SC slams bulldozer action, lists demolition rules, warns officials

Slamming the use of bulldozers against properties of crime accused, the Supreme Court ruled that the demolition of properties of citizens without following due process is contrary to the rule of law. 

Directing that officials indulging in such "high-handed actions" be made accountable, the bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan, using its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, laid down certain conditions including mandatory notice which authorities have to comply with before demolishing properties.

After the Finance Commission nudge, all states but Arunachal form panels, Gujarat's latest

After being nudged by the Fifteenth Finance Commission, all states, except Arunachal Pradesh, have State Finance Commissions (SFCs) in place, the latest being Gujarat, which formed its commission on November 4, according to a note prepared by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj ahead of the Finance Commission's Conclave on the 'Devolution to Development 2024' scheduled to be held on November 14.

The 15th Finance Commission, formed in 2017, took serious note of the delay in constituting state finance commissions in its report in 2020 and recommended that those states which did not comply with the Constitutional provisions in respect of the SFCs-constitutional bodies at the state level would not be released grants after March 2024.

Countries begin from scratch on finance talks 

A day after the developing countries rejected a pre-conference draft of the finance agreement here at the COP29 climate meeting, a new draft emerged.

The conference is aiming to deliver a comprehensive financial agreement to enable greater availability of money for climate action. Trillions are dollars are estimated to be required every year to fund all the climate actions that countries have promised, or intend, to take, but little is available right now, in relative terms.

Countries have been putting forward their proposals which are widely divergent. The group of G77 and China, which consists of over 130 developing nations, said that developed countries must agree to mobilise at least 1.3 trillion dollars every year, only to help the developing world fight climate change.

SC on 'bulldozer justice'

The Supreme Court laid down a series of guidelines to ensure that due process is followed for demolishing the properties of citizens. 

These guidelines were a part of the court's verdict in a case that had raised the issue of demolition of properties by state authorities as a punishment for the alleged involvement of the property owner in a crime. The case was heard by a Bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan. 

The verdict came just days after a case regarding a man whose home was illegally demolished by the UP government as a part of a road widening project, referred to such demolitions as "bulldozer justice".

A green transition for India

First, shift from centralised to decentralised energy systems. Distributed renewable energy (DRE) sources can be a critical pillar of building energy systems at scale. 

India has already shown ambition with its rooftop solar push that plans to solarise 10 million households, which could add 30 GW of clean power. However, the price for rooftop solar is too high for most consumers in the lower economic slabs who consume less power. 

A Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) study found that around 30 per cent of the country's technical rooftop solar potential lies in the 0-1 kW category, a category still expensive for many after subsidies. 

New kinds of market-driven interventions and business models, such as community solar or community partners, can tackle this.

Domestic Systemically Important Banks: Why are these banks 'too big to fail'?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) retained the State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). 

All three banks continue to be under the same bucketing structure as in the 2023 list of D-SIBs, the regulator said. 

Systemically Important Banks (SIBs) are perceived as banks that are 'Too Big To Fail (TBTF)' and their continued functioning is crucial for the uninterrupted availability of essential banking services to the real economy.