National Biopharma Mission was recently launched by the government to give a  boost to the biopharmaceutical sector of the country.It is under the aegis of Ministry of Science and Technology.

Under the  National  Biopharma  Mission government launched a programme called Innovate in India (i3) that will also witness an investment from World Bank.

Key Features of The Bill

1.The National Biopharma  Mission aims to make India a hub for design and development of novel, affordable and effective biopharmaceutical products and solutions by developing a network between industry and academia, industry and markets and by accelerating the translation of research work into viable end products.

2. It aspires to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector.

3.Through affordable and quality product development in the pharmaceutical sector,the mission aims to transform India health standards.

4. The i3 program will specifically focus on the development of new vaccines, biotherapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices to address the rising burden of diseases in the country.

5.i3 programme will also bring isolated and fragmented centres of excellence together ,enhance regional capabilities, and strengthen the current  bio-cluster networks in terms of  capacity ,quality and quantity of output.

6. This mission will develop technological platform for product validation,

7.The mission will connect  institutions to strengthen their collective  clinical trial networks, promote partial de-risking  for novel products, and build capacities in emerging areas such as translational bioinformatics, bioethics etc

8.The mission will bring experts from both national and international domain to provide guidance, path, the approach for promising solutions in product development chain.

9.The mission will thereby provide a holistic approach to research and development in the biopharmaceutical sector to create new products in a continuous manner that will help in addressing the need and issues of public healthcare in India.

10.It aims to increase India’s share in global biopharmaceutical market from 2.8% to 5%.

Analysis

National Biopharma mission and its embedded i3 programme is the need of the hour for India pharmaceutical sectors seeing India’s poor healthcare system and heavy dependence on China for pharmaceutical and its related API’s.(active pharmaceutical ingredients).Moreover, it will give a fillip to Make in India initiative along with technological advancement to India.  It can become a  great platform which will offer buoyancy as well as universal support to biotechnological innovation, and transform India into a global hub for cutting-edge biotechnology research and development.

24th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1971: It affirms the power of the Parliament to amend any part of the Constitution including Fundamental Rights.

31st Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1973:  Increases the elective strength of the Lok Sabha from 525 to 545

36th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1975: Sikkim became the 22nd State of the Indian Union.

37th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1975: Was passed by the parliament on April 26, 1975, to provide for a Legislative Assembly and 1 Council of Ministers to Arunachal Pradesh, the country’s north-eastern most nation Territory.

Pr Constitution (38th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Act makes the declaration of emergency non-judiciable.

Constitution (39th Amendment) Act, 1975: The Act places beyond challenge in courts the election to Parliament of a person holding the office of Prime Minister or Speaker and the election of President and Vice-President.

40th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1976: This Amendment has three-fold objectives :

•  It places beyond challenge in courts some major Central laws;
•  It gives similar protection to several State enactments;
•  It provides that the limits of the territorial waters and the maritime zones of India .

The Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976: (also known as mini-constitution)

43rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1978:  This Act repealed some of the provisions of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act passed during the Emergency.

45th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1980: seeks to extend reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the representation of the Anglo- Indians in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies for 10 years.

The Constitution (46th Amendment) Act, 1982: plug loopholes and realize sales tax dues

49th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1984: the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution to be made applicable to the tribal areas of the State of Tripura.

The Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985: popularly known as Anti Defection Law.

53rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1986: It confers Statehood on Mizoram and ensures against unnecessary interference by the Central Government by the laws relative to spheres of social relationship and community conduct applicable to Mizoram.

The Constitution (54th Amendment) Act, 1986: It enhances the salaries of Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court of India.

The Constitution (55th Amendment) Act, 1987: It grants Statehood to Arunachal Pradesh which consequently became the 24th State of the Indian Union.

56th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1987: It confers Statehood on Goa and forms a new Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Goa thus became the 25th State of the Indian Republic.

The Constitution (57th Amendment) Act, 1987: It made a special provision for the setting up of the new State of Goa.

58th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1988: It provides for special arrangements with regard to reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya.

