General Studies Paper 2 Context: As both the State and Central government were perceived to be corrupt, the Congress benefited Introduction We define corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. Corruption erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development, and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis. Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if we understand the way corruption works and the systems that enable it. Prevention of Corruption act, 1988. On September 9, 1988, the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (henceforth abbreviated as PCA) became operative. Its goal was....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: The Supreme Court has recently ruled that a governor cannot unreasonably delay or refuse to ratify a bill passed by a state legislature, highlighting the fact that doing so compromises the legitimacy of elected officials and the legislative process. Introduction The 27-page judgment in the State of Punjab v Principal Secretary to the Governor of Punjab and Another ruled that the governor, who is chosen by the President, only acts as a symbolic head and cannot indefinitely withhold action on bills. The Supreme Court’s decision has clarified that should the governor choose not to sign....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: The inclusion of persons with disabilities into the economy can help boost global GDP between 3% to 7%. Introduction Globally, 1.3 billion people (which is equivalent to nearly the entire population of India) live with some form of disability. Of them, 80% live in developing countries; further, 70% of them live in rural areas. Current systems are designed for persons without disabilities and end up being exclusionary to people with disabilities, resulting in them experiencing higher instances of poverty, lack of access to education and opportunities, informality, and other forms of social and economic discrimination.....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: There are numerous apprehensions that arise from the Broadcasting Bill’s manifest scope as well as its noteworthy silences. Introduction The Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill released in November by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is part of an arc of endeavours to regulate broadcasting in an integrated manner. The last initiative to take on this ambitious task was back in 2007, in the form of the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill. The recent rendition of a Broadcasting Bill comes on the heels of a pre-consultation paper on ‘National Broadcasting Policy’ by the Telecom Regulatory Authority....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: Good intentions do not always make for sound policy. President Droupadi Murmu’s suggestion that the creation of an All India Judicial Service (AIJS) will help diversify the judiciary by allowing bright youngsters from varied backgrounds to become judges through a merit based process revives the debate on whether a national system of recruitment at the district judge level is desirable. All India Judicial Service (AIJS) : AIJS is a proposed service at all India level, on same lines as IAS, IPS etc, to recruit and nurture talented individuals into judicial service, ensuring representation from underrepresented....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context Supreme Court (SC) of India has three jurisdictions under the Constitution: original, appellate, and advisory. The Supreme Court serves as a Constitutional Court as well as a Court of Appeal. The Court sits in benches of varying sizes, as determined by the Registry on the directions of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), who is the Master of the Roster. Constitution Benches of the Supreme Court Article 145(3) of the Constitution provides for the setting up of a Constitution Bench. It says a minimum of five judges need to sit for deciding a case involving....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: In a parliamentary democracy, Governors do not have a unilateral veto over Bills passed by the legislature. This is the crux of the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case arising from Punjab after Governor Banwarilal Purohit withheld assent to some Bills passed by the State Assembly on the pretext that these were adopted in an illegal session of the House. Constitutional provision The Court’s reading of the scheme of Article 200, which deals with grant of assent to Bills, is in line with the core tenet of parliamentary democracy: that an elected regime responsible to....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: Ongoing proceedings before the Supreme Court raise concerns about the conduct of some Governors. The key issue that has forced State governments to approach the court for redress is the perverse manner in which incumbents in Raj Bhavan have used the absence of a timeframe for granting assent to Bills to harass and frustrate elected regimes. Recent trends: When the court raised the question, “What was the Governor doing for three years?” with respect to the Tamil Nadu Governor, R.N. Ravi, it was underscoring the fact that he disposed of pending Bills only after the....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Introduction: Civil society has been campaigning for long to empower the voter by improving her access to background information on the candidates in the electoral fray, and to bring about greater transparency in the obscure domain of political funding. In this, the instrument of public interest litigation (PIL) has been deployed to good effect. The campaign is premised on the citizen’s democratic right to information (RTI), which is integral to the fundamental right to speech and expression under the Constitution. A veil over the corporate donor Electoral Bond Scheme (EBS) was touted as a sincere effort....Read More

General Studies Paper 2 Context: There needs to be proper parliamentary scrutiny of the new Bills replacing the IPC, the CrPC and the IEA to ensure a fair, just and efficient criminal justice system. Introduction The Government has introduced three Bills to replace the core laws, i.e., the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and the Indian Evidence Act (IEA), 1872, which form the basis of the criminal justice system. These Bills are being examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. (The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill will replace the IPC; the Bharatiya....Read More