CLAT Government Schemes and Policies Practice Questions With Solutions

The "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam", 2023 Act received near -unanimous support in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The legislation mandates the reservation of one -third of all seats in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and Delhi (as a union territory with an elected assembly) for women. This linking of the implementation of the Act to the implementing of two long -term exercises of census and delimitation, makes little sense to many, and sounds quite like empowerment delayed for now. In a 2012 article 'Holding Up Half the Sky: Reservations for Women in India', Rudolf C Heredia breaks down the common misconceptions that cloud our understanding of women's political participation - "When women do attain a national leadership role it is oft en because they have inherited the mantle from their fathers or husbands, rather than as persons in their own right and are then projected as matriarchs, part of the joint family, complementary to the patriarchy rather than a challenge to it." In 'Equality versus Empowerment: Women in Indian Legislature', 2023, Soumya Bhowmick makes the case for going a step beyond quotas, and to turn our attention to the complexities that shape women's agency in the country. This, he argues, would require a bot toms-up approach, rather than merely handing out reservations in a top-down manner. "In a country like India with a considerably large heterogeneous population, the dissemination of legislative power would be insufficient to protect the interests of minori ty groups such as women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes." He concludes that "implementing the idea of reservation for women would bring about descriptive representation, but its transformation into substantive representation would depend on the cha nge in the attitudes of the people." While the reservation of one -third of seats for women belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes under the amendment to article 330a and 332 of the constitution is a welcome step, it remains to be seen whether it fully acknowledges the complex interplay of hierarchies, socio -political relationships which also affect the extent and nature of complications that surround effective realisation of women's politics for Indian politics to emerge as a truly emancipatory space.

Every second patent granted in India between 2016 -2021 is related to green technology and a quarter of the green technology patents are concerning alternative energy production, coinciding with the Centre’s efforts on “enhanced use of green technology for boosting economy and encouraging consumers to use products produced through use of such technology”. Data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows that more than 91,500 patents were granted between 2016 -17 and 2020 -21, while the data for 2021 -22 was not immediately available. However, going by the trend in the past two years, India is expected to clear at least 25,000 more applications this year. Separate data from the ministry shows that between 2016 -17 and 2021 -22 (up to January), 61,186 patent s related to green technologies have been granted in the said period. Of these, 90% are for technologies concerning waste management and alternative energy production - 38,837 or 63% of them are related to waste management and more than 16,000 or 26% are for alternative energy production. The rest of the green technology patentsare for energy conservation (2,555), transportation technologies (2,481), nuclear power generation (1,079),agriculture -and-forestry (161),and others (69).

The Government may defer the deadline for companies to deposit the unspent portion of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds into specified bank accounts in a move aimed at providing some relief in the fight against the COVID -19 and subsequent restrictions. Companies are required to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of the preceding within three financial years on CSR. The Ministry has allowed firms to undertake projects on an ongoing basis on the condition that any unspent amount must be deposited with a scheduled bank within 30 days of the end of the financial year. “Considering the curren t crisis, we request your esteemed office to consider relaxation by providing extension of the timelines up to June 30, 2021,” the Institute of Company Secretaries of India said in a letter to the Ministry. Experts said that while lockdowns and restriction s are less stringent than last year and companies have adapted to working online, many professionals or their families have been affected by the infection, leaving teams short -staffed.