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I can’t compare to all states of India with Kerala and its not fair too at this stage to make any comparisons. We are in the middle of a crisis and this is not just applicable to Kerala or South India or India as whole… Rather it's applicable to the entire world.Every government in this world is trying their level best to serve their citizens in the crisis. We can’t claim, ONLY we are doing the best. Everywhere, govts are trying to do best for their people. Maybe in some areas, we might be standing slightly better, some areas we may be lacking too.So I am not into any comparison at all. But since I write about Kerala in Quora, I feel I will write what all Kerala State has done in its fight against Corona Virus. I am talking only in specific to Kerala, not in comparison with any others.And please note, this is an evolving crisis and every day something new is being added to the fight. So sticking to things as of yesterday- 28/03/2020Contact trackingFor me personally, I consider this job done by Kerala’s DHS (Directorate of Health Services) as something the best they could do for us. Learning from Nipah outbreak experience, Kerala has used its resources to track contacts and people who been associated with the index patient (first patient in a cluster) to identify a cluster and isolate from the community. This includes detailed tracking of patient’s route from the moment he/she landed in Kerala until the moment he/she been quarantined into the hospital. Most of the tracking is done thro’ inputs made by the patient which are cross verified by officials of Public Health Inspectorate and Community Medicine Department, apart from using Police’s intelligence sources like Cyber cell to track down the mobile tower locations of the patient, special branch reports, phone records, CCTV camera recordings etc. By this manner, DHS able to identify a cluster comprising of potential secondary and tertiary contacts made by the index patient who will be either home or hospital quarantined and if any symptoms are shown, their blood samples will be tested.The DHS frequently makes regular route maps of patients and publishes in public to let people know about the time and place where the patient was and ask the public to declare to DHS, if they were in at that place at the specified time, to be declared as part of a cluster.Route Map of Patient 1 of Pathanamthitta which resulted in the start of second wave since March 2020This kind of tracking helped Kerala as of now to contain the disease to cluster level, though some have jumped out of quarantine and their actions created more clusters and patients.How Kerala's flowchart model is helping effective coronavirus contact tracingKerala launches contact-tracing programme to neutralise coronavirus threat2. TestingI have written answers before. Kerala’s strategy in combating this disease is by constant testing of samples. Kerala so far is the state that has done the highest number of testing among Indian states and its testing ratio is somewhat at par with many major affected countries like Japan or similar.Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Why are no COVID-19 deaths reported in Kerala even though the state has the highest number of cases?States That Are Testing More Are Detecting More Cases, Data Show |If Kerala has done anything good in this sector, its solely because of regular testing and able to identify people quickly.As of yesterday (28/02/2020),Kerala tested 6,067 samples5,270 samples were negative165 are currently on treatment (Confirmed cases)1,34,370 are in isolation/surveillance (not yet confirmed)8 have recovered and still kept in observationand 1 death has been reported (the very first death in the state)This massive Pro-testing approach has helped Kerala to have nearly 10 Testing Virology labs in the state, including an NIV unit that helps faster and regular testing. As of now, Kerala has the highest number of blood sample testing facility in IndiaAs yesterday Kerala announced massive rapid testing after getting in-principle approval from ICMR. Kerala is the first state to announce so and was pressing ICMR for rapid testing permission for every single one in isolation/quarantine for last few days.3. Medical preparednessKerala was expecting to have Corona right soon after China declared its condition way back in Jan 2020. Kerala due to its very high non-resident Malayalee population living in many countries of the world was sure, they will soon get this new disease thro’ them and it was so right its judgement when the first Covid Case of India was reported in Kerala way back in Feb 2020. And it fully contained the first wave of Covid entry in Feb when it could isolate all cases and avoid spread etc.In the second wave, which happened thro’ an irresponsible family’s actions that created multiple clusters and later thro’ various foreign imports (some again were of irresponsible actions), the medical teams were so prepared to deal with emergencyDHS by March mid has already completed setting up various contingency plans, which were titled as PLAN A, PLAN B AND PLAN C. These plans were effectively communicated to entire medical and administrative officials of the states and everything has been well defined. This even includes thresh-holds for initiating each plan. Medical infra audits were carried out as part of this medical contingency plansThe Plan A which is currently ongoing has seen mobilization of resources associated with 50 Govt hospitals and 2 private hospitals on standby with total of 974 isolation beds and 22 ICUs readied for Corona carePlan B which has been initiated last day has mobilized resources for an additional 71 govt hospitals and 55 private hospitals for combating this disease which will add another 1408 beds.Plan C is the next stage (once the diseases spread comes to 3rd stage) which will mobilize 81 govt hospitals and 41 private hospitals with another addition of 3028 beds and 218 ICU bedsThese plans were drawn in March 1st week, which shows the extend of planning of Kerala Govt.The new set of plans (unofficially codenamed as PLAN D) will feature nationalization or semi-nationalization of entire Private hospitals of Kerala featuring a total bed of 69,434 beds and 5507 ICU beds. As of the latest decision, the govt decided to take over unused private hospitals and those medical colleges whose operations were suspended by MCI. 3 hospitals facilities and one Hostel complex were taken over in last 48 hours (PVS Hospital in Kochi, Anjarakady Medical College in Kannur, Shanti Jamaath Islami Hospital in Kozhikode and Sree Sankaracharya University Hostel Complex in Kochi)Collector Ernakulam (Kochi) taking over an unused hospital in Kochi city to be converted into a Covid Care Hospital facility.The Plan D features taking over hotels, hostels, lodges and other commercial units to develop into Isolation centres and Temporary Isolation centres, which shall be more than 2 Million rooms.As of now, Kerala Govt has announced opening Exclusive Covid Hospitals in every district of Kerala (14 Covid Hospitals in the level of tertiary care facility) and the first one is opened in Kochi- CMC (Cochin Medical College) which is a government Medical college and others are expected to open by this weekKerala’s first dedicated Covid Care Hospital centre in Kochi with 500 isolation beds and 70 plus ICU bedsGovt has been in talks with various community organizations and they all pledged their support for the fight. The Catholic Hospitals Association which is the second-largest Medical group after Government hospital network has decided to give all their hospitals to DHS along with their medical Staff (2660 Doctors, 10,300 Nurses, 5,500+ Paramedics and 6800 Admin staff). The Nair Service Society has assured Govt to provide its 2 hospitals and 100 plus educational institutions which they can convert into field hospitals if required. The SNDP Trust also assured Govt to provide its 1000 plus schools to be converted as field medical hospitals or treatment centres. It also assured to give its medical college to the state upon demand. So as Muslim Educational Society and Jammat e Hind Islami also assured to provide all its hospitals, madrasas, schools and colleges to the government for its better use.4. Upgrading Covid Hospital facilitiesOne key factor Kerala Govt focused on improving the facilities at all Covid care hospitals to ensure the public do not hide their medical cases to avoid visiting or isolating themselves.All Govt Covid Isolation rooms and treatment rooms are modernized and sanitized as per WHO protocols. Patients were brought to such isolation wards in dedicated Covid care ambulances and the isolation rooms were all modern and neatThe govt took extra care to ensure the food patients get at these hospitals should be as inviting as possible to shed all bias and prejudices against Govt hospitalsCovid patients gets inviting meals with options like Soups, fruits, eggs, Dosa, Appams, Rice-fish curries, chappatis, curd etc while foreign patients gets continental meals like Toasted breads, cheeses, omelettes/scrambled eggs, roasted chicken, biscuits etc. Patients do get daily milk, tea, coffee, fresh fruit juices, packed mineral water and daily newspapers (courtesy from Hindu).Dosa, eggs, oranges, fish fry: Here's the menu at COVID-19 isolation wards in KeralaThe hospital authorities have taken every wish of patients as much as possible, for example an covid affected Kid from Italy in treatment at Kochi were treated with Italian pasta, Ravoli and pizzas as the kid likes only Italian food which were ordered from an Italian restaurant nearby.5. Medical Industrial PreparednessKerala Govt has taken extra note in preparing itself for a major medical emergency. The state’s Medicine production has gone into full swing. The state-run Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceutical Corporation has been entrusted with bulk mass production of Hand sanitizers which produced more than 1 Lakh bottles of Sanitizers and increased production targets to 1 million (10 lakh) by end of this week.1 lakh bottles of hand sanitizers in a day: Kerala goes all guns blazing against Covid-19KSDP also entrusted with mass production of 8 critical generic drugs and 2 drugs for which it holds patents to ensure no shortage.The state’s Electricity board has ordered to procure 500 new medical ventilators exclusively for Covid operations (Kerala state holds 5000 ventilators in total which is approx 12% of total available ventilators in the country). The state is going to enter talks with various manufactures for portable ventilatorsIn addition, the industry department has been asked to explore the possibility to produce 1 lakh N95 masks with any tech partnership with companies using facilities available to the department. In the meantime, the state will continue the mass production of cloth and surgical masks.As of today’s (28/03/2020) cabinet decision, Kerala Govt decided to form a medical industry cluster to manufacture indigenous medical equipment supplies at the earliest using existing facilities.The Kochi Superfab Lab, India’s only such facility were given the charge to design equipment required for such a major medical emergency. The state will produce its own Respirators, Ventilators, N95 Masks, Oxygen cylinders, Bio-Medical equipment preparing itself for the worst medical emergency.ISRO’s VSSC facility in Trivandrum and Kochi’s Technology Innovation Zone along with Kerala Start Up Mission will be fully utilized to design and develop newer and practical