Prelims Tidbits 13 Sep 17

Cooling off period in Hindu divorce can go :SC

Context:
1. Hindu couples who have mutually agreed to separate need not wait anymore
for the mandatory “cooling off” period of six months before divorce, the
Supreme Court held on Tuesday.
2. Once a couple moves a court of law for divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act,
they have to wait for a minimum period of six months.
3. Divorce by mutual consent was introduced as an amendment to the Hindu
Marriage Act in 1976.
4. The waiting period under Section 13B was mandated to prevent couples from
taking any hasty decision to end their marriage. Marriage is a sacrament in
Hinduism.
5. The waiting period was for them to have enough time to think through their
decision to separate.
6.Divorce was granted only after the ‘cooling off’ period and once the court found
there was no further chance for reconciliation. “The waiting period will only
prolong their agony,” a Bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalit observed in
their judgment.
7 . The court held that the waiting period should be done away with in cases where
there is no way to save the marriage and all efforts at mediation and

conciliation have run their course

HINDU MARRIAGE ACT 1955 

This Act, extends to whole of India, except state of Jammu and Kashmir, applies
also to Hindus domiciled in territories to which the Act extends and those who
are out side the said territories.

2. It applies to Hindus (in any of its forms or development) and also to Buddhists,
Sikhs, Jains and also those who are not Muslims, Christians, Parsis or Jews by
religion.

3. However, the Act does not apply to members of any scheduled tribes unless

Central Government by notification in the official Gazette otherwise directs

ROAD SAFETY BILL
Context 
1.Two Lok Sabha MPs from Rajasthan on Tuesday called for early enactment of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2016,which is at present lying with the Select Committee of the
Rajya Sabha.
2.The Bill addresses the issues relating to road safety, citizen facilitation, strengthening public transport, automation and computerisation of procedures and imposes hefty penalties for violation of traffic rules.

Features of bill:
1- Aadhar required for driving licence applications.
2- Digitization of learners licence application and approval.
3- Unified vehicle register for India. 
4- Stricter punitive measures for bad road contracts and also huge increase in fines for drunk driving and over speeding. 
5- And, definition of terms like ‘cab aggregators’ to reduce ambiguity and prevent hasty litigation in future.

Vishwajeet Scheme

• Recently, Vishwajeet scheme was scrapped by Union Finance Minsitry.

• The scheme aimed to help top IITs to get top league in global rankings.

• It had the provision of funding to top seven IITs over a period of five years to upgrade infrastructure, hire foreign faculty and collaborate with foreign institutions.

• However, Union HRD ministry has introduced “Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA)” to provide support to universities for creating the research infrastructure. 

Higher Education Financing Agency

• The Government has signed an agreement with Canara bank to set up non-banking financial company (NBFC) called the Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA).
• It will be a joint venture between the HRD ministry and the bank.
• It is formed to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions.
• NBFC will rise funds from the market and also mobilize CSR funds from PSUs/Corporates and lend to government-run higher educational institutions for promoting research and innovation.
• The HEFA would finance the civil and lab infrastructure projects through a 10-year loan.
• HEFA will leverage the equity to rise up to Rs. 20,000 crore for the funding of world-class infrastructure at the IITs, IIMs, the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and such other institutions.

PIB

U.N. Security Council steps up sanctions on defiant North Korea

Context:

1. The United Nations Security Council unanimously stepped up sanctions against

North Korea over the country’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3,

imposing a ban on the country’s textile exports and capping imports of crude oil.

2. It was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member

council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

❖ The new sanctions include:

1. Limits on imports of crude oil and oil products. China, Pyongyang’s main

economic ally, supplies most of North Korea’s crude oil.

2. A ban on exports of textiles, which is Pyongyang’s second-biggest export worth

more than $700m (£530m) a year.

3. Measures to limit North Koreans from working overseas, which the US estimates

would cut off $500m of tax revenue per year.

FoSCoRIS 

Context:

1. FSSAI launches online platform for food inspection, sampling

2. To bring in transparency in food safety inspection and sampling, food regulator

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has put in place a

nationwide online platform called ‘FoSCoRIS’ and has asked states to adopt this

system as it would help eliminate discrepancy and make food safety officers

accountable.

3. The web-based ‘FoSCoRIS’ system will help verify compliance of food safety and

hygiene standards by food businesses as per the government norms.

4.The new system will bring together all key stakeholders — food businesses, food

safety officers (FSOs), designated officers, state food safety commissioners — on

a nation-wide IT platform and data related to inspection, sampling and test

result data will be shared seamlessly by all the officials.

5. This system will give a clear picture to the FSSAI on the real-time basis and helps

eliminate any discrepancy, hence inspection is accountable. The system will

ease out the process of sample collection, make it transparent and traceable

and controls the quality of compliances.