Todays in History (February 9^th, 1757)

On this day, the Treaty of Alinagar was signed between the British East India Company and the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah, restoring the factories, privileges, and the city of Calcutta to the Company.

Summary of Today’s News

‘Judicial Processes and their Reforms’

• The report was submitted by the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice in August 2023.

Recommendations for reform in SC and HCs

• Establishment of regional benches of Supreme Court (SC) at four or five
  • Article 130 of Constitution provides that the SC will sit in Delhi or in such other places as the CJI may, with the approval of President appoint.
• SC Should issue directions to all High Courts (HCs) to publish their annual reports as courts are also public institutions.
• At present, only SC and some of the HCs are publishing their annual reports.
• Increase the retirement age of judges
• Law for mandatory declaration of assets of judges-as a general practice all constitutional functionaries and government servants must file annual returns of their assets and liabilities
• The enhancement of representation of women, minorities, etc. in the higher judiciary
• Vacation by judges at different times- discontinue the colonial legacy

Payment aggregators

• Juspay, Zoho, and Decentro have received final authorization from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for Payment Aggregator (PA) licences.
• PAs are entities that facilitate e-commerce sites and merchants to accept various payment instruments from the customers without the need for merchants to create a separate payment integration system of their own.
• In the process, they receive payments from customers, pool and transfer them on to the merchants.
• PAs are different from Payment Gateways as latter only provide technology infrastructure to facilitate payment transaction without any involvement in fund handling.
• Examples of payment gateway- UPI, PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, 2Checkout, Apple Pay

Appointment of Lokpal

Context

• A high powered committee led by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has cleared the name of Retired Justice AM Khanwilkar to be appointed as the Chairperson of Lokpal, the national anti corruption body.
• Aeratu S Rajeev, Managing Director of Bank of Maharashtra, is slated to be appointed as the Vigilance Commisioner.
• Lokpal is currently being headed by Justice Pradip Kumar Mohanty and two posts of Vigilance Commissioners are vacant.
• Lokpal and Lokayukt Act, 2013 provide for establishment of Lokpal for Union and Lokayukta for States to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries.
• Jurisdiction of Lokpal includes Prime Minister, Ministers, members of Parliament, Groups A, B, C and D officers and officials of Central Government.

The selection committee of Lokpal

• The Prime Minister of India
• Speaker of Lok Sabha
• Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
• CJI or a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him.
• Eminent jurist (nominated by the President)

The appointment remains valid despite a vacancy in Selection Committee.

Scientists Declare Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) a Biosphere on Brink of Collapse

• Researchers at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) describe speed and scale of losses in nature and habitat in HKH region as catastrophic.

Key Points

• Hindu Kush Himalaya Region HKH Region extends about 3,500 km from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east.
• Home to largest ice reserves outside Polar Regions, feeds 10 major rivers including Ganga.
• Known as greater Himalayan region or the roof of the world.
• Concerns As per Asian Development Bank, HKH region is warming faster than global average and if global temperature rises hit 3°C, 75% of glaciers in Bhutan and Nepal could melt by end of century.
• 70% of the original biodiversity has been lost over last century.
• Initiatives to protect HKH ICIMOD is an intergovernmental institution (Headquartered at Kathmandu) working towards climate resilient HKH.
• Regional member countries of ICIMOD are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
• Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP) coordinated by ICIMOD.
• National Mission on Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, launched by India as part of National Action Plan on Climate Change.

South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)

Context

Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of multiple road upgradations as part of the SASEC corridor connectivity.

Key Points

• Established in 2001.
• Secretariat: Asian Development Bank
• Members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar
• Objective: It is a project-based partnership to promote regional prosperity by improving, Cross-border connectivity, boosting trade among member countries and Strengthening regional economic cooperation
• Four Main SASEC Sectors:
  • Transport,
  • Trade facilitation,
  • Energy
  • Economic corridor development