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CIVIL

SERVICES

MONTHLY

JANUARY 2019BREXIT-EXPLAINED

ASSAM ACCORD

TOKENIZATION

CLIMATE CHANGE PERFORMANCE INDEX

FAST RADIO BURSTS

ASER

HERITAGE CONSERVATION OF RAILWAYS

CRUDE OIL, CAD AND INFLATION

UNIFICATION OF TAIWAN

GIST OF YOJANA FEBRUARY ISSUE

GIST OF KURUKSHETRA FEBRUARY

GIST OF EPW

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

ON

E ST

OP

SOLU

TIO

N F

OR

CIV

IL S

ERV

ICES

CONTENTS

TA

BL

E O

F

Ea h topi has een o e ed in depth so as to make ou eel on ident to lea the p elims,

mains and inte ie o the i il se i es e am. The o e a e is lu id ith eas -to-unde stand

uestions & ans e s that help the eade emem e the topi lon e

and ena les the mind to o m linka es, an impo tant att i ute in Main ans e itin .

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT POLITY & GOVERNANCE ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY & BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ART & CULTURE SOCIAL ISSUES GOVERNMENT SCHEMES MAPPING YOJANA - KURUKSHETRA - EPW GIST TEST YOU KNOWLEDGE

HOW TO USE THIS COMPILATION

This is an attempt to demystify the preparation of UPSC Civil

Services Examination. With numerous courses and study materials

available already, there seems to be missing a genuine, to-the-point

and strictly exam oriented source that covers current affairs in a

holistic manner.

With this magazine, the aim is to take the most important topics

thematically, that appeared in newspapers, PIB, AIR, Yojana,

Kurukshetra and provide a crisp, simple and point wise explanation

so as to make it easy to remember.

Further, each topic has been covered in-depth. This means all

relevant information pertaining to the topic is provided then and

there to ensure linkages that immensely help in Main answer

writing.

At the end of the magazine comes the Test Yourself section

wherein MCQs are provided from the news covered in the

compilation. The questions are strictly based on the UPSC Civil

Services Prelims Examination.

What you hold in your hand is a one stop solution to your current

affairs needs.

CIVIL SERVICES MONTHLY

INTERNATIONAL Brexit: Britain leaving the EU 1 Operationalization of the Chabahar Agreement 4 First India-Central Asia Dialogue 6 State Visit of Prime Minister of Norway to India 7 Unification of Taiwan and its Ramification 9 E-VBAB & Pan-African e-Network Project 12

POLITY & GOVERNANCE Section 126 of the RP Act, 1951 13 Clause 6 of Assam Accord 16 Amendments to POSCO Act 18 Chief Information Commissioner 20 Corruption Perception Index-2018 22 NITI Aayog 2.0 23 Democracy Index 2018 26 Tenth Schedule of the Constitution 28 'e-Sahaj' Portal 31

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Angel Tax 32 Panda Bonds 34 Street Light National Programme (SLNP) 35 Tokenization 36 The Impact of Crude Price Shock on CAD, Inflation and Fiscal Deficit 37 Ama Ghare LED Scheme 39 Establishing Gas Trading Hub/Exchanging (GTHE)in the country 40 Henley Passport Index 42 National Entrepreneurship Awards 2018 43 One Family, One Job 44 Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation Scheme 45 Womaniya on GeM 46

ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY & BIODIVERSITY Tsunami of E-waste 48 Gadgil Report and Kasturirangan Report on Western Ghats 50 Climate Change Performance Index 54

INDEX


AGRI-VISION 2019 55 South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH) 57 National Clean Air Programme 59 PARIVESH 61 Cyclone 10 63 ECO NIWAS SAMHITA 64 Small Woodbrown Butterfly 66 SCATFORM Project 66 Alliance to End Plastic Waste 67 Important Projects in Use 68 In-Shorts 69

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Polar Vortex 72 Swine Flu in India 74 Leprosy in Numbers 74 Germ-line Edited 75 Saturn's Rings 77 Fast Radio Bursts 78

SOCIAL ISSUES National Girl Child Day 80 The Global Risks Report 81 DAY-NRLM 84 Annual Status of Educational Report 85 Jan Shikshan Sansthans 88 Rat-Hole Mining in Meghalaya 90 Web- Wonder Women Campaign 91

ART AND CULTURE Heritage Conservation in Indian RAilways 93 Monuments of National Importance 93 Sabarimal opens for Makaravilakku festival season 94 Sanskrita Kumbh 95 Supreme Court gives nod to Chardham Project 96 Hunar Haat Exhibition 97 Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan 98 Bharat Parv Begins at Red Fort 98 National Salt Satyagraha 99


GIST OF YOJANA Power For All- A dream coming truw 101 Creating Adequate Infrastructure in Health Care 102 Nationak Waterways- Integrated transport network 105 Improving Governance in Public System 103

GIST OF KURUKSHETRA Micro-irrigation for agricultural growth 106 Streamlining storage and marketing 107 Institutional credit for agriculture 108 New initiatives in research and extension 109 Boosting agriculture through agri-business 110

GIST OF EPW Climate Change and Rural Poverty Levels in India 111 The Pyramid of Reporting Domestic Violence in India 112 Population Challenges in India 114 Mining into a Death Trap 116

MAPPING Countries Surrounding Syria 120

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE 121 ANSWERS 127


1

Brexit: Britain leaving the EU

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s negotiated exit treaty with the EU has been defeated in the House of Commons of British Parliament. In this context, let us understand what the issues surrounding the Brexit. What is Brexit?

• Brexit is short for "British exit" and is the word people use to talk about the United Kingdom's

decision to leave the EU (European Union). The EU is a political and economic union of 28

countries which trade with each other and allow citizens to move easily between the countries to live

and work

• A public vote, called a referendum, was held on Thursday 23 June 2016 when voters were asked

whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union.

• The Leave side won by nearly 52% to 48%but the exit didn't happen straight away. It's due to take

place on 29 March 2019. England and Wales voted for Brexit. However, Scotland and Northern

Ireland both backed staying in the EU. While the majority of older voters backed Brexit, the young

voted overwhelmingly to stay.

• Since the referendum, negotiations have been taking place between the UK and the other EU

countries. The discussions have been mainly over the "divorce" deal, which sets out exactly how the

UK leaves - not what will happen afterwards. This deal is known as the withdrawal agreement.

• The withdrawal agreement covers some of these key points:

o How much money the UK will have to pay the EU in order to break the partnership?

o What will happen to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU, and equally, what will happen to

EU citizens living in the UK?

o How to avoid the return of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of

Ireland when it becomes the frontier between the UK and the EU?

• Another, much shorter political declaration has also been drawn up that gives an overview of what

the UK and EU's future relationship will be in the longer term in a range of areas, including trade,

defence and security.

• A length of time, called the transition period, has been agreed to allow the UK and EU to agree a

trade deal and to give businesses the time to adjust. This means that if the withdrawal agreement gets

the approved, there will be no huge changes between 29 March 2019 and 31 December 2020.

• A deal was agreed by the UK and the EU in November 2018, but it also has to be agreed by British

MPs.

What happened to the Brexit deal?

• British Prime Minister Theresa May failed to secure parliamentary approval for her Brexit deal agreed

by the EU. The deal as discussed above had 2 parts, the withdrawal agreement which is legally

binding and the political declaration for future relations which is not legally binding.

• May is still trying to pass her deal, and would put it before parliament again with a few changes.

However, it is less likely that any version of her agreement would be able to pass.

• In theory, then, Britain would end up leaving on March 29 under the "no deal" scenario that

businesses are worried so much about.

INTERNATIONAL


2

What is the backstop?

• The backstop is a safety net or a last resort designed to avoid a hard border between the Irish

Republic and Northern Ireland whatever the outcome of future

trade talks between the UK and the EU.

• The 310-mile border between Ireland (EU) and Northern Ireland

(UK) will become the only land border between the UK and the

European Union after Brexit.

• The backstop would keep Northern Ireland aligned to some EU

rules on things like food products and goods standards.

• It would prevent the need for checks on goods at the Irish border,

but would require some products being brought to Northern

Ireland from the rest of the UK to be subject to new checks and controls.

• It would also involve a temporary single customs territory, effectively keeping the whole of the UK

in the EU customs union.

• If future trade talks broke down without a deal, the backstop would apply indefinitely. The

arrangement would end only with the agreement of both the UK and the EU.

Why is there opposition on the backstop?

• Eurosceptic conservative MPs argue the backstop, which would only come into place should the

UK and the EU fail to reach a comprehensive trade agreement, would dilute Brexit.

• They fear this would leave the UK unable to strike trade agreements with other countries. They also

think that It would tie the UK in a customs union with the EU indefinitely, while leaving Ireland

under the EU's single market rules for goods.

• Presently the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is open. People (and

trade) move between the two nations with ease. There are fears that could change in a Brexit divorce.

• The Republic of Ireland is in the EU. But Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, won't be in

the EU trading bloc after the split. Normally that would require a so-called "hard border," with

checkpoints, border crossings and other infrastructure. Those could seriously slow trade and other

economic activity.

• The installation of infrastructure at that border is seen as a breach of the Good Friday peace

agreement.

What is the Good Friday Peace Agreement?

• The Good Friday Agreement is also known as the Belfast Agreement, because it was reached on

Good Friday, 10 April 1998.

• It was an agreement, between the British and Irish governments and most of the political parties in

Northern Ireland, about how Northern Ireland should be governed.

• The agreement aimed to set up a nationalist (Republican and Catholics) and unionist (British Loyalist

and Protestants) power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.

• The talks leading up to the Agreement dealt with issues that had caused conflict during the previous

30 years. On the constitutional question of whether Northern Ireland should remain in the UK or

become part of a united Ireland, it was agreed that there would be no change without the consent of

the majority. This is called the 'principle of consent'.


3

What are alternative options on the backstop?

• There have been proposals of using technology as an alternative to border infrastructure through

what is known as the "maximum facilitation" option.

• While technology does exist that would facilitate border checks, it wouldn't eliminate them

altogether.

• Another option for the UK would be to focus on the future relationship with the EU rather than on

the legal text of the withdrawal agreement.

Why is Britain leaving the European Union?

• A referendum was held on 23th Jun 16, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the

European Union. Leave won by 51.9% to 48.1%.

• Supporters of Brexit consider EU to be a dysfunctional economic entity. They think that the EU

failed to address the economic problems that had been developing since 2008.

• The immigration crisis in Europe was a trigger. Brexiters feel that the EU doesn’t understand the

power of nationalism. It attempts to retain nationality as a cultural right. On the other hand, it

deprives individual nations of the power to make many decisions. This may have worked before

2008, but it has become increasingly difficult to accept.

