Wednesday, 17th july, 2013

NATIONAL NEWS

• Court appointed panel highlights misuse of AFSPA in Manipur
  • Once again highlighting the rampant misuse of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA, a Supreme Court-appointed Judicial Commission has noted that the Act has failed to tackle insurgency and that the armed forces were indulging in gross violation of human rights by operating under the shield of the controversial law.
  • The report comes at a time when there is growing demand for withdrawal of the AFSPA from Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency-hit North-eastern States. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been repeatedly demanding phased withdrawal of the controversial Act from the State as a confidence-building measure.
  • Notably, the Justice Verma Committee, in its report setting forth measures to curb sexual violence, had also highlighted the misuse of the AFSPA by Army personnel and recommended that “sexual violence against women by members of the armed forces or uniformed personnel must be brought within the purview of the ordinary criminal law.”

• FDI cap hiked in key sectors
  • In a bid to boost foreign investment, the UPA government hiked limits and relaxed rules for Foreign Direct Investment in key sectors including defence, telecom, insurance, commodity exchanges and power exchanges. In telecom, the FDI limit has been increased from 74 per cent to 100 per cent under the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) route.
  • The 26 per cent FDI cap on defence manufacturing would now be under the automatic route and beyond 26 per cent the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) will take a decision on a case-to-case basis.
  • Addressing concerns, especially of the foreign investors in the insurance sector, the government hiked the 26 per cent FDI limit to 49 per cent under the automatic approval route.
  • Similarly, for basic and cellular services in the telecom sector, the government hiked the limit under the automatic route to 49 per cent and 49 to 100 per cent under the FIPB route.
  • In petroleum and natural gas refining, commodity exchanges, power exchanges, stock exchanges and depositories, the cap has gone up to 49 per cent under the automatic route.
  • Similarly, for Asset Reconstruction Companies, the 49 per cent cap has been brought under the automatic route and from 49 per cent to 100 per cent under the FIPB route. For credit information companies, the cap under automatic route has been hiked to 74 per cent.
  • In the case of single-brand retail trading, the 49 per cent limit has been brought under the automatic route and from 49 per cent to 100 per cent under the FIPB route. For courier services, the cap has been hiked to 100 per cent under the automatic route.

• Anti diabetes drug banned in haste
  • There is growing evidence that the ban the Union Health Ministry imposed on June 18 on pioglitazone — a widely used anti-diabetes oral drug — was taken with undue haste and in great secrecy.
  • There was no large-scale scientific study undertaken to know the risk of bladder cancer caused by the drug before imposing the ban. The drug was approved for use in India in early 2000s and many thousands are on this drug.

• Live in enough to claim benefits of the act
  • The Kerala High Court has held that valid marriage is not required to claim the benefits of the provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act.
  • Justice K. Harilal has observed that what is intended under Section 2(a) of the Act is a relationship in the nature of marriage and nothing more. A marriage which is valid in the eye of the law is not required to claim the benefits under the Act. The couple must have lived together akin to spouses. That alone is sufficient.

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Article on snooping
• Article by Katju on the recent supreme court judgements on elections and caste rallies
• Editorial on RBI efforts to check the rupee fall