Current Affairs Summary-February 2017

Current Affairs Summary-February 2017

POLITY AND CONSTITUTION 1.1. REFORMS IN FUNDING TO POLITICAL PARTIES

• The union budget 2017-18 announced certain reforms to bring transparency in funding to political parties. Reforms
• The maximum amount of cash donation that a political party can receive will be 2000/- from one person.
• Political parties will be entitled to receive donations by cheque or digital mode from their donors.
• An amendment is being proposed to the Reserve Bank of India Act to enable the issuance of electoral bonds (India will be the first country in the world) in accordance with a scheme that the Government of India would frame in this regard.
• Every political party would have to file its return within the time prescribed in accordance with the provision of the Income-tax Act.
• The existing exemption to the political parties from payment of income-tax would be available only subject to the fulfillment of above conditions.
• Association for Democratic Reform highlighted in its report that 75% funding to parties came from anonymous sources between 2004-05 to 2014-15
• Electoral bonds provide a mechanism of anonymity for its buyers. The move though aimed to safeguard general public can be used by corporate houses to fund political parties to develop nexus with party at the receiving end.
• The Budget makes it mandatory for political parties to file returns within a time limit, but in the absence of extreme penal provisions compliance is likely to be low. Way forward
• There is a need to put cap on funding by big corporate houses. Such donations should be made public as done in US. Also, law could be enacted to prohibit political parties giving any undue benefits to corporates
• Political parties should be brought under the ambit of RTI as followed in countries like Bhutan, Germany etc.

Electoral bonds

• The bonds will only be issued by a notified bank.
• It could only be bought using cheques or digital payments.
• The bonds purchased by donor will be given to a political party for a fixed period of time. A political party using their notified bank account can convert these bonds into money.
• All political parties are required to notify their bank account to the Election Commission.
• This bond will be like a bearer cheque which will facilitate donor’s anonymity.
• Budget should have placed a cap on the amount a party may receive in cash as a donation.
• State funding of elections should be considered as recommended by Dinesh Goswami committee (1990).
• To ensure transparency stricter provisions should be enacted so that parties maintain list of donors and which can be scrutinized easily by IT department.
• The funds of the political party should be audited by an independent auditor .The responsibility should not be given to the inside auditor. The details should be placed in public domain.

MINISTRY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT: NEW REFORM MATRIX

Ministry of Urban Development has evolved a new reform matrix to enable State and City Governments to implement reforms over the next three years for a turnaround in urban governance, planning and finance.

The present system requires verification first and then issuing approval. Instead trust needs to be reposed in the citizens and approvals may be accorded first and to be verified later. This approach has been recommended in respect of Permissions for building construction, Change of title in municipal records (mutation) and Birth and Death registration, involving the largest number of physical interactions between city governments and citizens.

Formulating Land Titling Laws:

As per McKinsey over 90% of the land records in the country are unclear. Land market distortions and unclear land titles cost the country 1.30% of GDP per year.

Credit Rating of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Value Capture Financing:

Total revenues of the municipal sector accounts for only 0.75% of the total GDP which is 6% for South Africa, 5% for Brazil and 4.50% for Poland.So, municipalities need to recover some of the value it creates for private individual. This can be done by issuing Municipal Bonds for meeting the capital expenditure needs of cities.

Improving Professionalism of ULBs:

As per Goldman Sachs, a bureaucracy that is based on merit rather than seniority could add nearly a percentage point annually to the country’s per capita GDP growth.

Also, shortage of qualified technical staff and managerial supervisors in ULBs prevent innovation.

Professionals in city governments should be inducted by encouraging lateral induction and filling top positions in cities through open competition.

Central bureau of Investigation

It is the main investigation agency of the central government for cases relating to corruption and major criminal probes. It has its origin in Special Police Establishment set up in 1941 to probe bribery and corruption during World War II. CBI was set up by a resolution of Ministry of Home Affairs in 1963 after Santhanam committee recommendation. Superintendence of CBI rests with CVC in corruption cases and with Department of personnel and training in other matters. Presently it acts as an attached office under DOPT.

Although DSPE Act gives legal power to CBI, CBI is not a statutory body as:

Word ‘CBI’ is not mentioned in DSPE act.

Executive order of MHA did not mention CBI to be constituted under DSPE Act.

NEW CBI LAW

Government of India (GOI) turned down the recommendation of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (PSC) on a new law for the CBI. Supreme Court in Vineet Narain case gave reforms for making CBI independent.

SC ruled that the Director of the CBI should be appointed on the recommendations of a committee headed by the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Home Secretary and Secretary in Department of Personnel as members. Earlier Supreme Court (SC) has termed CBI as a caged parrot with many masters on account of political interference in CBI’s functioning. PSC 85th report wanted to replace Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act of 1946 by a new CBI law.

Need of an independent law Effective Cadre management- Currently, vacancies in CBI have to be plugged through State or other Central forces. So, under a separate law, CBI could manage its cadre more efficiently. Administrative autonomy- CBI Director should be given the powers of ex-officio Secretary to allow direct reporting to the Minister of Personnel reducing the hassles in going through DoPT for even basic administrative issues.

Financial Powers- Currently the CBI is not financially independent, thus making it prone to being interfered by the government.

New CBI law will have to be passed by a constitutional amendment in State List relating to law and order which may violate the spirit of cooperative federalism.

CBI powers are misused for vested gains leading to poor transparency and accountability of the agency to the people at large.

A new law will make CBI a statutory body, thus giving it more autonomy to function and reducing political interference.

CBI is involved in multiple functions making it a large monolithic organization. A new law will clearly define its roles and responsibilities.

Steps taken by government to strengthen CBI

Operationalizing CBI courts for effective prosecution.

CBI has been exempted from consultation with UPSC for recruitment to the post of DSP for a period of 3 years in 2017.

Advanced Certified Course for CBI officers to enhance their investigation skills, forensic data collection, collection of evidence, skills etc. by training from National Law School of India University and IIM Bangalore. Various schemes for Modernization of training centers in CBI, CBI e-governance, comprehensive modernization of CBI branches/offices etc are being implemented.

The role, jurisdiction and legal powers of the CBI need to be clearly laid down. It will give it goal clarity, role clarity, autonomy in all spheres and an image makeover as an independent autonomous statutory body. Therefore CBI law will be a step in the right direction. Apart from this Lokpal Bill and CVC should be strengthened to make CBI truly robust.

REVIEW OF STATUS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER RTI

The Delhi HC ruled that the office of Attorney General (AGI) does not come under the ambit of RTI Act as it is not a public authority under section 2(h) of the act.

The relationship between AG and GOI is of a lawyer and client as AG is appointed under article 76 of the constitution to provide advice on legal matters to the government.

AGI maintains a legal and trustworthy relationship with the Government of India and does not occupy an office of profit and hence cannot be held to be a “public authority” within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.

As the functions performed by AG are similar to an advocate thus he is not empowered to change relations or rights of others. Hence AG can be considered a public authority under the act.

The essential services provided by the AGI are to advice the

Government upon legal matters and perform other duties such of a legal character as may be assigned. Further AG cannot put in public domain his opinions or materials forwarded to him.

FIRs were filed in Uttar Pradesh against the editor of Dainik Jagran and the head of the surveying agency, Resource Development International (I) Pvt. Ltd after they let publish the results of an exit poll online. ssues involved

 Supreme Court in PUCL case (2013) acknowledged the importance of free and fair elections.

 It is alleged that both opinion polls and exit polls hinder the conduct of free and fair elections.

 Influence of Paid news has further increased the resistance to such polls.

 Voters also have a fundamental right to information and media through exit and opinion polls.

Background

 In 1998 Lok Sabha and State Assembly polls, Election commission introduced guideline under Article 324: While carrying the results of exit and opinion polls, newspapers and channels shall disclose-

Sample size of the electorate

Details of polling methodology

Margin of error

Background of the polling agency

In 1999, guidelines were challenged by media and a Constitutional Bench said that ECI cannot enforce guidelines in the absence of statutory sanction. Therefore ECI took them down.

In 2004 ECI gave recommendation to amend the Representation of the People Act 1951 to ban both exit and opinion polls during a period as specified.

In 2010, restrictions were imposed only on exit polls through the introduction of Section 126(A) in the ROP Act 1951. Various constitutional provisions related to AG include:

Article 76 mentions about AG as the highest legal officer in the country.

Article 88 mentions about rights of AG with respect to the Houses of Parliament and its Committees, which includes:

He has the right to speak and to take part in the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament and their joint sittings and any committee of Parliament of which he may be a member.

But he does not have the right to vote in the Parliament.

Article 105 defines that powers, privileges and immunities of AG are similar to Member of Parliament.

Exit poll

An exit poll is a post-election survey conducted immediately after people have voted.

Exit poll results cannot be published till the last round of elections is over. It covers even other states when polls are being held in more than one. EC bans exit polls from the time the poll begins till half-an-hour after the polling ends.

Opinion Poll

An opinion poll is a pre-election survey to gather voters’ views on a range of election-related issues.

Results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey in any electronic media is prohibited during the period 48 hours, including the hour fixed for conclusion of voting in each of the phases in connection with the elections.

Global Practices

Sixteen European Union countries ban reporting of opinion polls 1 to 24 hours before polling.

In the United States, opinion polls and its publication is an integral part of free speech in elections. The only restriction is to not report likely outcomes from exit polls before voting.

Significance

Opinion and Exit polls are useful to gain insight into what people think of the policies and programmes of the government. Polls also help people get aware about their rights. It helps the voters decide better thus enhancing our deliberative democracy.

ARTICLE 370

Jammu and Kashmir High Court (in Oct 2015) had ruled that Article 370 has assumed place of permanence in the Constitution and the feature is beyond amendment, repeal or abrogation.

However, the Supreme Court said that only Parliament can take a call on scrapping Article 370 that accords special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Article 370, Article 35A and other aspects of J&K’s special status have been challenged in four important cases in the Supreme Court and two in the Delhi High Court.

About Article 370 and Article 35A

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution is a ‘temporary provision’ which grants special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Except for defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications, the Parliament needs the state government’s concurrence for applying all other laws.

Article 35A gives special rights and privileges to permanent residents of J&K, and empowers its legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the right to equality of people from other states or any other right under the Indian Constitution.

Can Article 370 be Revoked Unilaterally

According to the clause 3 of Article 370, “The President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative, ‘provided that he receives the “recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State (Kashmir).” Thus, Article 370 can be revoked only if a new Constituent Assembly of Kashmir recommends revocation.

Since the last Constituent Assembly was dissolved in January 1957 after it completed the task of framing the state’s Constitution, so if the Parliament agrees to scrap Article 370, a fresh constituent Assembly will have to be formed.

The constituent Assembly will consist of the same MLAs elected to the State Assembly. Simply put, the Centre cannot repeal Article 370 without the nod of J&K State.

Indian Parliament cannot increase or reduce the borders of the state and Indian citizens from other states cannot purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.

The Union government cannot declare emergency on grounds of internal disturbance or imminent danger unless it is made at the request or with the concurrence of the state government.

Centre can declare emergency in the state only in case of war or external aggression.

The Center has no power to declare financial emergency under Article 360 in the state.

Constitutional Amendment: a Constitution amendment becomes applicable to J&K only after the President issues an order.

National Song

Our national song is ‘Vande Matram’, composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji.

It was first sung at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.

National Anthem

Indian National Anthem is the first stanza of Rabindra Nath Tagore’s composition called ‘Jana Gana Mana’ originally composed in Sanskritized Bengali.

It was translated to Hindi and Urdu by Abid Ali.

It was first sung in 1911 convention of Congress.

PROMOTION OF NATIONAL SONG

Supreme Court rejected a plea to direct the Central government to frame a national policy under Article 51A of the Constitution to promote the National Anthem, the National Flag and a ‘National Song’. It also rejected making the National Anthem compulsory in offices, courts, legislative houses and Parliament.

However the court “kept alive” the plea that schools should play or sing National Anthem on working days.

Background

Article 51A (a) – It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.

The Supreme Court ordered in 2016 to mandatorily play the National Anthem before screening of a movie in cinema halls when the audience must stand and show respect.

Arguments given

Fundamental Duties cannot be made compulsory. They only direct individuals to become a better citizen. They are also not enforceable in courts. The Supreme Court has pointed out that the National Song has not been mentioned in the Fundamental Duties.

Forcing abidance to national symbols is not an ethical way to promote a feeling of nationalism and patriotism in the citizens.

By rejecting the idea of a policy on National anthem, flag and song, Supreme Court has avoided national symbols becoming a tool of promoting moral policing.

Supreme Court has also held personal choice over dictating patriotism in this decision.

Gradual steps should be taken rather than radical changes. Educating the people on the national flag, anthem and songs will increase acceptance of them in a citizen’s life. They will also understand their fundamental duty to promote them. A policy on them seems to be a futuristic idea and is not relevant in present times.

SPOILS SYSTEM

Appointments made by the State Governor to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission were set aside by the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court (SC) recently. The Madras HC observed that appointments were made in a hurry and the process was suspicious. Selection of chairperson of Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights created a legal controversy as the qualifications for the post was not met, thus violating the law. In Upendra Narayan Singh case (2009), SC observed that the Public Service Commissions are becoming victims of spoils system.

Even appointments and exits of Governors with changes in political dynamics is an indication of a shift towards spoils system in constitutional posts.

SC observed that employment based on the basis of past political loyalties violates Article 14 and 16 of the constitution. Spoils system creates a conflict of interest in the appointee. It may create a lack of transparency and accountability in the public administration. Since it is against meritocracy, it may hurt administrative inefficiency. Steps taken to remove this system

Article 320 resulted in the establishment of Public Service Commissions to frame service rules and conditions for selection of meritorious candidates to civil services. Kerala government has recently decided to have a dedicated law to prevent nepotism in government appointments.

