rawan239, Author at Arunachal Pradesh PCS Free Notes

Citizens’ Charter

April 11, 2018October 16, 2024 by rawan239

Citizen charter

The Citizens’ Charter is an instrument which seeks to make an organization transparent, accountable and citizen friendly. A Citizens’ Charter is basically a set of commitments made by an organization regarding the standards of service which it delivers. Every citizens’ charter has several essential components to make it meaningful; the first being the Vision and Mission Statement of the organization. This gives the outcomes desired and the broad strategy to achieve these goals and outcomes. This also makes the users aware of the intent of their service provider and helps in holding the organization accountable. Secondly, in its Citizens’ Charter, the organization must state clearly what subjects it deals with and the service areas it broadly covers. This helps the users to understand the type of services they can expect from a particular service provider. These commitments/promises constitute the heart of a citizens’ charter. Even though these promises are not enforceable in a court of law, each organization should ensure that the promises made are kept and, in case of default, a suitable compensatory/remedial mechanism should be provided. Thirdly, the Citizens’ Charter should also stipulate the responsibilities of the citizens in the context of the charter.

Background

The Citizens’ Charter, when introduced in the early 19 90’s, represented a landmark shift in the delivery of public services. The emphasis of the Citizens’ Charter is on citizens as customers of public services. The Citizens’ Charter scheme in its present form was first launched in 1991 in the UK. The aim was to ensure that public services are made responsive to the citizens they serve.

A Citizens’ Charter is a public statement that defines the entitlements of citizens to a specific service, the standards of the service, the conditions to be met by users, and the remedies available to the latter in case of non-compliance of standards. The Charter concept empowers the citizens in demanding committed standards of service. Thus, the basic thrust of Citizens’ Charter is to make public services citizen centric by ensuring that these services are demand driven rather than supply driven. In this context, the six principles of the Citizens’ Charter movement as originally framed were:

Quality : improving the quality of services;

Choice : for the users wherever possible;

Standards : specifying what to expect within a time frame;

Value : for the taxpayers’ money;

Accountability : of the service provider (individual as well as Organization);

Transparency : in rules, procedures, schemes and grievance redressal.

These were revised in 1998 as nine principles of service delivery in the following manner:

Set standards of service;
Be open and provide full information;
Consult and involve;
Encourage access and promote choice;
Treat all fairly;
Put things right when they go wrong;
Use resources eff ectively;
Innovate and improve; and
Work with other providers

Government of India in 1996 commenced a National Debate for Responsive Administration. A major suggestion which emerged was bringing out Citizen Charters for all public service organisations. idea received strong support at the Chief Ministers’ Conference in May 1997; one of the key decisions of the Conference was to formulate and operationalise Citizens’ Charters at the Union and State Government levels in sectors which have large public interface such as Railways, Telecom, Post & Public Distribution Systems, Hospitals, and the Revenue & Electricity Departments. momentum for this was provided by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG) in consultation with the Department for Consumer Affairs. Department of AR & PG simultaneously formulated guidelines for structuring a model charter as well as a list of do’s and don’ts to enable various government departments to bring out focused and effective charters. Since May 1997, when the programme was launched in India, different Ministries, Departments, Directorates and other organizations at the Union level have formulated 115 Citizens Charters.

Making Citizens’ Charters Effective

The Commission has briefly dealt with the issue of Citizen’s Charters in its Fourth Report on ‘Ethics in Governance’. The Commission observed that in order to make these Charters effective tools for holding public servants accountable, the Charters should clearly spell out the remedy/penalty/compensation in case there is a default in meeting the standards spelt out in the Charter. It emphasized that it is better to have a few promises which can be kept than a long list of lofty but impractical aspirations.

Internal restructuring should precede Charter formulation: As a meaningful Charter seeks to improve the quality of service, mere stipulation to that effect in the Charter will not suffice. There has to be a complete analysis of the existing systems and processes within the organization and, if need be, these should to be recast and new initiatives adopted. Citizens’ Charters that are put in place after these internal reforms will be more credible and useful than those designed as mere desk exercises without any system re-engineering.

One size does not fit all: This huge challenge becomes even more complex as the capabilities and resources that governments and departments need to implement Citizen’s Charters vary significantly across the country. Added to these are differing local conditions. The highly uneven distribution of Citizen’s Charters across States is clear evidence of this ground reality. For example, some agencies may need more time to specify and agree upon realistic standards of service. In others, additional effort will be required to motivate and equip the staff to participate in this reform exercise. Such organizations could be given time and resources to experiment with standards, grievances redressal mechanisms or training. They may also need more time for internal restructuring of the service delivery chain or introducing new systems. Therefore, the Commission is of the view that formulation of Citizen’s Charters should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing broad guidelines.

Wide consultation process: Citizens’ Charters should be formulated after extensive consultations within the organization followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society. Inputs from experts should also be considered at this stage.

Firm commitments to be made: Citizens’ Charters must be precise and make firm commitments of service delivery standards to the citizens/consumers in quantifiable terms wherever possible. With the passage of time, an effort should be made for more stringent standards of service delivery.

Redressal mechanism in case of default: Citizens’ Charter should clearly lay down the relief which the organization is bound to provide if it has defaulted on the promised standards of delivery. In addition, wherever there is a default in the service delivery by the organization, citizens must also have recourse to a grievances redressal mechanism. This will be discussed further in the next chapter on grievances redressal mechanisms.

Periodic evaluation of Citizen’s Charters: Every organization must conduct periodic evaluation of its Citizens’ Charter preferably through an external agency. This agency while evaluating the Charter of the organisation should also make an objective analyses of whether the promises made therein are being delivered within the defined parameters. The result of such evaluations must be used to improve upon the Charter. This is necessary because a Citizen’s Charter is a dynamic document which must keep pace with the changing needs of the citizens as well as the changes in underlying processes and technology. A periodic review of Citizens’ Charter thus becomes an imperative.

Basic Structure of Indian Constitution

March 17, 2016October 16, 2024 by rawan239

Basic Structure

The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by the parliament. Key among these “basic features”, are the fundamental rights granted to individuals by the constitution. The doctrine thus forms the basis of a limited power of the Indian Supreme Court to review and strike down constitutional amendments enacted by the parliament which conflict with or seek to alter this “basic structure” of the constitution.

In 1965, The “basic features” principle was first expounded by Justice J.R. Mudholkar in his dissent in the case of Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan.

In 1973, the basic structure doctrine triumphed in Justice Hans Raj Khanna’s judgment in the landmark decision of Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala. Previously, the Supreme Court had held that the power of parliament to amend the constitution was unfettered. However, in this landmark ruling, the court adjudicated that while parliament has “wide” powers, it did not have the power to destroy or emasculate the basic elements or fundamental features of the constitution.

In 1975, Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Raj Narain, a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court used the basic structure doctrine to strike down the 39th amendment and paved the way for restoration of Indian democracy.

In 1980, The Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act had been enacted by the government of Indira Gandhi in response to the Kesavananda judgment in an effort to reduce the power of the judicial review of constitutional amendments by the Supreme Court. In the Minerva Mills case, Nani Palkhivala successfully moved the Supreme Court to declare sections 4 & 55 of the 42nd amendment as unconstitutional. Chief Justice Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud explained in the Minerva Mills judgment that since the power of Parliament to amend the constitution was limited, as had been previously held through the basic structure doctrine in the Kesavananda case, the parliament could not by amending the constitution convert this limited power into an unlimited power (as it had purported to do by the 42nd amendment). In addition, the court also ruled that the parliament’s “power to amend is not a power to destroy”.

The basic structure doctrine applies only to constitutional amendments. It does not apply to ordinary acts of parliament, which must itself be in conformity with the constitution.

In Kesavananda there were differing opinions even among the majority for what the “basic structure” of the constitution comprised.