technologies and existing factories in Palakkad’s Kanjikode Industrial Cluster will be fully converted to produce equipment required for the medical sector. For this, a meeting of industrialists will be called tomorrow and setting the plan in motionThe state has opened a new challenge to all its technocrats and tech student entrepreneurs and start up promoters to come up with ideas for effective tech solutions to deal with a major emergency.A website- http://WWW.BREAKCORONA.IN has been started by Kerala Govt to invite newer ideas that can easily be put into action for which Kerala Govt will support financially and these projects will also generate employment and opportunities in the economy.6. Technology Usage and War RoomOne main feature which Kerala’s DHS used to control Covid spread was its Control Room set up at Kerala State Disaster Management Authority complex in Trivandrum and district headquarters. This was something which I feel, gave real-time updates to DHS on the spread and ways to control and contain it.These multiple data recording and analysis units helped to track patient history, procure data from multiple sources, feed in data and help control room unit officials to analyze patterns of travels and contact detailsIn a way, it was a full-fledged health surveillance facility. Patients route maps were made, their contacts were identified and their movements were tracked from this Hitech facility. These 24 hours of data control rooms, helped to give a clearer picture and understand the extent of spread thro’ interactive maps etc.This also includes geo-surveillance, monitoring those in quarantine with geo-fencing, GPS enabled trackers, electronic anklet monitoring systems etcScreenshot of portal that highlights patients under GPS enabled Geo-fencing to track their movements as used by District Administration- PathanamthittaCoronavirus | GPS-based tracking of all those quarantined in PathanamthittaIn addition, Kerala is using multiple data collection methods to track vulnerable people and develop maps to identify potential hot spots and nearest medical facilities. The disease mapping helps to have a strong information flow for various strategic decision making to control community transmission.Kerala uses open source public utility to fight COVID-19 - Geospatial WorldKerala govt to use ration card data for digital map on COVID-19Disease mapping to stem community transmissionApart from this, the centralized health support centre- DISHA (Direct Intervention System for Health Awareness) played a crucial role in tracking and supporting patients and other suspect cases. DISHA is a centralized call centre of DHS with a toll-free number- 1056 which was started to support patients for telemedicine and tele-support like counselling etc. But during this COVID time, it was fully converted into COVID Support and call centre facility. They notified the patient records, their queries and supported back with real-time updates of their medical conditions, moving ambulance support for them and mental counselling etc to alleviate stress.Disha 1056 call center, the nerve point of Anti-Corona operationsCoronavirus: This team at Kerala helpline desk works round the clock in fight against the pandemicNow, the state is coming up with a sophisticated Hitech War Room in the State Secretariat that has senior Bureaucrats as members to control and coordinate entire Covid operations including logistics movements during lockdown etc. A new secured line has been established- 0471-2517225 for the public to call at War Room directly.War room to coordinate effortsWar room in Kerala to supervise COVID-19 containment activities8. Lockdown SupportThe Lockdown as announced by Central Govt has affected every Indians. Kerala is no exception to this grave situation.During lockdown time, the state has focused on maximizing deliveries of essential supplies at home.The state has partnered with Zomato in Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode to supply essentials from state-run Supermarket chain- Supplyco to public. 40 stores of Supplyco will start services of Zomato for home delivering of essentials including the essential kit of basic food items priced at Rs 500 (5 Kg rice, 1 litre coconut oil, 1 kg sugar, half kg of 2 kinds of pulsesSupplyco ties up with Zomato for online delivery of essential items in KochiThe state’s Consumerfed also entered into Online delivery starting from 1st of April and will extend to all districts of Kerala at the earliest. In addition, the state’s milk brand- Milma has aggressively pushed its online delivery- AM Needs more in 2 main cities which shall supply Milk, Milk products and breakfast items like bread, eggs etc. Efforts are made to extend this to other main cities too.Consumerfed’s online delivery from April 1Kerala Govt along with Police Cyberdome and a private company has launched a new Online app- ShopsApp and now asking all shops selling essential goods to mandatorily register in the ShopsApp portal. Once all the shops register, the newly formed volunteer army will be used for home delivery which will be spread across the state, not just cities alone.Shopping from local stores with home deliveryഅവശ്യ സാധനങ്ങളുടെ ലഭ്യത ഉറപ്പാക്കാൻ പൊലീസ് ആപ്The state has assured home-delivery of its essentials kits and ration supplies to the houses of poor (BPL cardholders) across the state, even in rural areas thro’ services of postal personnel as well as its own staff. Right from the day when schools where closed, personnel from Angawadi (kindergarten) and other educational departments were home delivering essentials for kids and children enrolled under each school directly.The state announced ambitious schemes to ensure HUNGER FREE Kerala. The govt clarified, not a single person in the state will starve due to the lockdownEvery family who is currently home quarantined will get Rs 1000 worth Essentials Kit of Food items from the govt for free which shall be home deliveredBPL card holders will get 35 Kg of Rice and APL cardholders will get 15 KG of Rice from Ration shops for free.Covid-19 lockdown: In a first, Kerala to home deliver food kits to the poorIn addition, a mechanism for home-delivering items from nearby shops by volunteers is plannedPolice delivering essentials to houses of elderly people who can’t go out9. Community KitchenThe govt directive is for Hunger-Free Kerala. No one will starve in KeralaFor this, the state has directed every Local Govt bodies to start Community Kitchens to cook food in bulk and provide packed food kits to people who don’t have access to cooked food. This includes homeless people, elderly people, sick people, migrant labour community and those got trapped in hostels or similar facilities overnight. All these shall be delivered to homes for a free or nominal token amount of Rs 20Meals shall be also delivered any needy just thro’ phone calls. The whole scheme has been worked out by Kudumbashree workers and packed meals costs Rs 20 only for veg and extra Rs 30 for a Chicken/Beef/Fish dishhttps://www.thenewsminute.com/article/inside-kerala-community-kitchen-during-coronavirus-lockdown-121325As of now, 748 Community Kitchens have been opened and an additional 300 will be set up soon. This service is available for lunch and dinner.So my parents who are in Kerala tried the community kitchen meal which was home delivered for Rs. 25. Rs. 30 extra if you want fish/beef/chicken. #Kerala #Alappuza @vijayanpinarayi @drthomasisaac @CMOKerala @shailajateacher pic.twitter.com/Ws2snAq5EQ— JF (@Potatodrink) March 27, 2020Kerala's Solution For Food Needs Amid Lockdown: 1,000 Community KitchensAgriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar inspecting the facilities at Kochi’s Community kitchenKerala’s 43 lakh-strong women self-help network power community kitchens during coronavirus lockdown10. State Volunteer ArmyThe state announced an ambitious idea of forming an army of 2.45 Lakh volunteers to support various volunteering activity under a single command. Ever since the lock-down, multiple organizations are into volunteering activity causing many law & order issues and unauthorized movements. Also, there is a lack of coordination in these activities.To deal with it, the state formed a new directorate- Directorate of Social Service Force under State Youth Commission. The Directorate is to raise an army of trained volunteers to support various activities classified as 18 categories.https://www.quora.com/share/Arun-Mohan-520The key part of Volunteers is to develop emergency Isolation centres as required as movers as well as technicians. Apart from that, they are heavily required for logistics operations across the state, to supply deliveries to home, to work as care-takers and home-sitters for elderly and Covid affected patients etc.The govt announced this day before yesterday and invited online registrations thro’ its new portal- https://sannadham.kerala.gov.in/ (Sannadham in Malayalam means Volunteering) and despite of a technical glitch in registration, by now 30,000 youngsters registered for volunteering. This also includes Kerala Youth Volunteer Action Force- KYVAF (Red Shirts as known locally) designed after 2019 floods to have trained volunteer guards (5000 such trained red shirts are now available). So far only Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have formed such volunteer army.News in Asianet News about huge number of applications and responses to forming Kerala Volunteer ArmyRed Shirts in public sterilization programsKerala to set up Community Volunteer Force to support better deliveryKerala govt to form volunteer army of 2 lakh youngsters for the COVID-19 fightTechies turn volunteers to assist Kerala to contain Covid-1911. Transparency Flow of InformationThe biggest positive thing which Kerala is doing (which some proactive CMs of other states also doing) is effective and transparent flow of information.One of the important lessons learnt after Oockhi crisis of 2017 which Kerala changed since then and effectively used during floods time of 2018 and 2019 and Nipah time, was holding regular press meets and effective passing of all information available and cutting the spread of fake news.The government for the last 56 days were constantly holding daily press briefing both at State Level and district level to pass all information of the day. On the day 1 of first reporting of Covid case, a press conference was held even at an unusual hour of 1:30 AM late night to pass all information to media. Ever since that, media briefing became a mandatory thing at State level which was initially at 8 PM by Health Minister and as the state entered into Stage 2 and probably gearing for Stage 3 where multiple departments need to be involved, the baton moved to CM’s daily press meetings at 6 PM sharp.The daily press meetings of Kerala CM along with Health Minister and Chief Secretary has attracted huge public response, as a clear source of information on Covid situation.Today most of these press meetings are widely watched by entire Malayalee community, where all information of the day, all policies taken by Cabinet, all the government orders and action plan for next day are discussed with mediaPerhaps, one key tool to combat fake news is Transparency. The state issues health bulletins at every 6 hours for all affected people, all collectors are required to hold press meets or press releases on daily basis, district information officers are required to open lines to quell all public queries as well as organize programs to dispel public doubts and help the public in knowing the updates etc.Transparency Has Been Kerala’s Biggest Weapon Against the Coronavirus12. Campaign programs and quick responsesKerala government has realized the importance of massive Public Campaigns and Public relations to be used to the highest level to ensure its desired objectives reach to the public. The most successful campaign done was BREAK-THE-CHAIN campaign which has been adopted by Central Govt too and listed as a National agenda laterArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to How many people participate in the campaign "break the chain" in Kerala?Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What impact will this bring on the public as the introductory video of Kerala Police doing handwashing dance gone viral?Break The Chain Campaign was to have massive ground level sanitization and handwashing program to ensure the virus don’t spread quickly and break the chain of spread. This campaign helped the public to realize the importance of washing hands frequently and using sanitizers. Public washing kiosks came up and hand-sanitizers at the entrance of any facility became a regular thing. Videos of effective hand washes became common and the handwashing awareness video of Kerala Police became viralThe much viral Handwashing Video awareness dance by Kerala PoliceApart from campaigns, the government ensured, they are into heavy public relations. They are listening to every complaint, every grievance and standing with the public. For this govt machinery are focused on addressing public needs based on complaints reporting.For example, initially, the government didn’t give much thought about migrant labours and workers as the entire attention was over the local population. But when reports started coming in that migrant population have started fleeing to their homes and travelling on foot to their places when the lockdown came, the government machinery immediately set its attention to their problem. The govt started opening migrant workers camps across the state where they can stay and the entire cost of their food and other essentials were taken care of by the state Labour department and local MLAs. Kerala Govt even announced, they won’t use the term- Migrant Workers, rather will address them as GUEST WORKERS (Adithi Thozhilali) to honour their contributions to the state and will care themWhen Bihar’s Opposition leader Tejaswani Yadav highlighted the plight of some Bihari workers in Trivandrum over Twitter, the government quickly addressed to it and even reverted to him personally with an action taken reportI have visited the guest workers' labour camp today and spoke with workers and company representatives. The camp operates with all necessities including food and medicine.Kerala government is paying special attention to guest workers in this #COVID19 crisis. pic.twitter.com/uMsdq2NJQS— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 27, 2020As of now, Kerala opened 4603 Relief camps to accommodate 1 Lakh migrant workers across the state who lost their work and got stuck in the state with no place to go. More numbers are to be expected as no one actually knows an exact number of workers. Many have fled Kerala before the lockdown came in and some haven’t turned up to government facilities too. The facilities do have all the essentials to survive until an alternative mechanism to help these people reach back to their homes is decided upon. This includes free food and sanitary requirements.Kerala opens 4603 relief camps for over one lakh migrant 'guest' workersAround 35 plus camps are opened for destitute and street dwellers across the state to be accommodated during this period.This decision has prevented a massive exodus as seen in many other North Indian states.13. Welfare schemes and supportThe state has announced a huge economic package of Rs 20,000 Crore to support people during this Covid crisis.One key feature announced was providing 2 Month social security pension (March and April) together by yesterday and today to all registered people, by delivering to their homes and via their coop bank accounts.The Govt kept its word by distributing all pensions by nowMore Photos. pic.twitter.com/H5sckkiCrL— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 26, 2020How the Kerala government is shaping and implementing its Covid-19 responseKerala to disburse welfare pension for two months from next weekIn addition, the government has decided to support Tribal population by asking all tribal promoters and other officials to supply essential kits at their settlements inside the forest and educate them about the deadly virus spreadThe government announced One Month-long supplies kit per family to be supplied directly to their settlement and instructed forest guards and tribal department officials to ensure they remain insulated.Konni MLA comrade Jenish Kumar & District Collector P. B. Nooh IAS along with volunteers taking food materials to a tribal colony.It is important to work in sync during a crisis, as #Kerala has done in the past.With such common goals, we shall overcome. #KeralaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/3uJLUW3qVR— Kadakampally Surendran (@kadakampalli) March 28, 2020Collector Pathanamthitta himself taking a load to remote forest interior as part of his personal interaction and awareness campaign among tribals of PathanamthittaThis includes conducting radio shows and public awareness videos/audios in tribal languages etc and holding tribal settlement meetings etc to ensure they listen and understand the implication of the diease.Radio shows, videos in tribal languages: How Kerala is spreading COVID-19 awarenessKerala fighting COVID-19: Awareness videos are made in various tribal languages. Local officials and health workers show these videos going to each tribal colonies.This one here is Oorali language. pic.twitter.com/VuilFvJcm5— Neethu Joseph (@neethujoseph_15) March 23, 2020How these Kerala youngsters are ensuring that the Attappadi's tribal folk are safe from COVID-19These are some measures which Kerala is doing at the moment to ensure the disease doesn’t spread much and prevent Kerala from going into a havoc situation.I am not saying, everything is perfect in Kerala. There are any shortcomings here too. But so far, Kerala is trying the best possible within its strengths, some inherent and some developed, for the betterment of community welfare.I don’t know how much of these are exclusive to Kerala. I don’t think, none of them remains and should remain exclusive to any place as we humans always try various ideas to save our fellow folks in times of mass disasters.The reason I highlighted all these, is to make a larger people aware of what we are doing to combat this virus spread and hopefully, these measures can be a guiding model for others to emulate if required, just like we too adopted many gestures from othersIn times of distress, these kind of positive stories are more of beacon of hope that humanity exists and something must be spread to all…..Let's all work together and may our humanity prevail over every disaster!!!

This is a good question, let's enumerate some important laws which came in the newspapers in the past 12 months.We shall make this post crowd-sourced. And we are planning to reward our contributors by giving them credits* -Detailed Well Presented 100 word Explanation - 2000Giving Valid Links and a Small Brief - 1000Giving Names of New Laws - 500Contributors (As of now) - Jai Parimi, Divya Malika, Prasanna, Ashutosh Pandey, Arihant Pawariya (अरिहंत पावङिया), Divya Choudhary (दिव्या चौधरी), Varsha Singh, Priyanka Peeramsetty, User, Gaurav Kumar, Jagannadh, Arpit Pareek, Nikhil Deshmukh, Harshit Ladva1) The National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014 and the 99th Constitutional AmendmentA bill to provide for the composition of the Judicial Appointments Commission for the purpose of recommending persons for appointment as Chief Justice of India and other Judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices and other Judges of High Courts, its functions, procedure to be followed by it and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.Key Issues and AnalysisThe current method of appointments has been examined by various bodies including the Law Commission and the Parliamentary Standing Committee. They vary in the role of the executive and judiciary in making appointments of judges.The composition of the JAC has not been included in the Constitution, but has been left for Parliament to decide by law. This implies that modifying the composition of the JAC would not require a constitutional amendment, but may be altered by a simple majority in Parliament.The Standing Committee examining the JAC Bill has recommended that (i) the JAC be composed of three eminent persons, (ii) the broad parameters for short listing of candidates for HC appointments be laid down in the Bill, and (iii) the center also consider the setting up of state level appointments commissions comprising the Chief Minister, the Chief Justice of HC and the Leader of Opposition.2) Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Reservation Act, 2013Objective - The principle objective of the new bill is fair compensation, thorough resettlement and rehabilitation of those affected, adequate safeguards for their well-being and complete transparency in the process of land acquisition. The title has been amended to reflect this.Need - There is unanimity of opinion across the social and political spectrum that the Old Law (The Land Acquisition Act 1894) suffers from various shortcomings and is outdated. Some of these include Forced acquisitions, No safeguards, Silent on resettlement and rehabilitation of those displaced, Urgency clause, Low rates of compensation, Litigation. To say the least, the Old Act needs to be replaced at the earliest by fair, reasonable and rational enactment in tune with the constitutional provisions, particularly, Article 300A of the Constitution.Link - Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 20133) Companies Act, 2013 (CSR Pref)Objective - Effective from financial year 2014-15, every company, private limited or public limited, which either has a net worth of Rs 500 crore or a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or net profit of Rs 5 crore, needs to spend at least 2% of its average net profit for the immediately preceding three financial years on corporate social responsibility activities.Impact - The CSR activities undertaken by the companies will benefit hunger and poverty eradication, promoting preventive healthcare, promoting education and promoting gender equality, setting up homes for women, orphans and the senior citizens, measures for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups, ensuring environmental sustainability and ecological balance, animal welfare, protection of national heritage and art and culture and many more.Link - Companies Act, 2013, Companies - It's a good articlePRSIndia– This describes the whole of companies act – Checkpoint 135 for CSR4) Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005Objective - Landmark bill, which realized the Right to seek and access Information in line with the interpretation of Art.19(1)(a) of our constitution.Impact - Champion to ensure Transparency and accountability in the governance procedures. it enforces the right of every citizen of India to have an access to the information regarding any money given by the State to any authority, thereby causing such authority to utilize such money reasonably and judiciously and also for keeping a check over their conduct and