2nd ARC recommends laying down certain principles for administrative recruitments to avoid spoils system. These principles are:

 Well-defined merit-based procedure for recruitment to all government jobs.

 Wide publicity and open competition for recruitment to all posts.

 Minimization of discretion in the recruitment process.

 Selection primarily on the basis of written examination or on performance in existing board or university examination with minimum weight given to interview.

These principles can be included in a Civil Services Bill.

An independent civil services board at state level with the appointment made by a committee constituted by Chief Minister, Judges, Lokayukta etc. can help in making the recruitment transparent.

 Government needs to prevent this spoils system by making the institutions independent of political interference. This will help improve administrative efficiency and maximize governance by giving emphasis on merit system.

UN BODY DEFERS NHRC ACCREDITATION

The Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), affiliated to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has deferred National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) re-accreditation until November 2017.

NHRC is a statutory body constituted under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) consists of: Chairperson, should be retired Chief Justice of India. One Member who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India One Member who is, or has been, the Chief Justice of a High Court. Two Members to be appointed from among persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights. In addition, the Chairpersons of four National Commissions of (Minorities, SC and ST, Women) serve as ex officio members.

Transfer of a High Court Judge

Article 222(1) of the Constitution says that the “President may, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, transfer a judge from one High Court to any other High Court.”

lf.

 Composition

 Only 20% of the NHRC’s staff is women and since 2004, there hasn’t been a single woman on the governing body.

 The legislative requirement of having an ex-CJI as Chairperson and choosing members of the senior judiciary restricts the potential pool of candidates who can be appointed, especially women.

 Other problems

 mammoth backlog of cases-around 40,000 cases pending

 the complaint redressal mechanism and the quasi-judicial functioning of the NHRC is not satisfactory as all stakeholders do not have equal and unfettered access to the process

Need For Accreditation

 Accreditation confers international recognition and

protection of the National Human Rights Institution besides its compliance with the Paris Principles

 A-status accreditation (full compliance with Paris Principles) grants participation in the work and decision-making of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI)’s International Coordinating Committee (ICC) as well as the work of the Human Rights Council and other UN mechanisms. 1.10. CONTEMPT BY JUDGE

Why in news?

 In a first, the Supreme Court started contempt proceedings against Justice C S Karnan, a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court.

 He had earlier suo motu stayed a Supreme Court Collegium recommendation to transfer him from the

Madras High Court to the Calcutta High Court.

Contempt of Court

 Contempt of court consists of words spoken or written

which tend to bring the administration of Justice into

contempt, to prejudice the fair trial of any cause or matter

which is the subject of Civil or Criminal proceeding or in any way to obstruct the cause of Justice.

 Article 129 and Article 142 (2) of the Constitution enables the Supreme Court to issue notice and punish any one including Judges of the High Court for its contempt or contempt of any subordinate courts.

 Need of Such Powers: Contempt provisions have been provided to ensure that the Judges do not come under any kind pressure either from media criticisms or by general public opinion and discharge their duties without any kind of fear and favour or any external influence whatsoever.

PARIS PRINCIPLES

The UN Paris Principles provide the international benchmarks against which NHRIs can be accredited under five heads: The institution shall

Monitor any situation of violation of human rights which it decides to take up.

Able to advise the Government on specific violations, on issues related to legislation and general compliance and implementation with international human rights instruments.

Be able to relate to regional and international organizations.

Have a mandate to educate and inform in the field of human rights.

some institutions should be given a quasi-judicial competence

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Arguments against Contempt of Court

 Contempt of Court proceedings have the effect of muzzling free speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution.

 Article 19(2) includes ‘contempt of court’ as a reasonable restriction on free speech but its justification in its present form is not tenable in a democracy.

 Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava in the Constituent Assembly said that powers to reprimand contempt concerned only actions such as the disobedience of an order or direction of a court, which were already punishable infractions.

 Speech in criticism of the courts, he argued, ought not to be considered as contumacious, for it would simply open up the possibility of gross judicial abuse of such powers; which has now been proved true in many instances.

 Interestingly, in England, whose laws of contempt we have adopted, there hasn’t been a single conviction for scandalising the court in more than eight decades.

Conclusion

The Contempt powers should be used in such a way as not to violate Right to Freedom of Speech while also ensuring independence of the Judges.

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About Rohingya

More than one million people in Myanmar identify as Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim group living mainly in Rakhine State on the country’s western coast.

Myanmar is a multicultural society with 135 communities. But the country’s 1982 Citizenship Law, which was promulgated by the erstwhile military junta, does not recognise the Rohingyas as one of the “national races”.

These people lack documentation to satisfy the constitutional requirement that their ancestors settled in the country before 1823.

UN has often described Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

2. INTERNATIONAL/INDIA AND WORLD 2.1. ROHINGYA ISSUE

Why in News?

The UN human rights office said that Myanmar’s security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burned their villages.

Reason for present crisis

Since October-2016 Myanmar’s army has carried out “clearance operations” in the north of the western state to root out insurgents accused of deadly raids on police border posts.

Challenges of crisis

 At least 69,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, alleging rape, murder and torture at the

hands of security forces.

 A large number of those escaping the violence end up in the trafficking networks.

 The crisis, if left at its current precarious stage, risks spiraling out of control and

will have security and economic implications for its neighbours.

 The persecuted Rohingya Muslims are likely to provide fertile recruiting grounds

for extremists. There are reports of increasing radicalisation in the community.

 Bangladesh fears that Islamist hard-liners, who staunchly support the Rohingya

Muslims, are trying to exploit the situation for their political benefits.

 Some sections of the Rohingyas have formed armed guerilla groups in Rakhine to

fight Myanmar’s Army and operate along the mountainous border.

 Despite Myanmar’s transition towards democracy, the country’s government

refuses to address the issue. Aung San Suu Kyi has chosen the path of political

expediency in the face of strong anti-Muslim sentiment in the Buddhist majority

country.

Way forward

 The Rohingya crisis is, first of all, a political issue in Myanmar. The ultimate solution lies in the granting citizenship and ensuring equal rights in their ancestral home.

 Until a permanent solution is found in Myanmar, it is the responsibility of refugee hosting countries, including Bangladesh, to ensure that Rohingya people can live with basic human rights and dignity.

 China and India share a border with Myanmar and also have vested economic interests owing to trade and investment ties. They should use creative diplomacy to persuade Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya crisis.

 International community also needs to play more proactive role in resolving present crisis. Due to lack of economic interest in Myanmar, western world is not very enthusiastic to resolve the crisis and deals it as internal problem of Myanmar.

 ASEAN should play a key role in working out a solution with Myanmar’s leaders.

 Recently, Dhaka announced a plan to relocate the refugees to Thengar Char, an uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal, some 60 km off the mainland. The island, about 30,000 hectares in size, is often flooded during monsoon. The plan has come under attack from human rights groups as well as the UN. 2.2. H1 VISA ISSUE

A Bill backing key changes in the H1-B visa programme that allows skilled workers from other countries to fill jobs in the U.S. has been reintroduced in Congress by two lawmakers.

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What is a H1-B visa?

The H1-B visa is a non-immigrant visa given by US to employ skilled workers from other countries for various specialised fields of occupation for a certain period of time.

US issues 85,000 H1-B visas every year, a sizeable chunk of the applicants are Indians.

The biggest beneficiaries of H-1B visas are Indians, followed by the Chinese. In 2014, 70% of total H-1B petitions approved were from Indians.

Nearly 86% of the H-1B visas issued for workers in computer occupations go to Indian workers.

What is the H1-B visa programme Bill?

 The Bill prohibits companies from hiring H1-B

employees if they employ more than 50 people

and more than 50 per cent of their employees

are H1-B and L-1 visa holders.

 The Bill encourages companies to recruit

American workers.

 It explicitly prohibits replacement of American

workers by H1-B or L-1 visa holders.

 Earmark 20% of H-1B visas for small and start-up

employers.

 Strict audit and vetting by Department of Labor to clamp down on fraud or misuse.

 Prohibit spouses of H-1B visa holders from working in the US.

 Give preference to students educated in the US for H-1B visas rather than computerized lottery system.

 Crack down on outsourcing companies that import workers for temporary training and then send them back home to do the same job

 The Bill seeks to increase the minimum salary of H1-B visa holders to $1, 30,000 per annum.

 Currently, firms need not go through extensive paperwork if the potential H1-B employee has an equivalent of a Master’s degree or higher and is paid at least $60,000 annually. The Bill aims to do away with the Master’s degree exemption (as “they are easily obtained by foreign workers”).

How does this affect India? Given the fact that India’s IT companies are a major beneficiary of these visas, the move would have a big impact on their costs and earnings.

 Indian outsourcing firms such as Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services will be badly hit.

 Indian students migrating to the states for pursuing a higher degree and tech companies that send their workers on off-site projects will be among the most affected by the changes to the visa policy.

 Apart from visa curbs, US had also recently hiked the visa fee for certain categories of the H1-B and L1 visas.

Impact on US economy

 The Indian IT industry believes that this Bill does not address the root cause of the problem – shortage of STEM skills (or those in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) in the U.S.

 Similarly, unless skill-based criteria are used in addition to wage-level restrictions, numerous U.S. firms will struggle to fill mid-level jobs with qualified Americans.

 If IT companies within this group are impacted by onerous new restrictions, they would likely prefer to entirely offshore their operations to India. Ironically, that could lead to job losses for American workers. 2.3. INDIA-EAST AFRICA

WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

India flagged number of issues pending in WTO to be resolved before December 2017 Ministerial Conference (MC) in Argentina including arriving at a permanent solution to the issue of public stock-holding for food security purposes– of the WTO’s Doha Round negotiations are completed before the December 2017 Ministerial Conference (MC) in Argentina.

The issues that have been identified for inclusion in the WTO are electronic commerce and investment.

Electronic commerce issue: Their inclusion has been supported by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the B-20 (Business 20, representing the business groups of G-20 countries).

WTO has given strong endorsement to e-commerce. He has pointed out that the increase in Internet penetration (43% of the global population).

India has opposed the attempts by some rich countries to work towards a global investment agreement at the WTO-level that would incorporate a contentious Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism.

EVACUATION POLICY

At present, India does not have a comprehensive evacuation policy to evacuate Indian stranded in conflict zone. India has conducted more than thirty evacuation operations across Africa, Asia, and Europe, including its largest-ever civilian airlift of 110,000 people from the Persian Gulf in 1990.

However, given the lack of formal doctrine or emergency plan, the success of India’s missions has mostly been due to individual sacrifices of officials from its diplomatic corps, flagship carrier and armed forces.

US, UK, and the NATO have institutionalized non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO) doctrine. Among the developing countries, Brazil too has institutionalised a standard operating procedure (SOP). Why need for comprehensive policy? The increasing size and complexity of the diaspora requires the government to expand capacity and improve procedures. More than 11 million Indians now reside abroad and 20 million travel internationally every year. As political instability rattles the West Asian region, which hosts more than seven million indian. What needs to be done?  First, the government needs to build on its rich experience in conducting such operations. Studying India’s history, best practices and lessons learned will help institutionalize them.  Second, an inter-ministerial committee should prepare a manual with guidelines that establish a clear chain of command and division of competencies  Third, India’s diplomatic cadre must be given specific training to operate in hostile environments.  Fourth, the success of future operations will also rely on New Delhi’s willingness to work together with friendly governments.  Fifth, the government will have to assign a greater role to its armed forces, in particular by strengthening the Navy and Air Force’s capacity to operate in tandem with civilian authorities.

INDIA-TAIWAN

Taiwan is represented in New Delhi by a “Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre” and India has an “India-Taipei Association” in Taiwan. Taiwan still does not have full diplomatic relations with India and other important countries – due to the One China policy. India has followed the “One China Policy” for decades, and places restrictions on the official-level exchanges with Taipei. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province, which could be reunited by force if necessary. China opposes any diplomatic relations as well as political contacts with Taipei by countries which has diplomatic relations with it. China has lodged a protest against India for hosting a Taiwanese parliamentary delegation and asked it to deal “prudently” with Taiwan-related matters.

INDIA-BANGLADESH

India and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the sustainable development of Sylhet city with financial aid from India.

About Sylhet

 Sylhet is an ancient city and a historically vibrant city. Originally part of the Bengal Presidency and later Eastern Bengal and Assam. The town was part of Colonial Assam between 1874 and 1947, when following a referendum and the partition of British India; it became part of East Bengal. It has been a focal point for 1971 Liberation War.

INDIA-USA

Recognising India’s status as a ‘Major Defence Partner,’ the U.S. has made changes in its export control laws that will benefit India by facilitating smoother transfer of technologies and arms. It “institutionalises the progress made to facilitate defence trade and technology-sharing with India to a level at par with that of the United States’ closest allies and partners. The new rule “creates a presumption of approval” for Indian companies seeking to import Commerce Department-controlled military items, except Weapons of Mass Destruction-related goods.

This means that only under the rarest circumstances will India be denied licenses. The new rule also amends the law so that companies will not need a license at all after becoming a Validated End User (VEU).

India launched “Operation Sankat Mochan” in July 2016 to evacuate nationals caught in the escalating civil war in South Sudan. South Sudan is caught between a border disputes with its northern neighbour Sudan. Abyei is an energy-rich region between Sudan and South Sudan which remains disputed.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, passed a law that would retroactively legalise Jewish settlements on privately owned Palestinian land. The legislation allows the Israeli government to expropriate private Palestinian land if the land-owners are unknown. If known, they will be compensated in cash or kind.

The legislation, which for the first time since the annexation of East Jerusalem seeks to extend Israeli law to the West Bank, can be overturned by the judiciary. Since Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem five decades ago, about 140 settlements have been built in Palestinian territories that house more than 600,000 Jews. Critics say the legislation enshrines into law the theft of Palestinian land, and it is expected to be challenged in Israel’s Supreme Court. The international community overwhelmingly opposes settlements and sees them as an obstacle to peace.