• The other reason for Brexit is the rise of nationalism across the world. There’s a growing distrust of

multinational financial, trade, and defense organizations created after World War II. The EU,

the IMF , and NATO are good examples of this.

• Many who oppose the EU believe these institutions no longer serve a purpose. Not only has that,

these organizations taken control away from individual nations. Mistrust and fear of losing control

made Brexit a reasonable solution to them.

When is the UK due to leave the EU?

• For the UK to leave the EU, it has to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which gives the two

sides two years to agree the terms of the split.

• PM Theresa May triggered this process on 29 March, 2017, meaning the UK is scheduled to leave

UK on 29th Mar 19, 11 PM UK time.

• European Court of Justice has ruled that the UK can decide to halt the process and stay in the EU

at any time up to the deadline.

• Also, the process can be extended if all 28 EU members agree.

Can Brexit be cancelled?

• A change in the law in the UK can stop Brexit. However, neither the government nor the UK

opposition parties want to do it at this point.

• The European Court of Justice ruled that the UK could cancel the Article 50 Brexit process without

the permission of the other 27 EU members, and remain a member of the EU on its existing terms,

provided the decision followed a "democratic process", in other words, if Parliament voted for it.

Can there be another referendum for Brexit?

• It would have to be put into law by the government. However, government could be forced into

holding another referendum if enough MPs voted for it.


4

What would happen if the UK left without a deal?

• The EU would sever all ties with the UK with immediate effect, with no transition period and no

guarantees on citizens' rights of residence.

• The government fears this would cause significant disruption to businesses in the short-term.

• Government ministers and multinational companies with factories in the UK have also warned about

the long-term impact on the British economy.

How Brexit will impact the EU?

• With Brexit, the EU will lose a member with centuries-old diplomatic networks, an economic

powerhouse, and a nuclear power with a first-class military.

• The UK is an integral part of Europe as the

European Union’s second-largest

economy, its GDP equals that of the 19

smallest EU member states combined.

• A British withdrawal would endanger the

EU’s fundamental position of openness to

the world, particularly with respect to

trade, from which everyone has profited.

• It would also introduce a new security risk,

as Europe would lose the unconditional

protection of one of its two nuclear

powers just when US President Donald

Trump is undermining the cohesion of NATO.

What Brexit Means for India

• India and UK have been so far unable to reach a free trade agreement and Brexit will likely compel

UK to seek a more robust trade relationship with India.

• Now unencumbered by the rest of the EU, the UK will aim to boost trade ties with India and other

similarly situated countries.

What is the Way Ahead?

• The EU’s first option is to remain firm on substance and accept an extension of the March 29

deadline if the UK holds another referendum.

• This would strengthen the position of those in Britain who are calling for “people’s vote” on the

country’s options. “Remain” would gain traction, and a no-deal scenario would become less likely.

• The EU’s second third option is to express openness to a marginally amended deal. It could either

offer a concession that would help PM Theresa May save face on the Irish question, or reach out to

those who favor a soft Brexit by accepting a short extension of the March deadline in order to hold

a substantive discussion on a future partnership agreement.

• Either of these options would foreclose a second referendum, and a revised deal would gain the edge

over a “hard” Brexit.

Operationalization of the Chabahar Agreement


5

The first meeting for implementation of the trilateral Chabahar Agreement among India, Afghanistan and Iran held in Iran. What Happened in the meeting?

• India Ports Global Limited Company opened its office and took over operations at the Shaheed

Behesti port at Chabahar.

• All participants agreed on the routes for the trade and transit corridors among the three countries.

• It was agreed to finalise the protocol to harmonize

transit, roads, customs, and consular matters at the

earliest. It was agreed to allow cargo movement at

Chabahar using TIR Convention (Customs

conventions) provisions.

• A study would be initiated for determining measures to

make the route attractive, decrease logistic costs and

pave the way for smooth operationalization of the

Chabahar Agreement.

What is the background of Chabahar Agreement?

• It is trilateral transit agreement signed by India, Iran and

Afghanistan which will allow Indian goods to reach

Afghanistan through Iran. It links ports in the western

coast of India to the Chabahar port and covers the road

and rail links between Chabahar and the Afghan

border.

• The agreement will also offer India trade access to central Asia, apart from Iran and Afghanistan.

• Under the deal with Iran, India will invest $200 million to develop two terminals and five berths at

Chabahar. An additional $300 million would be available for the port and development of related

infrastructure.

Where is the Chabahar?

• Iran's Chabahar port is located on the Gulf of Oman and is the only oceanic port of the country.

The port gives access to the energy-rich Persian Gulf nations' southern coast and India can bypass

Pakistan with the Chabahar port becoming functional.

• The port is easily accessible from India’s western coast and is increasingly seen as a counter to

Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, which is being developed with Chinese investment and is located at distance

of around 80 km from Chabahar.

What is the Economic Significance of the Chabahar for India?

• With Chabahar port becoming functional, there will be a significant boost in the export of iron ore,

sugar, rice and other good from India. The export cost of oil to India will also see a considerable

decline.

• Chabahar port will ensure in the establishment of a politically sustainable connectivity between India

and Afghanistan. This is will, in turn, lead to better economic ties between the two countries.

Engagement over Chabahar could also bring India and Iran closer just as Iran and the United

States are on a new collision course in Afghanistan.


6

• This will also give momentum to the International North-South Transport Corridor of which both

India and Iran are initial signatories along with Russia. Iran is the key gateway in this project. It entails

the ship, rail, and road routes for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central

Asia. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The

objective of the corridor is to increase trade connectivity between major cities such as Mumbai,

Moscow, Tehran, Baku, Astrakhan etc.

• In 2009, India handed over a $135-million Zaranj-Delaram highway to Afghanistan that ran to the

Iran border, while Iran constructed the road connecting Chabahar to Zahedan on its side. The

Zaranj-Delaram road can give access to Afghanistan's Garland Highway, setting up road access to

four major cities in Afghanistan - Herat, Kandahar, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif.

• China currently exports nearly twice as much to tiny Tajikistan as India does to the entire region.

This imbalance suggests an obvious rationale for increasing India’s connectivity to Central Asia.

Hence, operationalization of Chahbar port will ensure improved connectivity with Central Asia and

India’s exports could see more explosive growth.

• From a diplomatic perspective, Chabahar port could be used as a point from where humanitarian

operations could be coordinated.

What is the Geo-Strategic Significance of the Chabahar for India?

• At present, Pakistan does not allow India to transport through its territory to Afghanistan. Hence,

this port will make way for India to bypass Pakistan in transporting goods to Afghanistan using a

sea-land route. Hence, this port will open up an alternative land-sea route for trade with Afghanistan.

• With Chabahar port being developed and operated by India, it could be used in case China decides

to flex its navy muscles by stationing ships in Gwadar port to reckon its upper hand in the Indian

Ocean, Persian Gulf and Middle East.

First India-Central Asia Dialogue Visit of External Affairs Minister to Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the First India-Central Asia Dialogue. What Happened in the Dialogue?

• The dialogue deliberated on a plethora of regional issues including ways to improve connectivity and

stabilize war-ravaged Afghanistan to further facilitate trade and economic activity in the region.

• India reiterated its official stand on the Afghan peace process: "India supports all efforts for peace

and reconciliation in Afghanistan which are inclusive and Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-

controlled."

• India proposed a dialogue on air corridors with the countries of landlocked Central Asia with the

participation of civil aviation authorities, air freight and aviation companies of India and Central Asia

so that goods, including perishable items, can be transported efficiently and swiftly.

• India also stressed on the need for connectivity initiatives to follow the principles of financial

responsibility. India, however, underlined the need for connectivity initiatives to be based on

universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency

and equality

• India also invited the Central Asia Republics to participate in the Chabahar Port project.

• All Sides condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and agreed to cooperate in

countering terrorism which posed a threat to the people and economies of the world.


7

What are the outcomes of the Dialogue?

• The Dialogue, with the participation of Afghanistan, is expected to strengthen India’s engagement,

including political, economic, development partnership and cultural, with all the Central Asian

countries and take it to a new level.

• India proposed the setting up of the ‘India-Central Asia Development Group’ to take forward

development partnership between India and Central Asian countries. The group is expected to come

up with concrete proposals.

How is trade and connectivity between India and Central Asia?

• India has been trying to forge closer links with the Central

Asian Republics since their emergence as independent

countries in the 1990s but the efforts have not yielded

desired results.

• India’s bilateral trade with all the five Central Asian

countries is less than US $ 2 billion primarily due to lack of

overland access to this landlocked region.

• India has supported ‘multiple connectivity options’ in the region— Chabahar port and by joining

the Ashgabat Agreement which aims at establishment of an International Transport and Transit

Corridor between Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and welcoming Kazakhstan’s

development of the dry port of Khorgos and linking it with the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas by rail

and trying to find alternative routes like through the Chabahar Port to improve commerce.

• PM Modi had visited all the five Central Asian countries in 2015 and India has been focusing on

increasing ties with the region.

What is India’s developmental assistance towards Afghanistan? (Important in light of the recent comments

of US president Donal Trump on India’s efforts in Afghanistan)

• India has been a major development partner of Afghanistan and has extended assistance worth over

US $ 3 billion to the country. India has built the Afghan Parliament and the India Afghanistan

friendship dam in Herat.

• Over 3500 Afghan nationals are trained and receive education in India every year. Under the ‘New

Development Partnership’ launched in Sep 17, new projects are being taken up which include

the Shahtoot Dam which is a drinking water project for Kabul city, low-cost housing in Nangarhar

province, 116 High Impact Community Development Projects.

• India is also looking to develop the Chabahar-Zahedan railway link which would bring it close to the

Zaranj-Delaram road link which India has already built in Afghanistan. India has already opened air

corridors for the transport of goods and perishable items between India and several Afghan cities

mainly to bypass Pakistan’s veto over India-Afghanistan trade passing overland through its territory.

State visit of Prime Minister of Norway to India Ms Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway visited India from 7 to 9 Jan 19. In this background, let us look into India-Norway relations. What is the recent news in India-Norway relations?


8

• Ms Erna Solberg is the first Norwegian PM to undertake a bilateral visit to India in 10 years. She

also delivered the Inaugural Address at the Raisina Dialogue and inaugurated the India-Norway

Business Summit.

• India and Norway signed the Terms of Reference for the establishment of the Dialogue on Trade

and Investment, which would give impetus to business cooperation and encourage participation of

Norwegian companies in the flagship programmes of India.

• They also signed the MoU on India-Norway Ocean Dialogue and the establishment of the Joint Task

Force on Blue Economy under aegis of the MoU, in order to promote multi-sectoral cooperation in

various aspects of Blue Economy.

What is the background of India-Norway Relations?

• Norway was among the very first countries to recognize India’s independence, actually on

Independence Day itself in 1947 and established an Embassy in 1952.

• India and Norway have been enjoying a cordial and friendly relationship. The two countries respect

each other for their commonly shared values such as democracy, human rights and rule of law. Indo-

Norwegian bilateral ties are marked by regular exchanges of high level visits between the two

countries.

• The year 2013 linked India and Norway closer to one another in questions related to Polar Research.

Norway supported India in becoming a permanent observer in the Arctic Council in May 2013.

• Both nations are fully committed towards implementation of 2030 Agenda for sustainable

development as well as the ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement.

• Norway has extended its support to India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. It

had also been supportive of India’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the Security Council for

the period 2011-2012.

What about Trade and Investment between the countries?

• There has been a substantial growth in economic and commercial relations between India and

Norway in recent years especially in areas such as oil and gas, shipping and maritime industries,

renewable energy, offshore projects and service sectors.

• Total Bilateral trade between India and Norway increased from US$ 974.22 million in 2013-2014 to

US$ 1127.00 million in 2015-2016.

• More than 100 Norwegian companies have invested in India in areas such as ship-building,

petroleum related services, hydropower, clean energy and IT services.

• Several major Indian companies are also present in Norway. India and Norway have shared interest

in sustainable use of ocean resources for growth of economies. Indian companies are getting large

contracts in Norway. Norwegian investments in India are estimated to around USD 14 billion.

• The Norwegian businesses have directly generated at least 15, 000 jobs in India.

• The Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) was established in 2006 to collaborate towards

achieving MDG 4 to reduce child mortality.

• The overall Indo-Norwegian cooperation covers wide areas such as energy, climate change,

environment and biodiversity, clean technologies, geohazards, health, gender, local governance,

culture and business.

• India has become the leading source of foreign skilled professionals working in Norway. Most of

the Indians living in Norway are professionals and highly successful in their respective fields. E-

Tourist Visa for Norway has been operationalized by India with effect from Nov 14.


9

Why is Norway important for India?

• Norway is one of the leading maritime nations, a key player in an industry considered highly

competitive. The Norwegian maritime industry (8.4 % of the total value creation) is known for

innovation and high quality.

• Norway is the world’s second biggest exporter of seafood. The industry is closely connected to its

dynamic oil and gas industry and the marine sector.

• India needs to decrease its dependence on fossil fuels and rejuvenate the use of renewable energy

sources. As the Scandinavian countries like Norway and Denmark take a leap into the new era of

renewable energy, cooperation with their innovative sectors is of paramount importance to the

sustainable growth in India.

• It is important to remember that Denmark covers nearly half of the country’s electricity needs with

a combination of windmills and solar panels.

• About 15% of India's population lives in coastal districts. In a way their life is directly related to the

Ocean Economy. Hence, Ocean sector is extremely important for India's development and

prosperity.

• Norway's expertise on the subject of the Ocean Economy from the fact that 70% of Norway's export

is from Norway's maritime industry can add new dimension of cooperation between both sides.

• Norway has supported India’s accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the

Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and the Australia Group (AG).

• Norway has supported India's application for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG)

also. Norway has been reiterating that India is a strong candidate for a permanent seat in a reformed

Security Council expanded with both permanent and non-permanent members.

• Norway is willing to work towards early finalization of the Comprehensive Convention on

International Terrorism (CCIT) mooted by India at the UN.

Unification of Taiwan and its Ramification In a speech, President Xi Jinping said that Taiwan's unification with the mainland China is “inevitable” even with the option of using military force. What is the history of Taiwan?

• Taiwan first appears in Chinese records in AD 239, when China sent an expeditionary force to

explore it. This fact has been used by Beijing to support its territorial claim.

• China ceded Taiwan to Japan after her defeat in 1895. However, after World War-II, China began

ruling Taiwan with the consent of its allies the US and UK, when Japan surrendered and relinquished

control of territory it had taken from China.

• In 1949 civil war, the Kuomintang (KMT) government leader Chiang Kai-shek's troops were beaten

back by the Communist armies under Mao Zedong civil war and consequently, Chiang and his

supporters fled to Taiwan.

• Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China (ROC) government, at first claimed to represent the whole of

China, which it intended to re-occupy. It held China's permanent member seat on the United Nations

Security Council and was recognised by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.

• But in 1971, the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced

out.


10

• Under pressure from a growing democracy movement and resistance from local people, Chiang's

son, Chiang Ching-kuo began allowing a process of democratization, which eventually led to the

election.

• China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.

But Taiwan's leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that Taiwan is a sovereign

state.

• Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state, with its own currency, political and judicial systems and

about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces, but has never declared formal independence from

the mainland.

• While the two sides have close business, cultural and personal links, however democratic Taiwan has

shown no interest in being ruled by autocratic China.

How are China-Taiwan Relations?

• After decades of hostile intentions and angry rhetoric, relations between China and Taiwan started

improving in the 1980s.

• Taiwan did relax rules on visits to and investment in China. It also, in 1991, proclaimed the war with

the People's Republic of China to be over.

• While political progress has been slow, links between the two peoples and economies have grown

sharply. Taiwanese companies have invested about $ 60 bn in China, and up to one million Taiwanese

now live there, many running Taiwanese factories.

• However, China’s government suspended diplomatic contact with Taiwan in Jun 16, because the

pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refused to recognize the so-called 1992

Consensus, the political basis for the One China principle.

• President Xi Jinping has stepped up pressure on the democratic island since then. In his speech, Xi

Xinping warned that China reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, though

it will strive for peaceful “reunification”.

• To accommodate differences in Taiwan's political system and civil society, China has proposed

adopting the “one country, two systems” policy to safeguard the interests and well-being of

Taiwanese which was implemented in Hong Kong after the British handed the city back to China in

1997.

• In an echo of China’s increasing economic power among developing countries, a number of African

and Central American states have withdrawn formal ties with Taipei and established links with

Beijing since Ms. Tsai became President.

• Taiwan today is implementing its New Southbound Policy that seeks to enhance agricultural,

business, cultural, education, tourism and trade ties with the 10 ASEAN member states, six South

Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand. This is part of Taiwan’s larger objective to carve out

greater strategic space for itself in the international arena.

What is Politico-legal status of Taiwan?

• There is disagreement and confusion about what Taiwan is, and even what it should be called.

• Given the huge divide between these two positions, most other countries seem happy to accept the

current ambiguity, whereby Taiwan has most of the characteristics of an independent state, even if

its legal status remains unclear.

• Most of the counties including USA and India are adhering to Beijing’s ‘One China Policy’. The one-

China policy underscores recognition of China’s sovereignty over Taiwan, a position that has been

held by the U.S. since 1979.


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What are Taiwanese viewpoints on independence?

• Some Taiwanese worry their economy is now dependent on China. Others point out that closer

business ties makes Chinese military action less likely, because of the cost to China's own economy.

• A controversial trade agreement sparked the "Sunflower Movement" in 2014 where students and

activists occupied Taiwan's parliament protesting against what they call China's growing influence

over Taiwan.

• In a referendum in Taiwan, the people rejected a proposal to rename the country’s Olympic team as

Taiwan, instead of the current Chinese Taipei. The verdict is an indication of the limited support for

independence and a greater preference to maintain the status quo.

What is India’s stand on Taiwan?

• Pursuant to the Beijing’s ‘One China Policy’, India does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan

but maintains a cultural-economic office in Taipei and vice-versa with Taiwan.

• Taiwan's representative to India Chung Kwang Tien was also invited for PM Modi’s inauguration in

May 2014 along with the PM of the Tibetan-government-in-exile.

• Over the past few years, India has strengthened economic ties with Taiwan, and a number of

Taiwanese companies have invested in India.

• One of the major steps taken for giving

a fillip to tourism and people to people

contact is liberalization of visas.

Indians can now apply for a Taiwan

visa online.

• The women's parliamentary delegation

from Taiwan has visited India in Feb

18 to engage with their counterparts

and tour the parliament complex.

• The bilateral trade between India and

Taiwan increased five times since 2000 to reach $7 billion in 2014. Taiwanese investments are also

rising in India across sectors including steel, telecom and information technology.

What is Taiwan’s Economic and geo-strategic Significance for India?

• Taiwan is an Asian economic dynamo driven by a solid manufacturing base, which in turn is

bolstered by high-quality Taiwanese small and medium enterprises. There is much that India can

gain in its own manufacturing sector by pursuing enhanced bilateral cooperation.

• Taiwan today is in the midst of transitioning to a high innovation-driven economy. Taiwan’s New

Southbound Policy of economic diversification has India as a focus country. Taiwan can offer its

expertise for Indian government initiatives like Smart Cities, Digital India, Clean energy and Make

in India.

• For very long India’s Taiwan policy has been hyphenated with its ties with Beijing. India’s

parliamentary standing committee on external affairs in its latest report on India-China ties expressed

concern at government’s timid Taiwan policy in deference to China’s sensitivities, even when Beijing

did not reciprocate in kind while dealing with India’s sovereignty concerns.


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• In the strategic sphere, it is important for India to make Taiwan a part of its Act East Policy (AEP),

and explore synergies with Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy. There are 1150 Indian students in

Taiwan and the new administration is seeking to increase this number.

E-VBAB & Pan-African e-Network Project

Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL) signed an agreement with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for the implementation of e-VBAB Network Project. The two separate platforms, will link various educational institutions and hospitals in India and the participating African countries. What is E-VBAB Network Project?

• Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) have signed an Agreement for the implementation of e-VidyaBharati and e-AarogyaBharati (e-VBAB) Network Project.

• E-VBAB Network Project is primarily a technological upgrade and extension of the Pan-African e-Network Project (Phase 1) which was implemented in 48 partner countries across Africa from 2009 till 2017.

• The Phase 1 of the Project successfully imparted tele-education and tele-medicine by linking educational institutions and hospitals in India with those from the participating African countries.

• The flagship e-VBAB project is a step towards capacity building in the field of education and medical science for all the 54 African Nations.

• It is fully funded by MEA, GoI and is envisaged to be implemented in 9 months followed by 5 years of operations and maintenance.

• The project aims to provide an opportunity for local employment and opens the door for access to education and medical expertise from India to African students, doctors, nurses and paramedical staff.

• It will also give an opportunity for Global acceptance of Indian University Education system and Indian medical Health services.