The Constitution (59th Amendment) Act, 1988: It empowered the Central Government to impose Emergency in Punjab when deemed necessary.

The Constitution (61st Amendment) Act, 1989: It lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

62nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1989: It provided for the extension by another 10 years of reservation of seats in the Parliament and State Assemblies for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and reservation for Anglo-Indian Community by nomination.

The Constitution (63rd Amendment) Act, 1989: It repealed Amendment 59 which empowered the government to impose emergency in Punjab.

The Constitution (64th Amendment) Act, 1990: It extended the President’s rule in Punjab by six months.

66th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1990: To bring land reforms within the purview of 9th Schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (68th Amendment) Act, 1991: It extended the President’s rule in Punjab up to a total period of 5 years.

1987-1991 : – Punjab placed under president’s rule

The Constitution (69th Amendment) Act, 1991: Delhi made National Capital Region. The Act also made provision for Legislative assembly and a council of ministers for Delhi.

70th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1992: The amendment provides for the inclusion of members of the legislature of Pondicherry and Delhi.

71st Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1992: to include Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali Languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.

The Constitution (72nd Amendment) Act, 1992:  to determine the number of reserved seats for STs in the State Assembly of Tripura.

73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1993: relating to Panchayats inserted in the constitution to provide Gram Sabha, the constitution of panchayats at the village and other levels, direct elections to all seats, fixing the tenures, reservation for SC, ST and 33% seats for women etc.

74th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 1993: relating to Municipalities, i.e., Nagar Panchayats, Municipal Councils and Municipal Corporations.

The Constitution (77th Amendment) Act, 1995: (constitutional validity in the debate) Article 16(4A) provides reservation in promotion for the SC and the ST.

The Constitution (One Hundred Seventeenth Amendment): It provides that all the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes notified in the Constitutional shall be deemed to be backward.

The Constitution (79th Amendment) Act, 1999: Extended the reservations for SC/ST in services as also nomination of 2 Anglo-Indians to Lok Sabha up to 2010.

80th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2000: Related to the revenue sharing between the Centre and the States

The Constitution (81st Amendment) Act, 2000: Related to carrying forward backlog vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

82nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2000: Related to relaxation in qualifying marks and reservation of posts in super specialty courses in Medical and Engineering disciplines, etc. for Scheduled Castes/Tribes etc.

83rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2000: Related to the reservation of seats under Panchayati Raj in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Constitution (84th Amendment) Act, 2000: (NDA govt. – smaller states) Related to creating of new States of the Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, and Uttaranchal.

85th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2001: Amended Article 16(4A) to provide for consequential seniority in promotion by virtue of the rule of reservation for the Government servants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002: State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years.

87th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2003: shall be substituted.

The Constitution (88th Amendment) Act, 2003: (service tax) This Article provides for the insertion of a new article 268A which states that taxes on services shall be levied by the Government of India and such tax shall be collected and appropriated by the government of India and the States in the manner provided in clause

The Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003:(Bifurcation of Nat. Commission for SC and ST) This Article provides for the amendment of Article 338 and insertion of a new article 338A which provides that there shall be a National Commission for ST.

The Constitution (90 Amendments) Act, 2003: This Amendment provided that for elections to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam, the representation of the Scheduled Tribes and non-Scheduled Tribes in the constituencies included in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, so notified, and existing prior to the constitution of the Bodoland Territorial Areas District, shall be maintained.

91st Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2003: (strengthens anti-defection law) This Article provides that the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers shall not exceed fifteen percent of the total number members of the House of the people.

The Constitution (92nd Amendment) Act, 2003: This Article provides for the inclusion of four new languages, viz. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

93rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2005: In this Amendment, a provision has been inserted that the State can make laws for the advancement of the SC, ST or the OBCs of citizens in matters of admission to educational institutions.

The Constitution (94th Amendment) Act, 2006: This article provides that in the proviso, for the word “Bihar”, the words “Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand” shall be substituted.

The Constitution (95th Amendment) Act, 2009: This article provides that the words “sixty years”, the words “seventy years” shall be substituted.