Among the law’s problematic elements is that the West Bank is not sovereign Israeli territory and that Palestinians who live there are not citizens and do not have the right to vote for the government that imposed the law on them.

RISK OF FAMINE IN AFRICA

UN Secretary-General António Guterres raised the alarm about the risk of famine in northern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen and recently the United Nations declared famine in a patch of South Sudan.

Famine is declared after three criteria are met:

 When one in five households in a certain area face extreme food shortages;

 More than 30% of the population is acutely malnourished; and

 At least two people for every 10,000 die each day.

 Famine was last declared in Somalia in July 2011

Vulnerable Employment

As per ILO, vulnerable employment covers the own account workers and unpaid family workers. They most likely lack decent working conditions, social security or any representation in unions.

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)

DBT scheme was started in 2013 to reform government delivery system for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries by preventing de-duplication and fraud. DBT Mission was created in the Planning Commission to implement the DBT programmes. JAM Trinity: Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile are the three enablers of DBT.

DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER IN FERTILIZER SECTOR

 Pilot projects to introduce Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in fertilizer sector have been taken up in 16 districts. Fertilizer sector has high leakages of about 40%. DBT can help in prevention of leakages to make subsidies efficient and targeted. Central government control over fertilizer sector is high. This minimizes administrative complexity. Government has a real time Fertilizer Monitoring System that monitors the fertilizer supply chains. Economic Survey considers it ideal to introduce DBT in fertilizer sector with

 Direct Benefit Transfer given in cash

 Biometrically Authenticated Physical Uptake (BAPU) – certifying identity using Aadhar and physically taking subsidized goods.

Challenges of DBT in Fertilizer Sector

With respect to fertilizer subsidy, the beneficiaries and entitlements are not clearly defined.

Subsidy in case of Urea is more than double its MRP. Therefore, farmer may be burdened financially to give MRP and subsidy upfront to receive the DBT afterwards.

Before DBT, there is a need of reforming the subsidy structure in fertilizers which promotes the excessive use of Urea and destroys soil health.

Suggestions

Decanalizing urea imports: Allowing more agencies to import urea and giving them more freedom in procurement decision would allow flexibility in adjusting to demand.

Bringing urea under nutrient based subsidy compared to current practice of cost based subsidy.

Secure long term supplies from locations where energy prices are cheap. For eg. Agreements from Iran and Oman

Some other reforms in fertilizer sector

Neem Coated Urea – It checks diversion of urea from agriculture uses and also reduces leaching of nitrogen into soil.

Gas price pooling – Under this, price of domestic natural gas is averaged or pooled with cost of imported LNG to create a uniform rate for fertilizer plants.

Uniqueness of DBT in fertilizer sector

The subsidy would be given to the fertilizer companies rather than to the beneficiaries as given in DBT in LPG.

The subsidy varies with different fertilizers and also from company to company.

WORLD EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL OUTLOOK REPORT

International Labour Organization recently released the World Employment and Social Outlook –Trends 2016 Report. It predicts that the number of jobless in India will increase from 17.7 million in 2016 to 18 million by 2018. It also predicts the employment rate to go down from 3.5% to 3.4% in 2017.

Its predictions related to ‘vulnerable employment’ are: It may fall by less than 0.2% per year for the next two years, showing only marginal improvements. It is expected to remain above 42% of the total employment in 2017 and account for 1.4 billion people all over the world. In emerging countries like India, one in two workers fit this category while in developing countries it is four out of five workers. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the most affected areas by vulnerable employment.

About International Labour Organization

It was established in 1919 as a part of Treaty of Versailles post WWI. It is the only tripartite UN agency, brings together governments, employers and workers of member states. India is the founding member of ILO. It has three main bodies:

o International Labour Conference – It sets the labour standards and broad policies.

o Governing Body – It is the executive body taking the final decisions.

o International Labour Office – It is the permanent secretariat of ILO supervised by Governing Body

INDIA INNOVATION INDEX

The World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Cornell University will work together to develop an India Innovation Index.

Background

The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries according to their capacity and success in innovation. It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with other organizations and institutions. It has been ranking world economies according to their innovation capabilities and outcomes using 82 indicators among a host of other important parameters. India currently ranks 66th out of 128 countries on the Global innovation Index (GII) 2016.

India Innovation Index will be a “first-of-its-kind online platform” where Global Innovation Index (GII) indicators and India-centric data from various states will be updated periodically.

The index will measure and rank the innovation performance of all Indian states

It will be structured based on the best practices followed in Global Innovation Index (GII) indicators and additionally by adding India-centric parameters those truly reflect the Indian innovation ecosystem.

The index will be based on key pillars of innovation and sub-indices that together will assist in tailoring policies that promote inclusive growth. The pillars include the strength of institutions, capacity of human capital and research, supporting infrastructure and the level of business sophistication, among others. The first ranking is expected to be released at the India Economic Summit in New Delhi on October 4-6, 2017.

RAIL SAFETY

The Railways Ministry is planning to consult the World Bank to identify areas that require investment from the special rail safety fund announced in the Budget. The union budget 2017-18 made following announcements for rail safety:

For passenger safety, a Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh will be created with a corpus of ` 1 lakh crores over a period of 5 years.

Besides seed capital from the Government, the Railways will arrange the balance resources from their own revenues and other sources.

Government will lay down clear cut guidelines and timeline for implementing various safety works to be funded from this Kosh.

Unmanned level crossings on Broad Gauge lines will be eliminated by 2020.

Reasons for rail accidents in India

Derailments constitute 50% of the total rail accidents, followed by 36% accidents at unmanned level crossings gates.

Lack of fire detection systems: Most trains in India still lack effective systems to detect smoke and fire.

Lack of anti-collision technologies: These are devices that automatically halt the train if it overshoots a red signal. India, which has the world’s fourth-largest railway network after the U.S. China and Russia, still doesn’t have such safety devices.

Staff deficit: Speeding and skipping red signals are the main causes of concern, human error is another common cause of accidents. The reason for this is partly that there is a shortage of staff, meaning that workers are often overworked.

Inappropriate maintenance of tracks: According to the Khanna Railways Safety Review Committee Report, nearly 25 per cent of the total railway track in India is over aged and is due for replacement. The Khanna Committee had further reported resource crunch is said to be the main cause of all these happenings in the Indian Railways.

Poor Rolling stock: Rolling stock, namely locomotives of most trains are not equipped with the Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches.

Negligence of the Government: There were three high level committees constituted on the Railways constituted recently like

• Sam Pitroda Committee on Modernization of Railways
• Anil Kakodkar Committee on Railway Safety review
• Bibek Debroy Committee on Restructuring of Railways

All of those reports are lying dormant and recommendations un-implemented.

Accidents also occur due to sabotage.

Steps needed for reducing railway accidents

Strict auditing regarding the integrity of tracks needs to be carried out regularly.

Ultra sound fault detection machines used for precise fault detection need to be expeditiously installed.

The customization to Indian conditions of foreign technologies like Anti-Collision Device and the Train Protection and Warning System

A time-bound filling up of vacancies in Critical Safety Categories and Manpower Planning Issues, addresses the demand by railway unions.

 Prioritizing the completion on Sethu-Bharatam project, so that unmanned railway crossings are eliminated.

 There should be an independent body like Railway Safety Authority under the government with chairman and experts from outside

RAIL CADRE MANAGEMENT

A senior team of bureaucrats have recently argued against the idea of a single unified management cadre in the Indian railways.

Background

Presently Indian Railways cadres are organized as follows –

Five cadres directly engaged in train operations – Traffic (operations and earnings), Civil Engineering (track, stations and such assets), Mechanical (Rolling Stock), Electrical, and Signaling.

Three cadres are in back-end support roles: Accounts (Finance), Personnel (Human Resources) and Stores (Procurement).

Vinod Rai committee suggested constituting a single Senior Management Cadre for all general top posts to end departmental conflicts. After this, a team of senior officers was constituted to analyze Vinod Rai committee recommendations which gave its report recently.

FIPB TO BE ABOLISHED

Government announced in the Budget 2017-18 its intention to abolish FIPB (foreign investment promotion board) in fiscal year 2018.

Background

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows into India in two ways, the automatic route and through government approval.

FIPB offers a single window clearance mechanism for FDI applications in sectors under the approval route. The board has handled investment proposals worth up to ₹5,000 crore.

FIPB is located in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the Finance Minister is in charge of the FIPB.

At present, more than 90% of the FDI inflows are routed through the automatic route which do not require prior approval from the FIPB and are subject to sectoral rules.

For the rest of the FDI (about 8% of the total FDI inflows), every department concerned has a framework or a regulator for it.

India has about 83 BITs with different countries

India’s model draft on BIT

After losing in the 2011 White Industries case, India prepared a model BIT. Some of its provisions are-

Deleting the MFN clause.

Enterprises based definition of investment- Investors who do not set up an enterprise in India to carry business cannot seek protection under BIT.

Compulsorily exhausting the local courts first before approaching international tribunal for dispute resolution.

List of subject exceptions where provisions of BIT would be invalid are health, environment etc.

PROPOSED BAN ON FDI IN TOBACCO

Ministry of Commerce has proposed a blanket ban on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in tobacco sector. Although FDI in tobacco manufacturing has been banned since 2010 in India, foreign tobacco companies can invest through technological collaborations, licensing agreement and by forming trading companies.

The proposal has been opposed by NITI Aayog since India has an $11 billion tobacco industry. There will be a loss of employment and foreign exchange with proposed restrictions. India can be challenged under various BITs on account of causing discrimination in domestic and foreign manufacturers.

As per its obligation under WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), India has to reduce higher consumption of tobacco products.

India should consider alternative regulatory mechanisms which may better achieve a reduction in tobacco consumption like plain packaging regulations, increase taxes on cigarettes, involving bidis in taxation etc. rather than having a blanket ban on FDI in tobacco sector.

CBDT SIGNS FOUR ADVANCE PRICING AGREEMENTS

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced signing of four more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs). The APAs signed pertain to the manufacturing, financial and Information Technology sectors. With this, the total number of APAs entered into by the CBDT has reached 130.

An APA is a contract, usually for multiple years, between a taxpayer and at least one tax authority specifying the pricing method that the taxpayer will apply to its related-company transactions. They can be classified as:

Unilateral APA- between taxpayer and tax authority of country where the taxpayer is located.

 Bilateral APA- between taxpayer, tax authority of host country and the foreign tax authority.

Multilateral APA-between taxpayers, tax authority of host country and more than one foreign tax authorities.

Advantages of APAs

Obtains certainty for complex, high risk transactions to be done in future.

Avoids double taxation as there is agreement between the tax authorities of countries.

Avoids litigation costs and saves time for tax payers and tax authorities.

Reduces the burden of record keeping.

Multi-National Companies apart from genuine cases can misuse this by shifting profits to tax haven countries using transfer pricing mechanism. APAs define the mechanism for Arm’s Length Price. They also fix the taxes to be shared between the countries on the profit made by the parent company in future.

The price at which divisions of a company transact with each other is called transfer price.

A transaction in which buyers and sellers of any products act independently and have no relationship with each other is known as Arm’s length transaction.

Airports Authority of India

It is a statutory body constituted in 1995. It is entrusted with the responsibility of creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure both on the ground and air space in the country.

CIVIL AVIATION REFORMS

Amending the Airports Authorities of India Act (AAI Act) to monetize the land with AAI. Airports Authority of India Act is very restrictive on monetizing the lands under the possession of the Airports Authority of India.  Monetizing the land better would allow government to build more airports in line with Civil Aviation Policy. Building airport infrastructure would become self-funded and self-sufficient.

CENTRE TO DOUBLE SOLAR PARK CAPACITY

As of now, 34 solar parks have been commissioned equivalent to 20000 MW. Cabinet has approved the doubling of solar park capacity to 40,000 MW. The move is aimed at India’s greenhouse emissions commitment at the global stage as part of INDCs.

All the States and UTs are eligible for this scheme. State will identify the solar park developer and also the land on which it would be built.  Solar Energy Corporation India (SECI) will administer the scheme under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Centre would also give a grant of up to 25 lakh apart from a central funding assistance of 20 lakh per megawatt or 30% of the project cost, whichever is lower. This would improve credit flow for green projects.

Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

They are the public commitments on post-2020 climate actions that were made by countries at the COP21 meet of UNFCCC in 2015. The aim of the commitments is to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degree Celsius.

Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI)

It is a not-for-profit company under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It is currently the implementing agency of many solar programs of government of India.It addresses the mismatch between availability of Renewable Energy sources and mandatory Renewable Purchase Obligations.

Its value is equivalent to 1 MWh of electricity injected from renewable energy sources.

Perform Achieve and Trade scheme

It is a scheme under the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency. It was introduced as an instrument to reducing specific energy consumption in energy-intensive industries. It is aimed at major industries like thermal power, fertilizer, cement etc. It is a market-based mechanism that allows the trading of ESCerts (energy saving Certificate). ESCerts were introduced in 2013 by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) for industries which achieved energy efficiency standards. They are issued by BEE or Ministry of Power. One certificate is equal to the energy consumed in terms of one metric tonne of oil equivalent (mtoe).

ENERGY SAVING CERTIFICATES

Under the Draft Energy Savings Certificates regulations, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has approved the trading of ESCs on power exchanges.The Power System Operation Corporation Limited has to perform the role of registry of the ESCs.  The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has been assigned the role of administrator for exchange of ESCs. This would create a transparent and efficient platform to exchange ESCerts.

 It would enable power exchanges like Indian Energy exchange to become a one-stop shop to buy and sell Electricity, Renewable Energy Certificates and ESCerts.

Way Forward

 Trading of the ESCs through power exchanges is a welcome step. The government should also setup a floor price to the ESCerts so that in case of oversupply of them, their prices do not fall below market prices.

