DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
20th December 2021
No. | Topic Name | Prelims/Mains |
1.   | About the Suspension of MPs | Prelims & Mains |
2.   | About the Aadhar-Voter Card Linkage | Prelims & Mains |
3.   | About the Dengue Fever | Prelims & Mains |
4.   | Details of the Asiatic Golden Cat | Prelims & Mains |
5.   | About the Panna Biosphere Reserve | Prelims & Mains |
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1 – ABOUT THE SUSPENSION OF MPs:
GS II
Topic – Parliament related issues
- Rule 255 of the Rajya Sabha’s General Rules of Procedure reads as follows:
- “The Chairman may direct any member whose conduct is in his opinion grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the Council, and any member so ordered to withdraw shall do so forthwith and shall absent himself during the remainder of the day’s meeting,” according to Rule 255 (‘Withdrawal of member’) of the Rajya Sabha’s General Rules of Procedure.
- What is the difference between suspension under Rule 255 and suspension under Rule 256:
- Rule 256 calls for ‘Member Suspension,’ but Rule 255 calls for a milder punishment.
- “The Chairman may, if he thinks it essential, suspend a member from the Council’s service for a period not exceeding the duration of the Session,” according to Rule 256.
- Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha have different powers:
- The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, like the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, has the authority to “command any Member whose behaviour is in his judgement highly disorderly to withdraw immediately” from the House under Rule 255 of the Rajya Sabha’s Rule Book.
- The Rajya Sabha Chairman, unlike the Speaker, does not have the authority to suspend a member.
- Suspension of Rajya Sabha members will be handled in the following manner:
- The Chairman has the right to “name a Member who disobeys the Chair’s authority or abuses the Council’s norms by continuously and deliberately blocking” proceedings.
- In such a case, the House may pass a motion suspending the Member from serving in the House for no more than the balance of the session.
- The suspension may, however, be lifted by another move in the House.
- Attempts to restore order in the House:
- Vice-President Ansari tried multiple times as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to bring order to the House. He proposed a number of bold methods for maintaining decorum in 2013.
- This included the following:
- MPs are being named and shamed in the Rajya Sabha bulletin for breaking House rules.
- Members who entered the Well or engaged in other severely disruptive behaviour were to be named.
- The telecast of the proceedings will be postponed to avoid the public from seeing images of the chaos.
- How can the suspension of members of Parliament be justified? Isn’t this a drastic measure to adopt to control rebellious behaviour:
- Unruly behaviour requires a long-term solution that is consistent with democratic norms.
- There is no doubt that the Presiding Officer’s supreme authority must be respected in order for proceedings to go smoothly.
- However, a delicate balance must be established. It’s important to remember that the Presiding Officer’s responsibility is to operate the House, not to rule it.
- Source –Â The Hindu –Â 20/12/21 –Â Page Number 1
2 – ABOUT THE VOTER ID AADHAR LINKAGE:
GS II
Topic – Election related issues
- Context:
- The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, aims to alter the Representation of the People Act to include essential measures such as voluntary voter ID linking with Aadhaar.
- Aadhaar and voter ID must be linked:
- Since 2015, the Election Commission has been requesting this. To link the Aadhaar number with the voter ID number, the EC created the National Electoral Law Purification and Authentication Program. The connection, according to the report, will weed out repeated enrolments under one person’s name.
- The programme was put on hold at the time because the Supreme Court ruled that using Aadhaar to access welfare programmes would be voluntary.
- As a result, the EC revised its plan and said that the linkage would be optional.
- Other clauses in the bill include:
- It will allow new voters to register on four qualifying dates instead of the current January 1 each year.
- Anyone turning 18 on or before January 1 is currently eligible to register as a voter. After a year, anyone born after January 1 will be required to enlist.
- According to the bill, in addition to January 1, there will be three more qualifying dates in each calendar year: April 1, July 1, and October 1.
- The reforms also make it possible for service voters to vote in gender-neutral elections.
- The modification will help to make the statutes “gender neutral” by replacing the word “wife” with “spouse.”
- Currently, an Army officer’s wife can register as a service voter, but a woman officer’s husband cannot. This will change as the term ‘wife’ is replaced by the term’spouse.’
- What Are the Concerns About Aadhaar Seeding and Voter ID:
- The proposal doesn’t say how much data will be shared between the ECI and UIDAI databases, how consent will be obtained, or whether consent to link the databases may be rescinded.
- Any move to allow data exchange could be problematic in the absence of a strong personal data protection law – a Bill in that regard has yet to pass Parliament.
- There would be an invasion of the individual’s privacy.
- Source –Â The Hindu –Â 20/12/21 –Â Page Number 9
3 – ABOUT THE DENGUE FEVER:
GS II
Topic – Health related issues
- When do dengue fever cases peak:
- The disease follows a seasonal pattern, peaking after the monsoon and not being evenly dispersed throughout the year.
- Every year, from July to November, there is an increase in dengue fever cases.
- What is the main cause of the dengue fever outbreak:
- Mosquito breeding grounds are being reduced at an alarming rate, while adult control techniques such as Indoor Space Spray and fogging are not being implemented on a regular basis. When dengue fever is reported, control actions in that area are ignored.
- About the Dengue Fever:
- Dengue fever is a disease that affects people all around the world
- Dengue fever is spread through the bite of a female Aedes (Aedes) mosquito.
- Aedes is a day feeder with a maximum flight distance of 400 metres.
- Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease that causes minor sickness in most people. However, severe dengue infections can be fatal.
- Dengue fever has an annual incidence of 100-400 million cases, according to WHO estimates, with the global incidence increasing substantially “in recent decades.”
- Source –Â The Hindu –Â 20/12/21 –Â Page Number 3
4 – DETAILS OF THE ASIATIC GOLDEN CAT:
Prelims Specific Topic:
- The Asiatic Golden Cat is a medium-sized wild cat belonging to the Indian subcontinent’s north-eastern region.
- On the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of vulnerable species, the Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) is classed as near threatened.
- Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act mentions Asiatic cats.
- Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) includes wild cats.
- Source – The Hindu – 20/12/21 –Â Page Number 5
5 – ABOUT THE PANNA BIOSPHERE RESERVE:
Prelims Specific Topic
- PBR was founded in 1981 and is located in the Madhya Pradesh districts of Panna and Chhatarpur, covering an area of approximately 540 km2.
- It is located in the Vindhya mountain range in Madhya Pradesh’s northern region.
- The Ken River (one of the Yamuna River’s least polluted tributaries) runs through the reserve, and the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project will be built there as well.
- Panna diamond mining is also well-known in the area.
- Recognition and Conservation:
- Panna National Park, India’s 22nd tiger reserve, was designated as a Project Tiger Reserve in 1994.
- The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change declared it a Biosphere Reserve in 2011. (MoEFCC).
- 2018: By the year 2018, the tiger population has increased dramatically from a decade previously, when it was predicted to be nil.
- The state with the most tigers is Madhya Pradesh, followed by Karnataka and Uttarakhand.
- It was included in the Man and Biosphere Programme by UNESCO in 2020. (MAB).
- Source –Â The Hindu –Â 20/12/21 –Â Page Number 5