DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 10 December 2021
75 years of Historic First Sitting of Constituent Assembly
- The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to eminent stalwarts of Constituent Assembly to mark 75 years of its historic first sitting.
- In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister said.
- “Today, 75 years ago our Constituent Assembly met for the first time. Distinguished people from different parts of India, different backgrounds and even differing ideologies came together with one aim- to give the people of India a worthy Constitution. Tributes to these greats.
- The first sitting of the Constituent Assembly was Presided over by Dr. Sachchidanand Sinha, who was the eldest member of the Assembly.
- He was introduced and conducted to the Chair by Acharya Kripalani.
- Today, as we mark 75 years of the historic sitting of our Constituent Assembly, I would urge my young friends to know more about this august gathering’s proceedings and about the eminent stalwarts who were a part of it. Doing so would be an intellectually enriching experience.”
Olaf Scholz takes reins from Angela Merkel for new German era
- Olaf Scholz became Germany’s next chancellor on Wednesday after 16 years with Angela Merkel at the helm, as a new centre-left-led coalition took the wheel of Europe’s top economy.
- Mr. Scholz, who won 395 of the 707 votes cast in the Bundestag lower house, has pledged broad “continuity” with the popular Ms. Merkel while making Germany greener and fairer.
- Asked by parliament speaker Baerbel Bas whether he accepted the election, a beaming Mr. Scholz removed his black corona mask to say “yes” and then received bouquets of flowers from MPs.
- Ms. Merkel, 67, Germany’s first woman chancellor, is retiring from politics after four consecutive terms, the first post-war leader to step aside of her own accord.
‘PROJECT SAMPANN’
- More than One Lakh pensioners are currently being serviced by Principal Controller of Communication Accounts/ Controller of Communication Accounts offices all over India via SAMPANN which has improved the service delivery to pensioners by providing a single window setup ensuring the following benefits:
- Timely settlement of pension cases
- Provision of e-Pension Payment Order
- Login for each pensioner enables access to key information like payment history
- Online submission of grievances and timely SMS alerts
- It has ensured recurring monthly savings to the Government of India on account of Commission being paid to Banks/Post Offices for payment of Pension which approximately amounts to Rs. 11.5 Crores as of June 2021.
- SAMPANN – ‘System for Accounting and Management of Pension’ is an ambitious project of Government of India being implemented by Controller General of Communication Accounts, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications. It was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 29th December 2018. It is a seamless online pension processing and payment system for Department of Telecommunications pensioners. It provides direct credit of pension into the bank accounts of pensioners.
- The system has helped the Department in faster settlement of pension cases, improved reconciliation/auditing, and ease of accounting.
- SAMPANN has also been instrumental in settling close to 76000 BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme 2019 cases in a short span of 6 months.
- SAMPANN is a system with a flexible design which enables it to accommodate ever expanding requirements.
India will have its own space station by the year 2030
- Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh has said, India will have its own space station by the year 2030. In his reply during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha today, he said, the first manned space flight Gaganyaan Mission is expected in 2023. As a precursor to the Mission an unmanned flight would be held next year and another robotic mission by the end of next year. He said, the works on Gaganyaan got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Dr. Jitendra Singh also said, the solar mission Aditya is scheduled to be launched in 2022-23. He said, the third Chandrayaan Mission would be launched next year. He added that another mission to study Venus is also being worked out. Dr. Jitendra Singh remarked that India has already ascended in the global space arena as a frontline nation as it celebrates the 75th year of its independence.
565 Stranded People Evacuated under Operation Devi Shakti
- Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muralitharan has said that a total of 565 stranded people were evacuated under the Operation Devi Shakti.
- In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today on Indians struck in Afghanistan, the Minister said, few Indians still remain stranded in Afghanistan. He said, the Special Afghanistan Cell is in touch with these Indians as well as the members of the Afghan Hindu, Sikh minority community. He said, a 24×7 Special Afghanistan Cell was set up in the Ministry of External Affairs to facilitate repatriation and other requests from Afghanistan in view of the rapid deterioration in the security situation in Afghanistan, especially after 15th August of this year. Mr. Muralitharan said, 200 e-Emergency X-Misc visas have been issued to distressed Afghans and stay visa has been extended for four thousand 557 Afghan nationals who are presently staying in India.
