last year shit 1

 The European Union Customs Union (EUCU) is acustoms union which consists of all the member states of the European Union (EU), Monaco, and some territories of the United Kingdom which are not part of theEU (Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man).




















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Recall the Article on Colonization of Asia. We had seen how the British, French and Americans had colonized almost entire South Asia.
After Second World War, most of these colonies attained independence. But they also had internal dispute regarding territories and borders.
One such dispute was Indonesia-Malaysia conflict over the Borneo islands.
This conflict + the then ongoing Vietnam War raised fears of increased external involvement in the newly independent states.
They feared that south east region would become a theatre of western vs. communist ideologies
Hence they decided to form a common platform:
To resolve bilateral issues among themselves
Present a collective front to the world.
1967, five countries signed “Bangkok declaration” to form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), later another 5 joined. Thus today ASEAN has 10 members
List of 10 ASEAN nations
Indonesia (ASEAN HQ is here, in Jakarta)
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Brunei
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
Myanmar
Musyawarah & Mufakat
ASEAN follows the principle of “ASEAN way”. Meaning,

Musyawarah And Mufakat  [deliberation and consensus]
don’t use force/confrontation
don’t interfere in the internal matters of states
Informal discussion
minimal institutionalization
To achieve “the ASEAN way”, Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) was signed.

TAC Treaty
It provides the guiding principles of ASEAN

they’ll not interfere in the internal affairs of one another,
they’ll not use threat or use of force to settle differences / disputes
they’ll settle of differences or disputes by peaceful means,
They’ll effectively cooperate among themselves.
they’ll mutually respect each other’s’ independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity
Every State has right lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion,
India had signed TAC treaty with ASEAN in 2003.

Timeline: Growth of ASEAN since 90s
1994 ASEAN regional forum (ARF). already discussed in separate article click me
1997 ASEAN+3 is formed to increase regional integration. This includes
China
Japan
South Korea
2002 Treaty to control haze pollution in South East Asia
2006 ASEAN gets observer status in UNGA (General assembly)
2007 Cebu declaration for energy securities and renewable energy.
2010 Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI)
It is a currency swap agreement among ASEAN +3,
It provides emergency liquidity to those economies during crises.
2012
Asean Human Rights Declaration
21st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh Combodia with theme:“ASEAN: One Community, One Destiny”
20

The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) and National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) have backed Union Minister Ramdas Athawale’s suggestion to raise the current quota to accommodate upper caste poor. As long as the current 49.5% quota for SC, ST and OBCs remains intact, we are open for extending it for upper caste poor, said both NCBC and NCSC.and

 23 other Indian Ocean countries today started a tsunami mock drill to test warning and detection systems. The exercise involves evacuation of around 35,000 people from the coastal regions of India. Named ‘IOWave16’, the two-day mock drill organised by UNESCO simulated a tsunami warning with an earthquake of magnitude 9.2 in the eastern Indian Ocean

An NCERT panel has found serious deficiencies and flaws in the textbooks suggested at primary level by state boards. It held the authors responsible for the students' future and said most authors were writing books only for earning money. The method of treatment of the subject and the flow of language too are faulty, the panel said while making recommendations.

Starting next week, the Central Information Commission will give real-time updates of queries filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act through email and SMS. The CIC would function as an e-court with all its files moving digitally, making the hearings faster and more convenient. The CIC has already scanned around 1.5 lakh documents and converted them into digital form.

Banni Grasslands Reserve or Banni grasslands form a belt of arid grassland ecosystem on the outer southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch in Kutch District, Gujarat State, India. They are known for rich wildlife and biodiversity and are spread across an area of 3,847 square kilometres. They are currently legally protected under the status as a protected or reserve forest in India. Though declared a protected forest more than half a century ago Gujarat state's forest department has recently proposed a special plan to restore and manage this ecosystem in the most efficient way.[1][2] Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has identified this grassland reserve as one of the last remaining habitats of the cheetah in India and a possible reintroduction site for the species.[3]

Melody and rhythm are the common grounds for music, be it Western or Indian. Indian music is essentially monophonic (single melody format or homophonic) while Western music can be polyphonic (multiple notes played or sung in harmonised unison), monophonic or a combination of both.This was later enhanced by the Muslim influence and this musical bifurcation was described for the first time as Hindustani and Carnatic music by Haripaladeva in his text the 'Sangeetsudhakara' (1309-1312 AD).

