Year End Review 2019: Ministry of Home Affairs

• 13 Apr 2020

Important Bills Passed by Parliament

• Abrogation of Article 370 and 35A
  
  • Remove Article 370 and 35A of Constitution of India.
  • Brought Jammu & Kashmir (JK) and Ladakh at par with other States and UTs.
  • All provisions of Constitution of India, without any modifications or exceptions, to now apply to JK & Ladakh.
  • Laws of Union Government wrt education, empowerment of SC, ST, Minorities etc to be applicable to JK & Ladakh.
  • Boost to local economy and employment opportunities by increasing investment; Reservation to EWS of society in jobs & educational institutions to apply in JK & Ladakh.
  • Betterment of socio-economic infrastructure in JK & Ladakh.
• The Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Act, 2019
  
  • Jammu and Kashmir reorganised into Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with legislature, and Union Territory of Ladakh without Legislature.

• The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2019
  
  • 3% reservation in services and educational institutions extended to people living near the International Border (IB) in J&K, in line with reservation given to people living near the Line of Control (LoC).
• National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Act, 2019
  
  • The amendment bill seeks to widen the authority of the NIA in terms of the crimes that it can investigate irrespective of the place of occurrence of the crime.
  • It expands the ambit of the list of crimes that the agency can investigate, including human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber-terrorism, and offences under the Explosive Substances Act.
• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019
  
  • It empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists if the person commits or participates in acts of terrorism, prepares for terrorism, promotes terrorism or is otherwise involved in terrorism.
• Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019
  
  • Aims to increase operational efficiency of SPG in ensuring the security of the Prime Minister of India.
• Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
  
  • Grants Indian Citizenship to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have migrated to India after facing persecution on grounds of religion in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
• Arms (Amendment) Act, 2019
  
  • Enhances the punishment for existing offences like illegal manufacture, sale, transfer and illegal acquiring, possessing or carrying prohibited arms or prohibited ammunition; illicit trafficking of firearms; celebratory gunfire endangering human life.
• Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019
  
  • To make the constitution of NHRC and SHRCs broader and more inclusive.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019
  
  • It seeks to provide better delivery of services to the citizens of both Union Territories by improving efficiency and reducing paperwork.

Important Policies

Kartarpur Sahib Corridor

• Union Cabinet passed a resolution on 22^nd November 2018 to celebrate the historic occasion of 550^th Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Devji.
• India signed the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Agreement with Pakistan on 24^th October, 2019.
• Indian pilgrims of all faiths to undertake year-round Visa-free travel to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib through Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.

Cyber Crime Control

• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) launched as a citizen centric initiative to facilitate public for reporting of all types of Cyber Crimes without visiting Police Station
• The complaints reported on this portal are accessible online to the law enforcement agencies of respective States/UTs for taking appropriate action as per law
• 12^th India Security Summit on ‘Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy’ held in New Delhi.

Smart Fencing

• BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) was launched under Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) on Indo-Bangladesh border in Dhubri district of Assam, as an effective deterrence against illegal infiltration.

Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS)

• The CIBMS is a robust and integrated system that is capable of addressing the gaps in the present system of border security by seamlessly integrating human resources, weapons, and high-tech surveillance equipment.
• CIBMS is being implemented since 2016.
• CIBMS has three components which are using a number of different devices for surveillance, efficient and dedicated communication network and data storage for a composite picture.
• Sensors like Thermal Imager, Unattended Ground Sensor(UGS), Fiber Optical Sensors, Radar, Sonar, satellite imagery are used in CIBMS.

National Register of Citizens (NRC), Assam

• A machinery created for detection and deportation of illegal immigrants
• ‘In-principle’ approval given for setting up of 1000 additional Foreigners Tribunals (FTs)

Foreigners’ Tribunals

• The Foreigners’ Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies meant to “furnish opinion on the question as to whether a person is or is not a foreigner within the meaning of Foreigners Act, 1946”.
• The MHA constitutes foreigners tribunals whenever required to look into the question of whether a person is or not a foreigner within the meaning of Foreigners Tribunals act, 1946.
• In the backdrop of finalization of NRC, this order was amended in 2019, to empower individuals to approach the Tribunals. Earlier, only the State administration could move the Tribunal against a suspect.

Census of India - 2021

• Foundation Stone of ‘Janganana Bhawan’ laid.
• Census 2021 will be conducted in 18 languages out of the 22 scheduled languages (under 8^th schedule) and English, while Census 2011 was in 16 of the 22 scheduled languages declared at that time.
• The option of “Other” under the gender category will be changed to “Third Gender”.

Census

• The census provides information on size, distribution and socio-economic, demographic and other characteristics of the country's population.
• A systematic and modern population census, in its present form was conducted non synchronously between 1865 and 1872 in different parts of the country.
• However, the first synchronous census in India was held in 1881. Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.

Disaster Management

International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)

• Launched by Prime Minister during the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on 23^rd September, 2019
• Knowledge exchange platform on different aspects of disaster and calamity resilience of infrastructure
• Assist countries for Infrastructure Development based on risk context and economic needs
• Pooling of Technological Expertise of stakeholders.

India hosted SCOJtEx-2019 for the 1^st time

• Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Joint Exercise (SCOJtEx)-2019 on Urban Earthquake Search & Rescue organized in New Delhi.
• SCOJtEx to facilitate collective preparedness & building a common understanding of internationally recognized procedures to co-ordinate post-earthquake responses
• This joint exercise with SCO member states to be helpful in developing personal understanding amongst counterpart teams to tackle any disaster situation
• The 19^th annual SCO summit was held on 13-14 June 2019 in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic.

Conference on ‘Landslides Risk Reduction and Resilience’

• India hosted the 1^st International Conference on ‘Landslides Risk Reduction and Resilience’ in New Delhi.

Bilateral Agreements

• India and Uzbekistan signed Security Cooperation Agreement.

• MoU signed between India and Indonesia on combating illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and its precursors.

• MoUs signed between India and Saudi Arabia in the field of combating illicit trafficking and smuggling of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and Chemical Precursors.

• MoU signed between India and Myanmar on bilateral cooperation for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons.

• MoU signed between India and USA to access tip line reports on Missing and Exploited Children.