ED summons Hemant Soren in illegal mining case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to record his statement in connection with an illegal mining case on Thursday.

About Directorate of Enforcement (ED)

• The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a multi-disciplinary organization mandated with investigation of offences of  money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws.
  • It functions under the Department of Revenue of the Ministry of Finance.
• As a premier financial investigation agency of the Government of India, the Enforcement Directorate functions in strict compliance with the Constitution and Laws of India.
• The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1^stMay, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’ was formed in the Department of Economic Affairs for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), 1947.
  • It was headquartered in Delhi, headed by a Legal Service Officer as the Director of Enforcement.
  • It had two branches – at Bombay and Calcutta.
• In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as ‘Enforcement Directorate’, and another branch was opened at Madras (now Chennai).
• In 1960, the administrative control of the Directorate was transferred from the Department of Economic Affairs to the Department of Revenue.
• With the passage of time, FERA 1947 was repealed and replaced by FERA, 1973.
  • With the onset of the process of economic liberalisation, FERA, 1973, which was a regulatory law, was repealed and in its place, a new law viz. the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) came into operation w.e.f. 1^stJune 2000.
• Further, in tune with the International Anti Money Laundering regime, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) was enacted and ED was entrusted with its enforcement w.e.f. 1^st July 2005.

Structure of ED

• Hierarchy: The Directorate of Enforcement, with its headquarters at New Delhi, is headed by the Director of Enforcement.
  • There are five regional offices at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Delhi headed by Special Directors of Enforcement.
  • The Directorate has 10 Zonal offices each of which is headed by a Deputy Director and 11 sub Zonal Offices each of which is headed by an Assistant Director.
• Recruitment: Recruitment of the officers is done directly and by drawing officers from other investigation agencies.
  • It comprises officers of IRS(Indian Revenue Services), IPS (Indian Police Services) and IAS (Indian Administrative Services) such as Income Tax officer, Excise officer, Customs officer, and police.
• Tenure : In November 2021, the President of India promulgated two ordinances allowing the Centre to extend the tenures of the directors of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate from two years to up to five years.
• The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 (for ED) and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) Act, 2003 (for CV Commissioners) have been amended to give the government the power to keep the two chiefs in their posts for one year after they have completed their two-year terms.
• The chiefs of the Central agencies currently have a fixed two-year tenure, but can now be given three annual extensions.
• However, no further extension can be granted after the completion of a period of five years in total including the period mentioned in the initial appointment.

SEWA founder, women’s activist Elaben Bhatt dies

• Elaben Bhatt, 89, Gandhian, women’s activist and founder of the Self Employed Women’s Association, passed away on Wednesday in a hospital in Ahmedabad after a brief illness.
• The recipient of several national and international awards, she was globally recognised as a leader who carried out pioneering work in organising the informal sector for selfe mployment and empowering women across South Asia.

About Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA)

• Self-Employed Women’s Association(SEWA), meaning “service” in several Indian languages, is a trade union based in Ahmedabad, India, that promotes the rights of low-income, independently employed female workers.
• With over 1.6 million participating women, SEWA is the largest organization of informal workers in the world (Chen et al. 2015).
• Self-employed women are defined as those who do not receive a salary like that of formally-employed workers and therefore have a more precarious income and life.
• SEWA is framed around the goal of full employment in which a woman secures for her family: income, food, health care, child care, and shelter.
• The principles behind accomplishing these goals are struggle and development, meaning negotiating with stakeholders and providing services, respectively.
• SEWA was founded in 1972 by Gandhian and civil rights leader Ela Bhatt as a branch of Textile Labour Association (TLA), a labour union founded by Gandhi in 1918.
• The organization grew very quickly, with 30,000 members in 1996, to 318,527 in 2000, to 1,919,676 in 2013.
• Contemporaneous with this uptick in members is a change in India’s economy and society. Liberalizing the economy to foreign trade in 1991 caused a huge migration of rural inhabitants to Indian cities that then forced urban dwellers into informal occupations

Subsidy amount for fertilizers approved by government

• ₹ 51,875 crore, the Amount approved as subsidy by the Union government for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilizers for the second half of 2022 – 23, according to an official statement.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, approved Nutrient based subsidy rates for P&K fertilizers for the 202223 Rabi season.

Wheat exports from India double despite government ban

• $ 1.48 billion, the worth of India’s wheat exports during April September 2022 23, compared to the year ago period when it stood at $630 million, according to the Commerce Ministry.
• Though the government banned wheat exports in May 2022, some shipments were allowed to meet food security needs of countries that requested it.

DRDO tests Phase 2 of ballistic missile defence

• The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) on Wednesday conducted the maiden flight test of Phase 2 of the ballistic missile defence (BMD) interceptor missile successfully.
• “The AD1 is a long range interceptor missile designed for both low exo-atmospheric and endo-atmospheric interception of long range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.
• It is propelled by a twostage solid motor and equipped with an indigenously developed advanced control system, navigation and guidance algorithm to precisely guide it to the target,” a DRDO statement said.
• The test was conducted at the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island.

Karnataka to introduce 10 minutes of ‘dhyana’ in schools, PU colleges

• Karnataka’s Minister for School Education and Literacy B.C. Nagesh has issued a circular directing the Department of Public Instruction to mandate 10 minutes of “dhyana” (meditation) for students of all schools and pre-university colleges across the State.
• “It is necessary to make students meditate every day to reduce physical and mental stress, and help them improve concentration and health,”
• The direction from the Minister has drawn the ire of a section.
• Educationist Dr. V.P. Niranjanaradhya said this was an “arbitrary decision” by the Minister and as per Section 29 (1) of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, only competent authority, Department of State Education Research and Training, can prescribe scholastic and non-scholastic activities in education institutions.

Prime Minister Modi hands over keys of 3,000 flats in Kalkaji to slum dwellers

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 3,024 flats in Kalkaji for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) on Wednesday, while describing the ruling BJP dispensation at the Centre as a “poor person’s government”.
• “Today is a very big day for scores of families who have been living in Delhi’s slums for years. In a way, today is the beginning of a new life for them,” Mr. Modi said in his address to the gathering at Vigyan Bhavan.
• The move to provide permanent flats to the slum dwellers in Kalkaji comes ahead of the civic body polls which are likely to be held before the end of the year

Goa  is hosting the 3-day Civil Air Navigation Services Organization Conference from 1st to 3rd November 2022

 In Raipur, Chhattisgarh the National Tribal Dance Festival taking place

HARIT Aaykar initiative has been announced by the IT Department to create micro forests

Jamshedpur Steel Plant in India became the 1st to receive Responsible Steel Site Certification

From 31st October to 6th November 2022, Central Vigilance Awareness Week being observed

Source : THE HINDU