PMO The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the occasion of Mahalaya. "Shubho Mahalaya! I pray that the festive season

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1 19/09/2017 Tuesday Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.

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3 PMO The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the occasion of Mahalaya. "Shubho Mahalaya! I pray that the festive season furthers the atmosphere of peace, prosperity and happiness in our society", the Prime Minister said. Mahalaya, which falls on September 19 this year, marks the beginning of Durga Puja. It is believed that on this day, Ma Durga was created by Gods not only to defeat evil Mahishasura but destroy all evil powers from the earth.

4 Ministry for Development of North-East Region (DoNER) The Government of Singapore will set up a Skill Center at Guwahati which will cater to the entire North-Eastern region.

5 As far as Skill Centre at Guwahati, it was stated that an MoU has already been formalized between Singapore and the State Government of Assam. As a follow-up to this, a Skill Center is proposed to be set up at Guwahati by the year 2019 and the Ministry of DoNER will coordinate in this initiative. The Singapore delegation also expressed its preference to engage with India in the area of Space Technology for collaboration in peaceful uses of Outer Space. The Singapore delegation also wanted to seek the experience and expertise of India's Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions to bring about value addition in public administration and governance in Singapore. Dr Jitendra Singh shared with them that there already exists an arrangement between Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) Mussoorie with Singapore, wherein a certain number of passing out Civil Services/IAS officers, accompanied by two faculty members, regularly undertake a visit to Singapore.

6 Ministry of Home Affairs Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh chaired a meeting of all concerned agencies and representatives of certain States to review the measures being taken to arrest the growing trend of cybercrime in the financial sector. He expressed concern over the disturbing rise in cyber frauds using cards and e-wallets in particular. Officers from various agencies made presentations and appraised the Home Minister of the current trends of financial cybercrimes in the country and the steps being taken by their agencies to address this challenge. Capacity Building of various stakeholders such as police officers, judicial officers, forensic scientists as well as officials in the banking sector has been identified as a key measure. It has been decided to expedite the implementation of cybercrime prevention initiatives in these agencies towards this end along with measures required to acquire critical cyber forensics equipment.

7 Ministry of Women and Child Development The first ever National Conference on "Mission Mode to address Under- Nutrition" was successfully held in New Delhi today. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, keeping in mind the goal of Mission Malnutrition Free India The MoS said that the country has succeded in eliminating several difficult problems like chickenpox, polio etc. and it should not be difficult for the country to overcome the problem of malnutrition. Miss Gandhi also released a book "Forest Lanterns" containing essays on solutions to improve nutrition among children in tribal areas.

8 Ministry of External Affairs India has sought investigations into the North Korea s proliferation linkages. The ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters at a news conference in New York that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that North Korea's proliferation linkages must be explored and those involved must be held accountable. "We have very clearly mentioned that we not only deplored DPR case recent actions but also stated that its proliferation linkages must be explored and those involved be held accountable. Ms Swaraj held tri-lateral meeting with her US and Japanese counterparts on the sideline of the ongoing UN General Assembly session and deplored North Korea s recent actions. Responding to questions, Mr Kumar did not specify the country, but said the hints were enough to determine that.

9 Hurricane Maria In the United States, hurricane Maria rose in power today to become an dangerous Category Four storm. Now the hurricane is barrelling toward the Caribbean island of Dominica. The US National Hurricane Centre, said the eye and the intense inner core is expected to pass near Dominica in the next few hours. Maria was last reported 70 kilometres southeast of the French island and 35 miles northeast of the French island of Martinique.

10 Julio Ribeiro is a retired IPS officer, was Mumbai police commissioner, DGP Gujarat and DGP Punjab, and is a former Indian ambassador to Romania Also known as Super Cop of India

11 Some interesting incidents in the life of Super Cop Julio Ribeiro 1. I remember a minister in the Maharashtra government demanding the release of some gang lords from jail to help the Congress party in an upcoming municipal election. I was the commissioner of police and I flatly refused. I was not transferred and the minister only complained loudly that he was the minister for the state of Maharashtra, minus Mumbai city. But that was 30-plus years ago. 2. In Punjab, years later, the Union Home Minister Buta Singh wanted me to detain Akali voters in the SGPC election so that his candidates could win. When I told him that was not my job, he was naturally disappointed but I was able to turn down an illegitimate request. 3. As a young DCP in Mumbai city, in whose jurisdiction the labour leader George Fernandes had organised a public meeting, I had occasion to dodge the wishes of the then chief minister. I was not punished for doing what I was bound by the law to do. I doubt if I would have survived today.