indulgence in corrupt activities. In 2002, SC’s verdict gave the citizens have a right to know about charges against candidates for elections as well as details of their assets, since they desire to offer themselves for public service and public servants cannot claim exemption from disclosure of charges against them or details of their assets. It is a powerful tool which can be realised in changing social dynamics and needs.Criticism - Debates regarding the ambit of RTI’s scope have been articulated, to be extended, say to the political parties, temples, schools and also privatized public utility companies. Evidences of misusage have come to the limelight, say Naxalites using RTI’s to check the assets of local landlords to loot themGuide to RTI : Page on rti.gov.in5) Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act, 2005Objective - The SEZ Act is expected to give a big thrust to exports and consequently to the foreign direct investment (“FDI”) inflows into India, and is considered to be one of the finest pieces of legislation that may well represent the future of the industrial development strategy in India. The new law is aimed at encouraging PPP to develop world-class infrastructure and attract private investment (domestic and foreign), boosting economic growth, exports and employmentImpact - The government gets the capital needed to establish the required infrastructure and also the expertise. SEZ’s with relaxed import tariffs help the Import dependent and export driven industries to flourish. SEZ’s create immense employment opportunities and improve the country’s foreign export.Criticism - Practical implementation witnesses several backlogs ranging from regional disparities, grabbing arable land, labour laws issues and supply chain management which fail to be addressed effectively through the bill6) Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013Objective -The government introduced the Bill to redefine the offence of rape and amend the penal laws in line with the recommendations of the Law Commission and the National Commission for Women. The government withdrew the previous Bill and Ordinance, and introduced the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013. The changes wrt the ordinance in the act are:Impact - Popularly known as the Anti-rape bill, this came out of the protests of 2012 Delhi Gang rape case.Criticism - For not including certain suggestions recommended by the Verma Committee Report like, marital rape, reduction of age of consent, amending Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.Some detailed work: http://www.atimysore.gov.in/workshops/wppts/gender_issues/crim_law_amnd_2013_drjagadeesh_jsslaw_college.pdf7) Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013Objective - To provide protection against sexual harassment of women at workplace and for the prevention and redressal of complaints of sexual harassment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. the protection against sexual harassment and the right to work with dignity are universally recognized human rightsImpact - On a broader line, this ensures safe work environment for women against sexual abuse at work place and is capable of garnering a greater female work force and these are the Major features the act provides for.Criticism - It does not cover women in the armed forces and excludes women agricultural workers, "a gross injustice to agricultural workers. The burden of proof is on the women who complain of harassment. If found guilty of making a false complaint or giving false evidence, she could be prosecuted, which has raised concerns about women being even more afraid of reporting offences. Furthermore, the law requires a third-party NGO to be involved, which could make employers less comfortable in reporting grievances, due to confidentiality concerns.8) DNA Profiling Bill, 2012Purpose - DNA analysis makes it possible to determine whether the source of origin of one body substance is identical to that of another, and further to establish the biological relationship, if any, between two individuals, living or dead without any doubt.Tip - Lawful purposes of establishing identity in criminal or civil proceedings.Impact - It will be essential to establish standards for laboratories, staff qualifications, training, proficiency testing, collection of body substances, custody trail from collection to reporting and a Data Bank with policies of use and access to information therein, its retention and deletion.DNA Data Bank Manager will supervise, execute and maintain this system and a DNA Profiling Board of eminent scientists, administrators and Law enforcement officers will administer and carry out other functions assigned to it under this Act.Link - DNA Profiling Bill - PDF9) Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill, 2011Purpose - So far, India has excellent record in nuclear safety and radiation safety; but the Central Government intends to promote nuclear energy to meet shortfall in total energy requirement of the country; and whereas such excellent safety record in nuclear safety and radiation safety is required to be sustained for growth in the nuclear energy sector.Impact - Now, therefore, it has been considered necessary and expedient to establish regulators to ensure continued excellence in nuclear safety and radiation safety in all applications of radiation and atomic energy on a large scale.10) Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010Purpose - As the name itself indicates that it is an Act to provide for civil liability for nuclear damage and prompt compensation to the victims of a nuclear incident through a no-fault liability regime channeling liability to the operator.Impact - Appointment of Claims Commissioner, establishment of Nuclear Damage Claims Commission connected there with.11) IT Act, 2000 and IT (Amendment) Bill, 2006Purpose - It is an Act to provide legal recognition for the transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as "Electronic Commerce", which involve the use of alternatives to paper based methods of communication and storage of information, to facilitate electronic filings of documents with the Government and other related agencies.Tip - It is renamed as the Information Technology Act, 2008Impact - To promote efficient delivery of Government services by means of reliable electronic records.12) National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009Purpose - For the effective disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal rights relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property.Impact - National Green Tribunal law is enacted in view of the involvement of multi-disciplinary issues relating to the environment and also to implement the decisions taken at Rio de Janeiro and Stockholm Conferences.Link - NGT Bill - PDF13) Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969Objective - It is designed to ensure that the operation of the economic system does not result in concentration of the economic power to the common detriment.The act also provides for probation of monopolistic, unfair and restrictive trade practices.Impact - The MRTP Commission if on enquiry concludes that the practice under consideration is of restrictive or unfair in nature , it may:Order discontinuation of the practice and restrict its repetition (cease and desist order ), the agreement shall be void and shall stand modified as may specified in the order. It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.Link - MRTP Act, 196914) Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2008(Coal scam and SC verdict, so important)Objective - To develop and regulate mining & mineral industries and bring it under the control of one union by setting up mineral funds on National level, granting concessions, share benefit schemes while preventing illegal mining.Impact - Safeguards on regulating and safe disposal of waste in consonance with environmental norms will be incorporated. Through implementation of proper taxing and speedy approvals on action against violations illegal mining will be preventedLink - Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 200815) Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2011It seeks to establish a mechanism to register complaints on any allegations of corruption or wilful misuse of power against a public servant. The Bill also provides safeguards against victimisation of the person who makes the complaint.Highlights of the BillThe Bill seeks to protect whistleblowers, i.e. persons making a public interest disclosure related to an act of corruption, misuse of power, or criminal offence by a public servant.The Vigilance Commission shall not disclose the identity of the complainant except to the head of the department if he deems it necessary. The Bill penalises any person who has disclosed the identity of the complainant.Key Issues and AnalysisThe Bill aims to balance the need to protect honest officials from undue harassment with protecting persons making a public interest disclosure. It punishes any person making false complaints. However, it does not provide any penalty for victimizing a complainant.16) Juvenile Justice(Care and Protection) Bill 2014Objectives: The Bill seeks to achieve the objectives of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children. It specifies procedural safeguards in cases of children in conflict with law. It seeks to address challenges in the existing Act such as delays in adoption processes, high pendency of cases, accountability of institutions, etc. The Bill further seeks to address children in the 16-18 age group, in conflict with law, as an increased incidence of crimes committed by them have been reported over the past few years.Coverage: The Bill defines a child as anyone less than 18 years of age. However, a special provision has been inserted for the possibility of trying 16-18 year old committing heinous offenses, as adults. A heinous offense is defined as one for which the minimum punishment under the Indian Penal Code is seven years.17) Citizens Charters & Grievance Redressal Bill, 2011. (CCGR)The Citizen's Charter and Grievance Redressal Bill 2011 also known as The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011 or Citizens Charter Bill was a proposed in Lok Sabha in December 2011. The bill lapsed due to dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011 lays down obligations of every public authority towards citizens, specifying delivery of goods and services in a time-bound manner and providing for a grievance redressal mechanism for non-compliance of citizens charter.Highlights :The Bill makes it mandatory for every public authority to publish a Citizen’s Charter within six months of the commencement of the Act.The Citizen’s Charter shall list the details of the goods and services provided by a public authority; the name of the person or agency responsible for providing the goods or services; the time frame within which such goods or services have to be provided; the category of people entitled to the goods and services; and details of the complaint redressal mechanism.Grievance redress officer : It requires every public authority to designate grievance redress officers in all public offices to enquire into and redress any complaints from citizens in a timeframe not exceeding 30 days from the date of receipt of the complaint.Public Grievance Redressal Commissions : The Bill provides for constitution of the state public grievance redressal commission and the central public grievance redressal commission consisting of chief commissioners