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING

Recent Budget has proposed to integrate spot and derivatives market for farm produce using electronic National Agriculture Market platform.

Integration of spot and derivatives market will:

End uncertainty on delisting of commodities.

It would help farmers to get best prices for their produce.

Spot Market – It is an electronic trading platform which facilitate purchase and sale of specified commodities like agricultural commodities, metals and bullion. It provides spot delivery contracts which are immediate contracts or those in 11 days.

Derivatives Market – Derivatives are financial contracts that derive their value from an underlying asset. These could be stocks, indices, commodities, currencies, exchange rates, or the rate of interest. These help make profits by betting on the future value of the underlying asset.

Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems

• It is a sub-committee of the Central Board of the RBI
• It is the highest policy making body on payment systems.
• It is empowered to authorize, prescribe policies and set standards to regulate and supervise all the payment and settlement systems in the country.
• It secretariat is at the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems of RBI.
• It is a statutory body set as per Payment and Settlements systems Act 2007.

TAX TERRORISM

Finance Bill 2017 proposed that tax official may not disclose the ‘reason to believe’ to conduct a searches and surveys. This step is being considered to be a step towards tax terrorism. It plans to amend Section 132 (1) of the Income Tax Act for the same. The Budget 2017-2018 also proposes to give tax officials power of provisional attachment for 6 months with prior approval of a senior official. Reasons of Tax Terrorism: The root cause of tax terrorism is the setting of unrealistic revenue collection targets in the Union Budgets.

Complex and multiple tax laws. Eg. High number of exemptions. Tax avoidance by Base Erosion and Profit Shifting practices leads to loss of revenue to government and it taking drastic steps leading to tax terrorism. Proposed provisional attachment powers can help curb the problem where the tax evaders sell their property during the investigation to escape law.

PROPOSED PAYMENT REGULATORY BOARD

RBI has differed on opinions given by Ratan Watal committee on payment regime in India and especially on the recommendation of a new Payment Regulatory Board. Watal committee recommended constituting a Payment Regulatory Board (independent of RBI) to promote competition and innovation in the payment ecosystem in India. Presently Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems overlooks the payment ecosystem in India. Recent Budget has recommended that Payment Regulatory Board would be setup in the RBI with 6 members: 3 from RBI and 3 external members nominated from the centre,

• RBI Governor would remain the chairman.
• Deputy RBI Governor in charge of Payments and settlements would also be a member.

Present Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 (PSS Act) restricts the reach of digital payments, thus promoting cash transactions. It may be a threat to RBI’s autonomy after already constituting a Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to set inflation targets.

Banking is not much different from payments systems because non cash payments require the existence of financial intermediaries like banks. Therefore separating both of them may create problems in coordination.

Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems is already quite independent as it has membership of experts too outside the RBI.

Payment Regulatory Board.

A separate regulator for digital payments is the need of the hour and Payment Regulatory Board is a welcome step.

CREDIT ENHANCEMENT GUARANTEE FUND

Government has chosen India Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd (IIFCL) as the lead promoter of a credit enhancement guarantee fund, announced in the 2016-17 Union budget.

About Credit Enhancement Guarantee Fund

It provides an additional source of guarantee that the borrower will not default on their loan. It also helps borrowers raise loans at reduced interest rates. It has a seed capital of Rs. 1500 crores and will be able to provide guarantees for up to Rs 40000 crores worth of infrastructure projects. India is in the need of about $1 trillion investment in the next 10 years for infrastructure, to have a sustainable development and growth. It will help enhance the credit rating of bonds issued by infrastructure firms. It will also help to attract long-term investments especially from global insurance, pension and sovereign wealth funds.

With India being the fastest growing economy in the world, it would need such funding initiatives to sustain this growth. Credit guarantee fund is a welcome step. It would also depend on the diplomatic efforts of India to attract sovereign wealth and pension funds of different countries.

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT POLICY

To address the challenges of urbanization, the Ministry of Urban Development has come out with a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Policy. It enables people to live within walking or cycling distance from transit corridors like the Metros, Monorail and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors. Transit Oriented Development projects are already being taken up in Ahmedabad, Delhi (Kakardooma), Naya Raipur, Nagpur and Navi Mumbai. National Urban transport Policy focuses on shift from moving vehicles to moving people. The new Transit Oriented Development policy will help to fulfill this aim.

Other policies to promote Transit Oriented Development

TOD is also being incentivized under two more initiatives viz., Metro Policy and Green Urban Mobility Scheme. Under the new Metro Policy, TOD has been made mandatory while under Green Urban Mobility Scheme, TOD is recommended as an essential reform with priority in central assistance.

 

Presently, markets in agricultural products are regulated under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act enacted by respective State Government. This Act notifies agricultural commodities produced in the region such as cereal, pulses, edible oilseed and even chicken, goat etc. The first sale in these commodities can be conducted only under the aegis of APMC through the commission agents licensed by the APMC. The central government had first circulated the model APMC Act in 2003 for the states to adopt it. Yet, close to 50% of the states have not made necessary changes to their respective state agricultural marketing acts.

APMC: DE-NOTIFICATION OF FEW ITEMS

States would be urged to denotify perishables from APMC. This will reduce the cascading effect of multiple charges by APMC (mandi tax, multiple fees etc.) After persuading the States to drop fruits and vegetables from APMC schedule of regulated commodities, other commodities should also be de-notified

REVENUE INSURANCE SCHEME FOR PLANTATION CROPS (RISPC)

Commerce ministry has approved the Revenue Insurance Scheme for plantation crops. Aim of the scheme is to protect farmers against risks like yield loss, pests attacks and income loss caused by fall in international/ domestic prices.  It will be implemented on pilot basis for 2 years in West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Sikkim covering various plantation crops including Tobacco. This scheme can be considered as the improved version of Price stabilization fund scheme which was discontinued in 2013.

Price stabilization fund scheme

This scheme was launched in 2003 (discontinued in 2013) under Commerce Ministry covering all plantation crops.Its objective was to provide the hedge to farmers against fall in prices of commodities.

TAMRA: PORTAL OF MINISTRY OF MINES

Ministry of Mines has developed and launched “TAMRA”, a web portal and mobile application, to streamline the process of various statutory clearances required for mining operations. TAMRA stands for Transparency, Auction Monitoring and Resource Augmentation. It will display block-wise, state-wise and mineral-wise information of the blocks to be auctioned. It will also host information regarding current status of each of the clearances. Mining sector in India faces a twin challenges of delay in getting a clearances and lack of transparency in allotment of mine leases. This portal will solve both the problems by creating a hassle free interactive ecosystem thereby facilitating Ease in Doing Business.

SEBI TO TIGHTEN ALGO TRADING RULES

100% FDI IN WHITE LABELLED ATM

Government has allowed Foreign Investment upto 100% in White Label ATM (WLA) operations, subject to the following conditions:

Types of ATM:

• Bank ATM- owned and operated by the respective bank.
• Brown Label ATM- banks outsource the ATM operations to a third party. They have logo of the bank.
• White Label ATM- owned by non-bank entities. Eg- Muthoot Finance ATM, TATA Indicash, etc. There is no bank logo.

Any non-bank entity intending to set up WLA should have minimum net worth of Rs. 100 crore as per latest financial years audited balance sheet, which is to be maintained at all times. In case the entity is also engaged in any other 18 Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) activities, then the foreign investment in the company setting up WLA, shall also comply with the minimum capitalization norms for foreign investment in NBFC activities.

INDIA LAUNCHES CYBER SWACHCHTA KENDRA

Minister of Electronics and Information Technology launched the Cyber Swachchta Kendra–Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre for analysis of malware and botnets that affect networks and systems. It is part of Digital India initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).The systems will be scanned by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) for free of all those users who register to the CSK website. It will then notify, enable cleaning and secure systems of end-users to prevent further infections. This centre will work in coordination with the internet service providers (ISPs) and Industry.

The National Cyber Coordination Centre to be operational by June 2017. Sectoral CERTs to be created, that would operate under CERT-In. CERTs are to be set up in the state level as well. 10 more STQC (Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification) Testing Facilities to be set up. Testing fee for any start-up that comes up with a digital technology in the quest of cyber security, to be reduced by 50%.

Empower designated Forensic Labs to work as the certified authority to establish cyber-crime.

Botnet

A botnet is a network of computers infected with malware without the user’s knowledge and controlled by cybercriminals. They’re typically used to send spam emails, transmit viruses and engage in other acts of cybercrime.

Tools provided for free under CSK are: M Kavach: Special anti-virus tool for smartphones and tablets.USB Pratirodh: It is a USB protector to help clean various external storage devices like USB(s), memory cards, external hard disks, etc. AppSamvid: This is a whitelisting tool for the desktop. Browser JSGuard: It helps to block malicious JavaScript and HTML files while browsing the web. Free Bot Removal Tool: It’s a QuickHeal partner tool.

Operation Oliva

It is a mission launched by Indian Coast Guard and Odisha state forest department along the sea waters of Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. It is to ensure safe mid-sea breeding of Olive Ridley turtles and to intercept intruding fishing vessels involved in illegal fishing.

Concept of air gapping which isolate the critical infrastructures from the internet should be used. Recent Ground Zero Summit held to discuss the challenges in cyber security was a good move.

India should persuade at global forum for depleting the use of cyber weapons similar to that of NSG. India can also follow Tallinn Manual which is an academic work related to laws that apply to cyber-crimes which developed nations such as USA are following.

TROPEX 2017

A month-long naval exercise put to test the combat readiness of the Navy, the IAF and the Army with over 45 ships and 70 aircraft taking part. Theatre Readiness Operational Exercise (Tropex) was conducted along the Western seaboard. The previous edition of the exercise was conducted in January 2015. Tropex, in complete coordination with the Army and the Indian Air Force, took place in phases to test the various facets of war-fighting and joint combat capabilities of the armed forces. The 2017 edition of TROPEX included the conduct of large scale ‘Out of Area Contingency’ in island territory.

INDIAN COAST GUARD

Indian Coast Guard recently celebrated its 41st Raising Day. Nag committee of 1970 recommended the creation of separate marine force (other than Indian Navy) to deal with smuggling activities. In 1972, UNCLOS awarded Exclusive Economic Zones to coastal states and India enacted Maritime Zones of India Act 1976 to claim it. After discovery of commercial oil assets in 1974 in Arabian Sea, India appointed Rustamji committee to suggest measures to combat piracy and smuggling in coastal areas. Committee recommended the creation of ‘Coast Guard’ for superintendence and policing of our seas. Finally Coast guard came into existence under the Indian Coast Guard Act 1978. It is headed by Director General Indian Coast Guard and operates under Ministry of Defence.

UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) (1958)

It promotes international cooperation in peaceful uses of Outer Space. It serves as the secretariat for UNGA’s UN committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). It also establishes UN register for Objects launched into Outer space. It manages the UN Platform for Space based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN -SPIDER). Issues relating to militarization of space are handled by Conference on Disarmament and not UNOOSA.

OUTER SPACE TREATY

Outer Space Treaty has just completed 50 years of its establishment. Launch of Russian space satellite Sputnik in 1957 and the resultant Cold War conditions led to a space race. For a stable framework to use space, UN General Assembly formed a Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) after the launch of Sputnik. This led to the establishment of the treaty in 1967. The treaty draws on several previous United Nations General Assembly resolutions –

Resolution 1962 regarding the “Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the State Activities in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space”.

Resolution 1884 calling States to refrain from placing any nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space.

Some of the other provisions of the treaty are  The exploration and use of outer space is open to all and shall be carried out for the benefit of all countries and mankind.

Outer space is not subject to national claims on sovereignty, occupation, or other means.

Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.

States shall be liable for national space activities and damages whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities.

India is also a member of Outer Space Treaty.

Four other major treaties dealing with Outer Space

1.Rescue Agreement: States to take steps for rescue and assist of astronauts in distress.

2.Liability Convention: The launching State is liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space objects on the Earth’s surface, airspace and in space.

3.Registration Convention: An openly accessible register of all launches.

4.Moon Treaty – An international regime should be established to govern the exploitation of Moon’s resources when it becomes feasible.

The 1,624 km long India-Myanmar border gives tribals a travel access up to 16 km on either side without visa (known as Free Movement Regime). Fencing may disturb these trade activities but may prevent seamless movement of insurgents.

DRDO laboratory, is developing various unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) under its Muntra project. Muntra-N is designed for nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) reconnaissance. Muntra-M is intended for mine detection missions. The Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, is developing various Autonomous Underwater Vehicles for naval warfare.

Rustom: It has been indigenously designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of Bangalore under DRDO. Its features are:

Daksh: It is a land based drone used for bomb disposal developed by DRDO.

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) scheme –

Police modernization has been included as an Integrated Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). Scheme of Mega City Policing (MCP) has been started where police forces in seven cities – Mumbai. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad are being modernized.

The police forces of the respective coastal states and Union territories have jurisdiction of up to 12 nautical miles from the coast. The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy have jurisdiction over the entire maritime zone up to 200 nautical miles, including the 12 nautical miles of territorial waters.

National Command Control Communication and Intelligence Network (NC3I) collates data about all ships, dhows, fishing boats and all other vessels operating near our coast, from multiple technical sources including AIS and radar chain. These inputs are fused and analysed at the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurgaon, which disseminates this compiled Common Operating Picture for Coastal Security to all 51 nodes of the Navy & Coast Guard spread across the coast of India.

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

The National Security Council is the apex body of national security management system in India. The council is responsible for advising the PM on matters of strategic importance and security issues relating both to domestic and international arenas. It is presided over by the National Security Advisor. It comprises of Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and a secretariat from Joint Intelligence Committee.