Both the styles are monophonic, follow a melodic line and employ a drone (tanpura) with the help of one or two notes against the melody. Both the styles use definite scales to define a raga but the Carnatic Style employs Shrutis or semitones to create a Raga and thus have many more Ragas than the Hindustani style. Carnatic ragas differ from Hindustani ragas. The names of ragas are also different. However, there are some ragas which have the same scale as Hindustani ragas but have different names; such as Hindolam and Malkauns, Shankarabharanam and Bilawal. There is a third category of ragas like Hamsadhwani, Charukeshi, Kalavati etc. which are essentially Carnatic Ragas. They share the same name, the same scale (same set of notes) but can be rendered in the two distinctively different Carnatic and Hindustani styles. Unlike Hindustani music, Carnatic music does not adhere to Time or Samay concepts and instead of Thaats, Carnatic music follows the Melakarta concept.

Suficomposers like Amir Khusro, and later in theMughal courts. Noted composers such asTansen flourished, along with religious groups like the Vaishnavites.

Mention amzad sabri sabri brothers nusrat fateh ali a r rehman etc in a box

The Hindustani music system uses different musica
forms like the Dhrupad, Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Tarana and so on. Of these, the important ones are Dhrupad, Khyal and Thumri. While the Dhrupad is the most strict form in terms of grammar and presentation format, the Khyal permits more liberty. The Thumri is the most flexible compared to the other two. But what separates one form from the other? How can one identify and differentiate? Let's see in detail. 

 Selvi v State of Karnataka

‘No person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.’ (the ‘right to silence’). The Court has, apparently, also held that even when a person volunteers to be subject to these tests, their result cannot be admitted as evidence in a court of law.

In a recent case, Rajbala v. Haryana (2015), a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India strongly rejected the doctrine of substantive due process in India. In this case, the constitutional validity of the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015 was in question. Under the Act, five categories of persons were considered ineligible to contest elections for certain offices in panchayats in Haryana (for example, those against whom criminal charges of a certain kind were framed, those who had not paid their electricity dues, those who did not have specified educational qualifications, those who did not have a functional toilet in their homes, etc). The Act was challenged on the ground that it was “wholly unreasonable and arbitrary and therefore violative of Article 14 of the Constitution”. Though the Supreme Court rightly held that a statute cannot be invalidated merely because it is “arbitrary”, it also went on to reject the U.S. doctrine of substantive due process by holding that Indian courts “do not examine the wisdom of legislative choices unless the legislation is otherwise violative of some specific provision of the Constitution”, as “to undertake such an examination would amount to virtually importing the doctrine of ‘substantive due process’ employed by the American Supreme Court”, and under the Indian Constitution “the test of due process of law cannot be applied to statutes enacted by Parliament or the State Legislatures”.

The Rajbala decision is particularly interesting because earlier Benches of the Supreme Court, in cases like Ramlila Maidan Incident (2012) and Selvi v. State of Karnataka(2010), have repeatedly held that substantive due process and due process generally are a part of Indian constitutional law under Article 21 of the Constitution.

1. Size of Council of Ministers - After the 1989 defeat of Congress, the first National Front government was formed by a coalition of Janata Dal and other local parties with outside support of Left and the BJP. This was a minority government under VP Singh. For the period from 1989 onwards the number of ministers were on the discretion of the Prime Minister and were done to placate the allies. Ministries were split into individual functions so that Ministers could be given their own fiefdoms to run. This also increased the power and stature of individual leaders and could lead to unstable governments and too many important people in the government to cater to. To resolve this, 91st Amendment introduced in 2003-04, capped the upper level of Ministers to 15% of the strength of the  "popular house of the legislature" implying LS in case of Parliament and Vidhan Sabha in case of states. Exceptions were given for smaller legislature of Goa, Sikkim & Mizoram. This too was on a higher side compared to the recommendation of National Committee to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) of max 10%. I feel that even the 10% was higher but 15% is too much given that only 272 MPs are needed to form the government, which means that at the maximum possible there would be 1/3 of the government in the driving seat.
2. Anti-Defection Law - The anti-defection law was enacted in 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi government and the intention was to remove horse trading and poaching of legislators by the parties. The law basically states that if a legislator elected on one party's ticket, resigns and moves to another party, his election will be nullified and he has to seek fresh elections on another party's ticket. However, if 1/3 of the party members left the party it did not qualify as defection. For smaller parties in the parliament, this was still a problem because smaller numbers of party members could still be poached by other parties without invoking the Anti-Defection law. To strengthen the Anti-defection law, this limit was increased from 1/3 to 2/3 members of the party in the 91st Amendment, thus making it more difficult for individuals and factions within the party to defect.

ramjawaya kapoor vs state of punjab

Our Supreme Court has recognised separation of powers as part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and can therefore strike down even amendments to the Constitution that infringe upon this principle.

