Civilian Awards of India

Civilian Awards of India

Bharat Ratna:

• It is the highest civilian award in India.
• This award was instituted on 2nd January 1954.
• This award is conferred in recognition of exceptional service of highest order without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex.
• Initially the award was restricted to achievements in art, science and public services, but government expanded the criteria to include any human endeavor. (Sachhhhiinnnnn... sachin)
• Prime Minister of Republic of India recommends nominees to President. He can only suggest maximum three names every year.
• Recipients get a certificate signed by President and a peepal leaf shaped Medallion.
• There is no monetary grant given.
• The recipient is ranked seventh in the Indian order of Precedence.
• Article 18 of Constitution of India does not allow recipients to use the award as title.
• The first recipient of Bharat Ratna was C.Rajgopalachari.
• The latest recipients are former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Freedom Fighter  Madan Mohan Malviya.

Padma Vibhushan:

• It is the second highest civilian award in India
• It was also instituted at the same time and also given by president on the recommendation of Prime Minister
• It is given in recognition of exceptional and distinguished service to the nation in any field, including government services.
• First year's recipients were Dr. Satyendranath bose, Zakir Hussain, Balasaheb Gangadhar kher, Jigme dorji Wangchuk, Nandalal Bose, V K Krishna Menon.
• Latest recipients are, L K Advani, Amitabh Bachchan, Prakash Sigh Badal, Virendra Hegde, Dilip Kumar, Rambhadracharya, M R Srinivasan, KK Venugopal, Aga Khan.

Padma Bhushan:

• It is third highest civilian award
• It is announced on Republic day every year
• It is coffered by President at Rastrapati Bhavan.
• It is awarded in recognition of distinguished service of high order to the nation in any field.
• This year more than 1000 people received this award.

Padma Shri:

• It is fourth highest civilian award in India.
• It is announced every year on Republic Day.
• It is given by President of India.
• It is awarded in recognition of contribution in various spheres of activities including Art, Industry, Education, Literature, Science, Sports, Medicine, Social Service and Public Affairs.
• It is also awarded to individual who are not citizen of India, but served in various ways to India.

Celebrate Earth Hour

Celebrate Earth Hour

Dear Rising Youth of India, Please celebrate earth hour today by switching off electricity for one hour. For more details please visit https://www.earthhour.org.

NITI AAYOG

NITI AAYOG

NITI Aayog which is National Institute for Transforming India which is a think tank or forum with states having bigger role in National development.

• It will include political heads (Chief Ministers) of 29 states.
• Lieutenant Governors of Union territories
• Prime Minister will be the Chairman, 
• A full time Vice-chairman, who will be the de facto executive head
• There will be a CEO and experts from various fields
• Four Cabinet ministers will be ex-officio members. Finance minister will be one among them.
• Some part time members will also be there.

Difference with Planning Commission

• State governments did not have participation in Planning Commission. So NITI aayog is more federal in its approach, having shared vision of national development priorities and fosters cooperative federalism, recognizing that strong states make strong nation
•  Planning Commission was having TOP-DOWN approach. Which means that policies were made at the national level. But in NITI Aayog plans will be made at the village level and aggregated at the higher levels of government. This will ensure specific attention to all sections of society.
• NITI aayog will provide a platform for resolving the interdepartmental and intrasectoral differences, which was not possible in Planning Commission.
• The planning commission used the approach of one formula fits for all. But in NITI aayog the plans will be made at grass root levels, so region specific plans will be made according to the needs of the region.
• Unlike the Planning Commission, NITI Aayog will not have the powers to allocate the funds.

Criticism:

Many scholars are of the view that NITI aayog is just a political move to replace a body of Nehruvian era. NITI aayog is nothing but an old thing in a new package. National Development Council is having the same composition, so what is the need of NITI Aayog.

Whatever may be the criticism, but the main thing is to be noted is that NITI aayog is more Federal, Region specific and a Decentralized approach.

+NITI Aayog
+PMO India

Something about section 66A

Something about section 66A

66A. Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc.
Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,—

(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or
(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,
(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages,
shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.

Explanation.— For the purpose of this section, terms “electronic mail” and “electronic mail message” means a message or information created or transmitted or received on a computer, computer system, computer resource or communication device including attachments in text, images, audio, video and any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message.

When was the first PIL filed? 

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal, who sought amendment in Section 66A of the Act, after two girls -- Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan -- were arrested in Palghar in Thane district as one of them posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's death and the other 'liked' it.

Some prominent cases where 66A has been used 

• JU professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested by West Bengal police for sharing cartoons on Mamata Banerjee. Subsequently HC asked the state government to give 50 thousand rupees compensation to Mahapatra. 
• Activist Aseem Trivedi was arrested for drawing cartoons which were critical of the Parliament and constitution.  Businessman Ravi Srinivasan was booked for allegedly tweeting offesive remarks against son of a prominent politician. 
• The apex court had on May 16, 2013, come out with an advisory that a person, accused of posting objectionable comments on social networking sites, cannot be arrested without police getting permission from senior officers like IG or DCP.
• The direction had come in the wake of numerous complaints of harassment and arrests, sparking public outrage. It had, however, refused to pass an interim order for a blanket ban on the arrest of such persons across the country.
• The court asked centre in December last year to clarify stand on the provisions that ensues arrest or be ready for such laws to be stayed. 
• At a later date, Apex Court said the Information Technology Act provision, which gives power to arrest a person for posting objectionable comments on social websites, cannot be quashed on the ground that it does not have 'mens rea' (motive or knowledge of wrongdoing) as one of the pre-requisites to constitute an offence.

The court's observation came when a lawyer said Section 66A of the IT Act deserves to be quashed as it creates a situation where a person can be arrested and jailed despite the fact that he neither intended nor had the knowledge that he was committing an offence.

Source: DNA and TOI

important news

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/upsc-results-to-be-delayed-after-scrapping-of-jat-quota-749856