HARBOUR DEFENSE AND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

Indian Navy has installed Integrated Underwater Harbour Defense and Surveillance (IUHDSS) at Mumbai naval harbour. It is capable of detecting, identifying, tracking and generating warnings for all types of surface and sub-surface threats to harbour security. This integrated system (already installed at Kochi and Visakhapatnam) will enhance the security of naval dockyard of Mumbai by providing the comprehensive real-time images for monitoring and analysis. The creation of the Sagar Prahari Bal, induction of Fast Interceptor Crafts and commissioning of the IUHDSS are some of the Navy’s measures to strengthen coastal security in a post 26/11 scenario.

NETRA

First indigenously developed airborne early warning and control system (AEW&C) called NETRA, mounted on a Brazilian Embraer-145 jet has been inducted into Indian Air Force. NETRA has been developed by Defense Research and Development Organization. India has become only 4th such nation after United States, Russia and Israel that have developed such technology on their own. Currently Indian Air Force using 3 Israeli Phalcon AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) which are mounted on Russian IL-76 heavy-lift planes. These Phalcon AWACS has a range of 400 kms and 360-degre coverage.

Some of the important features of NETRA are:

Range of 200 kms (Capability to detect aerial threats from incoming aircraft and missiles).

240 degrees coverage (simultaneously scan the area on both sides of aircraft)

ASHWIN INTERCEPTOR MISSILE

Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully tested its indigenously developed supersonic Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile called Ashwin from Abdul Kalam Island (also known as Wheeler Island) of the coast of Odisha. Ashwin Missile, capable of destroying any incoming enemy ballistic missile at low altitude of 15-30 kms (endo-atmospheric), successfully destroyed the incoming missile at an altitude of 15 km. It is 7.5-metre long, single stage, solid rock propelled guided missile equipped with an inertial navigation system, an advanced computer and an electro-mechanical activator. It places India in the exclusive club of USA, Russia and Israel that have full-fledged multi layered Ballistic Missile Defense system.

About Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System

It provides an effective missile shield against incoming ballistic and nuclear missiles. India’s BMD is a double-layered defense system capable of tracking and destroying hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth’s atmosphere.

It consists of two interceptor missiles namely:

Prithvi Defence vehicle (PDV) missile for exo-atmospheric ranges (15-30 km altitude).

Advanced Area Defence (Ashwin) missile for endo-atmosphere – (more than 50 km altitude).

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has underlined the following criteria for heat waves:

Heat wave is not to be considered till the temperature of a station reaches at least 40°C (for plains) and 30°C (for hilly regions).

 When normal maximum temperature of a station is less than or equal to 40°C , then a departure of 5 to 6 degrees from the normal is to be considered heat wave while a departure of 7 degrees is to be considered severe heat wave.  When normal maximum temperature of a station is more than 40°C then a departure of 4 to 5 degrees from the normal is to be considered heat wave while a departure of 6 degrees is to be considered severe heat wave. In case the normal temperature of station is more than 45°C then heat wave is to be declared irrespective.

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT-BUFFER ZONE

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has issued draft guidelines proposing to maintain buffer zones around landfills to minimize/prevent the impact of landfill waste disposal. The proposed guidelines will apply to all future treatment plants while the existing plants will have to incorporate measures such as planting trees and using odour free technology. The current practice of solid waste management in India includes a host of options such as composting, vermin-composting, biogas, refuse derived fuel (RDF), pelletization and waste-to-energy measures. Disposal of garbage in landfill sites is the least preferred but a widespread option in India. It encompasses waste disposal/processing facilities.

Buffer Zone

The revised rules as under Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016 made it a duty of CPCB to issue guidelines regarding buffer zones. According to the SWM Rules, 2016, “a buffer zone of no development shall be maintained around solid waste processing and disposal facility, exceeding five tonnes per day of installed capacity. The only guideline for landfills as of now is that they be at least 500 metres ways from habitable zones. The proposed buffer zones will act as a barrier and will provide assistance against flawed handling of waste during storage and transportation.

CPCB has in its draft guidelines allowed waste-to energy power plants to come within 20-100 metres of residential areas. This is a far cry from 300-500 metres specified in the solid waste management manual of the Swacch Bharat Mission. Unlike previously, the draft guidelines mention “incineration” as one of the methods of waste disposal.

DRAFT ORDER ON BAN ON PESTICIDES

The Government of India has decided to ban the use of 18 pesticides following the recommendations of the Anupam Varma Committee. The GOI has also sought objections and suggestions on this draft order from all stakeholders before taking a final decision. The Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) approves the use of pesticides in India.

Anupam Varma Committee

This committee was constituted in July 2013 to review the use of 66 pesticides which are either banned or restricted in other countries. The Committee recommended banning 13 pesticides, phasing out 6 by 2020 and reviewing 27 others in 2018. The Committee did not review the use of Endosulfan as the matter was pending with the Supreme Court at that time. Endosulfan is a hazardous pesticide which is banned in 80 countries. It was used by the Karnataka Cashew Development Corporation and Kerala Government over cashew plantation to combat tea mosquito after 1970s. It has been found to be responsible for various mental and physical deformities among the population of the two respective states. In 2011, Supreme Court banned Endosulfan pan-India.

Cholanaikkan Tribe

It is a particularly vulnerable group of Kerala. They live in the deciduous forests of Karulai and Chungathara ranges in Nilambur in Malappuram district. They are the only surviving hunter gatherer tribe in India. They do not engage in farming. They are the only tribal community in Asia that lives in rock-cave shelters. Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) has been launched in 2014 to achieve a wild population of at least 3,000 Greater one-horned rhinos in the Indian state of Assam by year 2020.

MEDICINAL PLANT FROM KERALA

Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) confirmed the multiple therapeutic properties of Neurocalyx calycinus. It is used by the Cholanaikkan tribe to treat inflammations and wounds. It is endemic to Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. In local parlance it is known as ‘Pacha Chedi’. The anti-inflammatory activity of the leaves was found to be similar to the drug diclofenac sodium. The plant also possesses high Vitamin E content and cytoprotective activity in its cell lines, increasing its prospects as an anti-cancer drug. Pre-clinical trials have proved the plant’s efficacy in acting as an analgesic, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, wound and burn healer, immune system development etc. Patenting its herbal formulations would help in protecting the traditional knowledge of India. Commercial benefits of the usage of this plant can also benefit the dwindling Chilanaikkan Tribe.

KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK

Kaziranga National Park has consistently increased its One Horned Rhino population (Population in 2015 – 2401) because of rigorous conservation efforts in past few years. Situated on the bank of river Brahmaputra it is one of the oldest wildlife conservancy reserves of India. It is popularly known as the home of the “Big Five” – One Horned Rhinoceroses, Tigers, Asiatic wild buffalos, Eastern Swamp Deer, and Elephant. It hosts two-thirds of the world’s Great One-horned rhinoceros (68% of worldwide population). It has one of the highest densities of Tigers in the wild in the world and also houses almost entire population of the Eastern Swamp Deer. In 1985 it was declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its unique natural environment and Tiger reserve.

Indian Rhinoceros (Greater one-horned rhino): They are the second largest species of rhinos. They are found in India and Nepal, and particularly in the foothills of the Himalayas. IUCN Status- Vulnerable.

IRRAWADY DOLPHIN

There are 55 Irrawaddy dolphins present in water bodies of Bhitarkanika National Park and Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary. In recent years Chilika Lake emerged as primary habitat of these dolphins with record count of 121 this year. Worldwide population of Irrawaddy dolphins is estimated to be less than 7500, Bangladesh has 6000. Besides Irrawaddy dolphins other dolphin species that were reported are Humpback, Bottlenose and Pantropical spotted dolphin species.

About Irrawady Dolphins (Also commonly known as Snubfin Dolphins)

They can be found in rivers, lakes and seas across southern Asia, from the northwest Bay of Bengal, in India, to the south of Indonesia.

Major threats: incidental mortality in gillnets and other fisheries gear; Habitat loss due to Dams, Deforestation, Mining (ex. Sand, gravel mining, etc); Live captures for display purposes, pollution from agrochemicals, etc. IUCN status: Vulnerable Species.

NEW CONTINENT: ZEALANDIA

A study published by the Geological Society of America, found that New Zealand and New Caledonia are part of a huge 4.9 million sq. km single slab of continental crust that is separate from Australia. The study conducted using upgraded satellite-based elevation and gravity map technology found that the region is 94 percent submerged, mostly as a result of crustal thinning before the super continental break-up of Gondwanaland about 80 million years ago.

The study says that Zealandia should be considered a geological continent, rather than the previously-held theory that it was a collection of continental islands and fragments. Currently there are 7 continents. In descending order of size they are: Asia > Africa > North America > South America > Antarctica > Europe > Australia.

About Zealandia

Zealandia is about half the size of Australia, but only 7 percent of it is above sea level. Most of that terrestrial land makes up the two large islands of the country of New Zealand the North Island and the South Island.

Zealandia is a very tectonically active region. Part of it is on the Australian plate, while the other part is on the Pacific plate. Stewart Island, just south of the South Island, and many smaller islets are also a part of Zealandia. New Caledonia, a collection of islands governed by France, makes up the northern tip of Zealandia. The submerged part of Zealandia is rich in mineral deposits.

FOOD LEGUMES RESEARCH PLATFORM (FLRP)

Union Cabined approved the setting up of Food Legume and Research Platform in Madhya Pradesh (Amlaha, Sehore) with the collaboration of International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) and India council of agricultural Research (ICAR). Department of Agricultural Research under the Ministry of Agriculture would be linchpin between ICAR and ICARDA for all the technical modification in Agreement and establishment of FLRP. The Food Legumes Research Platform (FLRP) would be provided satellite Hubs in West Bengal (for pulses) and Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Rajasthan (for Natural Resource Management). Food security is the mammoth task in front of Government. Research in Legumes (Pulses Crop) would play a pivotal role in this aspect. Global Climatic pattern is changing which in turn affecting the agriculture output. Thus, research in food Legume is need of the hour. India accounts 25% of world food legumes production. Thereby, making it a good destination for accelerating the production of more varieties and nutritious food legume using genomics techniques. This platform will contribute significantly towards reducing poverty, improving food security, improving nutrition and health, and sustaining the natural resource base.

International Centre for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)

ICARDA is a non-profit agricultural research for development institute, established in 1977. Organization aims is to improve the livelihoods of the resource-poor across the world’s dry areas. These are locally produced by community action, especially by women. Crop residue provide high protein value to livestock feed thereby cutting the cost of raising

INDIA’S ONLY ACTIVE VOLCANO

Barren Island is the only active Volcano along the volcanic chain from Sumatra to Myanmar. Moreover, it is the only active volcano in India.

Barren Volcanic Island: The Island is situated in Andaman Sea, of the north-eastern part of Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands). It is a Submarine emergent Volcano, which lies above the subduction zone of India and Burmese plate.

The Island is uninhabited and devoid of any significant vegetation and wild life.

Other volcanoes in India

Doshi Hill is an extinct volcano in north-west part of Aravalli range of Mahendergarh (Haryana).

Dhinodhar Hills is an extinct volcano in Kutch district of Gujarat.

Narcondam Island in Andaman and Nicobar is a volcanic island and classified as dormant volcano by Geological Survey of India. The island is listed under UNESCO World Heritage Sites and famous for its endemic Narcondam Hornbill.

Baratang Island in Andaman is famous for Mud volcanoes.

INDIA AND STATE GLOBAL AIR REPORT 2017

It is the first report on air quality by using the latest global data from 1990 to 2015. The report provides information under various titles of ‘Air Pollution level and Trend’, ‘Global Burden of Disease’ and ‘Health burden due to air pollution’. Exposure to PM2.5 (Particulate Matter) is considered as the fifth (most or highest?) risk factor for death, which is accounting for about 4.2 million deaths across the globe. The highest concentrations of PM2.5 in 2015 related to combustion sources are in South and Southeast Asia, China, and Central and Western sub-Saharan Africa. The report is significant for India in providing more comprehensive pollution monitoring road map than currently in use Air Quality Index.

The report takes the cognisance of a new pollutant ‘ozone’. Though the casualties in India from ozone are far less than the well-known PM 2.5. However, the rate of increase in ozone-related deaths is alarming.

CHENNAI OIL SPILL

Two vessels collided off the Kamarajar Port at Ennore near Chennai resulting in oil spill in the sea. When oil hits the sea, its surface is quickly dispersed by the wind, while sea currents spread the lower layers in contact with the water. This twin action creates a large, ever-expanding film of oil called a “slick”. Along the shore, the oil mixes with sand and debris to form a thick viscous sludge that gradually oxidizes into a toxic brown mass that experts like to call “chocolate mousse”.

Bioremediation techniques: Oilzapper

It is essentially a cocktail of five different bacterial strains that are immobilized and mixed with a carrier material. It feeds on hydrocarbon compounds present in crude oil and oily sludge and converts them into harmless CO2 and water.

Oilivorous-S: It is a tad different from Oilzapper is an additional bacterial strain that makes the former more effective against sludge and crude oil with high-sulphur content.

Both Oilzapper and Oilivorous-S can be used in situ, thereby eliminating the need to transfer large quantities of contaminated waste from the site, a process that poses more threats to the environment.

WORLD’S FIRST TRANSIT RATING SYSTEM

The DMRC, along with the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), announced the world’s first LEED for transit rating system.

About LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

It is an international certification run by USGBC, which provides a framework to building owners and operators for identifying and implementing practical green building solutions. It concentrates its efforts on improving performance across five key areas of environmental and human health: energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials selection, sustainable site development and water savings.

The LEED Transit Rating System

Developed with inputs from the DMRC, the new LEED transit rating system will assess the functioning of metro stations based on five categories – energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience. It will allow operational transit facilities to benchmark efficiencies and demonstrate continual improvement.

DMRC will be the first metro network in the world to pursue the pilot transit rating for its station. The transit rating system will help advance sustainable development agenda and to minimize carbon footprint.