What is Pan-African e-Network project?

• Pan African e-Network project is an ICT project between India and the African Union that seeks to connect the 55-member states of the Union through a satellite and fibre-optic network to India and

• It is aimed to enable access and sharing of expertise between India and African states in the areas of tele-education, telemedicine, Voice over IP, infotainment, resource mapping, meteorological services, e-governance and e-commerce services.

• The e-network is made up of a large undersea cable network and satellite connectivity provided through C-Band transponders of the INTELSAT-904 or RASCOM satellites.

• The project is often described as Africa’s biggest ever in the ICT sector and is expected to extend ICT infrastructure to rural and previously underserved areas.

• The idea for the project came from the then President A P J Abdul Kalam who proposed such a network during his address to the Pan-African Parliament in Johannesburg in 2004.

• The project is seen as an example of India furthering its economic and strategic interests in Africa through the use of soft diplomacy

• It has been acclaimed as an instance of South-South cooperation, helping to overcome the digital divide in Africa.


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Section 126 of the RP Act, 1951 A Committee constituted to review and suggest modifications and changes in the provisions of the Section 126 and other sections of the RP Act 1951 has submitted its report. What is the news?

• The panel headed by senior deputy election commissioner Umesh Sinha was constituted to look into

and suggest modifications in the provisions of the Section 126 and other sections of the RP Act 1951

and provisions of Model Code of Conduct.

• The Committee has submitted its report on 10th January, 2019 to the Election Commission.

Why was the Committee constituted?

• To study and examine the present provisions of the Section 126 and other related Sections of the

Representation of the People Act, 1951 and identify difficulties/critical gaps to regulate the violation

of the said provisions of the act, particularly during the prohibitory period of 48 hours before the

completion of the poll, mentioned in section 126 and suggest necessary amendment/modification.

• To examine the type, category or growth of communication technology or media platform in the

country and difficult under: -regulating these media platforms during multiphase election when

prohibitory period of 48 hours are in force.

• To study the impact of new media platforms and social media during the prohibitory period of 48

hours before the close of poll and its implication

in view of the provisions of section 126.

• To examine the present provisions of Model

Code of Conduct (MCC) related to the above

issues and suggest modification in this regard.

What is Section 126 of Representation of People (RP) Act, 1951?

• Section 126 of the RP Act prohibits displaying any election

matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for

conclusion of poll in a constituency.

• Election matter has been defined in the section as “any matter intended or calculated to influence or

affect the result of an election”.

• The provision prohibits conduct of Exit poll and dissemination of their results during the period

mentioned therein, in the hour fixed for commencement of polls in the first phase and half hour

after the time fixed for close of poll for the last phase in all the States.

• Violation of the provisions of Section 126 is punishable with imprisonment of up to a period of two years,

or with fine or both.

What are the recommendations made?

POLITY & GOVERNANCE


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• Internet service providers and social media companies should take down content violating the 48-

hour ban on campaigning prior to polling, instantly and latest within 3 hours of EC issuing such a

direction.

• Amend Section 126(1) of the RP Act to impose the “campaign silence period” on print, electronic

media and intermediaries.

• The definition of intermediaries, as per Section 2(w) of the Information Technology Act, includes

telecom service providers, internet service providers, web-hosting service providers, search engines,

etc.

• Bring in changes in the model code of conduct to ensure that parties release their manifesto at least

72 hours prior to polling (or 72 hours prior to polling for first phase in a multi-phase election).

• Star campaigners should desist from addressing press conferences or giving interviews on election

matters during silence period.

• And in a multi-phased election, there should be no direct or indirect reference seeking support for

parties/candidates in constituencies observing silence period.

• Intermediaries should ensure that their platforms are not misused to vitiate free and fair polls. This

would include a notification mechanism by which EC may notify the platform of potential violations

of Section 126 of the RP Act.

• While EC will appoint an officer to liaise with the intermediaries, the latter should open a special

grievance redressal channel for EC and have a dedicated team during election period to interface

with and take quick action on receipt of EC order to take down or disable content in violation of

the RP Act.

• Intermediaries should report to the Commission on measures taken to prevent abuse of their

platforms, including generating publicly-available action taken reports. All political advertisements

may be clearly labeled as such and be pre-approved by an EC-appointed content monitoring

committee.

• The intermediaries would also need to maintain a repository of political advertisements with

information on their sponsors, expenditure and targeted reach.

What will be its impact?

• The recommendations made by the Committee, when implemented (after adoption by the ECI with

necessary modification or additions), will help in minimizing the possible interference of activities

which aim at indirectly influencing voters during the valuable silence period of 48 hours provided to

them.

What is Representation of People Act?

• Parliament of India had enacted two acts viz. Representation of the People Act, 1950 and

Representation of the People Act, 1951 to provide a detailed framework around free and fair

elections in the country.

• The 1950 law provides for allocation of seats in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, Delimitation

of Constituencies, manner of filling the seats of Rajya Sabha by Union Territory representatives etc.

• The 1951 Law provides for the conduct of elections to Parliament and state legislatures,

Qualifications and disqualifications, various offences, various doubts and disputes etc.

What are the salient features of the RP Act, 1950 and the RP Act, 1951?


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Salient Features of the RP Act, 1950:

• All seats in Lok Sabha to be filled by direct election with one seat for every constituency and one

person for one seat.

• In all states and UTs except Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, the extent of a constituency is to be

determined by the Delimitation Commission made under Delimitation Act 1972. For Sikkim, the

extent of assembly to be defined by Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies

Order, 1976, and Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 1980.

• Election commission has been conferred the power to keep Delimitation Order up-to-date.

• Election Commission has been also conferred the power to determine the constituencies to be

reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the states of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

• President of India conferred the power to amend orders delimiting constituencies, only after

consulting the Election Commission.

• Each state to have a Chief electoral officer nominated or designated by Election Commission in

consultation with the state government. The Election Commission will also appoint district level

election commissioners in consultation with the state government.

• Each constituency has to have an electoral roll. No person to be registered in electoral rolls of more

than one constituency. No Person to be registered more than once in any constituency. A person

shall be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll if he is either not a citizen of India or is of

unsound mind or is disqualified from voting.

• The electoral roll for each constituency has to be prepared in the prescribed manner. Any person

whose name is not included in the electoral roll of a constituency may apply to the electoral

registration officer for the inclusion of his name in that roll.

• Power to make rules under this act conferred to Central Government, which can exercise this power

in consultation with Election Commission. The Civil Courts have also been barred to question the

legality of any action of electoral registration officer regarding revision of such electoral roll.

Salient Features of the RP Act, 1951:

• Voter Qualification:

o Only an elector can be a representative. If a person is not qualified to vote, he cannot represent the people in parliament {both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha}.

o In case of Lok Sabha, if the seat is reserved for SC, a non-SC voter cannot be elected to that seat; if the seat is reserved for ST, a non-ST voter cannot be elected to that seat. He must be from these categories however; he may be a voter registered from any other constituency within India. However, in case of autonomous districts of Assam, Sikkim, ST seat for Lakshadweep, the elector should be enrolled as a voter in the same constituency.

o The same criteria are followed in legislative assembly of state, barring that the elector should be an eligible voter in the same state.

• Disqualification matters:

o If a person is convicted under a punishable offence related to promoting enmity, bribery, undue influence at an election, rape, cruelty towards a woman, creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes, promoting religious acrimony, practice of untouchability, import and export of prohibited goods, any other unlawful activities, FEMA, laws related to Narcotics, terrorism acts, offences related to religious places and religious practices etc. will be disqualified if sent to jail for at least 2 years. This disqualification is for six year after the person is released from jail.

o The other grounds for disqualification are: if found guilty of corrupt practices, dismissed for corruption, disqualified for a contract entered into with government related matters, a person


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remains disqualified as long as he is a managing agent, manager or secretary of any government company or corporation, if fails to lodge expense accounts of elections.

• Provisions related to Political Parties:

o Every association or body which calls itself a political party shall have to apply to Election Commission of India for registration. The election commission will register that party after considering all the particulars, relevant factors and after hearing the representatives of the party.

o The Election Commission’s decision regarding registration will be final. If a political party changes its name or address, it shall communicate the election commission as soon as it does so.

o A registered political party may accept any voluntary contribution by any person or company within India other than a government company. Political parties are not allowed to seek and receive contribution from a foreign source.

o Each political party has to prepare the report related to contribution more than Rs.20,000 from persons and companies in year and submit it to the Election Commission.

• Other Salient Provisions:

o Every elected candidate shall submit the declaration of his assets and liabilities within 90 days from taking oath. Every contesting candidate is required to maintain account of election expenses.

o Election petitions are to be heard in high Court and appeal to Supreme Court. High court has to conclude such petition within six months from the date of petition. High Court will intimate its decision to Election Commission and Speaker/ Chairman. Appeal to Supreme Court can be made within 30 days.

o For election related works, the following are to be made available to election commission viz. every local authority, university, Government Company, any other institution undertaking under the control of state or central government.

Clause 6 of Assam Accord Cabinet approves high level committee to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord

What is the news?

• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the setting up of a

High-Level Committee for implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and measures

envisaged in the Memorandum of Settlement, 2003 and other issues related to Bodo community.

• As per the announcement, the government has set up a committee headed by former Union tourism

secretary M.P. Babaria.

Why there is a need for such move?

• It has been felt that Clause 6 of the Assam Accord has not been fully implemented even almost 35

years after the Accord was signed.

• The Cabinet, therefore, approved the setting up of a High-Level Committee to suggest

constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards as envisaged in Clause 6 of the Assam

Accord.

• The Committee shall examine the effectiveness of actions since 1985 to implement Clause 6 of the

Accord.

What is the Assam Accord?

• The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement signed between representatives of

the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement in New Delhi on 15 August 1985.


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• A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by

the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) in 1979 which culminated with the signing of the Assam

Accord.

• The accord brought an end to the Assam Movement and paved the way for the leaders of the

agitation to form a political party and form a government in the state of Assam soon after.

• To implement the various Clauses of Assam, accord a new Department has been established in

the name of “Implementation of Assam Accord Department” during the year 1986.

What is clause 6 of the Assam Accord?

• Clause 6 of the Assam Accord envisages that appropriate constitutional, legislative and administrative

safeguards, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity

and heritage of the Assamese people.

How has the implementation of the clause been?

• AASU and the Assam government had submitted a number of proposals in furtherance of Clause 6.

• Although some steps have been taken in this regard, the clause still remains to be implemented fully.

• The Assam government website, however, describes a number of steps that have been taken as part

of the implementation of Clause 6.