and other commissioners.Penalty : DA and Commission can impose fine of Max. Rs 50000 to concerned officials/GRO. The penalty shall be recovered from the salary of the official. Such penalty may be awarded as compensation to the appellant.Corruption Prevention : The Designated Authority and the Commissions may refer a matter to the appropriate authorities if there is prima facie evidence of a corrupt act under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. An appeal against the decision of the Central Commission shall be filed before the Lokpal. An appeal against the decision of the State Commission shall be filed before the Lokayukta.Criticism :Against federal Spirit : Citizens’ charter bill provides for GRO and Grievances Commission at state and central level, but Parliament doesn’t not have jurisdiction to enact such law. Only State legislature has jurisdiction to make laws regarding state public services.More than ten states have already enacted a Citizen Charter Act or Public Services Guarantee Act in their respective states. Many of these state laws have provisions that are much better than the proposed Bill.Lack of Autonomy : According to the bill, the commissioners may be removed without judicial inquiry.Duplication of work : Several states have their own grievance redressal laws, The mechanism provided under these laws is different from that provided under the Bill. This will lead to duplication of work and organizations.MNREGA Act, RTE Act, National Food Security Bill, and the Public Procurement Bill also have their own grievances redressal forums. This will again lead to more duplication.Sources :Copy of Bill : Page on prsindia.orgSummery of Bill : Page on prsindia.orgWiki Page : Citizen's Charter and Grievance Redressal Bill 2011Mrual Page : Citizens Charter Bill 2011: Salient Features, Issues, CriticismRediff Page : All you need to know about the Citizen's Charter Bill18) Right to Education Act, 2009The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), was enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the rules and regulations for free and compulsory education of children between 6 and 14 under Article 21A of Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010.Highlights :The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 stipulates that private schools reserve 25 per cent of seats at the entry level for children belonging to ‘disadvantaged groups’ and ‘weaker sections’.The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.Mentally and physically challenged children, entitled to free education in special schools, were included in the definition through an amendment in 2012.It also prohibits all unrecognised schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for admissions.Criticism :The act has been criticised for being hastily-drafted, not consulting many groups active in education, not considering the quality of education, infringing on the rights of private and religious minority schools to administer their system, and for excluding children under six years of age.Problems faced :Poor Response : Lack of awareness about the Act, inability to meet the distance criteria and difficulty in obtaining necessary certificates from government authorities could be some of the reasons for this.The Act provides for admission of children without any certification. However, several states have continued pre-existing procedures insisting that children produce income and caste certificates, BPL cards and birth certificates.The Act is not applicable to private minority schools and boarding schools.Report on the status of implementation of the Act released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development admits that 8.1 million children in the age group six-14 remain out of school and there’s a shortage of 508,000 teachers country-wide.Conclusion :For all its flaws, the RTE Act is a progressive piece of legislation that aims to take education to the masses and fill the gaps in the social system.Sources :Copy of Act : Page on ssa.nic.inWiki page : Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education ActHindu Article : Advantages and disadvantages of RTE Act19) Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2013 (POSCO)Objective – The act aims at ensuring protection of children from sexual abuse.Pros –1. Gender Neutral bill. 53% victims of children are victims.2. Stringent punishment (upto life imprisonment)3. Covers broad range of sexual crimes such as non-penetrative sexual assault, sexual harassment, and the use of children for pornography4. Includes special procedures to prevent the re-victimisation of children at the hands of an insensitive justice delivery system5. Protects victims identity and provides assisting legal, medical and psychological facilitiesCons –1. Criminalises all consensual sexual contact below 18 years age.2. The age provision is not in consonance with other acts.3. Regressive and draconian considering today’s social realities. Children are increasingly aware of each others sexualities at early age.4. Child marriage is prevalent on large scale. The age provision ignores this reality. Liable to bogus and unjustified complaints.Source – The Hindu : Good Act, bad provision20) The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013Objective – The act aims to combat corruption in government agencies and public sector businesses in India.Pros -1. Covers the offence of giving a bribe to a public servant under abetment. Specific provisions related to giving a bribe to a public servant, and giving a bribe by a commercial organisation.2. Redefines criminal misconduct to only cover misappropriation of property and possession of disproportionate assets.3. Modifies the definitions and penalties for offences related totaking a bribe, being a habitual offender and abetting an offence.4. Introduces Powers and procedures for the attachment and forfeiture of property of public servants accused of corruption.5. The Act requires prior sanction to prosecute serving public officials. The Bill extends this protection to former officials.Cons -1. The Bill makes giving a bribe a specific offence. There are diverging views on whether bribe giving under all circumstances must be penalised. Some have argued that a coerced bribe giver must be distinguished from a collusive bribe giver.2. The Bill has deleted the provision that protects a bribe giver from prosecution, for any statement made by him during a corruption trial. This may deter bribe givers from appearing as witnesses in court.3. The Bill has replaced the definition of criminal misconduct. It now requires that the intention to acquire assets disproportionate to income also be proved, in addition to possession of such assets. Thus, the threshold to establish the offence of possession of disproportionate assets has been increased by the Bill.4. By redefining the offence of criminal misconduct, the Bill does not cover circumstances where the public official: (i) uses illegal means, (ii) abuses his position, or (iii) disregards public interest and obtains a valuable thing or reward for himself or another person.5. Under the Act, the guilt of the person is presumed for the offences of taking a bribe, being a habitual offender or abetting an offence. The Bill amends this provision to only cover the offence of taking a bribe.Source - The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 201321) Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) (Regulation) Bill 2010Objective – The bill aims at legalizing (commercial) surrogacy.Pros –1. Offers legal protection to child and surrogate mothers.2. Regulation of IVF/ART clinics and holding them Accountable for ensuring best medical practices.3. Curbs exploitation of mother. Limits number of child births per mother to five.4. Introduces age limit for surrogate mother – 21 to 35.5. Ensures Child’s citizenship to be same as parents.Cons –1. Legal back up will lead to widespread commercialization of surrogacy, posing serious ethical, moral and philosophical questions.2. Mandatory certificate ensuring legality of surrogacy in foreign couple’s home country needed. Impediments in smooth commercial functioning.3. No provision in the bill if parent’s change their mind or die. Child’s responsibility in this case is debatable.4. Plethora of in-genuine clinics in India. Exploitation of poor and illiterate mothers because of their incapability to understand legalities involved.Source - Issues of surrogacy, PIB English Features22) Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill, 2013Objective - The Bill sets up an independent authority, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), to regulate organisms and products of modern biotechnology.Pros –1. BRAI will regulate the research, transport, import, containment, environmental release, manufacture, and use of biotechnology products.2. Regulatory approval by BRAI will be granted through a multi-level process of assessment undertaken by scientific experts.3. BRAI will certify that the product developed is safe for its intended use. All other laws governing the product will continue to apply.4. A Biotechnology Regulatory Appellate Tribunal will hear civil cases that involve a substantial question relating to modern biotechnology and hear appeals on the decisions and orders of BRAI.5. Penalties are specified for providing false information to BRAI, conducting unapproved field trials, obstructing or impersonating an officer of BRAI and for contravening any other provisions of the Bill.Cons -1. The Tribunal has jurisdiction over a ‘substantial question relating to modern biotechnology’ – An ambiguous term.2. The Tribunal will consist of one judicial member and five technical members. This is not in conformity with a SC decision that the number of technical members on a bench of a Tribunal cannot exceed the number of judicial members.3. The Tribunal’s technical members shall be eminent scientists or government officials with experience in the field. It is unclear whether the technical expertise of the latter can be equated with the former.4. The Bill does not specify any liability for damage caused by a product of biotechnology. Therefore, it will remain open to the courts to determine liability arising out of any adverse impact of modern biotechnology.5. Tribunal will not accept complaints from civil society, in spite of the fact that the Bill directly or indirectly affects every citizen. No public consultation done.6. Non clarity over Dept of GoI that will service BRAI. No mention of mandatory labelling of GM crops.7. Takes away rights of states to decide on Agriculture, which is state subject.8. The Convener of the Selection Committee for members of BRAI will be from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which is a vendor of genetic engineering (the technology that BRAI is supposed to regulate) in the country. Conflict of Interest will arise.Source - The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2013Unconstitutional, unethical, unscientific23) Coal Regulatory Authority Bill, 2013ObjectiveTo set up an independent regulatory body for the coal sector that shall help in the regulation and conservation of coal resources and will benefit all stakeholders i.e. - coal companies, coal consuming industries such as power, steel, cement and coal bearing States and people, directly or indirectly associated with the coal industry.A fund called ‘The Coal Regulatory Authority Fund” is created to credit all the receipts and fees received.Constituents1 chairperson + 4 members. One each from legal , technical , administrative and financial wings. All to be selected by a committee of Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Cabinet Secretary.What will it do ?Inject transparency in allocation of coal blocks.Decide and Monitor operational norms and mining closure compliances and such.Determine pricing of the fuel and publishing surveys, information, statistics, etc related to coal sector and coal quality.Adjudicate disputes between entities and between entities and other persons.Advise government on technologies, policy, promotion, investment etc.Ref :- The Coal Regulatory Authority Bill, 2013,Coal Regulatory Authority Bill likely in Winter session24) eWaste (Management and Handling) Act, 2011What is it ?E-waste has beendefined as “waste electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part or rejects from their manufacturing and repair process, which are intended to be discarded”.AIM :-Reduction in the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.Specifying threshold for use of hazardous material including lead, mercury and cadmium.Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) thus introduces the concept of "Extended Producer Responsibility".How will it work ?It fixes responsibilities on every producer, seller, consumer or bulk consumer, collection centre, dismantler and recycler of e-waste involved in the manufacture, sale, purchase and processing of electrical and electronic equipment or components.E.g. :Recycling of E-Waste generated during manufacturing and "End of Life" of electronic and electrical equipments.Setting up of collection centres by companies or individuals to collect E-waste and discard them.Setting up of funds by corporate to boost scientific and eco-friendly disposal of E-waste.CritiqueNo accountability set on anyone.E-Industry remains skeptical of the efficacy of this act.No specific targets set.Ref :- @E-waste management rules kick in today@Page on moef.nic.in25) Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, 2011What is it ?The bill is intended to prevent “any act or series of acts, whether spontaneous or planned, resulting in injury or harm to the person and or property, knowingly directed against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group."How ?The billAddresses identity-based or targeted crimes and organised mass violence as special offences.Places accountability of public officers with varying penalties for dereliction of duty it.Provides for the creation of a National Authority and the State authorities to ensure justice and reparation.Addresses issues faced by specific communities like economic boycott, denial of public service, forced migration , hostile environment etc.Empowers state and center government to intercept any messages and communication that it feels might lead to communal violence.Sets up district level authorities to assess compensation.CritiquesCurbing freedom of expression by terming it as Hate propaganda.Presumption of guilt and burden of proof on the accused – The accused will have to prove innocence.All the persons acting under this Act will have blanket of protection of action taken in good faith.Brings civil servants in direct line of fire by vaguely defining "dereliction of duty".26) Competition Act, 2002The Competition Act was passed in 2002Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established on March 1, 2009 as an autonomous body comprising of a Chairperson and six members.CCI not only hears and investigates cases based on the information received by it, but it also takes suo moto action wherever it finds that a prima facie violationCommission had taken suo-moto cognizance of the reported manipulation of the bids by manufacturers of LPG cylinders for supplying cylinders to the Indian Oil CorporationMany more such notices have been sent by CCI in the Petroleum sector, Agricuture sector etc. taking cognisance suo-moto.Role of trade associationsCompetition law treats the activities of trade associations much like any other form of cooperation between competitors.decisions or recommendations of trade associations are treated as agreements between its members and law may be breached even when they are not binding on the members.CCI imposed a nominal penalty of Rs. 1 lakh each on 27 film producers on charges of colluding through an association to exploit multiplex owners.number of cases involving the associations in the Pharmaceutical sector/Film production etc where CCI has passed orders against the associations and asked them to “cease and desist” from activities that may be anti-competitive in nature.Public Procurement and Competition LawPublic procurement is a contentious issue vis-à-vis application of competition lawpublic enterprises, which are generally the big procurers, are subject to competition assessment.Commission has decided a number of matters, including cartelization in government contracts. Penalties have been imposed on firms to discourage the anti-competitive practices and abuse of dominanceCompetition Commission of India is set to change the rules of the game and play the role of a watchdog to check anti-competitive practices in the markethttp://echoofindia.com/reflex-action/competition-commission-india-4-years-enforcement-competition-law-3216927) Prasar Bharati (Amendment) Bill, 201028) Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 200229) Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitaion Act, 2013. (Important, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan)30) Child Labour (Prohibition) Act, 198631) Scheduled Tribes and Recognition of Forest Rights Bill, 200632) Environment Protection Law, 198633) Wildlife Protection Act, 197234) The Electricity Act, 200335) Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act, 199636) Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 199237) Factories Act 1948/Amendment Bill 201438) Apprentice Act 1961/ Amendment Bill 201439) The Pension Fund Regulatory And Development Authority Act, 201340) The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 201341) Benami Transaction (Prohibition )Act, 198842) The National Food Security Act, 201343) Pesticides Management Bill, 2008*Maximum Credits per Person - 5000**Contributors earning more than 1000 credits <must> -a) Promote to at least 100 people.b) Share this list everywhere. :P :P LOL !Thank you all. :)Thanks for the A2A Anon. :)

The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–DELTA (Airborne), or 1st SFOD–D (A) — a.k.a. “Delta Force” (or just “Delta”) or “The Unit”; re-designated as “Combat Applications Group” (CAG), and then, as of late, “Army Compartmented Element” (ACE; debatable, possibly disinformation) —, is a U.S. Army Special Missions Unit (SMU), or “Tier 1”** Special Operations Force* (SOF). It is also nicknamed “The Dreaded D”, and its Operators, “D-Boys”.*For a comprehensive overview of what SOF (and their types) are, check: Gabriel Cabral's answer to What do special operations forces actually do?**For a list of US “Tier 1” SOF, check: Gabriel Cabral's answer to Who are the four Tier 1 Units in the US military?It is a very secretive organization, given the sensitive nature of its work, and as such, the US government does not often comment openly on it or its activities — which then means that its original name and later re-designations are all extra-official, and information about it is heavily grounded on first- and third-party reports.“Delta” is, administratively, part of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), but it operationally falls under the direction of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), within which it is codenamed “Task Force Green” — both component commands (USASOC and JSOC) integrate the U.S. Special Operations Command* (USSOCOM, or just SOCOM), which is the military’s Unified Combatant Command in charge of the country’s dedicated Special Warfare assets and activities (JSOC, specifically, coordinates its SMUs in the planning and conduction of sensitive, critical-value Special Operations missions).*For a list and descriptions of the operational forces under the USSOCOM, check: Gabriel Cabral's answer to What are US Special Operations Forces? What is their role and organization?The 1st SFOD–D (A) was founded in 1977 by U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Charles Alvin “Chargin’ Charlie” Beckwith, having been inspired by his experiences while embedded with the British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS) as an Exchange Officer late during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960). He had, many times, proposed to his superiors that the Army Special Forces Operators (a.k.a. ”Green Berets”) should be “doers”, more so than just “teachers” and “thinkers”, but was turned down until the waves of international terrorism of the early- and mid-1970s (marked, among other things, by many aircraft hijackings), when having such an organization became an unequivocal necessity.Although the unit was created from within the Army Special Forces (SF) community, it is known to recruit members from every service branch (to include even the Coast Guard, according to some sources) — which means that not all members necessarily transitioned from the SF Groups (or even from the Special Operations community).The unit’s original designation was intended as misinformation for the country’s adversaries: the U.S. Army Special Forces branch comprehends five Active Duty Groups (Regiments), and two more in the Army National Guard (ARNG), each divided into four Battalions (three, in the ARNG Groups), in turn comprising three Companies, which are made up by six Operational Detachments–ALPHA (ODAs; 12-person Teams — the Special Forces’ basic fraction of employment). The Companies’ Headquarters are designated Operational Detachment–BRAVO (ODB), and the Battalions’ Headquarters, Operational Detachment–CHARLIE (ODC); if we followed this logic, than “Operational Detachment–DELTA” would have been the designation of the Groups’ Headquarters — but the 1st SFOD–D (A) is, of course, its own separate organization (and hence the confusion intended by giving the unit this designation).According to former Army Times staff writer Sean Naylor, in his book ‘Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command’ (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015), as well as later reports, the 1st SFOD–D (A) would be structured as follows:Headquarters;A Squadron (Assault);B Squadron (Assault);C Squadron (Assault);D Squadron (Assault);E Squadron (Aviation; formerly designated as “SEASPRAY”);G Squadron (a.k.a. “Clandestine Operations Group”, formerly “Operational Support Troop”; oriented towards Clandestine Operations and Advanced Force Operations);Signals Squadron (Communications);Combat Support Squadron (medical personnel, EOD technicians, SIGINT specialists, WMD experts, etc);H Squadron (Nuclear Disposal).On a sidenote, G Squadron is said to have always recruited and employed women, even before combat jobs were formally opened up to women throughout the Armed Forces — such could also be the case for the Combat Support Squadron.In one of his previous books, ‘Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda’ (Dutton Caliber/Berkeley Books, 2005), Naylor also refers that “Delta” would be made up of at least 1,000 personnel, with some 250 to 300 Operators (throughout the Teams in the Assault Squadrons).Each of the Assault Squadrons would comprehend a Headquarters Section, two Assault Troops — specializing in Direct Action —, and a Reconnaissance and Surveillance (or “Recce”) Troop — specializing in covert infiltration, Special