IRNSS 1G
b. Carosat – 2C
c. Resourcesat -2a
d. IRNSS 1E

Answer: C

Q: Who of the following prorogues the Parliament?

a. President
b. Chairman of Rajya Sabha
c. Speaker
d. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs

Answer: A

Q: Who of the following is the Chairman of Ethics committee in

Lok Sabha?
a. Sumitra Mahajan
b. Murali Manohar Joshi
c. L K Advani
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d. Sonia Gandhi

Answer: C

Visibility is the first temptation – Supreme Court

The Apex court order for closure of all the liquor shops on the
national and state high ways from April 1, 2017

Impeachment of a High Court Judge:

 A petition was submitted to the Chairman of Rajya Sabha by 61
MPs.
 The petition was moved against Hyderabad High Court judge C
V Nagarjuna Reddy of victimising a dalit junior civil court judge
S Rama Krishna for refusing to remove the names of Justice
Reddy and his brother Pawan Kumar Reddy from a dying
declaration implicating them in a crime in 2012
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 Later 19 MPs withdrew later and the Chairman of Rajya Sabha

refused to accept the petition

National Lawyer’s campaign for Judicial Reforms and

Transparency
 In a petition it said instead of Justice Khehar, Justice J
Chalameshwar who is the 4th senior most judge in the apex court
should be elevated to the CJI, as he had given a dissenting view
when NJAC was struck down by 5 judge constitution bench led
by Justice Khehar

Constitutional Bench to hear Demonetization:

 The Supreme Court to test the validity of November 8, 2016
demonization notification and the legality of implementation of
policy
 Whether RBI notification and the limited withdrawal of one’s
money were violation of articles 14 (Right to Equality, 19
(Freedom of Speech, trade, occupation), 21 (Right to life), and
300 A (Right to Property)
 The Constitution Bench is going to decide whether the very
implementation of the notification suffered from substantive and
procedural unreasonableness.

Army Chief:
 Lt Gen Bipin Rawat is the new Army chief
 The appointment became controversial as he is not the senior
most and surpassed 2 seniors
 In 1980 the congress government has appointed General A S
Vaidya as the Army chief over General S K Sinha

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Intelligence Bureau:
 Rajiv Jain (1980 batch IPS) is the new chief from January 1, 2017

RAW:
 Research and Analysis Wing
 Anil Dhasmana is the new chief (1981 batch IPS) an expert in
Baloch issue

Green Tax:
 Kerala to impose Green tax from January 1, 2017
 This is applicable to all transport vehicles above 10 years
 And to the non-transport vehicles above 15 years
 This is also applicable to the vehicles of other states too

CJI:
 The President appointed Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar as the CJI
 He is the 44th CJI
 He takes over from January 4, 2017
 He retires on August 28, 2017
 The tradition of seniority has been complied with
 He led the Constitution Bench that scrapped NJAC
 He was the head of the Bench that set aside the imposition of
President’s Rule on Arunachal Pradesh in January 2016
 Also part of the Bench that sent Subrata Roy to jail
 He also led the Bench that gave a verdict holding that the
principle fo equal pay fr equal work has to be made applicable to
the daily wagers, casual and contractual staff

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L-G of Delhi
 Lieutenant Governor
 Mr Najeen Jung put in his papers
 He took over as the L-G in July 2013
 Reasons are as sited by his are personal
 He served as the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia
University
 He was appointed by the UPA government

Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu:

 Rama Mohan Rao
 He was the CS cum Vigilance commissioner
 He has been replaced with Girija Vaidyanathan

NGT:
 National Green Tribunal
 It ordered a fine of Rs 50000/- fine on airlines emptying toilet
tanks in the air.
 NGT also imposed complete ban on burning of waste in open
placesand announced a fine of Rs 25000/- for each such incident

Crisis in Poland:
 Poland is headed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski (Conservative Law and
Justice Party)
 The party came to power in October 2015 by popular vote
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 The government is undermining the democratic institutions in the

country
 Note: Constitution tribunal is the highest court of Poland.
 EU recommended for the protecting the independence of
judiciary
 Government is replacing the public bodies with the loyalists
 To control NGOs, curb media freedom
 Journalists will be banned to enter into Parliament from 2017
 The EU gave 2 months to Poland for course correction

Norway:

JNANPITH AWARD:

 The Jnanpith - Knowledge Seat

 Highest literary award in India.

 Presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust founded by

the Sahu Jain Shanti lal Prasad Rahul jain) family, the
publishers of the The Times of India newspaper.
 Started - 1961
 1st awarded in 1965.
 G. Sankar Kurup – 1st winner - 1965.
 11 Lakhs, bronze replica of Saraswati.
 Shankha Ghosh – 2016
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SAAW
 The DRDO has successfully tested an indigenous Smart Anti-
Airfield Weapon from an Indian Air Force aircraft.
 Designed and developed in the country, the 120-kg class smart
weapon is used to destroy runways, bunkers, aircraft hangers
and other reinforced structures.

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 Its long standoff range of 100 km will allow the IAF to hit
adversary airfields with high precision from a safe distance.
 The captive and release trials were tracked by radar and
telemetry ground stations at the Integrated Test Range at
Chandipur in Odisha during the entire duration of the flight.
 The lightweight high-precision guided bomb is one of the world
weapon system

 Note: DRDO Chairman: Dr S Chrstopher

Health Index:
 Niti Aayog’s health index will rank states on the basis of their
performance on ‘measurable’ indicators.
 What are measurable indicators?
 Infant mortality rate, sex ratio at birth and functional 24x7 public
health centres.

 “The maximum weightage is awarded to measurable outcomes

(in ranking states on the basis of their performance) since these
remain the focus of achievement.

 The NITI Aayog on December 24, 2016 has launched the

‘Performance on Health Outcomes’ index which will be used to
propel action in the states to improve health outcomes and
improve data collection systems.

 “A composite index would be calculated which focuses on

measuring the ‘level’ of health status of each State.

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PMGKY:
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana was launched in April 2015, aims
to improve the living standard of the poor people especially those who
are BPL through concrete government initiatives. The Programme’s
working was to engage poor people through workshops where poor can
attend.
Money mobilised from the PMGKY Income Declaration Scheme will
be utilised to finance the welfare programme for the poor.
The government has notified PMGKY and a cess as a tax (including
penalty) on black money in the form of deposit made with banks during
the demonetisation period (after November 9).
The modified scheme with a period from December 17 to March 31st
was announced on December 16th. The applied tax rate on declared
disclosed income will be 50%. Details about the income revealed under
the scheme will be kept secret.

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Tax rate on the disclosed income will be 50%. This 50% tax rate
comprised of basic tax rate of 30% plus 10% penalty and another 10%
(or 33% of the basic tax rate) as PMGKY cess.
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Cess is thus, a cess imposed on
those who discloses undisclosed income out of their savings made in
banks after the demonetization day.
These measures will be implemented after amending the relevant
sections of the Income Tax Act 1961.
Objective of the amendment is that the Government should get
additional revenue for undertaking activities for the welfare of the poor
but also the remaining part of the declared income legitimately comes
into the formal economy. For this, a tax and penalty will be imposed on
undisclosed income (50% on those who discloses and 85% for those
who don’t disclose and caught) and besides a portion of the remaining
money should be used for development purposes.
1. Window scheme for declarants of undisclosed income
First is a 50% tax rate on those who declare undisclosed income. This
50% comprises of:
(a) 30 percent tax
(b) 33% cess called ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Cess’ (33% of 30%;
this means a total of 10%).
(c) 10 percent penalty
Total tax rate is (30 + 10+ 10) = 50%.
Besides, the declarants must put the 25% of their disclosed amount in
a social security scheme. This will be locked for four years. For
channelizing this 25%, a deposit scheme is to be notified by the RBI
under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme, 2016’.
The deposit amount is proposed to be utilised for the schemes of
irrigation, housing, toilets, infrastructure, primary education, primary
health, livelihood, etc. For this, the existing Pradhan Mantri Garib

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Kalyan Yojana will be modified as an antipoverty and development

programme.

2. Higher tax rate for under-reporting/misreporting of

income
A steep tax rate of 60% (comprising basic 30% rate, cess and
surcharge) plus 15% from surcharge (25% surcharge means 25% of
60). The tax rate thus becomes 75%. The assessing officer can impose
10% penalty and the total tax rate becomes 85%.

China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor:

 The construction of a USD 360 million highway bridge

connecting China and Russia across the Heilongjiang River has
finally started after 28 years of talks.
 The main span of the bridge is 1,283 metres and links Heihe to
the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk.
"The bridge is an important link, and part of the China-Mongolia-
Russia economic corridor.
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 It will strengthen cooperation between the two regions.

 The bridge will boost trade between China and Russia and China's
investment in infrastructure, energy, and natural resources in
Russia.
 The bridge will benefit both Russia's Far East development and
China's revitalisation of the old industrial base in north eastern
provinces
 The bridge will be opened in October 2019

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