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Constitutional body vs statutory body

Statutory body

• can simply be abolished by an act of the parliament with simple majority.
• Parliament could get tired of them and get rid of them easily.
• e.g. CAT,CVC,CIC.

Constitutional authorities

• are written into the Constitution of a nation
• and can’t be abolished without amending that part of the Constitution which sometimes also requires consent of the states. And also can be invalidated by the Supreme court.
• e.g. EC,CAG,SC/ST Commission.

Immunities given to Constitutional bodies

1. they can be removed : only on proved misbehavior. and its the Supreme court that Decided whether they misbehaved or not. = their office doesn’t depend on the ruling party’s majority in the Parliament.
2. their salary, powers and rights are mentioned in the Constitution itself-and parliament can’t reduce it once they’re appointed. Its charged on the Consolidated Fund of India = Parliament can’t vote on It during budget. (however the salary can be reduced if President declares a financial emergency.)
3. and if parliament wants to do this- then they need to amend the Constitution. and Supreme Court has power to invalidate it, if found inconsistent with the basic principles/Structure.

Such immunities are not enjoyed by Statutory bodies.
the main difference we can say is the Word may and Shall

CAT

323A. (1) Parliament may, by law, provide for the Administrative adjudication or trial by administrative tribunals of tribunals.

• so following this ‘May’ – parliament made an Act to provide for CAT hence its statutory.
• there is no Constitutional obligation on the parliament / Central Govt. to make a law to appoint CAT etc.
• so-their office can simply be abolished by an act of the parliament with simple majority and Supreme court can’t repeal it because of the discretion given to parliament regarding this part.

Panchayati Raj ( Constitutional body)

as 243B. (1) There shall be constituted in every State, Panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels in accordance with the provisions of this Part.

• the ‘shall’ means – it must be formed – doesn’t depend on the mood and majority of the parliament /states.here its the Constitutional obligation on the Govt. form Panchayati Raj bodies.
• if State Govt. obstructs it- then it amounts to ‘state Govt. unable to carry out business as per provisions of Constitution’= President’s rule can be declared.

CAG ( Constitutional body)

148. (1) There shall be a Comptroller and Auditor-General of India who shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal and shall only be removed from office in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

EC( Constitutional body)

324. (1) The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections to the office of President and Vice-President held under this Constitution shall be vested in a Commission.

INTERPOL

What is Interpol ?

The word 'INTERPOL' is radio-telegraph code for the International Criminal Police Organization which consists of 188 member countries who have agreed to "ensure and promote the widest possible assistance between all criminal police authorities in the prevention and suppression of ordinary law crimes". The Organization's headquarters is in Lyon, France.

The INTERPOL organisation now incorporates 188 member countries, an intergovernmental organisation second in size only to the United Nations, where Interpol also has observer status.International police co-operation has become increasingly complex: differing legal systems, definitions of crimes, rules for evidence, varying responsibilities between law enforcement and judicial services, incompatible extradition laws, incompatible information systems, restrictions on sharing information. These are just a few of the barriers Interpol strives to help the world overcome in the fight against ever higher levels of international crime.

One thing it does not have is the Interpol agents or detectives who travel the world over, chasing spies, murderers, etc. and conducting investigations in different countries. The I.C.P.O.-INTERPOL in fact, is an international police organization to extend co-operation for co-ordinated action on the part of member countries and their police forces which may furnish or request for information or services for combating - international crime.

Interpol Notices

International notices are the main instruments of international police co-operation.  These notices are usually published by the General Secretariat of the ICPO-Interpol at the request of a National Central Bureau.  The General Secretariat may, however, publish blue or green notices on its own initiative.  After publication these notices are circulated to all the NCBs. The purpose of these notices is to supply to the police services of member countries, through their NCBs, certain information about persons or objects. NOTICES ISSUED BY INTERPOL

• Red Notices
• Blue Notices
• Green Notices
• Black Notices
• Stolen Property Notices
• Modus Operandi (MO) Sheets
• Orange Notices
• UN Security Council Interpol Special Notice Notices
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Notice type	Details
  Red Notice	Requests (provisional) arrest of wanted persons, with a view to extradition. An Interpol Red Notice is "the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant in use today." Interpol does not have the authority to issue arrest warrants in the formal sense of the word, as this is the domain of the sovereign member states.
  Yellow Notice	Asks for help locating missing persons (usually minors) or identifying people who are unable to identify themselves.
  Blue Notice	Requests additional information about a person in relation to a crime.
  Black Notice	Seeks information on unidentified bodies.
  Green Notice	To provide warnings and criminal intelligence about persons who have committed criminal offences and are likely to repeat these crimes in other countries.
  Orange Notice	Warns police and other international organizations about potential threats from disguised weapons, parcel bombs, or other dangerous materials.
  Purple Notice	To provide information on modi operandi, procedures, objects, devices and hiding places used by criminals.
  Interpol-United Nations Security Council Special Notice	Issued for groups and individuals who are targets of UN sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. This was created in 2005 at the request of the UN Security Councilthrough the adoption of resolution 1617 and implemented through the adoption of INTERPOL resolution AG-2005-RES-05.

Radhakrishnan Committee

Agriculture Indebtedness, Farmer Suicides

Roots of the Problem

1. slowdown in the growth of the agricultural in the past two decades
2. An excessive proportion of the population is dependent on agriculture, resulting in increasing pressure on land, decline in the availability of land per agricultural worker.
3. lead to increase in smaller holdings of land.
4. Increasing stress on water resources.
5. Wide disparities between different states as regards the productivity and growth in agriculture.
6. Lack of availability of credit to small and medium farmers.
7. The seed-fertiliser technology seems to have exhausted its potential and is no longer cost efficient.
8. Inadequate public investment in the agricultural sector has also resulted in limited extension services.
9. Depletion in the quality of soil, groundwater and the growing pollution of river and canal water.

PM’s Loan waiver Package

• Announced in July 2006, it was to provide relief and rehabilitation to farmers in 31 distressed districts across four states of

• Andhra Pradesh,
• Karnataka,
• Kerala
• Maharashtra.

Package is around 17000 crores,

• 11,000 crore as subsidy/grant
• remaining as loans to be implemented over a three year period.

The package includes a

• credit component,
• non-credit component which includes
• irrigation, watershed development,
• rainwater harvesting
• check dams
• extension services.
• aims to revive the livelihood base of the distressed farmers.

Problems in implementing the package :

• The package is universal in nature
• does not take into account the specificities of various districts
• the causes of distress vary across the districts.
• been no coordination between different agencies implementing the schemes.
• Some schemes have not been designed taking into account the felt needs of the households.
• Projects delayed due to problems in obtaining sanctions.

What is to be done ?

1. Agriculture needs to grow at 4%; long term growth to be sustained;
2. cropping intensity and yields must rise substantially
3. Additional investment in rural infrastructure,
1. irrigation,
2. agricultural research
3. extension;
4. greater focus on rainfed areas; plan for National Rainfed Areas Authority
5. More attention to marginal and small farmers;
6. promotion of allied activities,
7. development of rural non-farm sector,
8. organisation of small and marginal farmers through collectives like Self Help Groups, etc
9. Improvement in R&D in the farm sector
10. resurrect rural credit agencies in both geographical spread as well delivery mechanisms.
11. Need to improve institutional supply of credit as against the non-institutional supply (Money Lenders)
12. moderate price related risks (whether they be induced due to the weather or market fluctuations) via different tariff mechanism.