12 There was a time when politicians were wary of expecting senior police officers to blindly toe their line, irrespective of the moral, ethical and, more importantly, legal merits of their instructions, communicated directly or through trusted intermediaries. It was not so bad some years ago. If the seniors resisted, or even refused, they were not summarily transferred. On the contrary, they may even have gathered some admirers among the political class. Politicians who did not like this intransigence were disappointed, to put it mildly, but they did not think it prudent to challenge the positions adopted on sound legal grounds by police leaders. Things were not so bad when politicians were more considerate.

13 This is not the situation today. Politicians of all parties and ideologies treat the bureaucracy and the police as private fiefdoms that will bow to their wishes as and when demanded. After all, politics involves essentially a quest for power and people like Gurmeet Singh (self proclaimed Godman) was in a position to deliver a massive number of votes to any party. What happened in Panchkula and other parts of Haryana will recur have no doubts about that. More people will die in future incidents of this type. We cannot expect politicians to disregard godmen and their ability to deliver thousands or lakhs of votes. We cannot expect politicians of any party to turn their faces away on moral, ethical or legal grounds. Any political party would fancy such huge amount of votes from such people.

14 Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) Nearly 21% of sanctioned posts are lying vacant, which translates to one cop for every 663 people against a sanctioned police population ratio of 1:518. Contrast this with the allocation of 56,944 police personnel to 20,828 VIPs. We have just 150 cops per lakh population. India s emerging power status is at odds with its position at the near bottom of this statistical table with some of the poorest nations for company. India s general conviction rate of 47% in 2015 and a conviction rate of just 21.7% in crimes against women reveal that most cases brought to trial end in acquittal, a grim reflection of the police force s incompetence. But the blame lies with state governments. The case has been made for greater administrative and functional autonomy to the IPS hierarchy so that police officers, from top to bottom, are not constrained by political imperatives and fear of disciplinary action.

15 The failure to staff police force adequately has created a corps of overworked and extremely stressed police. In a 2014 BPR&D study, 68% of surveyed SHOs reported that their subordinates worked more than 11 hours daily and 73% were summoned to work on off-days too. Institutional realities like custodial torture, non-registration of FIRs, low conviction rate and corruption are a direct consequence of the apathy to police reforms. The undiluted, sole, power to appoint and transfer senior police leaders is presently in the hands of chief ministers. It is unfortunate that officers today find it difficult to disregard such instructions without being ousted from their positions. The police in India today are not expected to uphold the rule of law. They are trained to do that but as soon as officers are absorbed into the system they quickly learn that all they are required to do is uphold the rule of the party in power.

16 The Supreme Court had ordered the dilution of this power 10 years ago in the Prakash Singh case so that police leaders were able to act independently of the political leadership in all matters of law and order and the investigation of crimes. Alas, this has not happened. No state government is willing to relinquish or even loosen its grip on the police with the inevitable consequences that we citizens have been experiencing over the years. The political stranglehold over the police machinery can distort the entire security scenario should be enough to convince any sensible, thinking Indian citizen that the power of politicians over the police needs to be adjusted by measures that have been suggested by the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh judgment.

17 The only solution is to ensure that the police do their duty as per the law of the land. And they will do it if the leadership is competent and free from the yoke of the political class. Police officers will then disregard the wishes of their political masters and uphold only the law and the constitution. If they know that they are not going to be transferred or punished for doing their duty then this country can say that the rule of law has come to stay. Only public pressure can sway the political class.

18 Questions 1. Name the scale that determines the severity of Hurricanes 2. Who is plastic man of India? 3. A substitute of cement block/stone made up of plastic is known as? 4. A river island called Sadhu Bet is located on which river of India?

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