Current Affair 1:

Latest data ion  the Assurances made in the Lok Sabha

 

Ministers frequently provide assurances, commitments, or promises to consider a topic, act, or provide information in the future while responding to questions in the House or during deliberations of Bills, Resolutions, Motions, etc. These assurances do not lapse either on the expiry of the term of Lok Sabha or on the dissolution of the House.

These assurances are very crucial, and it becomes imperative that these are tracked, to provide a meaningful closure to the assurances made. For such reasons, the Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha have formed the ‘Committee on Government Assurances’.  The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs maintains Online Assurance Monitoring System (OAMS) to keep track of all the assurances made.

Brief about the Committee

The Lok Sabha has established a ‘Committee on Government Assurances’ with the aim of institutionalising the process to ensure the fulfilment of promises, and undertakings made from time to time by the Ministers are implemented, and in a reasonable amount of time.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs review the discussions in the Lok Sabha to identify the Ministers’ words and responses that serve as assurances. The standard list of forms constituting assurances can be found here. The assurances so picked out are informed to the respective Ministries/Departments.

For the implementation of assurance, the Committee has set a maximum time frame of three months, to be counted from the day it was delivered in the House.

Around 24% assurances of 17th Lok Sabha are Pending

As of 12 January 2023, around 2259 assurances are made in the 17th term of Lok Sabha. Out of these 2259 assurances, 1605 assurances are implemented, both partially and fully. The number of assurances dropped stands at 122, while the pending assurances add up to 532. This is around 24% of the total assurances made in this term of Lok Sabha.

45% assurances made in Rajya Sabha for current Lok Sabha term are pending

Like the Lok Sabha, the sessions held in Rajya Sabha during the current Lok Sabha witnessed higher pendency. During the 16th Lok Sabha, 17 Rajya Sabha sessions (232 to 248) were held, and for the 17th Lok Sabha, so far, 10 sessions (249-258) have been held.  The cumulative pendency of assurances in Rajya Sabha during these two Lok Sabha terms stands at 6.8% and 45% respectively.

5 ministries account for 30% of the pending assurances

If we look at the data of ministry-wise assurances, it is found that around 5.5% of assurances are pending for all ministries cumulatively from the 13th Lok Sabha to the 17th Lok Sabha. Out of this, five ministries/departments namely Railways, Defence, Education, Law and Justice and Social Justice and Empowerment cumulatively account for more than 30% of the total pending assurances.

For example:

Current Affair 2:

There is no provision prohibiting the appointment of a lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court as High Court Judge: Supreme Court

 

The petitioner in Rohan Dhungat vs. State of Goa and Ors had challenged the order passed by the Bombay High Court at Goa which held that period of Parole is to be excluded from the period of the sentence.

The SC Bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar explained that a specific reason is required for considering parole which can extend up to one month. It is granted by the State Government and may be granted more than once. They clarified that any prisoner who is influential may get parole for a number of times as there are no restrictions. In case, parole is included in the period of sentence, the purpose of actual imprisonment will be defeated. Citing this, the Bench dismissed the appeal.

Current Affair 3:

Draft Regulation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants Rules, 2022.

 

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on January 04, 2023, issued Draft Regulation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants Rules, 2022.

The following has been stated- Roles and Responsibilities:

1. State Governments/SPCBs/PCCs - The State Government or its agencies shall ensure that adequate upstream and downstream conveyance linkages/channels are in place for the proper carriage of effluent.

1. CETP operating agencies - In order to manage the CETP professionally, there shall be a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) or Society (registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860) or Trust (registered under an appropriate statute), which would be responsible for the entire operation and maintenance of CETP.

 

1. (Member Industries of a CETP - Member industries shall discharge the trade effluent meeting the outlet norms of their individual PETPs, as prescribed in the consents issued by SPCBs/PCCs.

These are just draft, but still few points which I mentioned you should remember.

Current Affair 4:

Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance” (RAMP)

 

“Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance” (RAMP) is a World Bank assisted Central Sector Scheme, supporting various Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID) Resilience and Recovery Interventions of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME).

The programme aims at improving access to market and credit, strengthening institutions and governance at the Centre and State, improving Centre-State linkages and partnerships, addressing issues of delayed payments and greening of MSMEs.

In addition to building the MoMSME’s capacity at the national level, the RAMP program will seek to scale up implementation capacity and MSME coverage in  States.

The total outlay for the scheme is  Rs.6,062.45 crore or USD 808 Million, out of which Rs.3750 crore or USD 500 Million would be a loan from the World Bank and the remaining Rs.2312.45 crore or USD 308 Million would be funded by the Government of India (GoI).

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