- Replying to another query on providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, the Minister said, India has committed to provide 50 thousand metric tonnes of wheat, medicines and COVID vaccines to the Afghan people as humanitarian assistance. He said, as a contiguous neighbor and long-standing partner of Afghanistan, India is concerned about recent developments in that country, especially the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
Human Rights Day 2021
- Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year.
- The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.
- The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V), inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.
- The day is normally marked both by high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. Besides, it is traditionally on 10 December that the five-yearly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the human rights field also schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organisations.
- This year’s Human Rights Day theme is “Equality, reducing inequalities, advancing human rights.”
China is World’s Biggest Captor of Journalists: RSF Report
- A new report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said China is the world’s biggest captor of journalists with at least 127 reporters currently detained. China has justified the arrests of reporters and citizen journalists by accusing them of provoking trouble. The report titled ‘The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China’ reveals China’s violations against its own international commitments to freedom of opinion and expression. The report demonstrates how Beijing views journalism – not as a tool to provide information to the public to make informed decisions, but as an instrument of state propaganda.
- The Paris-based RSF also noted that press restrictions had worsened with the pandemic. At least ten journalists and online commentators were arrested in 2020 for the simple act of informing the public about the COVID-19 crisis in Wuhan. To this date, two of them, Zhang Zhan and Fang Bin, are still detained.
- The advocacy group’s report also listed how Chinese authorities used the fight against terrorism as a pretext to detain Uyghur journalists reporting on Xinjiang. China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity against what it sees as Islamists and separatists in the majority-Uyghur region.
- As per the report, other methods which China used are using its overseas diplomatic missions to attack journalists; media blockades; censorship of rising number of topics which included #MeToo movement, natural disasters in addition to sensitive topics such as Tibet, Taiwan, Corruption etc; forcing local journalists to study Communist Party ideology and download a propaganda application on their phones; visa blackmail and expelling or intimidating journalists. It also focuses on the deterioration of press freedom in Hong Kong, which was once a model of press freedom but now has an increasing number of journalists arrested in the name of national security.
- Foreign journalists too are facing trouble. China’s intimidation of foreign reporters, based on surveillance and visa blackmail, forced 18 of them to leave the country in 2020. Gui Minhai, Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei, three foreign journalists of Chinese descent, are now being detained on espionage charges, RSF said.
- Referring to the partial opening up under the previous government, RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire wrote that President Xi Jinping, in power since 2013, has put a brutal end to this partial opening and restored a media culture worthy of the Maoist era, in which freely accessing information has become a crime and to provide information an even greater crime.
- RSF ranks China 177th out of 180 in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, just two places above North Korea.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
- Who among the following was the chairperson of the Provincial Constitution Committee of the Constituent Assembly?
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
- J.B. Kripalani
ANSWER: B
- In context with the Constituent Assembly, which among the following observations is / are not correct?
- The members of Constituent Assembly were elected directly
- The basis of seats allocation was population
- Composition of the Constituent Assembly was roughly in line with the suggestions of the Cabinet Mission plan
- None
ANSWER: A
- The “liberty, equality and fraternity” enshrined in Preamble of Constitution of India, is inspired by which revolution?
- Russian
- French
- Irish
- American
ANSWER: B
- Who among the following headed the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas under the Constituent Assembly?
- Jawahar Lal Nehru
- Vallabhbhai Patel
- H C Mukherjee
- Maulana Azad
ANSWER: B
- Who among the following was the Constitutional Advisor to the Constituent Assembly ?
- Sachidanand Sinha
- B N Rao
- H N Kunzuru
- V N Menon
ANSWER: B
- In the Indian constitution the section on Citizenship draws inspiration from which country’s constitution?
- France
- USA
- Australia
- UK
ANSWER: D
- The features of Joint sitting, Trade and Commerce, Concurrent list etc were taken from
- France
- USA
- Australia
- UK
ANSWER: C
- Which of the following constitutional provision was borrowed by Indian Constitution from British Constitution?
- Judicial review
- Procedure established by Law
- Parliamentary Privileges
- Suspension of Fundamental Rights during emergency
ANSWER: C
- The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on
- 4 December 1950
- 10 December 1950
- 4 December 1949
- 10 December 1949
ANSWER: A
- Current Chairmen of National Human Rights Commission of India
- Arun Kumar Mishra
- H. L. Dattu
- Prafulla Chandra Pant
- J S Verma
ANSWER: A
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