The Delhi government has appointed 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries. Several other State governments have also taken this route in the past; earlier State governments in Delhi have also made such appointments, although fewer in number. This is part of a trend of weakening the power of legislative bodies by governments which has developed over the last three decades.

The concept of office of profit finds place in Articles 102 and 191 of the Constitution, which state that an MP or MLA will be disqualified if he or she occupies such an office. The idea is that every legislator should be able to carry out legislative duties without any obligation to the government of the day. As Ministers have to be members of the legislature, they are exempt from this disqualification. The Constitution also recognises that there may be other cases where exceptions may be required and allows Parliament and State legislatures to make exemptions by passing a law. In several cases, courts have examined this issue and concluded that the key question is whether occupation of such office will make a legislator beholden to the executive. In general, a person is considered to hold an office of profit if four conditions are met: (a) he holds an office, (b) the office is one of profit, that is, it carries some benefits, (c) the office is under the control of the Central or the State government (d) the office is not that of a Minister or exempted by an Act of Parliament or State legislature.

The 91st amendment to the Constitution recognised the problem of the government trying to win over legislators by giving them ministerial berths. It limited the number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, to 15 per cent of the strength of the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assemblies. For Delhi, Article 239AA of the Constitution limits the number to 10 per cent of the strength of the Legislative Assembly (which is seven persons). The question is whether by appointing 21 more MLAs as parliamentary secretaries — which will make 40 per cent of the membership have some type of an executive role — the nature of the Legislative Assembly is being changed. That is, whether such an Assembly will still be able to exercise its oversight role over the government. An argument has been made that these parliamentary secretaries will be able to aid the government in being more responsive to citizens’ needs. That argument, however, misses the point of separation of powers. The role of legislators is not to help the government do its job better, but to ensure that it functions in a proper manner. That is, the legislator exercises the role of a watchdog over the government on behalf of citizens and not as an agent of the government.

Disempowering the legislature

 Two other developments, the anti-defection law and MPLADS/MLALADS (local area development schemes), also weaken the separation of the legislative arm from the executive. The anti-defection law was enacted in 1985 through the 52nd amendment to the Constitution. This requires all legislators to abide by the party diktat on every vote in the legislature. Therefore, the legislator cannot exercise independent judgement on any issue if the party leadership has taken a position. Thirty years of experience shows us that this has led to concentration of power in party leaderships. For instance, one sees any government that is trying to build consensus — such as for the Goods and Services Tax legislation — negotiate with the leaderships of various parties, rather than convince individual MPs on the merits of the case. Also, the ruling party can require all its MPs to vote in support of a motion. These MPs have effectively lost their rights — and therefore cannot do their duty — of exercising their independent judgement on issues and performing the watchdog role.

In 1993, the Central government started MPLADS, through which legislators can earmark a certain amount of public funds for projects in their constituency. The concept has been adopted by many states as MLALADS. The argument was that elected MPs and MLAs know the needs of their electorate well and can be effective in allocation of resources. This again subverts the role of legislators. Their role is to allocate the entire Central and State budgets, and to monitor the spending. They are expected to use their knowledge of ground-level issues in this allocation, and see that the funds are spent properly. By providing each of them a specific amount to spend on projects, their oversight role is weakened.

The role of legislators is critical in a democracy. They are elected by citizens, and have the task of ensuring that the government is acting in the best interests of the public. In this, they are expected to exercise their independent judgements on what constitutes public and national interest. They act as a bulwark against autocratic actions of the executive. Therefore, it is imperative that their independence is protected. Actions that impinge on such independence, such as excessive appointments to executive positions, the anti-defection law and MPLADS, should be reversed. Otherwise, there is a risk of a slow erosion of the institution of legislatures, which could put at risk the very existence of our republic.

time in 11 years and the second time in nearly three decades, the Supreme Court is functioning without a Muslim judge, reported The Indian Express. “It’s not a question of their rights being denied, it’s a question of proper representation of all religions, castes and regions at the Apex court,” said ex-CJI KG Balakrishnan