• These include cultural centres and film studios, and financial assistance to historical monuments

and satras (Vaishnavite monasteries).

• In 1998, the Home Ministry set up the sub-committee under G K Pillai.

• In 2006, the state government set up a committee to help define “Assamese”.

• In 2011, the state government had constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to deal with Clause 6.

What aspects will Bezbaruah committee look into?

• The committee will examine the effectiveness of actions since 1985 to implement the clause 6 of the

Assam Accord.

• The committee will also suggest constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards as envisaged

in clause 6.

• The committee will examine the measures to be taken to protect Assamese and other indigenous

languages of Assam.

• The committee will assess the quantum of reservation in employment under the government of

Assam and other measures to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity

and heritage of Assamese people.

• The committee will assess the required quantum of reservation of seats in Assam assembly and local

bodies for Assamese people.

• The committee will be facilitated by the North East Division of the Home Ministry. The state

government will provide the necessary administrative and logistic support to the committee.

What are the challenges?

• The AASU has described it as an effort to mislead people before pushing the Citizenship

(Amendment) Bill, 2016.

• The Bill proposes to grant citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from 3 countries including

Bangladesh.


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• This has divided residents of Brahmaputra Valley (mostly anti-Bill) and Barak Valley (pro-Bill).

• The government and the committee should, thus, take into account these concerns while deciding

on the safeguards.

Amendments to POCSO Act The Union Cabinet has recently approved amendments to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. What are the amendments proposed?

• The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2019, seeks to protect children

from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography and provide for the

establishment of Special Courts for the trial of such offences.

• The Sections 4, 5, 6 of the Act are proposed to be amended to provide the option of stringent

punishment, including death penalty, for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child.

• The following cases will be treated as “aggravated offence”:

o Cases of sexual assault by police officers, o by members of the armed forces, o by public servants, o by relatives, o gang-penetrative sexual assault, o where the survivor is less than 12 years old and o attempt to inject hormones in children to attain early sexual maturity for the purpose of

penetrative sexual assault.

• A hefty fine would be imposed for not deleting, not destroying child pornographic material or not

reporting child pornography.

• Section 9 of the Act is being amended to protect children from

sexual offences in times of natural calamities and disasters and in

cases where children are administered any hormone or chemical

substance to attain early sexual maturity for the purpose of

penetrative sexual assault.

• The Bill proposes a fine of not less than Rs 1,000 for not

destroying or deleting or reporting the pornographic material

involving a child.

• In case of subsequent offence, the fine would be not less than Rs

5,000 crore.

• The offender can be further penalised with 3-year jail term or fine or both for transmitting,

propagating, administrating such material.

What is POCSO Act, 2012?

• The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 deals with sexual offences

against persons below 18 years of age, who are deemed as children.

• The Act for the first time, defines “penetrative sexual assault”, “sexual assault” and “sexual

harassment”.

• The offence is considered graver if it is committed by a police officer, public servant, any member

of the staff at a remand home, protection or observation home, jail, hospital or educational

institution, or by a member of the armed or security forces.


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• The Act is a comprehensive law to provide for the protection of children from the offences of sexual

assault, sexual harassment and pornography, while safeguarding the interests of the child at every

stage of the judicial process by incorporating child-friendly mechanisms for reporting, recording of

evidence, investigation and speedy trial of offences through appointment of Special Public

Prosecutors and designated Special Courts.

• The Act incorporates child friendly procedures for reporting, recording, investigation and trial

offences. The Act provides for stringent punishments which have been graded as per the gravity of

offence.

• Section 39 of the POCSO Act requires the State Governments to prepare guidelines for use of

NGOs, professional and experts or persons to be associated with the pre-trial and trial stage to assist

the child.

• Section 44 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 empowers the National

Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State Commission for Protection of Child

Rights for monitoring the implementation of the provisions of this Act in such manner as may be

prescribed.

• In discharge of its duties NCPCR has been taking up the matter with regards to the implementation

of the POCSO Act in respect of following aspects: -

o Designation of Special Courts; o Appointment of Special Public Prosecutors; o Formulation of Guidelines u/s 39 of POCSO Act for various stakeholders; o Designation and implementation of modules for training of various stakeholders; o Steps taken for spreading the awareness on the provisions of the POCSO Act; o Setting up of child Welfare Committees (CWCs), District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) and

Special Juvenile Police Units (SJPUs); etc. Why is there a need for such amendment?

• In the recent past incidences of child sexual abuse cases demonstrating the inhumane mind-set of

the abusers who have been barbaric in their approach towards young victims is rising in the country.

• Children are becoming easy prey because of their tender age, physical vulnerabilities and inexperience

of life and society.

How is the amendment going to help?

• The amendment is expected to discourage the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent

due to strong penal provisions incorporated in the Act.

• It may protect the interest of vulnerable children in times of distress and ensures their safety and

dignity.

• The amendment aims to establish clarity regarding the aspects of child abuse and punishment

thereof.

Is it really going to create deterrence?

• Government proposes that amendments will further enhance the deterrence against sexual assault

on children.

• But the data shows that less than 3% of all POCSO cases end in convictions and experts further

warn against the chilling effect the death penalty may have on reporting the crime.

• Hence, it can be said that the law by itself will not be a deterrent but systemic change in the law

enforcement and prosecution hold the key to tackling child sexual abuse.


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Chief Information Commissioner The government has appointed Sudhir Bhargava as the new Chief Information Commissioner. What is the news?

• Four new members have also been appointed to the Central Information Commission (CIC), taking its total strength to seven.

• Mr. Bhargava, a former Secretary to the Ministry of Social Justice, has been a Commissioner since June 2015, and will take over as the ninth chief of the CIC.

What is Central Information Commission?

• The Central Information Commission was established by the Central Government in 2005.

• It was constituted through an Official Gazette Notification under the provisions of the Right to Information Act (2005).

• It is a high-powered independent body which inter alia looks into the complaints made to it and decides the appeals.

• It entertains complaints and appeals pertaining to offices, financial institutions, public sector undertakings, etc., under the Central Government and the Union Territories.

• It is not a constitutional body. What is its composition?

• The Commission consists of a Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and not more than ten Information Commissioners (ICs).

• They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition (or the leader of single largest party in opposition) in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister.

• They should be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance.

• They should not be a Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislature of any State or Union Territory.

• They should not hold any other office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession.

What is their tenure and service condition?

• The Chief Information Commissioner and an Information Commissioner hold office for a term of 5 years or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

• They are not eligible for reappointment.

• However, the Information Commissioner is eligible for appointment as Chief Information Commissioner but cannot hold office for more than a total of five years including his term as Information Commissioner.

• The salary, allowances and other service conditions of the Chief Information Commissioner are similar to those of the Chief Election Commissioner and that of the Information Commissioner are similar to those of an Election Commissioner.


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• But they cannot be varied to his disadvantage during service. How can the CIC and ICs be removed? The President can remove the Chief Information Commissioner or any Information Commissioner from the office under the following conditions:

• if he is adjudged an insolvent; or

• if he has been convicted of an offence which (in the opinion of the President) involves a moral turpitude; or

• if he engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office; or

• if he is (in the opinion of the President) unfit to continue in office due to infirmity of mind or body; or

• if he has acquired such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially his official functions.

• In addition to these, the President can also remove the Chief Information Commissioner or any Information Commissioner on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity.

• However, in these cases, the President has to refer the matter to the Supreme Court for an enquiry.

• If the Supreme Court, after the enquiry, upholds the cause of removal and advises so, then the President can remove him.

What are the powers and functions of the Central Information Commission?

• It is the duty of the Commission to receive and inquire into a complaint from any person: o who has not been able to submit an information request because of non-appointment of a

Public Information Officer; o who has been refused information that was requested; o who has not received response to his information request within the specified time limits; o who thinks the fees charged are unreasonable; o who thinks information given is incomplete, misleading or false; and? o any other matter relating to obtaining information.

• The Commission can, Suo-moto, order inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable grounds.

• While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect of the following matters: o summoning and enforcing attendance of persons and compelling them to give oral or written

evidence on oath and to produce documents or things; o requiring the discovery and inspection of documents; o receiving evidence on affidavit; o requisitioning any public record from any court or office; o issuing summons for examination of witnesses or documents; and o any other matter which may be prescribed.

• During the inquiry of a complaint, the Commission may examine any record which is under the control of the public authority and no such record may be withheld from it on any grounds. In other words, all public records must be given to the Commission during inquiry for examination.

• The Commission has the power to secure compliance of its decisions from the public authority, which includes:

o providing access to information in a particular form; o directing the public authority to appoint a Public Information Officer where none exists; o publishing information or categories of information; o making necessary changes to the practices relating to management, maintenance and

destruction of records; o enhancing training provision for officials on the right to information; o seeking an annual report from the public authority on compliance with this Act; o requiring the public authority to compensate for any loss or other detriment suffered by the

applicant; o imposing penalties under this Act; and o rejecting the application.


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• The Commission submits an annual report to the Central Government on the implementation of the provisions of this Act.

• The Central Government places this report before each House of the Parliament.

• When a public authority does not conform to the provisions of this Act, the Commission may recommend, to the authority, steps which ought to be taken for promoting such conformity.

Corruption Perception Index-2018 India improved its ranking on the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by three points and moved to 78th position with a score of 41.

What is the news?

• In the list of 180 countries, China and Pakistan lagged far behind India at 87th and 117th position, respectively.

• According to the Index, Denmark is the least corrupt country followed by New Zealand; while Somalia, Syria and South Sudan are the most corrupt countries in the world.

• The global corruption index was released by anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International on January 29, 2019.

What were the key highlights of the index?

• The report cites that countries like India along with Malaysia, Maldives and Pakistan will be important to watch moving forward.

• The report notes that all these countries mentioned above have witnessed massive public mobilisation against corruption coupled with significant political participation and voter turnout resulting in new governments that promised extensive anti-corruption reforms.

• The report mentions that these encouraging developments are yet to show some tangible solid action, especially when it comes to combating elusive forms of grand corruption.

• The report noted that since India gears up for general elections, there was a little significant movement in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score, which moved from 40 in 2017 to 41 in 2018.

• The report notes that in spite of spectacular public mobilisation in 2011, where citizens demanded the government to take action against corruption and advocate for the passage of the comprehensive Jan Lokpal Bill, the efforts ultimately fizzled and fell flat, with little to no movement on the ground to build the specialist anti-corruption infrastructure required.

• These findings gain importance at the time Supreme Court has set the ball rolling for the appointment of the Lokpal by setting a deadline for the search committee to recommend names for the selection committee headed by the Prime Minister.