WORLD WETLANDS DAY

World Wetlands Day was celebrated at Bhoj Wetlands on February 2 to mark the Day the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in the Iranian City of Ramsar in 1971. The theme of World Wetlands Day for 2017 was ‘Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction’. Wetlands are areas of land where the water level remains near or above the surface of the ground for most of the year.

There are several kinds of wetlands such as marshes, swamps, lagoons, bogs, fens and mangroves.

Wetland directly and indirectly support lakhs of people, providing goods and services:  They help stabilize water supplies, cleanse polluted waters, protect shorelines and recharge groundwater aquifers and provide food, timber, drinking water, medicines.

They help check floods, prevent coastal erosion and mitigate the effects of natural disasters like cyclones and tidal waves. Wetlands can act as sponges, storing peak rainfall and releasing water gradually during lean season. The extensive food chain and biological diversity in wetlands make them ‘biological supermarkets’.

Wetlands in India and Their Conservation

According to the Directory of Asian Wetlands (1989), wetlands occupy 18.4% of the India’s area. Bhoj wetlands is situated in Madhya Pradesh and is one of the 26 sites that India has designated under the Ramasar Convention.

Ramsar Convention on Wetland

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

National Wetland Conservation Programme (NWCP)

Under the programme, which was started in 1985-86, 115 wetlands have been identified till now by the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change which requires urgent conservation and management initiatives.

 

RIP TIDES

ISRO in collaboration with a private lifeguard agency appointed by the Goa government has conducted a study (Ripex 2017) on rip tides along the beaches of Goa. Rip tides (also known as ebb jet or tidal jet) are powerful currents running perpendicular to the shore.

They pull the water out into the ocean. The term rip tide is a misnomer as tides occur due to moon’s gravitational pull while rip currents are caused due to shape of the shoreline or due to formation of sandbar.

LIDAR TECHNOLOGY

Recently Google has accused Uber of stealing its LIDAR designs in developing its own autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles use LIDAR for obstacle detection and avoidance to navigate safely through environment. LIDAR is highly sought after technology used by companies like Google and Uber.

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)

It is a remote sensing method that uses narrow beam of light instead of radiowaves in the form of a pulsed laser to build a 3-D image of surrounding landscape. The narrow beam of laser makes it possible to map objects with high degree of resolution. It measures and analyses the distance from the sensor to the object by determining the time between the releases of laser pulse to receiving of the reflected pulse. For terrestrial mapping LIDAR uses near infrared wavelength laser (900–1064 nanometers) and water penetration like sea bed mapping it uses green light (532 nanometers). A typical LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.

There are three ways to collect LIDAR data – airborne, satellite and ground. Airborne LIDAR data are the most commonly available LIDAR data.

LIDAR data has multiple applications. Like:

Urban planning: Helps in creation of large area models in short time. It is also used to create digital elevation models and surface models of surrounding buildings.

Coastline management: Producing accurate shoreline maps, detecting coastal erosion.

Archeology: Help in creation of high resolution digital elevation models to reveal micro-topography.

Oil and Gas exploration: It is used to trace amount of gases above the hydrocarbon region. This tracking helps to find exact area which has Oil and Gas deposits. Thus saves both time and money.

Cellular network planning: Can be used to provide analysis for determining line of sight for proposed cellular antenna.

Forestry management and planning: It provides the height of canopy, its density and ground elevation. It is also increasingly used for managing forest fire by mapping possible fire area.

Helps in creation of accurate flood prediction models.

Can be incorporated into relief, rescue and flood simulation software to provide advanced topographical information.

Helps in detection of pollutants like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and methane.

Detection of noise and light pollution.

Mapping and Cartography: Assist in mapping of roads, buildings and vegetations. Useful in developing high-resolution contour maps. Transport planning: Help in mapping transport corridor facilitating seamless navigation.

Agriculture: Helps in crop mapping and indicate which areas to need fertilizers for maximum crop yield. Helps in creating a topographical map of the fields and reveals the slope and sun exposure of the farm land.

Spaceflight and Astronomy:  It may be used in mapping the surface of any celestial body.

It is used for atmospheric studies from space.

Atmospheric remote sensing: It is used to determine cloud profiles, measuring winds, studying aerosols and quantifying various atmospheric components.

GRAPHENE FROM SOYBEAN

Scientists have used a soybean to make the world’s strongest material graphene commercially more viable.

About Graphene

Graphene form of carbon allotrope consisting of planar sheets (2D structure) which are one atom thick, with the atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice. It is composed of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal lattice.

Properties of Graphene

• Stronger than the steel.
• Good conductor of heat and electricity.
• About 200 times stronger than steel
• Better conductor compared to Copper
• Nearly transparent.

Applications of Grpahene includes Paints and coatings, lubricants, oils and functional fluids, capacitors and batteries, thermal management applications, display materials and packaging, solar cells, inks and 3D-printers’ materials and films.

CLOUD SEEDING

Cloud seeding also known as weather modification technique, is an artificial way to induce moisture in the clouds so as to cause a rainfall. In this process either silver iodide, potassium iodide or dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) is dumped onto the clouds causing rainfall. Several experiments have been conducted across India to protect drought affected areas. However they were not very effective and gave mixed results. It is not fool proof as different type of clouds may exist over a region and same type of seeding may not be effective for all. Moreover seeded clouds may actually travel to another location and do not cause precipitation on the intended location questioning its effectiveness.

BLAZARS

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray space telescope has identified the farthest gamma-ray blazars. A blazar is a galaxy which, like a quasar, has an intensely bright central nucleus containing a supermassive black hole. In a blazar, however, the emitted light sometimes includes extremely high energy gamma rays, sometimes over a hundred million times more energetic than the highest energy X-rays.

The overall emission has several other unique properties as well, including that its intensity can vary dramatically with time.

SWITCH TO DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TRANSMISSION BY 2023

The broadcast regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has recommended introduction of digital terrestrial transmission for broadcast services in a phased manner and complete shutdown of analog transmission by end of 2023. TRAI has recommended that DTT should be deployed in metros by December 2019 in phase 1, cities having more than 10 lakh population as per Census 2011 should be covered by December 2021 and rest of India by December 2023.

Background

At present, terrestrial TV broadcasting in India is under the exclusive domain of Doordarshan (Prasar Bharati), the Public Service Broadcaster and it is predominantly analog. The existing terrestrial TV platform provides only a few channels which do not offer a value proposition to the viewers. Terrestrial transmission is a type of broadcasting in which signals are transmitted by radio wave from a terrestrial transmitter. It is of two types

Analog terrestrial transmission (ATT)

In analogue terrestrial television broadcasting only one signal is transmitted on a given frequency channel.

Digital terrestrial transmission (DTT) Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) broadcasting allows the transmission of about 10 or more digital services in a single frequency channel, depending on the technical parameters used and the quality of services desired.

The spectrum used to transmit data over the air is scarce. To ensure optimum utilization of this valuable resource, over 156 countries signed an ITU agreement in 2006, to switch from analogue to digital transmission. By adopting digital transmission India can join the league of countries having DTT such as Luxembourg. Adoption of DTT will add to DIGITAL INDIA program and enable digital access in rural areas.

PRADHAN MANTRI GRAMIN DIGITAL SAKSHARTA ABHIYAN

As per the 71st NSSO Survey on Education 2014, only 6% of rural households have a computer. This implies that more than 15 crore rural households (@ 94% of 16.85 crore households) do not have computers. Thus a significant number of these households are likely to be digitally illiterate. PMGDISHA is expected to be one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world. Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the FY 2016-17; 275 lakh in the FY 2017-18; and 300 lakh in the FY 2018-19. To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 250,000 Gram Panchayats would be expected to register an average of 200-300 candidates.

The implementation of the Scheme would be carried out under the overall supervision of Ministry of Electronics and IT in active collaboration with States/UTs through their designated State Implementing Agencies, District e-Governance Society (DeGS), etc.

The PMGDISHA being initiated under Digital India Programme would cover 6 crore households in rural areas to make them digitally literate. This would empower the citizens by providing them access to information, knowledge and skills for operating computers / digital access devices.

According to World Economic Forum’s Annual Network Readiness Index which assess the information and the communication capability of 140 nations, in 2013 India was at 68th position but in 2016 India has slipped to 91st.

The BHARATNET project has not been able to provide broadband connectivity to rural panchayats. Thus success of PMGDISHA will depend on infrastructure availability.

FLU GAS TECHNOLOGY

Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has decided to use Flu-Gas Desulfurization to reduce emissions from thermal power plants following new environmental notification. As per new notification by MoEFC emissions of pollutants namely Particulate matters need to be reduced by 65%; Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) by 70% and Sulphur dioxide by 85%.

Flu-Gas Desulfurization (FGD) technology

Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide (SO2) from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, as well as from the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes. Common methods used to remove SO2 are: Wet scrubbing method, Spray-dry scrubbing method, Wet and Dry lime scrubbing method, SNOX method, Dry sorbent injection method, etc.

For a typical coal-fired power station, flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) may remove 90 percent or more of the SO2 in the flue gases. Sulfur dioxide emissions are a primary contributor to acid rain and have been regulated by every industrialized nation in the world.

Flue Gases

It is a mixture of gases which is by produce by combustion of fuel and other materials in power stations and various industrial plants and released in the atmosphere via flu (ducts). It largely contains oxides of nitrogen derived from combustion of air, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water vapour, excess oxygen, sulphur oxides, particulate matter like soot.

Electrostatic Precipitators: It is a filtration device that removes fine particles like particulate matter using electrostatic force by ionizing the passing gas.

INDIA’S NATIONAL VACCINE REGULATORY AUTHORITY

WHO recently declared Indian National Regulatory Authority functional and awarded it highest rating 4 which means 100% compliance with the WHO benchmarking , good result with sustained improvement trend and stringent regulator of vaccine as per developed countries and European Union.

NRA

As Specified by WHO, NRAs are national regulatory agencies responsible for ensuring international standards of quality and safety in vaccine production either for export or for public distribution.

It comprise of Central drugs standard control organization, State Drug Regulatory Authorities, Pharmaco-vigilance Programme of India (PvPI) and Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) structures at the Central and States levels

PSLV

The PSLV is one of world’s most reliable launch vehicles consisting of four stages. It has been in service for over twenty years and has launched historic missions like Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission, IRNSS etc. It can take up to 1,750 kg of payload to Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbits of 600 km altitude and payload of 1,425 kg to Geosynchronous and Geostationary orbits.

ISRO ROVER ON LUNAR SURFACE

Chandrayaan 2, India’s second mission to the Moon, is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission. It consists of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover configuration. It is expected to be launched during the first quarter of 2018.

ISRO is planning to deploy a rover on the lunar surface in the Chandrayaan-2 mission. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander, containing the Rover, will separate from the Orbiter. The Lander then will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover.

The six-wheeled Rover will move around the landing site in semi-autonomous mode as decided by the ground commands. The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data useful for analysis of the lunar soil. Collection of soil and rock sediments is not planned in this mission.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AT ISRO

LAUNCH OF 104 SATELLITES IN A SINGLE FLIGHT BY PSLV-C37

 PSLV-C37, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites. The total weight of all the 104 satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was 1378 kg. This was the thirty eighth consecutively successful mission of PSLV.

International customer satellites from USA (96) and one each from The Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and UAE were also carried among co- passenger satellites.

TELEMETRY AND TELECOMMAND PROCESSOR (TTCP)

 TTCP is used in Integrated Spacecraft Testing of Low Earth Orbit, Geostationary Orbit and Interplanetary Spacecraft. The Low earth orbit spacecrafts typically use ISRO formats for telemetry and telecommand, for which indigenous equipments are being used. However, the interplanetary spacecraft use an international standard known as CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems).The equipments are being imported for this purpose. As part of ‘Make in India’ campaign, indigenous development of TTCP was taken up by ISRO. This system now is able to meet the requirements of both CCSDS and ISRO standards.

DNA-TAGGING OF CONVICTS

Andhra Pradesh is drafting a legislation that will enable collection and storage of genetic fingerprints in a centralized database to track offenders. DNA fingerprinting is a laboratory technique used to establish a link between biological evidence and a suspect in a criminal investigation. DNA fingerprinting is also used to establish paternity, seed stock identification, the authenticity of consumer products, and medical diagnosis.

Benefits of DNA Fingerprinting

Accuracy- in majority of cases where DNA of more than one person are found, DNA fingerprinting can identify the criminals from other people.

ASTROSAT

ASTROSAT is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. ASTROSAT observes universe in the optical, UV, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, whereas most such satellites are capable of observing only a narrow range of wavelength band. DNA testing as evidence is not provided under Indian Evidence Act 1872 and Criminal Procedure Code 1973. The Union had created similar draft in 2012 which ran into controversy due to concerns around violation of privacy rights.

SUPERBUGS

World Health Organization (WHO) has recently provided a list of twelve “Superbugs” which pose an enormous threat to human health. They are a strain of bacteria that has become resistant to battery of antibiotic drugs after their prolonged exposure to antibiotics. Antibiotics abuse and human consumption of antibiotic-treated chicken and livestock are further increasing resistance. Few prominent superbugs highlighted by WHO are MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Klebsiella, E. coli. Klebsiella Bacteria has recently developed resistance to a powerful class of antibiotics called carbapenems.

VAMPIRE STAR

India’s first dedicated space observatory, ASTROSAT, has captured rare phenomenon of a small, 6-billion- year-old “vampire” star “preying” on a bigger celestial body. The smaller star sucks mass and energy out of the bigger companion star and it becomes bigger, hotter & bluer and hence is called a vampire star.

WHY DOESN’T EARTH’S INNER CORE MELT

Why the crystallized iron core of the Earth remains solid, despite being hotter than the surface of the Sun?

