About:

• The collegium system of appointing judges evolved through three significant verdicts of the Supreme Court, known as the First, Second, and Third Judges Cases.
• The Constitution of India does not mention the collegium system; however, these three cases established that the collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India will have primacy in the appointment of judges to the higher judiciary.
• The Supreme Court collegium is headed by the CJI and comprises four other senior-most judges of the court.
• This collegium makes recommendations to the government for appointment of judges to the SC and of Chief Justices of High Courts, and the transfers of HC judges.
• A separate three-member collegium, headed by the CJI and comprising the two senior-most judges of the SC makes recommendations for appointment of judges to HCs.

What are the Judges Cases?

First Judges Case (1982)

• SC held that “consultation” of judges does not mean concurrence
• Hence, it gave the primacy in appointment of judges to the Executive.

Second Judges Case (1993)

• Court reversed its earlier ruling by changing the meaning of “consultation” to concurrence.
• With this, the advice tendered by CJI became binding. However, the CJI would have to take into account the views of two of his senior most colleagues.

Third Judges Case (1998)

• Court gave primacy to the opinion of CJI in the matter of appointment of Judges.
• However, Chief Justice must consult four seniormost judges of SC.
• Opinion of all members of the collegium should be in writing.
• Even if two judges in the collegium give an adverse opinion of a person for appointment as the SC judge, the CJI should not send the recommendation to the government.

What is a 5+1 collegium?

• Given the order of seniority, a potential CJI will enter the Chandrachud collegium only in May 2023. However, Justice Khanna will be the sixth member of the collegium from November 9, 2022 itself.
• This happened earlier in 2007 — when then CJI K G Balakrishnan took the top office, the collegium he headed did not have a potential CJI candidate. Justice S H Kapadia, who was next in line to be CJI, was invited to the collegium as the sixth member.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India UU Lalit recommends Justice D Y Chandrachud as next Chief Justice of India.

About:

• Chief Justice Lalit’s recommendation to the government would start the process for appointment of Justice Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India.
• If the government approval comes through, Justice Chandrachud would be the first second-generation CJI. His father, Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, was the 16th CJI and one of the longest serving.
• Chief Justice Lalit is scheduled to retire on November 8 at the end of a 74-day tenure as top judge.
• Justice Chandrachud is expected to be sworn in and assume charge as Chief Justice of India from November 9.
• He has a tenure of two years as Chief Justice until his retirement on November 11, 2024.

Judicial career

• Justice Chandrachud was appointed judge of the Supreme Court on May 13, 2016.
• He was before that the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court from October 31, 2013.
• Justice Chandrachud began his career as a judge in the Bombay High Court on March 29, 2000 until his appointment as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

Union Minister Smriti Irani recently released an operations manual of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

About:

• The Central government recently announced the inclusion of skilling of girls in non-traditional livelihood (NTL) options in Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme.
• The scheme will now also focus on increasing the enrolment of girls in secondary education, particularly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects.
• A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Minority Affairs.
• It emphasises convergence between Ministries and Departments to ensure adolescents complete their education, build skills, and enter the workforce in a diverse range of professions, including in STEM fields.
• A national committee headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development will be the apex committee to review the implementation of the scheme at regular intervals with State governments and Union Territory administrations.

Right to Information (RTI) Act

According to a report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan, backlog of RTI appeals or complaints is increasing in commissions every year.

About:

• Nearly 3.15 lakh complaints and appeals are pending with 26 information commissions across India.
• The number of appeals and complaints pending in 2019, from data obtained from 26 information commissions was 2,18,347.
• In 2020, the number climbed up to 2,33,384 with data obtained from 23 information commissions, in 2021 the number was 2,86,325 with data from 26 commissions and in 2022, it was 3,14,323.
• The highest number of pending cases was in Maharashtra at 99,722, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 44,482, Karnataka at 30,358, the Central Information Commission at 26,724 and Bihar at 21,346.
• The report says two information commissions—Jharkhand and Tripura—out of 29 across the country have been completely defunct for 29 months and 15 months respectively.
• Manipur, Telangana, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh are without chiefs at the moment.
• Only 5% of the all positions in commissions are being occupied by women.
• Also, several information commissions, including the Central Information Commission, are working at reduced capacity with less than the stipulated number of members being in office.
• Under RTI law, information commissions are the final appellate authority and are mandated to safeguard and facilitate people’s right to information.

India’s growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently trimmed its FY23 growth forecast for India by 60 basis points from its July projection of 7.4 per cent to 6.8 per cent, its steepest cut for any major economy barring the US.

About:

• IMF’s move follows the World Bank slashing its FY23 growth projection for India to 6.5 per cent recently from 7.5 per cent predicted earlier.
• India is projected to grow at 6.8% in the current fiscal year, following 8.7% growth in fiscal year that ended March 31 as per figures released in the IMF’s October 2022 World Economic Outlook.
• Growth rate for this year for India has been revised downward by 0.6 percentage points relative to the IMF’s June 2022 forecast, following a weaker output in the second quarter, and subdued external demand.
• The forecast for the next fiscal year remains unaltered at 6.1%.
• The IMF has projected 6.9% consumer price inflation this year and 5.1% next year.
• For the world as a whole, growth will slow down from 6.0% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023.

Reports Published by IMF:

• Global Financial Stability Report
• Fiscal Monitor
• World Economic Outlook
• Regional Economic Outlook
• Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda

National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG)

53rd Capacity Building programme in Field Administration for Civil Servants of Bangladesh inaugurated at National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) at Mussoorie.

About:

• The National Centre for Good Governance was set up in 2014 by the Government of India as an apex institution in the country.
• Its head office is at New Delhi and registered office at Mussoorie. 
• It focuses on good governance, policy reforms, training and capacity building, and to also work as a think tank.
• It has taken up capacity building of civil servants of several foreign countries in partnership with Ministry of External Affairs.
• It has imparted training to civil servants of 15 countries such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Seychelles, Gambia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Laos, Vietnam, Bhutan, Myanmar and Cambodia.

History: 

• The NCGG traces its origin to the National Institute of Administrative Research (NIAR).
• NIAR was set up in 1995 by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).
• NIAR was subsequently rechristened with an expanded mandate, as NCGG, which was inaugurated in 2014.

6th meeting of India-Norway Joint Working Group on Higher Education

India recently hosted the 6th meeting of the India-Norway Joint Working Group on Higher Education in New Delhi.

About:

• The Joint Working Group was established to monitor and oversee the implementation of the MoU on Cooperation in the field of Higher Education signed between India and Norway on 25th April, 2022.
• The two sides reviewed the progress made under the Indo-Norwegian Cooperation Programme developed under the ambit of the previous India-Norway MoU signed in 2014.
• They deliberated upon overall higher education policy and priorities, student/faculty mobility and cooperation in the field of skill development.

India’s relations with Central Europe (CE):

• India’s relations with countries in Central Europe (CE) remained on a steady upward track characterised by warmth and progress in 2021-22, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• Rooted in cultural ties, relations with Central European countries have been free from any major irritants.
• India has received support from these countries at various multilateral fora.
• Regional groups within CE like the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) and the Nordic group (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) also provide platforms for plurilateral exchanges with India.