History of National Food Security Bill

• The National Flag is a horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of width of the flag to its length is two to three. 
• In the centre of the white band is a navy-blue wheel which represents the Ashoka Chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes.
• The design of the National Flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on 22 July 1947. The flag is based on the Swaraj flag, a flag of the Indian National Congress designed by Pingali Venkayya.

• Lokayukta shall be appointed by the Governor of the state in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.

• Chief Justice (retired) of any high court in India, or a judge of a high court for seven years. Lokayukta shall not be a member of Parliament or a member of the Legislative of any state or Union Territory and shall not hold any other office of profit and shall not be connected with any political party or be carrying on any business or practice any profession. The office has a term of five years.

• The LokAyukta helps people bring corruption to the fore mainly amongst the politicians and officers in the government service. It is to be noted that the LokAyukta conducts raids. But surprisingly, it does not have binding powers to punish anyone but only recommend punishment. Reduction in rank, compulsory retirement, removal from office, stoppage of annual increments and censure are some of the frequently seen recommendations given by the Lokayukta to the government. The state can either accept the recommendations or modify them. The public servant concerned can challenge the decision in the state high courts or specialised tribunals.

• Written complaints are required from complainants by the Lokayukta office for investigation. If the complaint takes the form of an allegation, the office insists on the filing of an affidavit. Most of the complainants received turned out to be “anonymous, pseudonymous, and trivial in nature or not made on prescribed forms or were submitted without affidavits. “Many did not pursue their allegations when asked to file them in an affidavit format. Lokayuktas can either investigate the complaints using their suo motu powers under the state Act concerned or forward them to the heads of the departments under the scanner for action or act as a mediator between the citizen and the government servant against whom the complaint is made.

• Its a one man army with limited resources and powers, and the success of the entire mechanism depends solely on the personal qualities of the individual Lokayukta
• Non uniformity of Acts in states
• Many areas of administration are outside the jurisdiction of Lokayukta
• Some states have prescribed fee for lodging complaints, for example Madhya Pradesh is one of them.
• Non-cooperative attitude of authorities and lack of independent investigating authority
• Orissa was the first state to pass the Ombudsman legislation in 1970 and also the first to abolish it in 1993.

• An amendment to the Constitution has been proposed to implement the Lokayukta uniformly across Indian States. The proposed changes will make the institution of Lokayukta uniform across the country as a three-member body, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or high court chief justice and comprise the state vigilance commissioner and a jurist or an eminent administrator as other members.

• 28-July-2011 : Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde submits illegal mining report

• Planning Commission of India was set up on 15 March 1950, with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the chairman. Planning Commission is a non statutory as well extra constitutional body and has been brought by an executive order.
• With the Prime Minister as the ex-officio Chairman, the committee has a nominated Deputy Chairman, who is given the rank of a full Cabinet Minister. Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is presently the Deputy Chairman of the Commission.
• Cabinet Ministers with certain important portfolios act as part-time members of the Commission, while the full-time members are experts of various fields like Economics, Industry, Science and General Administration.

• Under Article 352, President of India can make proclamation of emergency in case the security of India or any part of the territory is threatened by war, external aggression or armed rebellion. The President has the power to declare an emergency even if there is a chance (before the actual occurrence) for any of the above mentioned cases. 
• A Proclamation issued may be revoked by a subsequent proclamation by the President.
• The President shall not issue a Proclamation without the written permission of the Union Cabinet ( Council consisting of the Prime Minister and other Ministers of Cabinet rank under Article 75) .