Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2023

May 16, 2023

Current Affair 1:
Government data on taxpayers

 

Taxes are essential resources whose mobilization ­and maximization are crucial to governments in order to pay, among other things, for the development needs of the underprivileged and poorer segments of society as well as financing the crucial economic, and infrastructural needs.

Direct taxes account for half of the total tax revenues.

Direct taxes are defined as the taxes whose liability cannot be transferred to any other person except on whom the tax is levied. Taxes such as income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, security transaction tax and wealth tax come under direct taxes in India.

Personal Income Taxpayers above 10 lakh slab under ‘individuals’ category grew by more than 250% during last seven years.

Current Affair 2:
National Productivity Council of India (NPC)

 

National Productivity Council of India (NPC), established in the year 1958, is an autonomous organization under Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

Besides undertaking research in the area of productivity, NPC has been providing consultancy and training services in areas of Industrial Engineering, Agri-Business, Economic Services, Quality Management, Human Resources Management, Information Technology, Technology Management, Energy Management, Environmental Management etc., to the Government and Public & Private sector organizations.

Activities of NPC:

NPC is a constituent of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an Inter-Governmental Body of which the Government of India is a founding member.

 

Current Affair 3:
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

 

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based. They possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties such that, once released into the environment, they:

In addition, POPs concentrate in living organisms through another process called bioaccumulation. (Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated by catabolism and excretion.)

Fish, predatory birds, mammals, and humans are high up in the food chain and so absorb the greatest concentrations. When they travel, the POPs travel with them. As a result of these two processes, POPs can be found in people and animals living in regions such as the Arctic, thousands of kilometers from any major POPs source.

Specific effects of POPs can include cancer, allergies and hypersensitivity, damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, reproductive disorders, and disruption of the immune system.

POP is incomplete without Stockholm Convention:

The chemicals targeted by the Stockholm Convention are listed in the annexes of the convention text:

Current Affair 4:
How UAPA works?

 

Anti-terror laws in India

Originally conceived to combat ‘unlawful activities’, the UAPA, 1967 was the first step in the journey of the counter-terrorism laws in India.

  1. The first anti-terror law began as the Terrorist Affected areas act (TAAA), which was remodeled as the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, (TADA) 1987.
  2. After it’s lapse in 1997, it was repealed due to widespread criticism on its draconian provisions.
  3. It paved the way for Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002. It was repealed in 2004, but its provisions were included in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, (UAPA) 1967.

Currently, UAPA remains as the primary anti-terror law for Indian agencies. It was amended in 2004, 2008, 2013, and 2019. These amendments were aimed at giving powers to the state and the agencies dealing with counterterrorism.

Key provisions of UAPA

UAPA 1967, has provisions for declaring associations as ‘unlawful’ and prescribes measures for activities linked with such ‘unlawful association.’ The Section 3 of the act provides for declaring associations as ‘unlawful’.

While the order of the Tribunal constituted under this act confirming the declaration of any such association as ‘unlawful’ is necessary to make such declaration effective, the Central Government has powers to declare any organization ‘unlawful’ with immediate effect, if such circumstances exist and the reasons are stated in writing. The latest notification on the ban of PFI is issued using this exception.

In normal course,

  1. the Union Government shall refer such notification to the Tribunal within thirty days of any such issuance of notification and publication.
  2. The tribunal issues show-cause notice to the association with a deadline of thirty days.
  3. Upon receiving, the tribunal shall conduct inquiry and decide on the validity of such declaration within a period of six months from the date of issuance of notification.

 

Some more provisions:

 

  1. This tribunal is appointed by the Central Government and consists of only one person. The appointed person shall be a former judge of a High Court, as mentioned in the Section 5 of the act.
  2. The Central Government has powers to prohibit the use of funds of an unlawful association under Section 7, and
  3. the power to notify places used for the purpose of an unlawful association under section 8 of this act.
  4. The Section 10 of this act prescribes penalty for being member of such unlawful association.
  5. All offences under this act shall be deemed to be cognizable offences under section 14 of the act.

 

The act also has provisions for punishment for terrorist activities under Chapter IV.

 

The Chapter VI of this act deals with terrorist associations and individuals.

  1. Under Section 35 of this act, the Central Government can add or remove an organization to the First Schedule of the act, or individual under Fourth Schedule of the Act, to designate as terrorist associations or terrorists.
  2. Any such order shall be laid before the house of the Parliament. These can be de-notified under section 36 of the act.

 

 

Statistics on UAPA

As on 16 March 2022, thirteen (13) associations have been declared as ‘unlawful associations’ under section 3(covered above) of the UAPA 1967, and around 40 organizations have been added to the First Schedule of the act, deeming them to be terrorist organizations. The recent PFI ban is under the Section 3 of the act.  So far, 38 individuals have been designated as terrorists under UAPA.

What lies ahead if banned under UAPA?

The designation of an organisation as an unlawful organisation, as it has been in the case of the PFI currently, has severe legal repercussions, including the criminalization of its members and the confiscation of the organization’s assets under various provisions of the UAPA.

  1. After the declaration of the Organization or association as ‘unlawful’, such notification must be provided to the adjudicating tribunal within 30 days under Section 4 of the act.
  2. This must be complemented with the details of all the cases registered against such association by different agencies like the NIA/ED/police forces etc.
  3. Upon considering the same, the tribunal issues show-cause notice for the organization to explain why it should not be banned or deemed ‘unlawful’ within 30 days.
  4. The tribunal, based on the reply received, conducts inquiry.
  5. It has the powers of civil court such as the power to call upon witnesses, requesting any public record from a court or government agency, producing any document or other item that can be used as evidence among other things.
  6. Based on such information, the tribunal shall accept or reject the declaration issued by the Central Government.
  7. Incidentally, in majority cases, the tribunal had confirmed the notifications issued by the Government.

 

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