What is Corruption?

• It is generally defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

• Corruption can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.

• Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.


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• Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies.

• Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth.

What is Transparency?

• It has been defined as "the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a sender".

• Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability.

• It ensures that public officials, civil servants, managers, board members and businesspeople act visibly and understandably, and report on their activities and the general public can hold them to account.

• It is the surest way of guarding against corruption, and helps increase trust in the people and institutions on which our futures depend.

What is Corruption Perception Index?

• The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople

• It uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

• It reveals that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption is contributing to a crisis in democracy around the world.

• While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption.

What is Transparency International?

• It is an international non-governmental organization which was founded in 1993.

• Its purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil societal anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities arising from corruption.

• It develops tools for fighting corruption and works with other civil society organizations, companies and governments to implement them.

• Since 1995, Transparency International has issued an annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI); it also publishes a Global Corruption Report, a Global Corruption Barometer, and a Bribe Payers Index.

• Transparency International consists of chapters, which are locally established, independent organisations that address corruption in their respective countries.

• It is based in Berlin, Germany.

NITI Aayog 2.0 Former Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar moots setting up of ‘NITI Aayog 2.0’. What is the news?

• Former Finance Commission Chairman Vijay Kelkar has pitched for setting up of a ‘new NITI

Aayog’.


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• The erstwhile Planning Commission was abolished in the spirit of cooperative federalism and a new

think tank ‘NITI Aayog’ was created to facilitate grass root planning and help the government in

policy making.

Why there is need for a new NITI Aayog?

• Replacing the Planning Commission, which was promoting regionally-balanced growth in India, with

the NITI Aayog, a think tank, has reduced the government’s policy reach.

• So, it was desirable that a functionally-distinct entity such as the new NITI Aayog be put to use to

do the job at hand related to the structural issues, including removal of regional imbalances in the

economy.

• And it would mean that the NITI Aayog 2.0 will be responsible for allocating development or

transformational capital or revenue grants to the States.

• In order to make the new NITI Aayog more effective, it is essential to ensure that the institution is

at the ‘High Table’ of decision making of the government.

• Thus, the new NITI Aayog will make available to the highest level of policy making the knowledge-

based advice and provide the national and long-term perspective on the policy proposals.

How will the new NITI Aayog be different?

• It will have the powers for allocating development or transformational capital or revenue grants to

the states.

• However, the new NITI Aayog will not approve the annual expenditure programmes of the

individual states, unlike the Planning Commission.

• It shall be a permanent invitee of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), just like the

Planning Commission.

• The new Niti Aayog will need around 1.5 to 2 per cent of the GDP every year in resources to provide

suitable grants to the states for mitigating the development imbalances.

What is NITI Aayog?

• The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, is the premier policy

‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs.

• It was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015.

• While designing strategic and long-term policies and programmes for the Government of India,

NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the Centre and States.

• An important evolutionary change from the past, NITI Aayog acts as the quintessential platform of

the Government of India to bring States to act together in national interest, and thereby fosters

Cooperative Federalism.

• At the core of NITI Aayog’s creation are two hubs – Team India Hub and the Knowledge and

Innovation Hub.

• The Team India Hub leads the engagement of states with the Central government, while the

Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds NITI’s think-tank capabilities.

• These hubs reflect the two key tasks of the Aayog.

What is the composition of NITI Aayog? The composition of the NITI Aayog is as follows:


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• Chairperson: The Prime Minister of India

• Governing Council: It comprises the Chief Ministers of all the States, Chief Ministers of Union

Territories with Legislatures (i.e., Delhi and Puducherry) and Lt. Governors of other Union

Territories.

• Regional Councils: These are formed to address specific issues and contingencies impacting more

than one state or a region. These are formed for a specified tenure. These are convened by the Prime

Minister and comprises of the Chief Ministers of States and Lt. Governors of Union Territories in

the region. These are chaired by the Chairperson of the NITI Aayog or his nominee.

• Special Invitees: Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special

invitees nominated by the Prime Minister.

• Full-time Organizational Framework: It comprises, in addition to the Prime Minister as the

Chairperson:

o Vice-Chairperson: He is appointed by the Prime Minister. He enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

o Members: Full-time. They enjoy the rank of a Minister of State. o Part-time Members: Maximum of 2, from leading universities, research organizations and

other relevant institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Part-time members would be on a rotation. o Ex-Officio Members: Maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be

nominated by the Prime Minister. o Chief Executive Officer: He is appointed by the Prime Minister for a fixed tenure, in the rank

of Secretary to the Government of India. o Secretariat: As deemed necessary.

What are the objectives and functions of NITI Aayog?

• To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active

involvement of States in the light of national objectives. The vision of the NITI Aayog will then

provide a framework ‘national agenda’ for the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers to provide

impetus to.

• To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the

States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.

• To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these

progressively at higher levels of government.

• To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are

incorporated in economic strategy and policy.

• To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately

from economic progress.

• To design strategic and long-term policy and programme frameworks and initiatives, and monitor

their progress and their efficacy. The lessons learnt through monitoring and feedback will be used

for making innovative improvements, including necessary mid-course corrections.

• To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and

international like-minded think tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.

• To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative

community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.

• To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to

accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.

• To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and

best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake-

holders.


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• To actively monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes and initiatives, including the

identification of the needed resources so as to strengthen the probability of success and scope of

delivery.

• To focus on technology up-gradation and capacity building for implementation of programmes and

initiatives.

• To undertake other activities as may be necessary in order to further the execution of the national

development agenda, and the objectives mentioned above.

What are its guiding principles?

• Antyodaya: Prioritise service and uplift of the poor, marginalised and downtrodden, as enunciated

in Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s idea of ‘Antyodaya’.

• Inclusion: Empower vulnerable and marginalised sections, redressing identity-based inequalities of

all kinds—gender, region, religion, caste or class.

• Village: Integrate our villages into the development process, to draw on the vitality and energy of the

bedrock of our ethos, culture and sustenance.

• Demographic dividend: Harness our greatest asset, the people of India; by focussing on their

development, through education and skilling, and their empowerment, through productive

livelihood opportunities.

• People’s Participation: Transform the developmental process into a people-driven one, making an

awakened and participative citizenry—the driver of good governance.

• Governance: Nurture an open, transparent, accountable, pro-active and purposeful style of

governance, transitioning focus from Outlay to Output to Outcome.

• Sustainability: Maintain sustainability at the core of our planning and developmental process, building

on our ancient tradition of respect for the environment.

Democracy Index 2018

India moves up a rank to 41st place on The Economist's Democracy Index 2018. Who releases the index?

• The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the UK-based company the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

• The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis wing within the Economist Group providing forecasting and advisory services.

What are the parameters used to design the index?

• The Democracy Index intends to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries, of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states.

• The Democracy Index is based on five categories: o electoral process and pluralism; o civil liberties; o the functioning of government; o political participation; and o political culture.

• The five category indices are averaged to find the Democracy Index for a given country.

• Finally, the Democracy Index, rounded to two decimals, decides the regime type classification of the country.


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• Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: o full democracy; o flawed democracy; o hybrid regime; o and authoritarian regime.

What are the types of Democracy Regimes as identified by the index?

• Full democracies o These are the nations

where civil liberties and basic political freedoms are not only respected, but also reinforced by a political culture conducive to the thriving of democratic principles.

o These nations have a valid system of governmental checks and balances, independent judiciary whose decisions are enforced, governments that function adequately, and media that is diverse and independent.

o These nations have only limited problems in democratic functioning.

• Flawed democracies o These are the nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honored but

may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement). o These nations have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped

political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.

• Hybrid regimes o These are the nations where consequential irregularities exist in elections regularly preventing

them from being fair and free. o These nations commonly have governments that apply pressure on political opponents, non

independent judiciaries, and have widespread corruption, harassment and pressure placed on the media, anemic rule of law, and more pronounced faults than flawed democracies in the realms of underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.

• Authoritarian regimes o These are the nations where political pluralism has vanished or is extremely limited. o These nations are often absolute monarchies or dictatorships, may have some conventional

institutions of democracy but with meager significance, infringements and abuses of civil liberties are commonplace, elections (if they take place) are not fair and free.

o The media is often state-owned or controlled by groups associated with the ruling regime, the judiciary is not independent, and they are characterised by the presence of omnipresent censorship and suppression of governmental criticism.

TYPES OF REGIME SCORE (s) NO. OF COUNTRIES Full Democracies More than 8 20 Flawed Democracies Between 6 and 8 55 Hybrid Regimes Between 4 and 6 39 Authoritarian Regimes Less than 4 53


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What are the global rankings?

• The top three positions on the list are occupied by Nordic countries—Norway, Iceland and Sweden.

• New Zealand is at fourth and Denmark at fifth place, while others in top ten include Ireland, Canada, Australia, Finland and Switzerland.

• Only top 20 countries have been classified as ‘full democracies’, while the hybrid regimes include Pakistan (112th), Bangladesh (88nd), Nepal (97th) and Bhutan (94th).

• Those named as ‘authoritarian regimes’ include China (130th), Myanmar (118th), Russia (144th) and Vietnam (139th).

• North Korea is ranked the lowest at 167th, while Syria is a notch better at 166th place.

• The US (ranked 25), Japan, Italy, France, Israel, Singapore, and Hong Kong have been named among ‘flawed democracies’.

What is the position of India?

• India is ranked at 41 – a notch above last year.

• It is still classified as a ‘flawed democracy’ according to the index.

• India achieved a score of 7.23 on the index to maintain its position – the same it did last year.

• This is the lowest ever score attributed to India in the index ever since its publication.

• Even as it scored well on electoral process and pluralism (9.17). It has not managed to score so well on other four parameters—political culture, functioning of government, political participation and civil liberties.

What are the reasons for India to be included in the Flawed Democracy?

• The rise of conservative religious ideologies affected India.

• The strengthening of right-wing Hindu forces in an otherwise secular country led to a rise of vigilantism and violence against minority communities, particularly Muslims, as well as other dissenting voices.

• Moreover, journalists are at risk from government, military and non-state actors and radical groups, and the threat of violence has a chilling effect on media coverage.

What is the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)?

• The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist.

• It helps governments, institutions and businesses by providing timely, reliable and impartial analysis of economic and development strategies.

• Through its public policy practice, it provides evidence-based research for policymakers and stakeholders seeking measurable outcomes, in fields ranging from finance and gender to energy and technology.

• It publishes some of the important reports and indices like Global Liveability Index, Government E-payments Adoption Ranking (GEAR), Global Food Security Index, etc.

