International Solar Alliance and West African Power Pool hosts 13 African countries (GS Paper 1, Geography)
Why in news?
- International Solar Alliance (ISA), in collaboration with Grid Controller of India Ltd (Grid-India) and West African Power Pool (WAPP), is hosting delegates from the West African Region in New Delhi, from 14th to 18th February.
- Sixty participants from thirteen WAPP countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo will participate in a knowledge sharing and study tour highlighting aspects of solar energy implementation.
Key Highlights:
- The programme participants include officials from ministries, statutory, regulatory bodies, and utility companies from participating African nations.
- The tour highlights include classroom sessions and interactions in New Delhi and Bengaluru, visits to Pavagada Solar Park, Southern Regional Load Despatch Centre, and Southern Regional Renewable Energy Management Centre.
- The programme agenda will help participants with insights into global and Indian solar energy scenarios, policies, guidelines, and regulations overview for renewable energy in India from a solar energy perspective.
About the International Solar Alliance:
- The International Solar Alliance is an international organisation with 114 Member and Signatory countries.
- It works with governments to improve energy access and security worldwide and promote solar power as a sustainable transition to a carbon-neutral future. ISA’s mission is to unlock US$ 1 trillion of investments in solar by 2030 while reducing the cost of the technology and its financing.
- It promotes the use of solar energy in the Agriculture, Health, Transport and Power Generation sectors. ISA member countries are driving change by enacting policies and regulations, sharing best practices, agreeing on common standards, and mobilising investments.
- Through this work, ISA has identified and designed and tested new business models for solar projects; supported governments to make their energy legislation and policies solar-friendly through Ease of Doing Solar analytics and advisory; pooled demand for solar technology from different countries; and drove down costs; improved access to finance by reducing the risks and making the sector more attractive to private investment; increased access to solar training, data and insights for solar engineers and energy policymakers.
- With the signing and ratification of the ISA Framework Agreement by 15 countries on 6 December 2017, ISA became the first international intergovernmental organisation to be headquartered in India.
- ISA is partnering with multilateral development banks (MDBs), development financial institutions (DFIs), private and public sector organisations, civil society, and other international institutions to deploy cost-effective and transformational solutions through solar energy, especially in the least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The missing Deputy Speaker the post and what the Constitution says
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and five states: Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand over the failure to elect a Deputy Speaker.
- A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) sought responses on a PIL that contends that not electing a Deputy Speaker to the 17th (present) Lok Sabha, which was constituted on June 19, 2019, is “against the letter and spirit of the Constitution”.
- The post has been lying vacant in the five state Assemblies as well, which were constituted between four years and almost one year ago.
What does the Constitution say about the Deputy Speaker?
How soon must the Deputy Speaker be elected?
- “As soon as may be”, say Articles 93 and 178. But they do not lay down a specific time frame.
- In general, the practice in both Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies has been to elect the Speaker during the (mostly short) first session of the new House, usually on the third day after the oath-taking and affirmations over the first two days.
- The election of the Deputy Speaker usually takes place in the second sessio and is generally not delayed further in the absence of genuine and unavoidable constraints.
- Rule 8 of The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha says the election of Deputy Speaker “shall be held on such date as the Speaker may fix”. The Deputy Speaker is elected once a motion proposing his name is carried in the House.
- Once elected, the Deputy Speaker usually continues in office for the entire duration of the House.Under Article 94 (Article 179 for state legislatures), the Speaker or Deputy Speaker “shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the House…”. They may also resign to each other, or “may be removed from…office by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then members of the House”.
How was the post of Deputy Speaker envisaged?
- On May 19, 1941, H V Kamath argued in the Constituent Assembly that if the Speaker resigns, “it will be far better if he addresses his resignation to the President and not to the Deputy Speaker, because the Deputy Speaker holds an office subordinate to him”.
- Dr B R Ambedkar disagreed and pointed out that a person normally tenders his resignation to the person who has appointed him. “…The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker are…appointed or chosen or elected by the House. Consequently these two people, if they want to resign, must tender their resignations to the House which is the appointing authority.
- Of course, the House being a collective body of people, a resignation could not be addressed to each member of the House separately. Consequently, the provision is made that the resignation should be addressed either to the Speaker or to the Deputy Speaker, because it is they who represent the House,” he said.
- When Neelam Sanjiva Reddy resigned as Speaker of the 4th Lok Sabha on July 19, 1969, he addressed his resignation to the Deputy Speaker.
But what happens if the post of Deputy Speaker is vacant?
- The House is informed of the resignation of the Speaker by the Deputy Speaker and if the office of the Deputy Speaker is vacant, by the Secretary-General who receives the letter of resignation in that House.
- The resignation is notified in the Gazette and the Bulletin.
Do the powers of the Speaker extend to the Deputy Speaker as well?
- Article 95(1) says: “While the office of Speaker is vacant, the duties of the office shall be performed by the Deputy Speaker”.
- In general, the Deputy Speaker has the same powers as the Speaker when presiding over a sitting of the House. All references to the Speaker in the Rules are deemed to be references to the Deputy Speaker when he presides.
- It has been repeatedly held that no appeal lies to the Speaker against a ruling given by the Deputy Speaker or any person presiding over the House in the absence of the Speaker.
Can the courts intervene in cases of a delay in electing the Deputy Speaker?
- In September 2021, a petition was filed before the Delhi High Court, which argued that delay in the election of the Deputy Speaker violated Article 93 (Pawan Reley v. Speaker, Lok Sabha & Ors). However, there is no precedent of a court forcing the legislature to elect the Deputy Speaker.
- Courts usually don’t intervene in the procedural conduct of Parliament. Article 122(1) says: “The validity of any proceedings in Parliament shall not be called in question on the ground of any alleged irregularity of procedure.”
- However, the courts do have jurisdiction to at least inquire into why there has been no election to the post of Deputy Speaker since the Constitution does envisage an election “as soon as may be”.
