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UAPA- Tool To Shut Dissent in India

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  The death of Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest and activist, India’s oldest political prisoner who died in jail, waiting for bail for nine months, at the age of 84 has brought the spotlight back on the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA), the primarily counter-terror Law in India.  The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967 is the  primary counter-law in India. The terror law has come under sharp scrutiny recently with various courts finding application of the UAPA (arbitrary). About The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)  Passed in 1967, the law aims at effective prevention of Unlawful activities in India. The ACT assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre (deems) an activity as unlawful then it may by way of an official Gazette, declare it so.  It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments. Under UAPA, both India and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, ev
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Petrol Price Hike : Horrors of the Past Return

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 The fuel prices in the country have been on an upward trend since ever since the declaration of assembly election in five states on May 2 2021, after oil marketing companies (OMCs) resumed their price increases in May 2021. In many states, the petrol prices have already crossed Rs 100/Liter and many states, they are inching closer to that mark. There was a total of 16 prices hike in the month of June - the same as in May 2021.   Petrol/ Diesel Pricing in India The major things on which petrol prices depends are: 1. Cost of refined crude oil 2 . Price to dealer, dealers commission and Excise duty (Central Gov), VAT (State Gov) 3. Price paid by Customer The price of fuel is governed by the international market. WTI crude oil comes from USA while Brent crude comes from Europe’s North Sea. OPEC basket comes from middle Eastern countries and Africa. Oil prices at international market at present (per barrel): -                a) WTI crude: $73.75                b) Brent crude: $75.51  
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Modi - 3.0

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In a major  restructure ,  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday brought in 36 new faces to his Union Cabinet and promoted seven existing ministers. Meanwhile, 12 top ministers have been dropped from the Cabinet.  As many as 43 leaders including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane and Sarbananda Sonowal Wednesday took oath as part of the Cabinet expansion of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government. Fifteen Cabinet ministers, including some new faces, were sworn in at the swearing-in ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. While 13 members took oath in Hindi, two took in English. Amongst those who took oath included Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharati Pawar, Shantanu Thakur, LJP’s Pashupati Paras, and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel. The political prospects of the Bjp in states where Assembly elections are scheduled next year,seem to have weighed heavily as Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a massive makeo
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Cinematograph(amendment)bill 2021: Step towards protection of people or Control over them?

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  A group of Filmmakers, academics, researchers, programmer's, technicians, lawyers and Civil Society have raised concerns at the proposed " Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021" which among other things, seeks to confer power on the Central Government to revoke a film Censor Certificate.   As many as 1430 persons including eminent members of the film community like Vijay Krishna Acharya, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Vetri Maaran, Shabana Axmi and others have written an open letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against the Bill. They have said that the move has the potential to "endanger freedom of expression and democratic dissent". What the Amendment Bill seeks to do?   — Key Provisions of the Bill -:   ●        Revision of the certification- This provision will give the Centre 'revisionary power' and enables it to '' re-examine '' films already cleared by the Central Board of Film Certificate (CBFC).
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Asol Poribortan Asbe - The Bengal Story

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  Mamata Banerjee will be the Chief Minister of West Bengal again — for a historic third time — after defeating the BJP in a one-sided election. The BJP made the election Mamta Vs Modi; she defeated PM, but she is the only woman CM in the Country.  On 18 April, Shah said the BJP would win at least 122 of the 180 seats where elections had been held in the first five phases. “Mamata Banerjee’s defeat is inevitable. She has been chief minister for ten years. So, we cannot offer her an ordinary farewell. It must be a grand affair, and you can ensure that by giving the BJP more than 200 seats,” Shah added.   Cut to 2 May, and Bengal appears to have thrown up a completely different outcome from what the BJP seemed so sure about, and TMC has won. To get the drift of Banerjee's audacious win, consider what was at stake. The Election Commission (EC) ordered a (never-ending) eight-phase election designed to help the BJP. The Union Minister Amit Shah was the chief election strat
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Cinematograph(amendment)bill 2021: Step towards protection of people or Control over them?

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Image
  A group of Filmmakers, academics, researchers, programmer's, technicians, lawyers and Civil Society have raised concerns at the proposed " Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021" which among other things, seeks to confer power on the Central Government to revoke a film Censor Certificate.   As many as 1430 persons including eminent members of the film community like Vijay Krishna Acharya, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Vetri Maaran, Shabana Axmi and others have written an open letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against the Bill. They have said that the move has the potential to "endanger freedom of expression and democratic dissent". What the Amendment Bill seeks to do?   — Key Provisions of the Bill -:   ●        Revision of the certification- This provision will give the Centre 'revisionary power' and enables it to '' re-examine '' films already cleared by the Central Board of Film Certificate (CBFC).
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UAPA- Tool To Shut Dissent in India

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  The death of Stan Swamy, the Jesuit priest and activist, India’s oldest political prisoner who died in jail, waiting for bail for nine months, at the age of 84 has brought the spotlight back on the Unlawful Activity Prevention Act (UAPA), the primarily counter-terror Law in India.  The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967 is the  primary counter-law in India. The terror law has come under sharp scrutiny recently with various courts finding application of the UAPA (arbitrary). About The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)  Passed in 1967, the law aims at effective prevention of Unlawful activities in India. The ACT assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre (deems) an activity as unlawful then it may by way of an official Gazette, declare it so.  It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments. Under UAPA, both India and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, ev
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Delhi's Federalism Under Control

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The Centre has introduced the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021, reviving the dispute on the distribution of the power between the elected government and Lieutenant Governor (LG). The issue, which was at the heart of ruling party AAP and frequent clash with the BJP led Centre during of its first term. The dispute was taken up by the Constitution bench of Supreme Court, which tilted the scales in the favor of the elected government through its 4 July 2018 verdict. The Bill has been criticized by the ruling Aam Aadmi  Party in Delhi as an attempt to curtail the power of the elected government. Taking to Twitter, Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal said the Bill, which '' seeks to drastically curtail powers of elected government '', is '' against the Supreme Court judgement. Meanwhile, experts have cautioned that the amendment could face constitutional and legal hurdles as it collides with various power of the De
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Price hike in oil prices: why and how

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The fuel Price in India hit the record high three figures for the first time in the history of India. On Wednesday the retail price of regular petrol hiked by 26 paise in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar and reached Rs. 100.13. While the Diesel rested at Rs. 92.13 after a hike of 27 paise. The fuel prices in India vary from state to state, City to City. It is determined after implementing state and central government taxes. So why are the prices rising like never before?  After effects of the infamous Pandemic:  Due to the then on-going Pandemic, the demand of Crude Oil (pre refined petroleum) showed a significant drop in April 2020. Which then turned to a collapse in prices of crude oil.           After Pandemic, Saudi Arabia a key oil producing country voluntarily cut its supply by about one million barrels to 8.125 million barrels of crude oil to boost the prices hence to cover the loss due to Pandemic. Resulting in Price of Crude Oil hiked by about 50%. Compared to $40/Barrel
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