Reconnaissance, target surveillance and sniping. The Troops are numbered “One”, “Two” and “Three” (with “Three” being the “Recce” Troop), and each would comprehend a Headquarters Element comprising 4 members, and four Teams comprising 5 Operators (4, in the “Recce” Teams) — thus we have that, in theory, the Assault Troops would have 24 members in total, and the “Recce” Troops, 20 (which means that the number of Operators throughout the Teams would be 224, or that the total number of personnel throughout the Troops, with the 4-member HQ Elements included, would be 272).The Teams are numbered with NATO phonetic alphabet letters. So, each of the four Assault Squadrons would comprehend:A Team (“Alpha”), B Team (“Bravo”), C Team (“Charlie”) and D Team (“Delta”) under One Troop (Assault);Then E Team (“Echo”), F Team (“Foxtrot”), G Team (“Golf”/“Geronimo”) and H Team (“Hotel”) under Two Troop (Assault);And I Team (“India”), J Team (“Juliet”/“Jackal”), K Team (“Kilo”) and L Team (“Lima”) under Three Troop (“Recce”).Each Squadron would have a Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) as Commanding Officer (CO), a Major (O-4) as Executive Officer (XO), a Captain (O-3) or a Major (O-4) as Operations Officer, and also a Captain (O-3) or a Major (O-4) as Assistant Operations Officer — additionally, there’d be a Command Sergeant Major (E-9) and an Operations Sergeant Major (E-9).Each Troop HQ Element would have a Major (O-4) as Commanding Officer (CO), a Captain (O-3) as Executive Officer (XO), plus a Troop Sergeant Major (E-9). The Teams in each Troop would have a Master Sergeant (E-8) or a Sergeant Major (E-9) as Team Leader, a Sergeant First Class (E-7) or a Master Sergeant (E-8) as Assistant Team Leader, with the remaining Team members ranking from Sergeant (E-5), through Staff Sergeant (E-6), to Sergeant First Class (E-7).The 1st SFOD–D (A) is, similarly to its inspiration (the SAS), an all-rounded SOF, sharing its basic mission capabilities with the 75th Ranger Regiment* — Special Reconnaissance (SR), and Assaults and High-Value Target (HVT) Raids, both being Direct Action (DA) —, as well as with the Special Forces* branch — Irregular/Unconventional Warfare (IW/UW), Counter-Proliferation (CP), Manhunts, etc. However, what sets “Delta” apart are its doctrinal specialties, which cover Counter-Terrorism (CT), Counter-Hijaking (CH), Hostage Rescue (HR), Information Operations (IO), Covert/Clandestine Operations (CO), and more.*For an overview of the differences between the 75th Ranger Regiment and the Special Forces branch, check: Gabriel Cabral's answer to What is the difference between the Army Ranger and the Army Green Beret? What type of operations are they generally assigned to do?Since its activation, the 1st SFOD–D (A) has taken part in:The aborted rescue attempt of the American hostages during the Iran Hostage Crisis (‘Operation Eagle Claw’, 1980 — the unit’s ‘baptism of fire’); the mission’s main force was comprised of A and B Squadrons (1st SFOD–D), along with a Ranger element (from both the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions), as well as personnel from the Special Forces Detachment “A” (a.k.a. “The Berlin Brigade”);The US intervention in Grenada (‘Operation Urgent Fury’, 1983), with C Squadron conducting the assaults on Fort Rupert and Richmond Hill Prison, alongside Rangers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment;The Counter-Hijacking and Hostage Rescue mission involving Aeropostal Flight 252, in Curaçao (1984);The Close Protection/Personal Security of US diplomats in Lebanon throughout the 1980s, during the country’s civil war;The Counter-Guerrilla campaigns in Central America throughout the 1980s;Counter-Narcoguerrilla operations and related manhunts throughout Central and South America between the 1980s and 1990s (such as ‘Operation Heavy Shadow’, the mission to capture or kill Pablo Escobar);The US intervention in Panama (‘Operation Just Cause’, 1989–1990) — specifically, operations ‘Acid Gambit’ (the rescue of Kurt Muse from the Carcel Modelo prison) and ‘Nifty Package’ (the capture of General Manuel Noriega);The Gulf War (1991), hunting for Iraqi SCUD missiles behind enemy lines as part of ‘Operation Desert Storm’, as well as providing Close Protection/Personal Security to authorities such as General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.;The US intervention in Somalia in 1993, under Task Force Ranger — comprising C Squadron, 1st SFOD–D; Company B, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Rgt; elements from the 24th Special Tactics Squadron (or 24th STS); a deployment package from the 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR (with A/MH-6J Little Bird and MH-60A/L Black Hawk helicopters); and a 4-man sniper team from Gold Squadron, NSWDG (a.k.a. “DEVGRU”) —, as part of UNOSOM II (‘Operation Gothic Serpent’; the 1st SFOD–D’s most famous engagement due to its radical turn of events, on account of the “Black Hawk Down” incident, in which Somali militants’ RPG fire knocked two helicopters from the air, extending the mission and giving militants more opportunity to inflict casualties on American and UN forces);The US-led intervention in the 1994 Haitian coup d’état (‘Operation Uphold Democracy’), rescuing and evacuating the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide amid the turmoil, as well as escorting and protecting US officials and diplomats in-country throughout the intervention;The Japanese Embassy hostage crisis in Lima, Peru (1996), during which a small “Delta” advance team, along with six British SAS members, provided advisory to the Peruvian Special Forces and helped plan the rescue mission;The 1999 WTO Conference in Seattle (Washington State), having assisted with the event’s security preparations (focusing on potential chemical weapons threats);The war in Afghanistan (2001–present), with the highlight being the hunt for Bin Laden in the Tora Bora region;The insurgency in the Indian province of Jammu and Kashmir in 2002, hunting for Bin Laden after reports that the Pakistani militant group HuM might have been harboring him in the region;The Iraq War (2003–2011), with the highlight being C Squadron’s participation, under Task Force 121, in ‘Operation Red Dawn’ (December 2003) — the mission to hunt down and capture Saddam Hussein;The Benghazi attack of September 2012, in which the provisional US Consulate in the city and a nearby CIA annex were raided by local militants — a small, 3-man “Delta” team was sent to augment and render aid to the CIA’s Global Response Staff (GRS) team already deployed there; this event was part of ‘Operation Juniper Shield’, formerly ‘Operation Enduring Freedom — Trans Sahara’ (or OEF–TS), the US Special Operations campaign in North Africa (2007–present);The US-led intervention against ISIS in Iraq and Syria (‘Operation Inherent Resolve’, or OIR; 2014–present), with a highlight, early on, being the 2015 liberation of some 70 ISIS prisoners/hostages in the town of Hawija (in the Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq) alongside Kurdish Commandos and Rangers from the 75th Ranger Rgt, during which a “Delta” Operator, Master Sergeant Joshua Lloyd “Josh” Wheeler, was killed in action; it was also during this mission that then-Sergeant First Class Thomas Patrick Payne’s actions earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor — he is the first ever living “Delta” recipient of the decoration (at least “officially”), and the first since Master Sergeant Gary Ivan Gordon and Seargent First Class Randall “Randy” Shughart (both of whom perished protecting downed helicopter crews during the “Black Hawk Down” incident in Somalia, in 1993);The 2016 manhunt for Mexican druglord “El Chapo” Guzmán (‘Operation Black Swan’), which culminated in his capture by the Mexican Marine Corps Special Forces, with him being ultimately extradited to the United States;And in the 2019 Barisha raid (‘Operation Kayla Mueller’), the mission (part of ‘Operation Inherent Resolve’) to capture or kill ISIS leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai, a.k.a. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”, which resulted in his death by him detonating his suicide vest after realizing he wouldn’t evade the “Delta” Operators — and their ‘Special Operations Military Working Dog’ (SOMWD), Conan — who were chasing after him through his hideout’s escape tunnels.U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) SSI with the distinctive red-on-black “Airborne” tab, as worn by “Delta Force” members on their Service and Dress uniforms (respectively, worn as a patch on the Service Uniform’s left shoulder sleeve, or as a pin on the Dress Uniform’s right chest pocket).Original “Delta Force” logo.A stylized rendering of the “Delta Force” seal and logo.Photo of a young Charles Beckwith, still in the Army Special Forces — the portrait celebrates him and his career in the Special Operations community.Photo of an older Charles Beckwith, late in his career (in the mid-1980s). He wrote a book, with Donald Knox, titled ‘Delta Force: The Army’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit’ (Harcourt, 1983), where he detailed the foundation, organization and early operational records of the 1st SFOD–D (A).The original cover of Charles Beckwith’s book on “Delta”.Some of the first “Delta” Operators, from A Squadron, underway for the unit’s ‘baptism of fire’, ‘Operation Eagle Claw’ (1980).“Delta” personnel disembarking from a USAF Lockheed C-141 Starlifter transport plane upon landing on Masirah Island, Oman, from where they would later join the Navy in the Persian Gulf to launch the ill-fated rescue attempt of the American hostages in Tehran.U.S. Navy RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters aboard the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in the Persian Gulf, being prepared for the operation.Members of the operation’s main force, upon returning from the aborted mission. The mission was aborted halfway through its launch stage due to a sudden sandstorm, which caused an accident at ‘Desert One’ involving some of the aviation assets being employed on the mission. This was precipitated by the fact that every DoD branch wanted to partake in the mission, but there wasn’t enough experience or coordination for such a joint endeavor.To remedy their deficiencies, the Army later established the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), or 160th SOAR (A), the Navy later raised its SEAL Team Six (ST6), and the Department of Defense (DoD) founded the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), on December of that same year (1980) — and then the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) later on (in 1987) —, to establish inter-service Special Operations coordination and doctrine.An artistic illustration (by Johnny Shumate) depicting the disaster that ocurred at ‘Desert One’.A scene from the wreckage at ‘Desert One’, showing what remained of the hit USAF Lockheed EC-130E tanker plane.Remains of the crashed U.S. Navy Sikorsky RH-53D Sea Stallion at ‘Desert One’.Operators from B Squadron posing for a group photo, 1981.A “Delta” Operator, from C Squadron, just after being dropped off by a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter aboard the USS Moosbrugger (DD 980) to receive medical attention, after being injured by shrapnel from heavy Anti-Aircraft fire upon approaching Richmond Hill Prison in Grenada, during ‘Operation Urgent Fury’ (1983).