Chief Justice Sikri, writing for the majority, indicated that the basic structure consists of the following:

The supremacy of the constitution.
A republican and democratic form of government.
The secular character of the Constitution.
Maintenance of the separation of powers.
The federal character of the Constitution.

Justices Shelat and Grover in their opinion added three features to the Chief Justice’s list:

The mandate to build a welfare state contained in the Directive Principles of State Policy.
Maintenance of the unity and integrity of India.
The sovereignty of the country.

Justices Hegde and Mukherjea, in their opinion, provided a separate and shorter list:

The sovereignty of India.
The democratic character of the polity.
The unity of the country.
Essential features of individual freedoms.
The mandate to build a welfare state.

Justice Jaganmohan Reddy preferred to look at the preamble, stating that the basic features of the constitution were laid out by that part of the document, and thus could be represented by:

A sovereign democratic republic.
The provision of social, economic and political justice.
Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.
Equality of status and opportunity.

The interpretation of the basic structure has since evolved in numerous other court rulings since the Kesavananda judgment.

Parliament’s control over Executive;

June 22, 2017October 16, 2024 by rawan239

Parliament is the supreme law making body of the nation.The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha is empowered to pass a vote of censure against the ministry. Whenever such a motion is passed, the ministry has to resign.

There are several means of Parliament’s control over Executive such as, both the houses exercise control over the executive through asking questions, discussing matters of urgent public importance, moving call- attention notices and adjournment motions, and also by appointing various committees such as public accounts committee, estimates committee, committee on public undertakings, committee on government assurances, the committee on privileges, the committee on subordinate legislation etc. All these activities keep the executive alert.

It is the function of Parliament to exercise political and financial control over the Executive and to ensure parliamentary surveillance of administration. Executive responsibility and administrative accountability, are two different functional concepts.

The executive has the right to formulate the budget. But Parliament must authorise by law the levy or modification of taxes. If any tax is imposed without legislative authority, the affected person can approach the courts for relief. In addition to it, the executive cannot spend public revenue without the sanction of Parliament. Parliament has also been provided with the means of ensuring economy in the amount of government expenditure.

The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) helps Parliament in ensuring that the executive has spent the expenditure sanctioned by Parliament in terms of law. The CAG audits that accounts of the union to see that no money has been spent without parliamentary sanction.

Administrative accountability means the accountability of the administration to Parliament. Parliament does not interfere with day to day administration nor does it control administration. Accountability to it is technical and indirect i.e. through the Ministers, and it is ex post facto i.e. after something is done; after action has ended.

Development of Hindi and Urdu Language

June 5, 2017October 16, 2024 by rawan239

Development of Hindi and Urdu Language

Hindi and Urdu are two Hindustani Languages; spoken mostly in the northern and Central India and in Pakistan.

Hindi and Urdu are two different languages but these languages have many common things.Both Hindi and Urdu are developed in a similar phase and adopted many changes.

We will discuss about the development of both the languages one by one.

Development of Hindi:

Hindi in Khariboli form has been accepted as officiallanguage of India. It is written in Devnagari script. It is listed in the 22 scheduled languages of India in our Constitution.

Hindi is one of the youngest languages of India which come in literary only before 2-3 centuries back.

Hindi is 4^ththe most speaking languages of the world after Mandarin, Spanish and English.

Now we will dig deep to find the foundation of Hindi language. Hindi is an Indo-Aryan Language which find its root in various Prakrit languages in India. There were various Prakrit was being spoken in various regions of like Magadhi, ArdhaMagadhi, Himalayan Prakrit, ShaurseniPrakrit etc.

This was around 500-600 century than these Prakritwere developed in their regions under the patron of their rulers. Although Sanskrit was used as official communication and for literary works, yet regional languages were the languages of the masses.

Hindi language was originally calledHindvi. It started taking shape around 10^th century. It was mostly spoken in the present day Delhi. It was highly influenced by the ShaurseniAprabhansha.

The vocabulary is derived mostly from the Sanskrit Language.

