Governance Community

A new electric vehicle policy that offers financial advantages to EV owners in the state has been enacted by the Rajasthan government. The government has granted a total contribution of Rs 40 crore towards the purchase of electric vehicles under the new Rajasthan Electric Vehicle Policy (REVP). The five-year-long policy’s objective is to promote the use of electric vehicles throughout the state. The pollution that diesel and petrol vehicles produce in the state will decrease as the number of electric vehicles rises. The policy was unveiled by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the 2019–20 budget. Later, in May of this year, the draft policy was approved. The government agreed to the suggested one-time payment for the purchase of electric vehicles as well as an additional budgetary provision of Rs 40 crore for the reimbursement of State Goods and Services Tax (SGST). For two-wheelers, the state government would pay compensation in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for SGST. Depending on the vehicle’s battery capacity, a reimbursement of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 will be given for the purchase of three-wheelers. A sum of Rs 40 crore has also been given to the transport department to settle any outstanding grants for the purchase of electric vehicles. A grant of Rs 5 crore from the total amount of Rs 40 crore will shortly be given to 3,000 vehicle owners in the state who bought their automobiles during the current fiscal year.

Justice Uday Umesh Lalit was sworn in as the 49th Chief Justice of India on Saturday, one day after Justice NV Ramana announced his retirement. Justice Lalit was sworn in as Chief Justice of India by President Droupadi Murmu in the early hours of the day at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Justice NV Ramana, who retired on August 26, is succeeded by him. As per tradition and seniority rules, Justice Ramana had recommended Justice Lalit as his replacement. Justice Lalit’s appointment as the next CJI was subsequently confirmed by the President. As the head of India’s judiciary, Justice Lalit will hold office for just 74 days, leaving on November 8. At Justice Ramana’s farewell celebration yesterday, Justice Lalit stated that during his roughly three-month term, he will concentrate on three main areas, with the making of listing of cases simple, clear and as transparent as possible being one of his top priorities. In addition, Justice Lalit has vowed to uphold a transparent structure that allows any urgent issues to be raised openly before the appropriate benches of the top court. He pledged that the Supreme Court would have at least one Constitution Bench operating throughout the year. Justice Lalit said, “I have always believed that the role of the Supreme Court is to lay down law with clarity, consistency, and the best possible way to do it is to have larger benches as early as possible, wherever the matters are referred to such benches so that the issues get clarified immediately, the matter has consistency and the people are well aware of what exactly are the contours of the peculiar positions in law.” On his last day of work, outgoing CJI Ramana apologised for not being able to name every case that was still pending and stated that the court had been dealing with a backlog of cases that had significantly risen during the months prior. Justice Lalit was a well-known senior advocate before being chosen to serve as a Supreme Court justice. He was selected to serve as a Supreme Court justice on August 13, 2014. Justice Lalit will be the second Chief Justice of India to be elevated from the Supreme Court bench straight from the bar. Justice SM Sikri, who became the 13th Chief Justice of India in January 1971, was the first lawyer to be promoted directly to the top court bench. On November 9, 1957, in Solapur, Maharashtra, Justice Lalit was born. His father, UR Lalit, served as a prominent Supreme Court advocate as well as an additional judge at the Bombay High Court’s Nagpur bench. In June 1983, Justice Lalit applied to become an advocate. From 1983 to 1985, he worked as a criminal law specialist in the Bombay High Court. In January 1986, he shifted his practise to Delhi, and the Supreme Court designated him a senior advocate in April 2004. Later, he was chosen by the CBI to serve as a special public prosecutor for the case involving the allotment of 2G spectrum. On November 8, Justice Lalit will retire, and it is anticipated that Justice DY Chandrachud will be named the 50th Chief Justice of India. Source: ANI

The Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY will now provide comprehensive healthcare services to trans individuals. Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Minister for Health, stated on Wednesday that the action will guarantee transgender persons a “rightful and respectable” status. According to Mandaviya, an MoU that will make this possible will enable all healthcare benefits to be provided to transgender people nationwide who possess a transgender certificate from the National Portal for Transgender Persons. “We have the registry. This is to give the members of the community the respect they deserve,” he added. He added that a comprehensive package, including the existing AB PM-JAY packages as well as particular packages like Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and treatment for transgenders, is being prepared for the transgender category. He also added that individual members will be treated as “family” to qualify for the Rs 5 lakh cover under the scheme. The ministry has also chosen to issue unified Ayushman cards that will feature both the centre and state logos. According to the minister, this will benefit both the beneficiaries and the States. Few States, including Tamil Nadu and Telangana, have not yet endorsed this concept, according to ministry officials.

Quarterly compliance audits of social media companies will be carried out by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity). Presently, each month, social media firms report on their compliance with IT guidelines 2021. Here, they disclose the actions they took in response to various complaints. “Meity has now put in place a mechanism to audit compliance of social media intermediaries under IT rules every quarter. As part of the audit, the ministry will verify if social media companies are reporting about grievances raised to them correctly and if their action taken is in sync with the laid-out rules,” the source told the news agency. The government has proposed creating an appellate panel with the authority to overrule decisions made by social media companies regarding any grievance in order to tighten the noose around these platforms. The IT ministry has concluded the public comment process about the proposed rule.

From October 2022 onward, 5G telecom services will be made available in India. According to Union Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Soon after the 5G auction concludes, the government will distribute the spectrum, which will result in the launch of services in October. Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Vaishnaw stated. He noted that the global rollout of 5G had been uneven and predicted that India would implement 5G considerably more quickly than many other countries. He said that if 5G service prices get too high, the government will step in and state-owned BSNL will function as a market balancer. We anticipate that we will likely defy the trend and have a considerably faster rollout of 5G compared to many other regions, he said, adding that the global implementation of 5G has been slow. This is because our other costs are significantly under control. Vaishnaw stated that as of Saturday, the government has received 1.49 lakh crore rupees from the sale of 5G spectrum and expressed optimism that this figure will surpass 1.5 lakh crore rupees. Regarding the cost of 5G services, the average cost of telecom services worldwide is $2,400 [per month], compared to about $200 in India. “Data cost is lowest in India in the world,” he stated without specifying a number. The success of the 5G spectrum auction indicates that the sector is booming, and the results are very good, he says.