POLITICAL SCIENCE

India’s Foreign Policy

Defence Minister Rajnath bilateral ties with Malaysia

• Mr. Singh arrived in Kuala Lumpur on a three-day official visit to Malaysia. 
• This is the first bilateral visit after the establishment of the Enhanced Strategic Partnership, which was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Malaysia in 2015.
• Recognising defence exports as a key pillar of sustainable growth of the Indian defence industry, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Regional Office of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Kuala Lumpur.
• This Regional Office will facilitate close defence industrial collaboration between India and Malaysia.
• It will also serve as a hub for the HAL’s engagement with the wider South-East Asian region and act as a window for other Indian Defense PSUs, the defence ministry said in New Delhi.
• Incidentally, Malaysia has evinced interest in procuring Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) indigenously designed and manufactured by the HAL.

About Malaysia

• Prime Minister – Anwar Ibrahim
• Capital – Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
• Currency – Malaysian Ringgit

Latest Court Verdicts

SC asks ED chief to quit, but upholds amendments.

• The Supreme Court asked Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra to quit four months before his third extension ends in November even as it upheld statutory amendments that facilitate the tentures of Directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the ED to be stretched “piecemeal”.
• CBI and ED chiefs have fixed tenures of two years.
• However, amendments introduced in 2021 to the Central Vigilance Commission Act, the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act and the Fundamental Rules allow them three annual extensions.

About Enforcement Directorate

• • Executive Director – Sanjay Kumar Mishra
  • HQ – New Delhi
  • Ministry – Finance (Revenue Department)

• Founded – 1 May 1956

Validity of Places of Worship Act

• The Supreme Court gave the Centre ‘sufficient time’ till October 31 to clarify its stand on the validity of the Places of Worship Act, which protects the identity and character of religious places as they were on Independence Day.
• Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government required “a little more time” to make up its mind about the law.
• In an earlier hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, had said the court would have to first consider the question whether a PIL challenging the Places of Worship Act of 1991, a Central legislation, would lie, especially after a five-judge Bench of the apex court had upheld the validity of the Act in its Ayodhya judgment.

Problem in Conduct of Public Election

New Feature in Voter Machines

• The Election Commission has introduced a new feature in the symbol loading process of paper trail machines in an effort to enhance transparency in the election process, according to a Union Law Ministry document.
• The new feature provides for simultaneous visual display of the serial number, symbol and name of candidates being uploaded to the VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trail machines) during the first-level checks and commissioning on a monitor or a TV screen for stakeholders to cross-check.

About VVPAT

• Since 2019, VVPAT (paper trail machine) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency (or segment in cases of Lok Sabha seats) are matched with the EVM count for greater transparency.
• No mismatch was found in the counting of paper trail machine slips and votes polled in EVMs in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and the seven bypolls held late last year.
• The VVPAT slips appear in a window for seven seconds after a vote is cast on an EVM to allow the voter to cross-check whether the ballot cast has gone to the intended candidate.
• The slip then falls in a basket. The voter cannot take the slip as it violates the principle of a secret ballot.
• Like the EVMs, the VVPATs also do not use an external power supply and run on internal power packs.

About Election Commission

• Chief Election Commissioner – Rajiv Kumar
• HQ – New Delhi
• Founded – 25 January 1950
• Objectives – Constitutional Autonomous Body conducts the elections to the offices of the President and Vice-President of India, Parliament, State Legislative assemblies and Legislative councils.

Public Awareness and General Administration

Family planning slogan boards installed on 4,000 government buses in T.N.

• At a World Population Day event, Health Minister Ma.Subramanian said that boards carrying slogans such as maintaining a three-year gap between two children were put up on 4,000 buses across the State to take forward the messages on family planning.
• The Minister said that the State’s population has increased to 8.4 crore, while India’s population has crossed 142 crore. 
• Raising the need for population control, “As the population increases, the livelihood of people becomes a question.”
• To prevent marriages of minors, he said that awareness initiatives were being taken up in districts such as Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri.
• The Minister also released a pamphlet on family welfare on the occasion. Permanent and temporary contraceptive methods for men and women are outlined in the pamphlets.

MPI 2023 Report

• A Total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005-06 to 2019-21, with its incidence falling from 55.1% to 16.4% during the period, the United Nations (UN).

• • The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
  • It said that 25 countries, including India, successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable.
  • The report demonstrates that poverty reduction is achievable. However, the lack of comprehensive data during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges in assessing immediate prospects.
  • In 2005-06, about 645 million people were in multidimensional poverty in India, with this number declining to about 370 million in 2015-16 and 230 million in 2019-21.
  • The report noted that de- privation in all indicators declined in India and “the poorest States and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress”.
  • According to the report, people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived under the nutrition indicator in India declined from 44.3% in 2005-06 to 11.8% in 2019-21, and child mortality fell from 4.5% to1.5%.
  • Those who are poor and deprived of cooking fuel fell from 52.9% to 13.9% and those deprived of sanitation fell from 50.4% in 2005/2006 to 11.3% in 2019/2021,” according to the report.
  • In the drinking water Indicator, the percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived fell from 16.4 to 2.7 during the period, electricity (from 29 to 2.1) and housing from 44.9 to 13.6.
  • India was among the 19 countries that halved their global MPI value during one period – for India it was 2005-06 to 2015-16.
• According to the 2023 release, 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people (just more than 18%) live in acute multidimensional poverty across 110 countries.