1 – Collegium System in India:GS II

Topic à Indian Judiciary

·       Context:

·      
The government is currently considering at least
26 suggestions for the appointment of judges to the Bombay High Court, which is
already operating with less than half of its authorised strength.

·       How
Did the Collegium System Develop?

·      
Instead of being established by a law passed by
parliament or a clause in the constitution, the system for the appointment and
transfer of judges has developed as a result of Supreme Court decisions.

·      
Changes to the System:

·       1981’s
First Judges Case:

·      
It stated that “cogent reasons” may be
given for rejecting the “primacy” of the CJI’s (Chief Justice of
India) recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers.

·      
For the ensuing 12 years, the Executive would
have priority over the Judiciary in making judicial nominations.

·      
The SC established the Collegium system in
the Second Judges Case (1993), ruling that “consultation”
actually meant “concurrence.”

·      
It was further stated that this was not the
CJI’s personal opinion, but rather an institutional judgement developed after
consultation with the SC’s two most senior judges.

·      
Third Judges Case (1998): The Collegium
was increased to five members, with the Chief Justice of India and his four
most senior colleagues, on the President’s recommendation (Article 143) of the
SC.

·       Who
Is the Collegium Head?

·      
The SC collegium, which consists of the four senior-most
judges of the court, is led by the CJI (Chief Justice of India).

·      
Only the collegium system is used to nominate
judges of the higher judiciary, and the government only becomes involved once
the collegium has chosen names.

·       What
are the Judicial Appointments Processes?

·      
The CJI and the other SC judges are chosen by
the President of India.

·      
The outgoing CJI proposes his successor as far
as the CJI is concerned.

·      
Since the supersession issue of the 1970s,
seniority has been the sole determining factor in practise.

·      
For SC Judges: The suggestion is started
by the CJI for the SC’s other judges.

·      
The CJI contacts the other members of the
Collegium as well as the senior-most judge of the court who is a member of the
High Court where the suggested individual is a member.

·      
The consultees must submit their written
comments, which should be included in the file.

·      
The recommendation is forwarded by the Collegium
to the Law Minister, who then transmits it to the Prime Minister for the
President’s guidance.

·       For
the High Courts Chief Justice:

·      
According to the practise of having Chief
Justices from outside the individual States, the Chief Justice of the High
Court is appointed.

·      
The Collegium makes the decision on the
promotion.

·      
A Collegium made up of the CJI and the two most
senior judges makes recommendations for High Court judges.

·      
However, the suggestion was started by the
departing Chief Justice of the relevant High Court after consulting with two of
her most senior colleagues.

·      
The Chief Minister receives the recommendation
and recommends the Governor to forward it on to the Union Law Minister.

·       Issues
Associated with the Collegium System:

·      
Lack of transparency and opacity.

·      
Potential for nepotism

·      
Involvement in public disputes.

·      
Overlooks a number of promising young judges and
attorneys.

·       What
were the Appointment System Reform Efforts?

·      
The court invalidated the attempt of the
Government of India to replace Collegium System with a “National Judicial
Appointments Commission” (via the 89th Amendment Act of 2014) in 2015 on
the grounds that it endangered the independence of the judiciary.

·       Way
ahead:

·      
There is no time limit for the process of
filling vacancies because it involves both the executive and the judicial
branches and is ongoing. But now is the moment to consider creating a
long-lasting, independent organisation to institutionalise the procedure with
sufficient safeguards to protect the judiciary’s independence and guarantee
judicial supremacy but not judicial exclusivity.

·      
It should guarantee independence, show
diversity, exhibit professionalism and honesty, and reflect those values.

Source à The Hindu

2 – Digital India: GS II

Topic à Government Policies and Interventions

·       Context:

·      
According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the
Digital India programme has prevented the misuse of Rs 2.25 lakh crore during
the previous eight years. He made this statement in Gandhinagar. He mentioned
this while kicking off “Digital India Week 2022” and a Digital Expo
at Mahatma Mandir in New Delhi. The programme has also assisted in the
elimination of middlemen.

·       Digital
India Vision Focuses Upon:

·      
Digital infrastructure is a resource for all
citizens.

·      
On-demand services and governance.

·      
Digital citizen empowerment

·       Objectives:

·      
To get India ready for a knowledge-based future.

·      
Realizing that IT (Indian Talent) + IT
(Information Technology) Will Lead to IT (India Tomorrow).

·      
Placing the focus on technology to enable
transformation.

·       Various
Digital India Program Schemes:

·       Digital
Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing, or Diksha Initiative:

·      
It functions as the nation’s teaching-related
digital infrastructure. The latest digital technology will be available to
every teacher in the country.

·      
eNAM: This pan-Indian electronic trading
site was established on April 14, 2016, and it connects Agricultural Produce
Market Committees (APMCs) from all the States.

·       The
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s telemedicine service platform is
called eSanjeevani.