We can divide the development of Hindi language in 3 stages for our understanding:

Early Stages
Middle Stage

Modern Stage

Early Stage: This was the making time of Hindi when it was finding its root in regional Prakrit. The time can be considered form 5^th century to 1300 AD. In this time

Middle Stage: We can mark this time from 14^th century to 1800 Century. In this stage various saints and other poet wrote which was the basis of Modern day Hindi. Kabir, Ramananda, Tulsidas, Gurunanak, Meerabai , Amir Khusrau had much impact on this.

Modern Stage: This was the time when Hindi language developed fully. A lot of development happened during this time from grammar to modern novel writing. A lot of writers and scholars have done a lot for the development of Hindi. BharatenduHarishchandra also known as father of Modern Hindi Literature; did a lot for the development of Hindi and to shape it in standardized form.

Development of Urdu:

The early history of Hindi and Urdu is almost same. The invasion of foreigner from western part of India from Middle East brought many changes in the Indian people. The changes was not only in culture, lifestyle but was in the language as well. The invaders patronized Persian and Arabic form of languages;which influenced the local languages and vice-versa.

Urdu is also a Hindustani language which found its origin in various other languages. Urdu is mostly spoken in the northern parts of India and is official language of some states of India. After the partition of India, Urdu was accepted as national language of Pakistan.

Urdu is developedfrom the medieval Apabhramsa of Shaurseni.

Shaurseni is an Indo-Aryan language that is also the ancestor of other modern languages, including the Punjabi and Hindi dialects.

Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit.

Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech.

The development of Urdu can be summarized in three stages:

Early Stage
Middle Stage

Modern Stage

Early Stage: The early stage of Hindi and Urdu is almost same where it was finding its source in regional Prakrit languages. Invaders of Muslim rulers from West also brought development to initial stages. This period can be marked from 500-1300 AD.

Middle Stage: With the upcoming of Muslims rulers from west in India Persian language become prominent. Persian language itself has its roots in Arabic language. Urdu was influenced by the Perso-Arabic language duo and marked its tremendous development. Period: 1400AD -1800 AD

Modern stage: British had played important role in developing Modern day Urdu language. Persian was the official language of many ruler’s court, British were not happy with this and they tried developing Urdu to counter Persian language. Modern writers also played an important role in development of Urdu language.

Earth’s Layers – Earth’s Composition

December 20, 2016October 16, 2024 by rawan239

The Crust of Earth

It is the outermost and the thinnest layer of the earth’s surface, about 8 to 40 km thick. The crust varies greatly in thickness and composition – as small as 5 km thick in some places beneath the oceans, while under some mountain ranges it extends up to 70 km in depth.

The crust is made up of two layers an upper lighter layer called the Sial (Silicate + Aluminium) and a lower density layer called Sima (Silicate + Magnesium).The average density of this layer is 3 gm/cc.

The Mantle of Earth

This layer extends up to a depth of 2900 km.

Mantle is made up of 2 parts: Upper Mantle or Asthenosphere (up to about 500 km) and Lower Mantle. Asthenosphere is in a semimolten plastic state, and it is thought that this enables the lithosphere to move about it. Within the asthenosphere, the velocity of seismic waves is considerably reduced (Called ‘Low Velocity

The line of separation between the mantle and the crust is known as Mohoviricic Discontinuity.

The Core of Earth

Beyond a depth of 2900 km lies the core of the earth.The outer core is 2100 km thick and is in molten form due to excessive heat out there. Inner core is 1370 km thick and is in plasticform due to the combined factors of excessive heat and pressure. It is made up of iron and nickel (Nife) and is responsible for earth’s magnetism. This layer has the maximum specific gravity.The temperatures in the earth’s core lie between 2200°c and 2750°c. The line of separation between the mantle and the core is called GutenbergWiechert Discontinuity.

Preamble and its significance

July 2, 2017October 16, 2024 by rawan239

The Constitution of India begins with a Preamble which describes the nature of the Indian State and the objectives it is committed to secure. K.M. Munshi describes the Preamble as the political horoscope of the constitution. Thakur Dass Bhargawa says Preamble is the most precious part and the soul of the constitution.