Spinning within Earth’s molten core is a crystal ball, almost pure crystallized iron, nearly the size of the moon. Scientists have been trying to know the atomic structure of these crystals for years. The iron atoms are packed differently at room temperature and at high temperature. However, researchers have found that this packing of iron atoms remains the same at Earth’s core. Due to high pressure, on the edge of the inner core, pieces of crystals’ structure continuously melt and diffuse only to be reinserted in the original configuration like “shuffling deck of cards”. This energy distribution cycle keeps the crystal stable and the core solid.

 

QR code (Quick Response code) is a two-dimensional (matrix) machine-readable bar code made up of black and white square. This code can be read by the camera of a smartphone. It is capable of 360 degrees (omni-directional), high speed reading. QR Code can store up to 7089 digits as compared to conventional bar codes which can store max 20 digits. It carries information both horizontally and vertically. It has error correction capability and data stored in it can be restored even if it is partially damaged or dirty.

BHARAT QR CODE

Bharat QR code has been developed jointly by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Visa, MasterCard and American Express under instructions from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It works as common interface for the MasterCard/Visa/ RuPay platforms and also facilitate acceptance of Aadhaar-enabled payments and Unified Payments Interface (UPI). It eliminates the need of using card swiping machines for digital payments. Interoperability-Using BharatQR code, the merchants will be required to display only one QR code instead of multiple ones. It will also eliminate the uncertainty of entering a wrong amount as all a customer would have to do is scan and authenticate

DRAFT PUBLIC HEALTH BILL 2017

The draft Public Health (Prevention, Control and Management of Epidemics, Bio-Terrorism and Disasters) Bill, 2017 has been released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The proposed bill lists 33 epidemic-prone diseases which include Anthrax, bird flu, dengue, HIV/AIDS, yellow fever, rabies, plague, measles, kala-azar, among others. The draft also lists potential bioterrorism agents including bacteria of typhoid fever, cholera, plague among others, and viruses including ebola, dengue, Japanese Encephalitis and others. The bill also outlines the powers of central, state and local authorities to take appropriate actions to tackle public health emergencies like epidemics and bioterrorism.

MAHILA SHAKTI KENDRA

Budget 2017-18 speech mentioned that Mahila Shakti Kendra will be set-up at village level in 14 lakh ICDS Anganwadi Centres. It will provide one stop convergent support services for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition. It will increase access of essential services for women.

Further undermine ICDS: Government has been slashing funds towards ICDS from last 2 years which has affected the regular functioning of anganwadis. Thus, adding one more scheme will further undermine ICDS

 Overburdened workers: Using anganwadi to implement one more scheme will make anganwadi worker overburdened. That too with their earnings often being even less than minimum wage.

Difficult to provide all support services: Envisaged as centres where women can get support for everything ranging from employment and skill development to health and digital literacy, it is beyond capacity of an anganwadi worker. It could have been done better under mahila samkhya programme (which has been stopped last year).

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority

It is an independent body under Department of Pharmaceuticals under Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to fix/ revise the controlled bulk drugs prices and formulations.

CORONARY STENT PRICE CAPPED

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) capped coronary stents prices up to 40 per cent lower than their existing market rates. It is valid for all stents sold within India – whether domestic or imported. In 2016, Coronary stents were included in the National List of Essential Medicines (2015).

What is a Stent?

It is a tube-shaped device which is inserted into a blocked blood vessel. It helps clear the blockage in arteries, sometimes through physical means (Bare Metal stents) and often through the drugs it gives out at a slow rate (Drug eluting stents). Thinner the stent, more sophisticated and expensive it is supposed to be.

National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM)

As per the WHO, Essential Medicines are those that satisfy the priority health care needs of the population. NLEM 2015 contains 376 medicines. Criteria for inclusion into this list includes public health emergency, cost effective medicine etc. Core Committee formed by the Ministry of Health reviews and revises the medicines in the NLEM.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2012

The criteria to fix the price ceiling of any commodity is calculated as the simple average of all brands of that particular product that have a market share of at least 1 per cent.

REGULATING ONLINE SALE OF MEDICINES

A sub-committee constituted by Drugs Consultative Committee to examine online drugs sale has recently submitted its report.

Drugs Consultative Committee

It is a statutory body under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 constituted by the Central government.

It is advises central, state governments on uniformity of this act throughout India.

It has representatives from central and state governments.

It meets when required by the central government.

It has the power to regulate its own procedure.

Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 lacks any guidelines for e-commerce players in the pharmaceutical industry. However, ‘scheduled’ drugs should be sold only by licensed pharmacies against a doctor’s prescription. Easy access to online medicines may promote antimicrobial resistance.  Online pharmacies cannot be quality assured presently leading to drugs of dubious quality in the market.

Recommendations of the sub-committee

Create a National Portal as a nodal platform to transact and monitor online drug sale.

Evolve a mechanism to register e-pharmacies.

There needs to be geographical restriction in the operation of e-pharmacies.

Retail drug sale licenses can also be registered on National Portal to carry online drug sale.

Offline and Online drugs sale will continue to be regulated with Drugs and Cosmetics rules 1945.

National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization

NOTTO is the nodal agency that frames policy guidelines and protocols involved in organ donation and transplantation. It has been set up under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. After being declared brain dead, a patient’s heart usually stops beating within some time.

New guidelines would solve medico-legal problems.  Lack of understanding of brain death is one factor responsible for low organ donations in India. SOPs would help remove this.

Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) for brain death certification will help remove grey areas and also empower intensive care personnel.

India still does not follow the ‘Presumed Consent Method’ where if not explicitly stated, the organs are harvested without consent of kin. This can be a solution to solving the problem of low organ donation in India.

UGC’S FUNDING POWERS

The Centre has decided to divest the higher education watchdog of its financial powers and delegate them to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry. This is a step towards educational reforms where the University Grants Commission (UGC) will not have any financial powers and will eventually function only as a certification body. For this purpose, the HRD Ministry last week signed a deal with Canara Bank to set up a Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) that would eventually take over UGC’s financial powers. The HEFA will start funding higher educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs, by the start of the next academic session.

KADIYAM SRIHARI COMMITTEE

Recently sub-committee of Central Board of Advisory Education (CABE) under the chairmanship of Kadiyan Srihari has been constituted by Union Human Resource Development Ministry to look into the matter of girls’ education. It is highest advisory body to advise the Central and State Governments in the field of education. It is headed by Union HRD minister and consists of nominated members representing various interests in addition to elected members from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

ASHOK KUMAR ROOPANWAL COMMITTEE REPORT

The one-man commission constituted by the HRD ministry was set up to look into the Rohith Vemula’s death at the Hyderabad Central University and suggest measures to prevent such.

TEJASWINI PROJECT

Recently World Bank has signed an agreement with India to provide $63 million loan for Project Tejaswini to empower adolescent girls and young women in state of Jharkhand.

Young women (between 14-24 years) will be equipped with basic life skills and further provide opportunity to complete their secondary education and acquire market driven skills. This program was approved by World Bank in 2016. This is the first World Bank project in India that is solely focused on the welfare of adolescent girls and young women.

It will work at two levels:

Community level: In this community based platforms like clubs/centers will hold regular counseling sessions, educate in life skills, provide livelihood support services and disperse information about training and courses for adolescent girls and young women.

Institutional level: Partnered institutions will provide vocational training, business skill training and non-formal education will be provided to target groups.

NATIONAL CHILD LABOUR PROJECT (NCLP)

A project of Ministry of Labour, its basic objective is to suitably rehabilitate the children withdrawn from employment thereby reducing the incidence of child labour in areas of known concentration of child labour.

HAMARI DHAROHAR SCHEME

Formulated to organise events that will help spread awareness about minority culture and heritage in India. It is a central sector scheme launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in order to preserve the rich heritage of minority communities under the overall concept of Indian culture. The six minority communities notified under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 are to be covered. They are: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains. Two other schemes formulated for the benefit of minorities are: Padho Pradesh and Nayi Roshni.

BRAILLE ATLAS

Ministry of Science and Technology has recently launched first-of-its-kind Braille Atlas to let visually impaired people especially students study maps.

National Mission on Manuscripts – It was started in 2003. It aims to identify, document, conserve and make manuscript heritage of India accessible.

ODISHA-DOLA JATRA

Dola Yatra or Dola Melana or Dola Festival is a festival of get together of Lord Krishna’s idols.  It is believed that all year devotees visit the deities but in the month of Falguna, the deities visit the devotees. The festival is celebrated from 10th day of bright fortnight up to full moon day of Falguna. Deities from different villages and different Sahi Bhagabat Ghara come to the Melana Padia (field) by Dola, a specially designed temple like structure made of wood. The get together is celebrated in different villages/cities across Odisha. Odissi and gotipua dancers also perform in front of the Bimana/Dola.

YAK DANCE-ARUNACHAL PRADESH

The Yak dance is one of the famous mask dances of the Buddhist tribes (Mahayana sect) of Arunachal Pradesh.  It is performed during the Losar festival. Individuals put on Yak costumes and masks and perform the Yak dance in order to honor the Yak.

The masked dancers represent the members of the family who are said to have discovered the Yak with the help of a magical bird hundreds of years ago. The Yak is believed to be the symbol of wealth and prosperity.

LAI HAROBA-MANIPUR

Lai Haroba meaning “festivities of Gods” is a native festival of the Meities, the largest ethnic group of Manipur. The festival of Lai Haroba celebrates the creation of universe. The festival has twelve events which displays different phases of creation. The festival is characterised by song and dance performance and is celebrated in the month of April and May.

FOLK DANCES OF KARNATAKA

Dollu Kunitha is one of the variations of the Kunitha dance. The other being Suggi. The dance is widely performed during the harvest season. Mainly performed by the shepherd community (known as Kuruba), it involves dancing to the drum beats.

Bayalata Dance

It is a folk dance of Southern Karnataka which marks the end of harvest season. It is a religious dance fused with drama and dialogues.

Yakshagana Dance

Yakshagana is a fusion of dance and drama. Stories depicted from the epics of Ramayana, Mahabharata and Purana are performed on stage. A narrator narrates the story along with musicians playing traditional instruments while actors enact the story.

Nagamandala Dance

It is a night long ritual performed in the regions of Southern Karnataka. It involves ritualistic appeasement of the serpent which is considered to be a symbol of fertility. This dance form is performed by male dancers (called Vaidyas) who dress as female serpents (nagakannikas). The dancers perform around a design painted on a sacred ground which represents the serpent spirit.

CHAMBA RUMAL-HIMACHAL PRADESH

Chamba Rumal is a form of embroidery done on cotton or muslin cloth with help of silk threads. It originated from Chamba village near Ravi river in Himachal Pradesh.

KARAKATTAM-TAMIL NADU

Also known as Karagam, this popular folk dance originated from Thanjavur and spread to the neighbouring areas. It is a ritualistic dance involving acrobatics feats performed during the month of August. It is dedicated to the goddess of health and rain Mariamman. It is performed by an individual or two persons.

HOJAGIRI-TRIPURA

It is a folk dance performed by the Reang clan of the Tripuri people. It is performed during Hojagiri Festival (laxmi puja). Laxmi Puja is held on the following full moon night of Durga Puja. The dance is performed only by women while the male members sing and play musical instruments. The dancers use props like BALING, a wide circular rice cleaning article made of cane, a pitcher or kalash, a bottle, a household traditional lamp, a plain dish and a handkerchief.

GURU GOBIND SINGH

He was the 10th Sikh guru born in Bihar. He forwarded the teachings of preceding Sikh Gurus by promoting social institutions like langar (community kitchen), sangat and kirtan (mass prayer) that acted as unifying agencies. He was a poet and philosopher credited with writing ‘Dasm granth’ which had a collection of hymns, philosophical writings, autobiography etc. He is also credited with compiling the Guru Granth Sahib/Adi Granth that became the last and the eternal guru of Sikhism. He mastered languages like Sanskrit, Persian, Braj etc. He was the founder of a warrior community called Khalsa (saint soldiers) to fight injustice. Eg. Fight social exclusion, Fight religious oppression from tyrants like Aurangzeb. He appraised Mughals of the misdeeds towards Sikhs in his letter to Aurangzeb called Zafarnama. He also fought him in Battle of Muktsar in 1705.

About Khalsa: The Khalsa were obligated to wear the Five K’s –

Kesha (longhair) – Not cut hair to show acceptance to the form that God intended humans to be

Kangha (comb) – A symbol of cleanliness

Kara (steel bracelet) – To remind Khalsa of self-restraint

Kaccha (Knee shorts) – For being always ready to go into battle.

Kirpan (sword) – To defend oneself and the weaker section.

RIN MUTINY

It started on February 18th, 1946 and is often called the ‘forgotten mutiny’. The mutiny started in response to racial discrimination, but factors leading to this mutiny were at play for quite some time. They declared the RIN renamed as the ‘Indian National Navy’. They also decided that their struggle would be a non-violent one and henceforth they would take orders ‘only from the national leaders’. The mutiny soon spread to Kochi, Vizag, Chennai, Karachi and Kolkata. The Gurkhas in Karachi refused to fire on the mutineers. Local people extended support to the ratings by offering free food and organizing protests in support of mutiny. Though it started as a food riot but very soon a formal list of demands were presented which consisted:

• Release of all Indian political prisoners including INA POWs and naval detainees.
• Withdrawal of Indian troops from Indonesia and Egypt
• Equal status of pay and allowances
• It also formally asked the British to quit India.
• The ratings agreed to surrender after interference of Sardar Patel and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

DARA SHIKOH

Dalhousie Road in Delhi was renamed to Dara Shikoh Road. He was the eldest son of Shah Jahan who favoured him as successor. He lost war of succession to Aurangzeb. He developed an early interest in the esoteric aspects of Islam and mysticism and in Hindu philosophy. He was a philosopher, tolerant and pluralist, who tried to find common threads in Islam and Hinduism. His Majma’ al-Bahrain (Mingling of the Two Oceans), is one of the earliest works to explore both the diversity of religions and a unity of Islam and Hinduism and other religions.

