POLITICAL SCIENCE

Latest Court Verdicts
SC Examines Timeline for Speaker’s Decision on Defections
▪ Supreme Court questions whether it can set a deadline for Speakers to decide disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law).
▪ Currently, the SC only urges Speakers to decide within a “reasonable time”, without defining it.
10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution
▪ The Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, also known as the Anti-Defection Law, was added by the 52nd Amendment in 1985.
▪ It lays down the provisions related to disqualification of members of Parliament (MPs) and State Legislatures on grounds of defection.
Speaker’s Role in Defection
▪ The decision on questions as to disqualification on ground of defection are referred to the Chairman
or the Speaker of such House, which is subject to ‘Judicial review’.
▪ However, the law does not provide a timeframe within which the presiding officer has to decide a defection case.
Govt – Welfare oriented Govt schemes, their utility
T.N. gets more MGNREGS funds than more populous U.P.
▪ The Rural Development Ministry claimed that Tamil Nadu (TN) gets more MGNREGS funds than Uttar Pradesh (UP), despite UP having three times the population.
▪ MGNREGS is a demand-driven scheme, meaning funds are allocated based on the demand for work, not a State’s population.
ABOUT MGNREGA
▪ MGNREGA is the abbreviation for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005.
▪ It is a law passed by the Indian government in 2005 that guarantees the “right to work” to rural citizens of India.
▪ Under this, the government assures a minimum of 100 days of unskilled manual work to an adult member of an eligible rural household.
▪ The main objective of the MGNREGA is to provide employment to rural citizens and improve their economic conditions.