The Preamble reads:

We, the People of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic and to secure to all its citizens;

Justice, social, economic, political;

Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

Equality of status and opportunity; and to promote among them all;

Fraternity, assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation ;

In our Constituent Assembly this, twenty sixth day of November 1949 do hereby Adopt, Enact and Give to ourselves this Constitution.

The words ‘Socialist ‘Secular” and ‘Integrity were initially not there in the Preamble. These were added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) of the Constitution.

Preamble: Features:

I. The Source of Authority:

Popular Sovereignty:

The Preamble categorically accepts the principle of Popular Sovereignty. It begins with the words: ‘We the people of India’. These words testify to the fact that the people of India are’ the ultimate source of all authority. The Government derives its power from them.

II. Nature of State:

The Preamble describes five cardinal features of the Indian state:

(1) India is a Sovereign State:

The Preamble proclaims that India is a sovereign state. Such a proclamation denotes the end of rule over India. It testifies to the fact that India is no longer a dependency or colony or possession of British Crown. As a sovereign independent state, India is free both internally and externally to take her own decisions and implement these for her people and territories.

(2) India is a Socialist State:

In 1976, the Preamble was amended to include the word ‘Socialism’. It is now regarded as a prime feature of the State. It reflects the fact that India is committed to secure social, economic and political justice for all its people. India stands for ending all forms of exploitation as well as for securing equitable distribution of income, resources and wealth. This has to be secured by peaceful, constitutional and democratic means. The term ‘India is a Socialist state’ really means, ‘India is a democratic socialist state.’

(3) India is a Secular State:

By the 42nd Amendment, the term ‘Secular’ was incorporated in the Preamble. Its inclusion simply made the secular nature of the Indian Constitution more explicit. As a state India gives special status to no religion. There is no such thing as a state religion of India. India guarantees equal freedom to all religions. All religions enjoy equality of status and respect.

(4) India is a Democratic State:

The Preamble declares India to be a Democratic State. The Constitution of India provides for a democratic system. The authority of the government rests upon the sovereignty of the people. The people enjoy equal political rights. The people freely participate in the democratic process of self rule.

They elect their government. For all its acts, the government is responsible before the people. The people can change their government through elections. The government enjoys limited powers. It always acts under the Constitution which represents the supreme will of the people.

(5) India is a Republic:

The Preamble declares India to be a Republic. Negatively, this means that India is not ruled by a monarch or a nominated head of state. Positively, it means that India has an elected head of state who wields power for a fixed term. President of India is the elected sovereign head of the state. He holds a tenure of 5 years. Any Indian citizen can get elected as the President of India.

III. Four Objectives of the Indian State:

The Preamble lists four cardinal objectives which are to be “secured by the state for all its citizens”.

These are:

(1) Justice:

India seeks to secure social, economic and political justice for its people.

(i) Social Justice:

Social Justice means the absence of socially privileged classes in the society and no discrimination against any citizen on grounds of caste, creed, colour, religion, sex or place of birth. India stands for eliminating all forms of exploitations from the society.

(ii) Economic Justice:

Economic Justice means no discrimination between man and man on the basis of income, wealth and economic status. It stands for equitable distribution of wealth, economic equality, end of monopolistic control over means of production and distribution, decentralisation of economic resources, and securing of adequate opportunities to all for earning their livelihoods.

(iii) Political Justice:

Political Justice means equal, free and fair opportunities to the people for participation in the political process. It stands for the grant of equal political rights to all the people without any discrimination. The Constitution of India provides for a liberal democracy in which all the people have the right and freedom to participate.

(2) Liberty:

The Preamble declares liberty to be the second cardinal objective to be secured. It includes liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. The grant of Fundamental Rights (Part III) including the right to freedom is designed to secure this objective. Liberty of faith and worship is designed to strengthen the spirit of secularism.