96th Amendment of the Indian Constitution Act, 2011: This article provides that the word, “Oriya”, the word “Odia” shall be substituted.

The Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011: This article provides that Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy

The Constitution (98th Amendment) Act, 2012: to empower the Governor of Karnataka to take steps to develop the Hyderabad-Karnataka Region.  As per the Statements of Objects and Reasons of the Bill, this Region includes the districts of Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir, and Bellary.

Must Read:

Constitution Of India

Parts of the Constitution

Fundamental Duties Incorporated in Constitution of India

Constitutional Development in India From Regulating Act 1773 to Govt. of India Act 1935

Mahatma Gandhi had once stated, “True Democracy can not be worked by some men sitting in top. It has to be worked from below by the people of every village”. He had a firm opinion that the soul of India lies in villages. So the democracy in a real sense also lies in the village. According to him, villages are the backbone of India’s Economy and since ancient period Panchayats have been the nerve of Indian village service. Government of India as well as different States are now increasingly soliciting the assistance of the PRIs in the implementation of various schemes as well as programmes linked to poverty eradication.

It was the Balawant Rai Mehta committee that first recommended the establishment of Panchayti Raj on the principle of democratic decentralization. Under the scheme was propounded a three tier system of local-self government with Panchayats at the village level, Panchayt Samitis at the block level and Zila Parishad at the district level. Each tier was to be fundamentally tied to the next higher tier by indirect election. It was only for Panchayats at the village level that the direct election was promulgated.

The Natioanl Development Council accepted , in principle, the recommendation of the Balwant Rai Mehta committee in 1958. In 1959 Rajasthan and immediately after that Andhra Pradesh became the first state to establish Panchayat Raj System.

Must Read: Poverty Alleviation Programs in India

The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)

The 73^rd Amend Act of 1992 introduced the electoral system of the composition of the units of local government below the district level.This amendment paved the way for adding a new schedule to the constitution of India that provides a well-defined role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in rural development. One more important step was taken,following the Amendment,when on April 24,1993 the new Panchayati Raj came into force.

Schemes for Poverty Eradication

The Union Government and the states have carved out a specific role to PRIs in context of the XI the scheduled and the Five Year Plans. Programmes that PRIs have to perform for poverty eradication are:

Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY)

It is self employment programme that comprises the earlier anti-poverty eradication programmes such as the Intgrated Rural Development(IRDP); Training of Rural Development for Self-Employment (TRYSEM); Development of women and children in Rural Areas (DWCRA);Million wells scheme (MWS). In order to improve the effectiveness of all these self employment generating programmes, they all,after being redesigned and restructured, have been merged into the Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY) from April 1,1999. The SGSY envelopes all aspects of self employment that embraces organizing the rural poor into Self Help groups (SHGs).

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Samagra Awas Yojna (SAY)

As a comprehensive housing scheme SAY has been launched in 1999-2000 on a pilot project in one block of each of 25 districts in 24 states and in only one Union Territory. The scheme aims to ensure integrated provision of shelter, sanitation and drinking water through people’s participation.

Sampoorn Gramin Rozgar Yojna (SGRY)

Launched on 1 September 2001, SGRY’s aim is to cater wage employment in rural areas. It solicits to ensure food security to the poor. The ongoing Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojna (JGSY)and Employment assurance Scheme (EAS) have been fully integrated within SGRY from April 2002. SGRY is being implemented on cost sharing basis of 75 : 25 between centre and states.

Prime Minister’s Gramodya Yojana (PMGY)

With an aim to remove rural poverty eradication PMGY was launched in 2000-2001. The main focus of this scheme is in village development in five critical areas viz. Health, primary education,drinking water,housing and rural roads. PMGY includes three schemes : (a) PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Swarozgar Yojana), (b) Gram Awas Yojana ,(c) Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojna (Rural Drinking Water Project).The chief objective of PMGY is to uplift the living standards of the rural poor by improving their quality of life.

Antyodaya Ann Yojna (AAY)

Under this scheme, that was initiated in December 2000, all BPL families are getting 25 kg of rice/wheat per month at the rate of Rs.3 and 2/- per kg. Many other programmes such as 20 point Programme, Minimum needs Programme, etc. Are part of AAY.

