Article 334 of Indian Constitution provides for reservation of seats and special representation of SC/ST’s and from Anglo-Indian community (by nomination) in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
In the original constitution of 1949, it states that such special representation will cease to have effect after 10 years.
Parliament through various constitution amendment has extended the time period of reservation for the communities.
The period of reservation was extended to 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 by the 8th, 23rd 45th, 62nd and 79th Amendments respectively.
The 95th constitution amendment extended the reservation upto January 26, 2020.
Thus, the reservation for these categories in the lower House of Parliament and the State Assemblies was to expire on 25th January next year.
So, Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to extend reservation for SC/ST’s in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for another 10 years.
But a question mark prevailed over whether it has extended reservations for two seats in the Lok Sabha for the Anglo-Indian community.
Article 334, clause b provides for nomination of 2 Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha.
Presently, there are 84 members from the Scheduled Caste and 47 from the Scheduled Tribe communities in Parliament.
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Article 341 of the constitution define as to who would be Scheduled Castes with respect to any State or UT.
Article 342 of the constitution define as to who would be Scheduled Tribe (ST) with respect to any State or UT.
The President, in consultation with the Governor of a particular State, may notify the castes, races or tribes be deemed to be Scheduled Castes (A-341) and to be Scheduled Tribes (A-342).
Article 333 states that the number of
Anglo-Indians nominated by the governor to the State Legislative Assemblies should not be more than one.
Prithvi – II
India has recently test-fired Prithvi-II missile off the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.
Prithvi II is an indigenously developed surface-to-surface nuclear-capable missile.
It is a single-stage liquid fuelled twin engine missile with a short-range of 350km.
It is s capable of carrying 500 to 1000 kg of warheads.
It was inducted into the Indian Defence in 2003.
It is the first one to have been developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.
Prithvi – III is a short-range, road-mobile, ballistic missile and its model is a departure from Prithvi I, II as it employs a two-stage, solid propellant motor.
Global Climate Risk Index
The index is released by Environment think tank, Germanwatch for the for 2018 and from 1999 to 2018.
According to the index, Japan is the most affected followed by the Philippines as well as Germany in 2018.
Madagascar was the 4th most affected followed by India as 5th most vulnerable country to climate change.
India’s rank has worsened from the 14th spot in 2017 to 5th in 2018 in the global vulnerability ladder.
For the period from 1999 to 2018 Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti rank highest.
Reason for ranking – In 2018, a severe summer heatwave in Japan killed 138 people and caused more than 70,000 people to be hospitalised with heat stroke and exhaustion.
Philippines was battered by top-strength Typhoon Mangkhut.
In Germany, the period from April-July 2018 was the hottest ever recorded in the country, leading to the deaths of over 1,200 people.
In Madagascar, two cyclones killed about 70 people and forced 70,000 to seek refuge.
India suffered water shortages, crop failures and worst flooding.
Bharat Bond Exchange Traded Fund
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for creation and launch of Bharat Bond Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
It is to create an additional source of funding for Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), Central Public Financial Institutions (CPFIs) and other Government organizations.
Bharat Bond ETF would be the first corporate Bond ETF in the country.
ETF will be a basket of bonds issued by CPSE/CPSU/CPFI/any other Government organization Bonds (Initially, all AAA rated bonds)
Each ETF will have a fixed maturity date. As of now, it will have 2 maturity series - 3 and 10 years.
Each series will have a separate index of the same maturity series.
Exchange Traded Fund
An ETF is a type of fund that tracks the underlying assets and divides ownership of those assets into shares.
The underlying assets can be shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.
Shareholders do not directly own or have any direct claim to the underlying investments in the fund, rather they indirectly own these assets.
The ETFs trading value is based on the net asset value of the underlying stocks that it represents.
ETF shareholders are entitled to a proportion of the profits, such as earned interest or dividends paid, and they may get a residual value in case the fund is liquidated.
ETF Vs Mutual Fund - The transaction of stocks and bonds under the Mutual Fund is with the company that manages the fund.
Whereas in ETF, the ownership of the fund can easily be bought, sold or transferred in the same way as shares of stock, since ETF shares are traded on public stock exchanges.