(3) Equality:

The Preamble declares Equality as the third objective of the Constitution. Equality means two basic things:

(i) Equality of status i.e. natural equality of all persons as equal and free citizens of India enjoying equality before law.

(ii) Equality of opportunity i.e. adequate opportunities for all to develop. For securing the equality of status and opportunity, the Constitution of India grants and guarantees the fundamental Right to Equality.

(4) Fraternity:

Promotion of Fraternity among the people is the fourth objective is to promote Fraternity among all the people. Fraternity means the inculcation of a strong feeling of spiritual and psychological unity among the people. It is designed to secure dignity of the individual and unity and integrity of the nation.

IV. Date of Adoption and Enactment:

In its final paragraph, the Preamble specifies the important historical fact that the Constitution was adopted on 26 November, 1949. It was on this day that the Constitution received the signatures of the President of the Constituent Assembly and was declared passed.

V. Self-made Constitution:

The Constitution of India is an adopted, enacted and self-made constitution. It was adopted and enacted by the Constituent Assembly acting as the elected representative body of the people of India. The Preamble states the philosophical foundations of the Constitution India and enumerates its objectives.

It constitutes a Key for the interpretation of the Constitution. It is a part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution. Through, it’s Preamble, the Constitution a commits itself to Democracy, Republicanism, Socialism, Secularism, Liberalism and Welfare State. The Preamble states the objectives which the Constitution is committed to secure for all the people of India.

Preamble of India

Global Warming

March 17, 2016October 16, 2024 by rawan239

An increase in the average temperature of Earth’s near surface air and oceans since the mid-20^th century
4^th assessment report of IPCC: global temperature increased 74+0.18 degree C during the 20^th century.
Caused by greenhouse gases
- Water vapour, Co2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Ozone, CFCs (in order of abundance)
Since the industrial revolution, the burning of fossil fuels has increased the levels of Co2 in the atmosphere from 280 ppm to 390 ppm.

1.02.18 Arunachal Pradesh(APPSC) Current Affairs

February 5, 2018October 16, 2024 by rawan239

NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Northeast states report spike in HIV rate in those injecting drugs

Close to 20% injecting drug users (IDUS) in Mizoram have HIV, compared to a nationwide prevalence of 6.26% among drug-users, shows data from National Aids Control Organisation’s (NACO) HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2017 released last month.

Six states in the region account for 43.5% of IDUS who tested positive for HIV in India.

The states in the region with higher than usual national prevalence among IDUS are Mizoram (19.81%), Manipur (7.66%), and Tripura (8.55%).

Needle-sharing among IDUS is one of the reasons driving the HIV epidemic in the region, with seven north-eastern states accounting for about 6% of all new HIV infections.

The health ministry began an epidemiological investigation in December last year to understand reasons why HIV prevention and treatment programmes are not working in the region.

The virus has spread in the general population through drug use and controlling its transmission now has become a huge challenge.

For India to meet the goal of ‘End of AIDS’ as a public threat by 2030, it is imperative to bring the numbers down.

INTERNATIONAL

· Melbourne To Host Final Of 2020 World T20
- Melbourne Cricket Ground will host the final of both the men’s and women’s World Twenty20when the tournaments come to Australia in 2020.
- It will mark the first time the tournaments are held as stand-alone events in the same year in the same country.
- The women’s final will coincide with International Women’s Day (8th March).
· Google Introduces A New App Named as Bulletin
- Google introduced a new app named “Bulletin”that allows anybody to submit stories for and about their communities.
- This is a free, lightweight app for telling a story by capturing photos, video clips and text right from your phone, published straight to the web.
- The app is made for contributing hyperlocal stories about your community.
- The application has been launched as a limited pilot project and is available in Nashville, Tennessee, and Oakland, California.
NATIONAL

· New e-way bill system comes into force to bring uniformity across the states

ð New e-way bill system comes into force to bring uniformity across the states for smooth inter-state movement of goods