In order to poverty eradication and make rural development through PRIs, it is imperative the schemes running through PRIs be provided with sufficient fund at proper time. State Governments must take special interest in trainning Panchayat people for proper implementation of schemes and to maintain accounts.

Read Also: POVERTY : THE BANE OF MODERN TIMES

Establishment

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), a top Indian Governmental body, was formed in February 1964 to address the rampant corruption in government departments. Central Vigilance Commission was set up on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption headed by K.Santhanam.  Its main function was to guide and advise Central Government agencies in the area of vigilance.

The Sanathanam Committee, before finalizing its report, presented its interim recommendations to the government in two parts. In the first part it recommended the formation of the Central Vigilance Commission. In the part second the committee suggested granting powers to the commission. The committee advocated that the powers had to be similar to those under Sections 4 and 5 of the Commission of Enquiry Act, 1952, so that the Central Vigilance Commission could embark on an inquiry into transactions where public servants were suspected of having acted in a corrupt manner. It is important here to mention that CVC, as autonomous body, is free of control of any other executive authority. It has got the power to monitor all vigilance activities that fall under the Central Government of India, and advise various authorities in Union Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance works.

Must Read: Social Conditions Under Gupta Period

Composition of Central Vigilance Commission

The Central Vigilance Commission comprises of a Central Vigilance Commissioner called the chairperson; and it has not more than two members who are called Vigilance Commissioners.

Mr. Nittoor Srinivasa Rao was made the first Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India. Mr. K. V. Chowdary is the current Central Vigilance  Commissioner; prior to this appointment, he was the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The other two members, the Vigilance Commissioners, are Shri T M Bhasin and Mr. Sarad Kumar.

Appointment and Oath

The President of India after receiving the recommendations of a committee appoints the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance Commissioners. The Committee consists of the Prime Minister who functions as the Chairperson; the minister of the Home Affairs; and the leader of the second largest party in the Lok Sabha or majority group leader in the parliament.

According to the Schedule of the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003, the Central Vigilance Commissioner or a Vigilance Commissioner, before he enters upon his office, is required to make and subscribe to an oath or affirmation before the President of India.

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Removal of Central Vigilance Commissioner

Only the president has got the power to remove The Central Vigilance Commissioner or any Vigilance Commissioner on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity in The Supreme Court. The President, following the due process of law, at first refers the matter to the Supreme Court to inquire into. If the Supreme Court, after inquiry, reports to the President that the Central Vigilance Commissioner or any Vigilance Commissioner, as the case may be, should be removed then the President,  using his constitutional power, orders the removal.

During the inquiry of the Supreme Court, the Central Vigilance Commissioner or any Vigilance Commissioner may be suspended from the office by the President till he gets the report of the Supreme Court on his reference.

The Commissioner can be removed if he: engages in any paid employment outside the duties of his office; or has developed such financial or other interests as is likely to affect his functions as a Central Vigilance Commissioner or a Vigilance Commissioner; or has been convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of the Union Government, includes moral turpitude; or is, in the opinion of the President, unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or body.

Role and Limitations of CVC

As the Central Vigilance Commission is not an investigating agency, the only investigating it can accomplish is that of examining Civil Works of the Government that is done through the Chief Technical Officer. The investigations against corrupt officials can be initiated only after obtaining the permission of the Government. The CVC publishes a list of cases where permissions are pending.

Department s of the Central Government are not bonded to accept Central Vigilance Commission’s advice in corruption cases as it is an advisory body. It does not have enough resources to entertain all complaints that it receives as it is a very small set up with a sanctioned staff of 299.It is important here to mention in this context that CVC is supposed to restrain corruption in more than 1500 Central Government departments and ministers.Central Vigilance Commission has not got the powers to register criminal case. It can deal only with Vigilance or disciplinary cases. Although it has got supervisory powers over CBI, Central Vigilance Commission can not demand any file from CBI or direct CBI investigate any case in a particular manner.

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