“Delta” Operators just before launching ‘Operation Acid Gambit’ (the rescue of Kurt Muse from the Carcel Modelo prison, in Panama City), part of ‘Operation Just Cause’ (US invasion of Panama, 1989–1990).A view of the site where the damaged MH-6 Little Bird helicopter carrying Kurt Muse and his rescuers had to crash-land shortly after they retrieved their “package”.A closer view of the crashed MH-6 helicopter in the streets of Panama City.“Delta” Operators shortly before launching ‘Operation Nifty Package’ (the capture of Manuel Noriega), part of ‘Operation Just Cause’ (US invasion of Panama, 1989–1990).“Delta” Operators at Manuel Noriega’s residential compound, with Noriega not found at the scene. Noriega had sought sanctuary at the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See — the Nunciature being a de facto embassy of the Holy See, Noriega was then protected under international law (that didn’t last, however, with Noriega eventually surrendering himself to the US forces).Command Sergeant Major (retired) Eric Lamar Haney, one of the original members of the 1st SFOD–D (A), having served in C Team, One Troop (Assault), B Squadron. He retired in 1990, just after ‘Operation Just Cause’ (US invasion of Panama, 1989–1990), during which he was already out of “Delta” (serving under the 193rd Infantry Brigade). After his retirement, he chronicled his experiences in his book ‘Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit’ (Delacorte Press/Dell Publishing, 2002).First edition cover of Eric L. Haney’s memoir book (audiobook version).“Delta” Operators hunting for Iraqi SCUD missiles behind enemy lines during the Gulf War, as part of ‘Operation Desert Storm’ (1991).General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. in Iraq, during the Gulf War, with a “Delta” Personal Security Detail (PSD).U.S. Army Rangers from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, posing for a group photo during their deployment to Somalia as part of Task Force Ranger, 1993.U.S. Army “Delta Force” Operators, from C Squadron, posing for a photo before a mission in Somalia (1993), as part of Task Force Ranger, some time before the “Battle of Mogadishu” (the “Black Hawk Down” incident).U.S. Army crew of “Super 64”, from 1st Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), in Somalia as part of Task Force Ranger, in 1993, about a month before the “Battle of Mogadishu”. From left to right: Staff Sergeant Thomas Joseph “Tommy” Field, Staff Sergeant William David “Wild Bill” Cleveland, Jr., Winn Mahuron (?), Chief Warrant Officer 4 Raymond A. “Ray” Frank and then-Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael J. “Mike” Durant.U.S. Air Force 24th Special Tactics Squadron (24th STS) members, posing for a photo in Somalia (1993), as part of Task Force Ranger. From left to right: Staff Sergeant Dan Schilling (a Combat Controller, or CCT), then-Technical Sergeant Tim Wilkinson and Master Sergeant Scott Fales (both Pararescuemen, or PJs). Another 24th STS member who integrated the Task Force was Technical Sergeant Jeffrey Bray (another CCT, and Silver Star Medal recipient).U.S. Navy SEAL Operators from Gold Squadron, Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG, a.k.a. “DEVGRU”), posing for a photo while supporting ‘Operation Gothic Serpent’ as part of Task Force Ranger, some time prior to the “Battle of Mogadishu”. Note their Squadron’s golden lion patch being worn by the Operator on the left.A “Delta” Operator from Task Force Ranger, posing with the day’s freshly-killed dinner…“Delta” Operators from Task Force Ranger shortly before the mission to aprehend warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid’s foreign minister, Omar Salad Elmim, and top political advisor, Mohamed Hassan Awale (a quick mission that would spiral out of control and become the “Battle of Mogadishu”).Mogadishu’s Olympic Hotel, the target building for the mission, where Aidid’s trusted advisors would be meeting.Rangers pinned down by enemy fire in the streets of Mogadishu, shortly after “Super 64” had crashed onto the streets (the second helicopter to be shot down there, on October 3, 1993).Aerial view of the crash site of “Super 61” (the first helicopter to be shot down during the mission), over two weeks after the battle.A close-up view of the crash site of “Super 61” in Mogadishu, about a month after the battle.“Delta Force” Sergeant First Class Randall David “Randy” Shughart (left) and Master Sergeant Gary Ivan Gordon (right), who volunteered to be dropped off near the crash site of “Super 64” to protect the helicopter’s surviving crewmembers (which included CWO3 “Mike” Durant), and who died doing just that. Durant was ultimately captured, but was released not long afterwards. The two “Delta” Sergeants were posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions.The “Battle of Mogadishu” was chronicled by author “Mark Bowden” (pseudonym), in his book ‘Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War’ (Signet Books, 1999).“Delta Force” Operators in the late 1990s, during training.A “Delta” team with an interpreter during the invasion phase of the war in Afghanistan, in late-2001 or early-2002.American 1st SFOD–D (A) and British Special Boat Service (SBS) Operators posing for a group photo while working together in Afghanistan during the invasion phase of the war (late-2001, early-2002).American 1st SFOD–D (A) and British Special Air Service (SAS) Operators working together in the invasion phase of the Iraq War, in early/mid-2003.“Delta” Operators (in the background, with black MICH helmets) working alongside conventional forces late in the invasion phase of the Iraq War, in mid-2003.A “Delta” Operator during a night raid shortly after the invasion phase of the Iraq War (circa late-2003).“Delta Force” Operators from C Squadron, as part of Task Force 121, with their Iraqi-American interpreter, Samir, during the capture of Saddam Hussein (‘Operation Red Dawn’, December 2003).When found, Hussein tried to resist capture. In his struggle, he was hit in the head by one of the “Delta” Operators with an M4 carbine’s buttstock, and was then immediately disarmed and restrained — he had a Glock model 18C automatic pistol on him (plus an AK-47 and around US$750K in cash in his “spider hole”).A “Delta” team in Iraq, around 2004, posing for a photo in the early morning after a late night raid. Standing with them for the photo, on the right end, is Navy SEAL Operator Mark Owen (pseudonym), from Gold Squadron, NSWDG (a.k.a. “DEVGRU”), who was attached to “Delta” during a deployment rotation that year, when “Delta” needed more “hands on deck” to assist with their overload of missions.Owen, after his retirement from service in 2012, wrote with journalist and author Kevin Maurer two memoirs chronicling his Navy SEAL career: ‘No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL — The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden’ (Dutton Penguin, 2012) and ‘No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy SEAL’ (Dutton Penguin, 2013).A “Delta” team posing for a photo before going out for a mission in Iraq (circa 2005).A “Delta” team in Iraq posing for a photo after a night mission (circa 2005).“Delta” Operators during an early morning patrol in Iraq, in late 2005.“Delta” Operators during a night mission in Iraq, in mid-2006, testing an early iteration of the Scorpion W2/MultiCam camouflage pattern.A 1st SFOD–D (A) Operator (left) and a British SAS Operator (right) working together during a night mission in Iraq, as part of Task Force 145 (circa 2007).“Delta” Operators in Iraq (circa 2009), likely working alongside Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF).Master Sergeant Kevin Holland, speaking at a Veteran’s Day ceremony. By 1995, Holland had already been a U.S. Navy SEAL, and had served nearly four years as an Assaulter in “DEVGRU” before retiring from service.With the launch of the War on Terror and ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ in 2001, Holland had wanted to re-enlist into DEVGRU, but some friends recommended that he instead try out for the “Army Special Missions Unit”, which was already deploying personnel to Afghanistan, early on. He followed his firends’ recommendations, made it into “Delta Force”, and served another ten years in the unit, finally retiring in 2013.Holland is one of the few publicly-known examples of US military personnel transitioning to “Delta” from organizations other than the Army Special Forces — in his case, not just that, but transitioning from another branch (the Navy) and another SMU (“DEVGRU”).A “Delta” team during a training exercise, around 2014. Note their HK416 CQB carbines, specially-configured to fire Simunition (paint) rounds.“Delta” Operators in Burkina Faso, in 2014, during a counter-terrorism response alongside French SOF (far-left, with face cover).A Kurdish Commando’s helmet cam footage (stills taken from video footage) during the Hawija (Kirkuk Governorate, Iraq) hostage rescue mission on October 22, 2015, in which some seventy hostages were liberated from an ISIS prison by “Delta” Operators and Rangers, alongside local Kurdish fighters.Another image from the Hawija mission.Liberated hostages being directed by Kurdish Commandos and “Delta” Operators to leave the compound and await extraction.“Delta” Operators maneuvering during the firefight while leaving the area after the hostages were secured.A photo of Master Sergeant Joshua Lloyd “Josh” Wheeler, a 1st SFOD–D (A) Operator and former Ranger with 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, who perished during the Hawija rescue mission. He died leading his team through the firefight; his last words were, reportedly, “On me!”.Master Sergeant “Josh” Wheeler, posing for a photo with his “Delta” team, holding a US flag (circa 2014). They’re wearing custom Desert Tigerstripe-pattern camouflaged uniforms.Official portrait of Command Sergeant Major Thomas Patrick Payne, a member of the 1st SFOD–D (A), formerly from Company A, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He was a Sergeant First Class with the “Delta” team in the Hawija rescue mission, and distinguished himself during the action.Command Sergeant Major Thomas Patrick Payne being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Donald John Trump in a ceremony at the White House, on Semptember 11, 2020.“Delta” Operators (foreground) in Northern Syria, in late-2017, working alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as part of ‘Operation Inherent Resolve’ (OIR).One of Ibrahim al-Samarrai’s (a.k.a. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”) last images, from an interview. He was the self-proclaimed “Caliph” and leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).A mid-2019 aerial view from a surveillance drone (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAV) of Baghdadi’s safehouse (top) in the town of Barisha, in Harem District (Idlib Governorate, Syria).UAV footage of the “Delta” element on the ground, assaulting Baghdadi’s compound on October 26–27, 2019 (‘Operation Kayla Mueller’). Realizing he wouldn’t escape the “Delta” Operators chasing him through his escape tunnels, Baghdadi detonated his suicide vest. The compound was bombed and levelled to the ground shortly after the mission’s completion.Official portrait of Conan, the Belgian Malinois ‘Special Operations Military Working Dog’ (SOMWD) that accompanied the “Delta” team during the 2019 Barisha raid.Conan was injured during the mission due to exposed live electric wires on the scene, but made a quick and full recovery. There is a lot of support for him to be awarded a Purple Heart Medal for his combat injuries.