ð A new e-way bill system will come into effect.
- Under the new system, every transporter will have to carry a system-generated bill to move goods from one place to another.
- The e-way bill systemintroduced to bring uniformity across the states for seamless inter-state movement of goods.
- Under the Goods and Services Tax, interstate transportation of goods beyond 10 kilometers with a value of 50,000 rupees and above, will mandatorily require the e-way bill.
- Last month, the GST Council decided to implement the e-way bill mechanism throughout the country from 1st of February, 2018.
- PM Narendra Modi writes a book titled ‘Exam Warriors’ for students
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a book for students who battle stress and anxiety during examinations.
- The book, slated to be released on February 3, talks about the ways in which students can tackle the stress.
- The book has been titled ‘Exam Warriors’ and mentions various means such as practicing yoga.
· Union Government launches GeM 3.0
- The Ministry of Commerce & Industrylaunched the third version of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM 3.0).
- The earlier version GeM 2.0 was launched a GeM 2.0 was launched as pilot project in August 2016.
- GeM 3.0 will offer standardized and enriched catalog management, powerful search engine.
- GeM is an Online Market platform to facilitate procurement of goods and services by various Ministries and agencies of the Government.
- Wi-Fi hotspots for rural areas proposed
- The government has proposed to set up five lakh Wi-Fi hotspots which will provide broadband access to five crore rural citizens.
- Allocation of Rs 10,000 crore has been provided in 2018-19 for creation and augmentation of telecom infrastructure.
· Govt proposes key amendments to PMLA
- The Central government has proposed changes to various provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) through the Finance Bill, including a crucial amendment that empowers the Special Court to restore confiscated assets to the rightful claimants even during the trial.
- The government has introduced a new Sub-Section (2) of Section 66, making it mandatory for the ED to share relevant details with other agencies.
- A key proposed change is in the definition of “proceeds of crime”, which now also allows the ED to proceed against assets of equivalent value located even outside the country.
- A further limit of ₹1 crore involved in the alleged offence would allow the court to apply bail provisions more leniently to less serious PMLA cases, said the government.
- Another suggested change is the inclusion of Section 447 of the Companies Act in the list of scheduled offences under PMLA. It will allow the Registrar of Companies to report suitable cases to the ED for money laundering probe.

APPSCE GS 3-Paper IV-Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

August 31, 2024October 16, 2024 by rawan239

General Studies- IV: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects. The following broad areas will be covered:-

Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections.
Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
Case Studies on above issues.

Famous Inscriptions

June 6, 2017October 16, 2024 by rawan239

Inscription	King	Aspect
Junagarh Rock	Rudradaman (Saka)	Sanskrit. Says that a dam on the sudarshana lake
		was constructed by Pushyagupta a governor of
		Chandragupta Maurya
Allahabad Pillar	Samudragupta	Sanskrit. Composed by Harisena
Aihole Inscription	Pulakeshin II	Mentions Harsha defeat by Pulakeshin II.
		Composed by Ravikriti Vishnuvardan son of King.
Gwalior Inscription	Bhoja	Most famous Pratihara king.
Hathigumpha	Kharvela
Boghaz koi	Proves Rig Veda to be	Indra, Varuna, Mitra, two Nasatyas mentioned
[1400 B.C.]	more than 1400 BC old.
Nanaghat Inscription	Satkarni I	Achievements of the king
	[Satvahana king]
Nasik Inscription	Gautamiputra Satkarni	Achievements of the king.
Mehrauli Iron Pillar	Chandragupta II
Mandsor Inscription	Kumaragupta I	Composed by Vatsabhatti.
Bhitari Stone pillar	Skandagupta
Tiruvalangadu	Rajendra I (Chola)	His conquests (annexed whole of SriLanka)
Uttaramerur	Cholar Period	Chola village assemblies
Besnagar Inscription	Near Vidisa (MP). Mentions Heliodorus the ambassador of king Antialcidas
	called himself Bhagvata & erected garudadhvaja in his honour of Vasudev.