With the help of pandits, he also translated 52 volumes of the Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian into a tome called Sirr-e-Akbar (The Greatest Secret).

He had served as governor of Lahore, Allahabad, Malwa, Gujrat, Multan, Kabul and Bihar.

BET DWARKA DARSHAN CIRCUIT

Ministry of Urban Development has approved the development of 6 km long Bet Dwarka Darshan Circuit in Gujarat under the central scheme HRIDAY. The Circuit would connect famous Dwarkadish Haveli and Hanuman Dandi. There are two important water bodies along the stretch: Ranchod Talav and Shankhudhar Lake. Developmental works to be taken up under the project include: development of streets, plantation, provision of benches, resting spaces and so on.

National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)

It is a central scheme launched by the Ministry of Urban Development in 2015 with the focus on holistic development of heritage cities. The scheme has been implemented in 12 identified cities viz. Ajmer, Amravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warrangal.

PREHISTORIC ROCK ART SITE DISCOVERED

Archaeologists have spotted a prehistoric rock art site at the foothills of Ambukuthi hills in a village located in Sulthan Bathery taluk of Kerala’s Wayanad district. The site is characterised by petrpgylphs and petrographs similar to those found in Edakkal caves and Thovari hillocks. Petroglyphs and petrographs are usually found in rock shelters but in Ambukuthi, they are found on six small granite blocks independently located on a lakeside. Their style, motif and workmanship are strikingly similar to Thovari. They do not have humans or animals in motion which are present at Edakkal Caves.

Petroglyph: These are images created by carving out a portion of the rock.

Petrograph: These are paintings or drawings done on a rock face.

Edakkal Caves

The Edakkal Caves were are present in Sulthan Bathery takul of Wayanad district in Kerala. These caves are formed naturally out of a strange disposition of three huge boulders. Edakkal Caves are known for Neolithic petroglyphs.

MADHWA NAVAMI FESTIVAL

Recently Madhwa Navami festival was celebrated in Udupi district of Karnataka. This annual festival is celebrated to commemorate the journey of great Indian philosopher Sri Madhwacharya to badrinath where he went to meet his Guru Veda Vyasa but never returned.

Sri Madhwacharya

He was an Indian philosopher and chief exponent of Dvaita (Dualism) philosophy.vHe was born in 1238 AD in Udupi district of Karnataka and also known as Anandatirtha or Purnaprajna. His followers known as Madhvas consider him as incarnation of wind God VAYU.  He differed significantly from traditional Hindu belief of Universal Salvation which states that all souls will eventually obtain Moksha, even though it may be after millions of rebirths.

He divided the souls into 3 categories of Mukti Yogyas (souls qualify for liberation), Nitya Samsarins (souls subjected to eternal rebirth) and Tamo Yogyas (souls that will eventually condemned to hell). He also outlawed Devadasi system in all place of worship under his follower’s control.

Dvaita Philosophy (Dualism)

It is an outshoot of the Vedanta Philosophy of ancient India. It proclaims that God and Souls are different entities and that souls are not created by God but depend on Him for their existence. This is opposite to Advaita Philosophy of Shankaracharya which believes in Monism (Non-dualism).

NILAMBUR TEAK: GI TAG

Kerala’s Nilambur Teak is soon to get a Geographical Indication (GI) Tag. Nilambur is located in Malappuram district of Kerala and has oldest teak plantation in the world. It also hosts world’s first Teak Museum.

Other Kerala products with GI Tag includes Pokkali rice, Vazhakulam Pineapple, Wayanadan rice varities Jeerakasala and Gandhakasala, Tirur Betel vine, Central Travancore Jaggery, Chengalikodan Nendran banana etc.

About Geographical Indication (GI) Tag

It is a sign that identifies a product as originating from a particular location which gives that product a special quality or reputation or other characteristic. In India Geographical Indication registration is governed by Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 which came in to force in 2003.  Once Geographical Indication tag is granted it is valid for next 10 years.

INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) sponsored Pakistan’s Karachi Literature Festival, 2017 despite recent turbulence in Indo-Pak Ties. About Indian Council for Cultural Relations It is an autonomous organization founded in 1950 by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, first education minister of Independent India. Its mains objectives are:

• To foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries.
• To promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people.
• To establish and develop relations with national and international organizations in the field of culture.

SUPREME COURT GETS FIVE JUDGES

Five more judges were sworn in to the Supreme Court taking the total strength to 28.  The SC judges and the Chief Justice of India are appointed by the President under clause (2) of Article 124 of the constitution.

At present, the maximum strength of the Supreme Court can be 31 (one Chief justice and thirty other judges). The number of SC judges was increased from 26 to 31 in 2009 following the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Act, 2008.

INTER-DEPARTMENTAL TASK FORCE FOR BENAMI FIRMS

A task force comprising members of various regulatory Ministries and enforcement agencies has been set up for a major crackdown on shell companies. There are about 15 lakh registered companies in India and only 6 lakh of them file their annual returns, raising suspicion that a large number of these companies are indulging in financial irregularities. The task force has been constituted under the co-chairmanship of the Revenue Secretary and the Corporate Affairs Secretary to monitor the actions taken by various agencies.

The responsibility to promote digital transactions in India has been shifted from NITI Aayog to the Ministry of IT and Electronics (MEITY).

EAST COAST ECONOMIC CORRIDOR

India and ADB signed USD 375 million pact for loans and grants to develop 800-km Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, which is the first phase of a planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor. About East Coast Economic Corridor. It is India’s first coastal economic corridor stretching from Kolkata in West Bengal to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

SUPREME COURT MAKES LEGAL SERVICES AFFORDABLE

The Supreme Court introduced ‘Middle Income Group Scheme’ to provide affordable legal services where fees would be charged as per the schedule attached to the scheme.  The scheme will be administered through a society named ‘Supreme Court Middle Income Group (MIG) Legal Aid Society’ registered for this purpose. The Patron-in-Chief of the society is Chief Justice of India and the Attorney General is its ex-officio Vice President. Its beneficiaries will be litigants in the SC whose gross income is less than Rs. 60,000 per month or Rs. 7.5 lakh per annum.

Right to free legal aid or free legal service is an essential fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution and forms the basis of reasonable, fair and just liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Article 39-A says that the State shall “ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities.”

CITY WEALTH INDEX

As per City Wealth Index, 2017 released by international property consultant Knight and Frank, Mumbai ranks 21st ahead of Toronto, Washington DC and Moscow. This shows that contrary to popular belief, Mumbai is still ahead of Delhi in all financial aspects including becoming the corporate hub in post-liberalised India.

MOBILE WORKERS MORE PRODUCTIVE: ILO REPORT

E-LAABH

To pay subsidies in cash like in LPG to the targeted beneficiaries, the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development and Fisheries Dept. launched e- laabh software.

SPECIAL ARM UNDER COMMERCE MINISTRY

“Special arm under commerce ministry” is suggested for future trade policy by a Govt. commissioned report submitted by a global consultancy firm for future trade policy. Currently, it is pioneered by PMO and Ministry of External Affairs.

Sunandini Scheme

This is a two year program under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana in which dairy farmer is entitled for subsidized feed, healthcare and insurance coverage for two female calves.

India’s future trade (policy) model should have the Commerce Department at the helm, supported by External Affairs and Finance ministry. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) should be created at apex for all trade promotion activities for the country. Makes a strong case for a higher profile for the Indian Trade Service (ITS) in matters of trade policies & systems. At present, the officials belonging to the IAS, IRS and IFS have a relatively superior role over ITS cadre regarding decisions on crucial trade policy matters. It will improve India’s ease of doing business (currently ranked 130/190 )

DEFENCE INNOVATION FUND

The Defence Minister announced a Defence Innovation Fund to be set up soon to promote start-ups in the defence sector.  Bharat Electronics Ltd and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd will contribute initially to set up the 100 crore Fund. The Fund will support innovation and technology development in identified areas and will be open to both Indian and foreign firms.

NATIONAL WOMEN’S PARLIAMENT

A three-day National Women’s Parliament (NWP), was organized by Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and a government school in Amravati recently.

RASHTRIYA KISHORE SWASTHYA KARYAKRAM

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently launched “Saathiya Resource Kit” and “Saathiya Salah” mobile app for adolescents as part of Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK). Peer Educators (1.6 lakhs) will be recognized as “Saathiya” (a good friend of adolescents) and will be trained in phase manner.

Any adolescent who is unable to interact with Peer Educators out of any reasons like shyness, family members can access useful information through Saathiya- Salah mobile app or toll free Saathiya helpline.

About Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (National Adolescent Health Programme)

It was launched in 2014 by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to comprehensively address the health needs of adolescents under the National Rural Health mission

RASHTRIYA YUVA SASHAKTIKARAN KARYAKARAM

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has integrated 8 of its schemes under one umbrella scheme known as Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakaram (RYSK).

• The schemes that have been integrated under RYSK are as follows:
• Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS)
• National Youth Corps (NYC)
• National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Development (NPYAD)
• Youth Hostels (YH)
• Assistance to Scoring and Guiding Organisations
• National Discipline Scheme (NDS)
• National Young Leaders Programme

The scheme will benefit youth in the age group of 15-29 years as per the definition of “youth” in National Youth Policy, 2014. Two schemes under the ministry have been kept out of this umbrella scheme. They are National Service Scheme (NSS) and Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD).

The integration of the schemes will help achieve better implementation and improve the effectiveness of the various schemes by utilizing the existing field-administrative setup.

KHELO INDIA SCHEME

Khelo India National Level Competitions under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports took place in January. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is set to start off rural games as “Grameen Khel Mahakumbh” under Khelo India Scheme.

Khelo India Scheme

It is a national programme which aims to develop grassroots level talent by providing them with a national level platform. Khelo India Scheme is based on Gujarat’s model of “Khel Mahakumbh” in which schools and colleges from across the country participate in 27 different disciplines. The GOI of India merged the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan with Khelo India in 2016.

IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES

According to a report prepared by the National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC) of the National Security Guard, the year 2016 witnessed a 26% increase in IED blast incidents as compared to 2015.

It can be called a homemade bomb with Five Basic Parts:

ISRO AIDED BY INDIA’S ENTRY INTO MTCR

MTCR has facilitated access to high-end testing technology for its solid rocket booster propulsion system, which fires up the first stage of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Earlier, testing this system was a slow process due limited technology access. Many key components to upgrade the technology were in controlled items lists under MTCR due to their dual military use. Access to MTCR’s controlled items has led to major efforts in making India a bigger player in the $300-billion satellite launch market.

TRAPPIST-1

Recently NASA has discovered a new Exoplanet system having seven earth sized planets orbiting a cool dwarf-star known as TRAPPIST-1, which is 39 light years from Earth.

TRAPPIST-1 (The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope) is named after a robotic telescope in the Atacama Desert of Chile used to study the star.

It is a small star with 8 per cent the mass of the sun and only slightly bigger than the planet Jupiter, lying in the constellation Aquarius. It is an “ultracool dwarf planet” with surface temperature much less than sun.  Six of the planets of the system lie in the habitable or goldilocks zone with ambient surface temperature to support life. Out of these six planets at least three planets classified as TRAPPIST-1 e, 1 f and 1 g have an ocean. All seven planets’ planetary orbits are closer to their host star, than Mercury is to our sun. This is the first time so many habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system.

THOR EXPERIMENT

The THOR experiment aims to investigate electrical activity from thunderstorms. The interaction between charged particles, at the height of 10 to 100 Kms in the atmosphere, produces a variety of dazzling electric phenomena from blue jets to red sprites. The Thor experiment will look at them with a thundercloud imaging system from the vantage point of the International Space Station. It will help to understand how these discharges influence water vapour levels, cloud formation, and eventually changes in climate. The experiment is called ‘Thor’ after the god of thunder, lightning and storms in Nordic mythology.

URANIUM RESERVES FOUND IN MEGHALAYA

Uranium mineralization in Meghalaya has been found over a large area around Domiasiat, Wahkyn, Lostoin etc. Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) under Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has already made a plan to develop the mineral resources at Domiasiat. The project has the potential to generate substantial nuclear fuel for the atomic power plants of the country.

PREDATOR FOUND FOR DENGUE CAUSING MOSQUITO

Researchers at the Calcutta University recently found that the Lutzia fuscana larvae demonstrated a preference for feeding on Aedes aegypti larvae (the dengue-causing mosquito). “Lutzia fuscana” mosquito is a natural predator of Aedes aegypti. Thus, Lutzia larvae, being a potential biological control method, can be the better solution than using dangerous chemicals to kill Dengue mosquito. Since 1928 India has been using Gambusia afinis or mosquito fish as a biological control agent against mosquito larvae. It is an exotic species and has been distributed throughout the warmer and some temperate parts of the world.

ARCTIC VAULT RECEIVES NEW SEED DEPOSITS

Some 50,000 new samples from seed collections around the world, including India, have been deposited in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

It is owned and administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food on behalf of the Kingdom of Norway.

It is a gene bank built underground on the isolated island in a permafrost zone some 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole. It was opened in 2008 as a master backup to the world’s other seed banks, in case their deposits are lost. It is the world’s largest repository built to safeguard against wars or natural disasters wiping out global food crops.

VX NERVE AGENT

It acts on the nervous system (hence the name nerve agents), typically the nerves that control breathing. It inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which breaks down the neurotransmitter acetylcholine secreted by the cholinergic nerves. This results in more acetylcholine, which overstimulates the tissues, resulting in respiratory paralysis and death. The VX nerve agent is banned under international law because it’s a chemical weapon as defined in the Chemical Weapons Conventions.

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control treaty which outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors. It is administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, Netherlands. The treaty entered into force in 1997. India ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1996.