Tenth Schedule of the Constitution The Punjab Assembly has issued notice to Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Former rebel AAP leader and MLA from Bholath, for disqualification under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.

What is anti-defection law?


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• The 52nd Amendment Act of 1985 provided for the disqualification of the members of Parliament and the state legislatures on the ground of defection from one political party to another.

• For this purpose, it made changes in four Articles of the Constitution and added a new Schedule (the Tenth Schedule) to the Constitution.

• This act is often referred to as the ‘anti-defection law’.

• Later, the 91st Amendment Act of 2003 made a change in the provisions of the Tenth Schedule and omitted an exception provision i.e. disqualification on ground of defection not to apply in case of split.

What is in the 10th Schedule? The Tenth Schedule contains the following provisions with respect to the disqualification of Members of Parliament and the state legislatures on the ground of defection:

• A member of a House belonging to any political party becomes disqualified for being a member of the House, o if he voluntarily gives up his membership of such political party; or o if he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by his political

party without obtaining prior permission of such party and such act has not been condoned by the party within 15 days.

• From the above provision it is clear that a member elected on a party ticket should continue in the party and obey the party directions.

• An independent member of a House (elected without being set up as a candidate by any political party) becomes disqualified to remain a member of the House if he joins any political party after such election.

• A nominated member of a House becomes disqualified for being a member of the House if he joins any political party after the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes his seat in the House.

• This means that he/she may join any political party within six months of taking his seat in the House without inviting this disqualification.

What are the exceptions to the above provisions for disqualification?

• The above disqualification on the ground of defection does not apply in the following two cases: o If a member goes out of his party as a result of a merger of the party with another party. A merger

takes place when two-thirds of the members of the party have agreed to such merger. o If a member, after being elected as the presiding officer of the House, voluntarily gives up the

membership of his party or rejoins it after he ceases to hold that office. This exemption has been provided in view of the dignity and impartiality of this office.

• It must be noted here that the provision of the Tenth Schedule pertaining to exemption from disqualification in case of split by one-third members of legislature party has been deleted by the 91st Amendment Act of 2003.

• It means that the defectors have no more protection on grounds of splits. Who is the deciding authority?

• Any question regarding disqualification arising out of defection is to be decided by the presiding officer of the House.

• Originally, the act provided that the decision of the presiding officer is final and cannot be questioned in any court.

• However, in Kihoto Hollohan case of 1993, the Supreme Court declared this provision as unconstitutional on the ground that it seeks to take away the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

• The court held that the presiding officer, while deciding a question under the Tenth Schedule, function as a tribunal.

• Hence, his decision like that of any other tribunal is subject to judicial review on the grounds of mala fides, perversity, etc.


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Who is the rule-making authority under 10th Schedule?

• The presiding officer of a House is empowered to make rules to give effect to the provisions of the Tenth Schedule.

• All such rules must be placed before the House for 30 days.

• The House may approve or modify or disapprove them.

• Further, he/she may direct that any willful contravention by any member of such rules may be dealt with in the same manner as a breach of privilege of the House.

• According to the rules made so, the presiding officer can take up a defection case only when he receives a complaint from a member of the House.

• Before taking the final decision, he must give the member (against whom the complaint has been made) a chance to submit his explanation.

• He/she may also refer the matter to the committee of privileges for inquiry.

• Hence, the defection has no immediate and automatic effect. Why was there a need for such provision in the constitution?

• The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution was designed to prevent the evil or mischief of political defections motivated by the lure of office or material benefits or other similar considerations.

• It is intended to strengthen the fabric of parliamentary democracy of India by curbing unethical political defections.

• It brings several advantages with it like: o It provides for greater stability in the body politic by checking the propensity of legislators to

change parties. o It facilitates democratic realignment of parties in the legislature by way of merger of parties. o It reduces corruption at the political level as well as non-developmental expenditure incurred on

irregular elections. o It gives, for the first time, a clear-cut constitutional recognition to the existence of political parties.

What were the provisions of 91st Amendment Act of 2003?

• The total number of ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Central Council of Ministers shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.

• A member of either House of Parliament belonging to any political party who is disqualified on the ground of defection shall also be disqualified to be appointed as a minister.

• The total number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a state shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the Legislative Assembly of that state. But, the number of ministers, including the Chief Minister, in a state shall not be less than 12.

• A member of either House of a state legislature belonging to any political party who is disqualified on the ground of defection shall also be disqualified to be appointed as a minister.

• A member of either House of Parliament or either House of a State Legislature belonging to any political party who is disqualified on the ground of defection shall also be disqualified to hold any remunerative political post.

• The expression “remunerative political post” means (a) any office under the Central Government or a state government where the salary or remuneration for such office is paid out of the public revenue of the concerned government; or (b) any office under a body, whether incorporated or not, which is wholly or partially owned by the Central Government or a state government and the salary or remuneration for such office is paid by such body, except where such salary or remuneration paid is compensatory in nature.

• The provision of the Tenth Schedule pertaining to exemption from disqualification in case of split by one-third members of legislature party has been deleted.

• It means that the defectors have no more protection on grounds of splits.


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‘e-Sahaj’ portal

Union Home Secretary launches ‘e-Sahaj’ portal for grant of Security Clearance What is ‘e-Sahaj’ portal?

• The Union Home Secretary Shri Rajiv Gauba launched an online ‘e-Sahaj’ portal for grant of Security

Clearance.

• The portal will facilitate an applicant to submit application online and also to view the status of his

application from time to time.

• The process has become standardized, resulting in a process which will be faster, transparent and

easy to monitor.

• Various functionaries can access the application and documents online and take timely decisions.

• Although the given timeline is 90 days, MHA strives to decide Security Clearance cases in 60 days

(average time per case in 2018 is 53 days), which is being reduced further.

• MHA is the nodal Ministry for security clearances in certain sensitive sectors before issue of

licence/permit, permission, contract etc, to companies/ bidders/individuals by the administrative

Ministry.

• The objective of national security clearance is to

o evaluate potential security threats, o including economic threats, and o provide risk assessment before clearing investment and project proposals in key sectors.

• The aim is to strike a healthy balance between meeting the imperatives of national security and

facilitating ease of doing business and promoting investment in the country.

Space for Notes


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Angel Tax

The government has eased the norms under which start-ups can apply for exemption from the angel tax which would otherwise be applicable on them. What is Angel Tax?

• Simply put, the angel tax is a 30.9 % tax levied on investments made by external investors in startups or companies.

• However, the entire investment is not taxed – only the amount that is considered above “fair value” valuations of the startup, classified as ‘income from other sources’ in the Income Tax Act of India is taxed.

• In other words, if an unlisted company has issued shares to an angel investor at a price that's higher than its fair market value, the extra amount received by the company will be taxed at 30.9%.

• The Angel Tax comes under the Section 56(2) of the IT Act.

• This is applied not just to mature private companies, but also to small startups that took early-stage investments from residents in India.

Why was it introduced?

• The tax, under section 56(2), was introduced in 2012 to fight money laundering.

• The stated rationale was that bribes and commissions could be disguised as angel investments to escape taxes.

• But given the possibility of this section being used to harass genuine startups, it was rarely invoked. What are the controversies surrounding the Angel Tax?

• Over the past few weeks, several startups have reportedly been receiving notices from the I-T department asking them to clear taxes on the angel funding they raised, and in some cases, levying a penalty for not paying Angel Tax.

• Another set of notices have gone out under section 142(1).

• This section empowers tax officials to ask for the tax returns, creditworthiness, bank details and correspondence of angel investors who have put money in a startup.

• On the face of it, this section is meant to separate money launderers from genuine angel investors.

• However, the sudden demand for additional documents increases compliance costs for startups, who are usually struggling with finance and time.

ECONOMIC & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT


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Characteristics Angel Investors Venture Capitalists Background Former entrepreneurs Finance, consulting Investment approach Investing own money Managing fund and/or investing

other people’s money Investment stage Seed and Early stage Range of seed, early stage and later

stage but increasingly later stage Investment instruments Common shares Preferred shares Deal flow Through social networks Through social networks as well as

proactive outreach Due diligence Conducted by angel investors

based on their experience Conducted by staff in Venture Capitalist firm sometimes with the assistance of outside firms

Post investment role Active Strategic Return on investment Important but not the main

reason for angel investing Critical.

Where does the problem lies?

• The trouble is that the tax officials are often unable to understand how startups are valued and how quickly those valuations can change.

• Startups, typically, begin with an innovative idea for a business and look for 'angels' - those who spot potential in an idea and invest in a company in its early phase.

• Valuing startups based on their assets alone, given intangibles such as goodwill is not easy.

• Nor is it easy to arrive at a ‘fair value’ for them, based on discounted cash flows.

• So, startups are often valued subjectively and the valuation which seems sky-high to some may be fair to others.

• Hence the industry has demanded that the discounted cash flow (DCF) method of valuation be used to calculate angel tax instead of the net asset value (NAV) method, though even that may not capture the true value of a startup.

• Moreover, as opposed to the idea of taxing angel investors, investors in countries such as US are actually offered tax benefits when they fund small companies.

• There are also ways for angel investors to save tax by re-investing gains from one small business into another venture.

• But in India, there is an element of suspicion over startup investments.

Is there any exemption available from this tax?

• The government issued a notification in April this year to give exemption to startups under Section 56 of the Income Tax Act in cases where the total investment including funding from angel investors did not exceed Rs 10 crore.

• For the exemption, startups were also required to get approval from an inter-ministerial board and a certificate of valuation by a merchant banker.

• According to the notification, the exemption would apply only when the angel investor had a minimum net worth of Rs 2 crore or an average returned income of over 25 lakh in the preceding three financial years.

What are the latest norms issued by the Government?

• The government has notified conditions under which a company can be exempted from coverage of the Angel tax provisions.

• According to the notification issued by the government recently, start-ups, whose aggregate amount of paid-up share capital and share premium after the proposed issue of share does not exceed ₹10 crore, are eligible for the exemption.


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• On the investor side, the notification says the angel investor should have filed I-T returns of at least ₹50 lakh for the year preceding the year in which the investment was made.

• The notification specifies a list of documents that start-ups will have to submit to the DIPP while seeking approval.

• The approval will then be sent to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). The CBDT is mandated to either approve or reject the applications within 45 days.

What is the conclusion?

• The taxation limits investors from putting their money and trust on fledgling and early-stage startups, which in effect stifles more people to come forward and start their own.

• Many unlisted and early-stage startups rely heavily on funding from angel investors to build the groundwork necessary to get further funding from Venture Capitalists (VC) groups.

