17 May 2024

About Enforcement Directorate (ED)

• The Directorate of Enforcement or Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a domestic law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency.
• It is responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crimes in India.
• The origin of the ED goes back to May 1956, when an "enforcement unit" was formed, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947.
• In 1957, the unit was renamed as the Enforcement Directorate.
• Nodal Ministry: Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
• Objectives of the ED
• The prime objective of the Enforcement Directorate is the enforcement of three key Acts of the Government of India namely:

• Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA),
• Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), and
• Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA).

About Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002

• The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 was enacted in January, 2003.
• The Act seeks to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives:

• To prevent and control money laundering
• To confiscate and seize the property obtained from the laundered money; and
• To deal with any other issue connected with money laundering in India.

• Money laundering : Sec. 3 of the Act defines offence of money laundering as whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering.
• The Act was amended by the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009 and by the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2012.
• Most recently, the PMLA was amended through the -

• Finance Act, 2015 ('2015 Amendment')
• Finance Act, 2018 ('2018 Amendment')
• Finance Act, 2019 ('2019 Amendment')

GS 2 : [IR : Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests] 

BRICS

• BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
• In 2001, the British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• The grouping was formalized during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers in 2006.
• South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
• The Johannesburg declaration,2023 issued after the summit, said Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had been invited to become full members from January 1, 2024.
• The BRICS (prior to expansion) represented 41% of the global population, 24% of the global GDP, and 16 % of the global trade.
• Since 2009, its summits are held annually.

GS 2 : [Indian Constitution - Historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure]