Current Affairs Question - 15 November 2019

Explanation :

• The anti-defection law is contained in the 10^th Schedule of the Constitution. It was enacted by the Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act, 1985, during the Rajiv Gandhi government. It came into effect on 1^st March 1985.
• Purpose: The purpose is to curb political defection by the legislators.
• The Speaker or the Chairman of the concerned Houses (as applicable) makes decisions on defection matters. If the Chairman or the Speaker defects, the decisions shall be made by a member elected by the House.
• The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.

Ground of Defection

• One, if the member voluntarily gives up the membership of the party, he shall be disqualified. Voluntarily giving up the membership is not the same as resigning from a party. Even without resigning, a legislator can be disqualified if by his conduct the Speaker/Chairman of the concerned House draws a reasonable inference that the member has voluntarily given up the membership of his party.
• Second, if a legislator votes in the House against the direction of his party and his action is not condoned by his party, he can be disqualified. These are the two grounds on which a legislator can be disqualified from being a member of the House.

Exceptions

The law provides exceptions from being disqualified as a member of legislature on the following grounds:

• When political parties merge with each other entirely.
• When a political party splits into other parties, subject to not less than a third of the members splitting (as per the 93^rd Amendment to the Constitution).
• When two-thirds (or more) of members belonging to a party join another party without both their parties explicitly merging.

Amendment

• The law was amended in 2003 by which the one-third split provision which offered protection to defectors was deleted from the law.

Explanation :

• Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association(APRACA) is a regional association that promotes cooperation and facilitates mutual exchange of information and expertise in the field of rural finance.
• As of April 2019, a total of 86 institutions in 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region are affiliated with the APRACA as its members.

History

• The establishment of a Regional Association that promotes cooperation and facilitates mutual exchange of information and expertise in the field of rural finance was first proposed at the Regional Seminar on Agricultural Credit for Small Farmers, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the Pacific in October 1974.
• Subsequently under the auspices of FAO, rural finance and agricultural credit institutions in the region formally launched APRACA during its first General Assembly Meeting in New Delhi, India, on October 14, 1977, held in conjunction with the third FAO Asian Conference on Agricultural Credit and Cooperatives.

Mission

• To promote the efficiency and effectiveness of rural finance and improve access to financial services through a network of knowledge sharing and learning, capacity-building, research and exchange of expertise.