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Kuniya Institute of IAS Examination

Pointers for Preliminary Examination

Convention on Migratory Species

  • It is an intergovernmental treaty under the UNEP- popularly known as Bonn Convention.
  • It was signed in 1979. India is also a member.
  • It aims to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout their range.
  • Migratory Species: A migratory species is one that cyclically and predictably crosses one or more national jurisdictional boundaries due to factors like food, temperature, shelter, etc.
  • Two appendices under CMS:
    • Appendix I lists ‘Threatened Migratory Species’.
    • Appendix II lists ‘Migratory Species requiring international cooperation’.
  • It currently protects more than 170 migratory species from across the globe.

Space Science and Technology Awareness Training (START)

  • The programme is part of ISRO’s efforts to enable Indian students to become professionals in space science and technology.
  • START program is aimed at post-graduate and final-year undergraduate students of physical sciences and technology.
  • The programme will cover various domains of space science, including Astronomy & Astrophysics, Heliophysics& Sun-Earth interaction, Instrumentation, and Aeronomy.
  • It will be delivered by the scientists from Indian academia and ISRO centres.

Kishtwar National Park

  • Snow Leopardsspotted in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kishtwar National Park. It lies in Doda District, about 40km north-east of Kishtwar Town.
  • The park was established to conserve the snow leopard species, its prey populations and its fragile mountain habitat.
  • With Rinnay River in the north, KibarNala catchment in the south, the Great Himalayas in the east and Marwa River in the west, the area lies in the Central Crystalline belt of the Great Himalayas.

Snow Leopard

  • Scientific Name: Panthera uncia
  • IUCN Status: Vulnerable
  • Top Predator: Snow leopards act as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live, due to their position as the top predator in the food web.
  • Habitat:
    • Mountainous regions of central and southern Asia.
    • In India, their geographical range encompasses:
      • Western Himalayas: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh.
      • Eastern Himalayas: Uttarakhand and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Snow Leopard capital of the world: Hemis, Ladakh.
      • Hemis National Park is the biggest national park in India and also has a good presence of Snow Leopard.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

  • Created in 1948, it is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
  • The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.

  • Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) species are considered to be threatened with extinction.

Ex- Great Indian Bustard – CR

Gharial – CR

Golden Langue – En

Lion Tailed Macaque – En

ISSUE OF DELHI ORDINANCE

Why in news?

Recently, Government of India came up with an ordinance that alters the item “services” mentioned in the state list, after Supreme court stated Services comes under the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Article 1 of the Indian Constitution: India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.

  • The Indian Federation is an indestructible Union of destructible Units.

Status of Union Territory in India

  • Unlike the states of India, which have their own governments, Union Territories (UTs) are the federal territories, administered by the union government of India. In UTs, the central government appoints the Lieutenant Governor, who is the administrator and the representative of the President of India.
  • However, as an exception, Puducherry and Delhi have an elected legislature and government, as they were granted partial statehood, under the special Constitutional amendment.
  • Currently, India has eight Union Territories including, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry.

Status of Delhi

  • Article 239AA deals with UT of Delhi.
  • Legislature of Delhi shall have all the powers to legislate on the items in List II and III except Land, Public Order and Police.
  • CM of Delhi is appointed by President.
  • The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act was enacted in 1991 to “supplement provisions of the Constitution relating to the Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers for the National Capital Territory of Delhi”.

Notification of Union Ministry of Home Affairs, 2015

  • It stated that LG of NCTD shall exercise control over services and in that LG may seek the views of CM of NCTD at his discretion.
  • Initially Delhi HC stated that services fall outside the purview of Legislative Assembly of Delhi. This was challenged in SC and SC referred this matter to the Constitution Bench.

After this hearing, the case was transferred to a two judge bench and there was a split decision on the issue of services.

Supreme Court Judgement

In the matter dealing with the asymmetric federal model of governance in India, involving the contest of power between a Union Territory and the Union Government, the Constitution bench held the following:

  • NCTD is not similar to other UTs and by virtue of Article 239AA NCTD is accorded a “sui generis” status.
  • The Legislative Assembly of Delhi has competence over entries in List II and List III except for the expressly excluded entries of List II.
  • The executive power of NCTD is co-extensive with its legislative power. Union of India has executive power only over the three entries in List II over which NCTD does not have legislative Competence.
  • NCTD has legislative and executive power over “services” (Entry 41, List II of 7th Schedule)
  • It issued the concept of “Tripple chain of accountability” –
    • Civil Servants are Accountable to the cabinet
    • Cabinet is accountable to the legislature, or the Legislative Assembly
    • The Legislative Assembly is accountable to the electorate.

National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023

Government issued the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi i.e. GNTCD (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 which seeks to amend GNCTD Act, 1991. The ordinance came after the Supreme Court Judgement (Constitution Bench) handed over the control of services in Delhi, including Police, Public Order and Land, to elected government.

  • It creates a new statutory authority NCCSA – to make recommendations to LG regarding transfer posting, vigilance and other incidental matters.
  • The ordinance gives the Lieutenant Governor the power to make appointments to key bureaucratic positions in Delhi.
  • It also gives the Lieutenant Governor the power to transfer and post officials, which was previously the sole responsibility of the elected government.
  • The ordinance also states that in case of any difference of opinion between the Lieutenant Governor and the elected government, the former’s opinion will prevail.

What is federalism?

Federalism is a system of government in which powers are divided between two or more levels of government. In Indian context federalism is ensured by

  • Government at two levels – Centre and State derive their authority from the Constitution.
  • Division of power between the centre and states.
  • Supremacy of the Constitution.
  • Independent judiciary.

 

In the Indian Constitution there are separate provisions for Centre-State Relations. This C-S relation has 3 dimensions – Legislative, Administrative, Economic/Fiscal

What is ordinance?

  • Article 123 of the Constitution of India grants the President certain law-making powers to promulgate ordinances when either of the two Houses of Parliament is not in session, in urgent situations.
  • An ordinance promulgated by the President has a maximum validity of six months and six weeks from the date of its promulgation.
  • The Governor of a state can also issue ordinances under Article 213 of the Constitution of India, when the state legislative assembly is not in session.
  • The President can withdraw an Ordinance, and both Houses of Parliament can pass resolutions to disapprove it, potentially leading to its lapse. Rejection of an ordinance would, however, imply the government has lost majority.

Judicial Pronouncements on Ordinances

  • R.C. Cooper v. Union of India (1970): The Supreme Court held that the President’s satisfaction regarding the necessity of an ordinance is not immune from judicial review and can be challenged.
  • A.K. Roy v. Union of India (1982): This case challenged the National Security Ordinance, 1980, which provided for preventive detention of persons for up to one year without trial. The Supreme Court upheld the validity of the ordinance but laid down some safeguards for its operation, such as periodic review by an advisory board, communication of grounds of detention to the detenu, and opportunity for representation against detention.
  • D.C. Wadhwa v. State of Bihar (1987): In this case, the governor of Bihar was accused of issuing a number of ordinances between 1967 and 1981 on a variety of subjects, some of which were repeated without being brought before the state legislature. All of the ordinances were declared unlawful by the Supreme Court, which also ruled that their re-promulgation violated the Constitution and undermined the democratic legislative process.