·      
DigiBunai: DigiBunai assists weavers in
developing digital artwork and translating saree designs so they can be loaded
onto looms.

·      
The Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s
AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) initiative was introduced by the Ministry
of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to offer street vendors inexpensive loans.
It encourages street merchants to conduct digital transactions.

·      
Aarogya Setu, a contact tracing app, was
one of the Covid-19’s digital solutions.

·      
A number of significant government initiatives,
including BharatNet, Make in India, Startup India and Standup India, industrial
corridors, etc., have access to the Digital India programme.

·       Important
accomplishments:

·      
Enhanced Electronic payments: the advent
of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which made digital payments
advantageous across the nation.

·      
UPI is assisting everyone with payments and
transactions, from thriving enterprises to small street vendors.

·      
Additionally, it spurs a number of private
actors to offer substitutes for digital payments, which have radically changed
the Indian economy.

·      
Business Operations Simplified: To assist
businesses in streamlining their operations, the Electronic Customer
Identification System (e-KYC), the Electronic Document Storage System
(DigiLocker), and the Electronic Signature System (eSign) were introduced.

·      
The JAM Trinity and Beyond What began as
a straightforward action to activate the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and
Mobile) to stop system leaks has now energised the whole immunisation push for
Covid, making India the only country after the United States to administer 20
crore COVID 19 Jabs.

·       Way
ahead:

·      
There are many obstacles standing in the way of
its successful implementation, including concerns with taxation, insufficient
infrastructure, slow internet, lack of collaboration amongst many authorities,
and digital illiteracy. To fully grasp the potential of this programme, several
issues must be resolved.

·      
Here are six specific initiatives that might
help the country turn into the new normal for digital as we commemorate six
years since the launch of Digital India. 4.0 helping India achieve its goals
and making the five trillion dollar GDP a reality.

·      
instilling a scientific mindset in which
perception does not influence policy.

·      
Data accessibility and decreased device costs,
particularly for smartphones.

·      
seamless connectivity and fast technology (5G,
6G).

·      
local language content of high quality.

·      
a protected and safe online environment with
designated areas for dispute resolution, ombudsmen, and grievance officials.

·      
Last but not least, more and more government
services will be made available online, with more departments interacting with
one another. Renewable energy, a continuous supply of power, green technology

·      
Agritech, health tech, smart cities, e-governance,
retail management, and smooth banking and payment solutions are just a few of
the growing interventions in the fields of technology made possible by Digital
India, which has been building the infrastructure for years.

Source à The Hindu

3 – Alluri Sitharama Raju:

Prelims Specific Topic

·       Context:

·      
On Monday, the 125th anniversary of Alluri
Sitarama Raju’s birth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 30-foot-tall
bronze statue of the freedom fighter at Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh’s East
Godavari district as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations to mark
the 75th anniversary of Independence.

·       About
him:

·      
The 1882 Madras Forest Act, which severely
restricted the freedom of the tribal people to roam about their own forests,
was enforced by the British Raj in 1922, prompting Alluri Sitaram Raju, an
Indian rebel, to lead the Rampa Rebellion against them.

·      
The community was unable to fully apply the
shifting cultivation-based traditional Podu agricultural practise as a result
of the effects of this Act.

·      
The fight came to a terrible end in 1924 when
Raju was captured by police, hanged from a tree, and put to death by firing
squad. He was known as manyam veerudu, or “the hero of the forest,”
for his bravery.

·       About
Kinaram Bheem:

·      
Gond Bheem, who was born in Telangana’s Adilabad
district in 1901, was brought up in the Chanda and Ballalpur kingdoms’
populated forests.

·      
Komaram Bheem had escaped from prison to travel
to an Assamese tea plantation. Here he learned about the Alluri-led rebellion
and was further inspired to protect his Gond tribe.

·       Rampa
Rebellion:

·      
The Rampa Rebellion of 1922, also known as the
Manyam Rebellion, was a tribal uprising headed by Alluri Sitarama Raju in the
Godavari Agency of the Madras Presidency of British India. It began in August
1922 and lasted until May 1924, when Raju was captured and slain.

Source à The Hindu

4 – PSA Oxygen Plants
Capacity in India:

Prelims Specific Topic

·       Context:

·      
Hospitals have refrained from using
pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) plants on a regular basis due to their high
operating and maintenance costs, lower oxygen quality produced, and fear of
upsetting the regular liquid medical oxygen suppliers.

·       About:

·      
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a technique
for under-pressure separation of certain gas species based on their molecular
properties and affinity for an adsorbent material.

·      
It operates at temperatures that are close to
ambient and is very different from cryogenic distillation methods of gas
separation.

·      
In order to capture the desired gas species
under high pressure, specific adsorbent materials (such as zeolites, activated
carbon, molecular sieves, etc.) are utilised.

·      
To desorb the adsorbed material, the process
then switches to low pressure.

Source à The Hindu