• Taxing this investment discourages and drives away angels, effectively stifling the much-needed flow of money to the fledgeling startups.

• For startup founders, venture capital firms and overseas investors are the key sources of funds and angels typically make up a small portion of the capital.

• But the removal of the tax may encourage more participation by local investors and help many newbie entrepreneurs.

• The issue takes a darker turn, with multiple incidents reported of entrepreneurs being shaken down by IT officials over alleged questions on the valuation of the funding.

• While aimed to curb money laundering and check undisclosed income, in its enthusiasm, the government is likely doing more harm than good.

Panda Bonds

The federal cabinet recently approved the issuance of Pakistan’s first renminbi-denominated bonds known as panda bonds to raise loans from Chinese capital markets. What are Panda Bonds?

• A Panda bond is a Chinese renminbi-denominated bond from a non-Chinese issuer, sold in the People's Republic of China.

• The first two Panda bonds were issued in October 2005 on the same day by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

• The Chinese government had been negotiating for several years about implementation details before permitting the sale of such bonds; they had been concerned about the possible effects on their currency peg.

• In June 2016, Bank of China has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on panda bonds issuance with Poland's Ministry of Finance, making Poland the first European sovereign government to issue such bonds.

• In March 2018, the Philippines issued its inaugural renminbi-denominated bonds or Panda bonds and became the first ASEAN member to issue Panda bonds.

What was the news about?

• For the first time in the country’s history, Pakistan recently approved launching of Panda Bond in Chinese-denominated Yuan currency with possible transaction size equivalent to $500 million.

• With this step the country gradually moves towards giving the Chinese currency a status at par with that enjoyed by the US dollar.

• The move was made in order to finance its yawning trade deficit with Beijing.


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• Pakistan’s trade deficit with China stood at around 12 billion dollars per annum and Islamabad is asking for ASEAN level tariff reduction on its exportable items.

• The bonds will help the government diversify the investor base of capital market issuance and provide a source of raising renminbi.

• In the Long-term Plan of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (2017-30) both countries had decided to use renminbi as the second international currency to lessen Pakistan’s reliance on dollar.

Street Light National Programme (SLNP)

The Centre is likely to miss the goals it had set under the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) when it was launched on January 5, 2015. What is Street Light National Programme (SLNP)?

• Street Light National Programme is an initiative of the Government to promote energy efficiency in the country.

• The Programme which was launched on 5th January 2015, aims to replace 1.34 crore conventional street lights with energy efficient LED lights by March, 2019.

• SLNP is being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture company of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under Ministry of Power.

• While LED usage addresses the need for affordable energy-efficient infrastructure, the future- readiness of India’s street lights also needed to be addressed, leading EESL to adopt “smart light” deployment.

• These “smart lights” are connected through a web-based monitoring system that enables remote operations and additional operational savings.

What is the business model adopted by EESL for the programme?

• To bring in mass-scale transformation, EESL has adopted a unique strategy by joining hands with states, municipal bodies and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

• Under the programme, EESL replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs, with no upfront investment by the municipalities, thereby making their adoption even more attractive.

• Over a period, EESL is repaid through the consequent reduction in energy and maintenance cost of the municipality.

• A seven-year contract with the local bodies guarantees a minimum energy saving of typically 50% and provides free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional cost to the civic partners.

• EESL’s business model has enabled a new paradigm that is attractive, scalable and has overcome barriers preventing the replacement of street lights.

• For instance, the Centralised Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) for remote operation and supervising have mitigated the lack of monitoring mechanism and warranties against technical defects.

What are the objectives of the programme?

• Mitigate climate change by implementing energy efficient LED based street lighting.

• Reduce energy consumption in lighting which helps DISCOMs to manage peak demand.

• Provide a sustainable service model that obviates the need for upfront capital investment as well as additional revenue expenditure to pay for procurement of LED lights.

• Enhance municipal services at no upfront capital cost of municipalities. What was the news about?


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• The Centre is likely to miss the goals it had set under the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) when it was launched in January, 2015.

• The target is to to replace 1.34 crore conventional street lights with energy efficient LED street lights by March 2019, but the EESL has installed over 76.77 lakh LED street lights in 28 States or Union Territories till January 3, 2019.

• This goal is likely to be missed as a little over just half has been attained till now.

• SLNP has not been implemented so far in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya and Union Territories of Daman & Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.

What is Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)?

• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is a joint venture of four national Public-Sector Undertakings:

o NTPC Limited, o Power Finance Corporation

Limited, o Rural Electrification Corporation

Limited, and o POWERGRID Corporation of

India Limited.

• EESL leads the market-related activities of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE), one of the eight national missions under the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

• Founded in 2009 by the Government of India, EESL has reduced India's carbon footprint, peak energy demand, and electricity bills through energy efficiency intervention projects worth Rs. 43 billion in domestic lighting.

• EESL implements the world’s largest energy efficiency portfolio: o Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA): World’s largest zero-subsidy domestic LED

bulb programme. o Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP): World’s largest street light replacement programme o Agriculture Demand Side management (AgDSM): World’s largest Agricultural Demand Side

Management programme

Tokenization

Reserve Bank of India recently released guidelines on tokenisation for various card transactions, including from debit and credit cards. What is Tokenization?

• Tokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols, known as “tokens”, for a combination of card, token requestor and device.

• Tokenization may be used to safeguard sensitive data involving, for example, bank accounts, financial statements, medical records, criminal records, driver's licenses, loan applications, stock trades, voter registrations, and other types of personally identifiable information (PII).

• Tokenization makes it more difficult for hackers to gain access to cardholder data, as compared with older systems in which credit card numbers were stored in databases and exchanged freely over networks.


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• Often, tokenization is used to prevent credit card fraud. In credit card tokenization, the customer’s primary account number (PAN) is replaced with a series of randomly-generated numbers, which is called the “token.”

• These tokens can then be passed through the internet or the various wireless networks needed to process the payment without actual bank details being exposed.

• The actual bank account number is held safe in a secure token vault.

What are the guidelines released by the RBI?

• RBI recently released guidelines on tokenisation for various card transactions, including from debit and credit cards.

• Instead of using actual card details, this token is used to perform card transactions in contactless mode at point of sale (POS) terminals, quick response (QR) code payments.

• RBI has given permission to offer tokenised card transactions services to all channels such as near field communication (NFC), magnetic secure transmission (MST) based contactless transactions, in-app payments, QR code-based payments or token storage mechanisms, including cloud, secure element and trusted execution environment.

• This move could be extremely beneficial for mobile wallets, apps which allow cards to be stored for future transactions and also enhance the safety angle for contactless payments.

• The regulator has clearly said that additional factor authentication (AFA)/PIN entry will still be applicable for tokenized card transactions.

• The RBI has also given the customer options to register or deregister for these services and will be able to set limits of transactions, number of transactions among other facilities.

• At present, tokenised card transaction facility would be offered through mobile phones or tablets only and will be extended to other devices later based on experience.

• Tokenisation and de-tokenisation shall be performed only by the authorised card network and recovery of original Primary Account Number (PAN) should be feasible for the authorised card network only.

• A customer would not have to pay any charges for availing this service.

The impact of Crude Price shock on CAD, Inflation and Fiscal Deficit

A sudden surge in crude prices can upset the nation's key macro-stability parameters, as it can sharply spike the current account deficit (CAD), inflation and the fiscal numbers, whittling the benefits of higher growth, warns an RBI study. What is the background for the RBI study?


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• The international crude prices increased by around 12 per cent between April and September 2018.

• The mid-year spike in crude prices happened mainly due to spurt in demand, on the back of global growth revival, and partly due to geopolitical risks that led to supply-side shocks.

• This increase in crude prices was a big concern for all oil-importing countries, as their terms of trade showed signs of deterioration after a favourable stint since 2014.

• The Federal Reserve balance sheet normalisation has further added to the external sector vulnerability of these countries by putting pressure on their currency.

• Since mid-November 2018, the crude prices have declined significantly but they remain volatile.

• Against this backdrop, the RBI analysed the impact of a crude price shock (sudden increase) on India as it is heavily dependent on oil imports for satisfying its domestic demand.

What is the scenario for Crude Oil Trade in India?

• The volume of crude imports has been rising steadily at around 4.5 per cent per annum for India.

• In value terms, crude is the single largest import contributor and has consistently accounted for more than 20 per cent of India’s imports basket.

• Since India imports most of its crude, it remains susceptible to global crude price shocks.

• The silver lining in crude imports is that currently around one-third of these imports are re-exported after refining and other value addition.

• There is a complete pass-through of raw crude prices into re-exports as the demand for these exports is also inelastic.

What is the impact on Current Account Deficit (CAD)?

• An increase in crude price worsens the Current Account Deficit (CAD) for India and this adverse impact cannot be significantly contained through a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

• So, a crude price shock will be followed by high CAD to GDP ratio.

• As a rule of thumb, it can be inferred that every USD 10/barrel increase in crude prices leads to an additional USD 12.5 billion deficit, which is roughly 43 basis points (bps) of India’s GDP.

• So, every USD 10/barrel increase in crude price will shoot up the CAD/GDP ratio by 43 bps.

• In the worst case scenario, when crude prices hit USD 85/barrel, the deficit on account of oil balloons to USD 106.4 billion, which is 3.61 per cent of India’s GDP.

What is the impact on Inflation?

• A rise in global crude prices will increase the domestic price of crude products and increase domestic inflation if price increase is passed on directly to the final consumers.

• This impact of crude on consumer price index (CPI) comes from two channels: o First, the direct channel where crude products themselves appear as constituents in the CPI.


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o In the short run, a change in prices of crude products will affect the CPI directly due to their weighted contribution in the index.

o Second, over time the retail prices of all other commodities manufactured using crude as an input will also increase due to this shock and in turn affect the CPI again, which is the indirect effect.

o The net impact of the crude price increase on inflation is thus given by the sum of both direct and indirect effects.

• Under the most conservative estimate, it is quantified that a USD 10/barrel increase in crude price at the price of USD 65/barrel will lead to a 49 basis points (bps) increase in headline inflation.

• A similar increase at USD 55/barrel gives around a 58 bps increase in headline inflation.

What is the impact on Fiscal Deficit (FD)?

• The impact of an increase in crude prices on fiscal deficit would depend on several factors that include:

o pass-through of international prices to pump prices, o excise and custom duty, and o petroleum subsidy (budgeted around 0.14 of GDP for FY-19).

• So far, the present government has passed on the increase in international crude prices to domestic pump prices.

• However, going forward, if the government decides to absorb a part of the same, it could have an impact on the budget deficit.

• If the government decides upon a zero pass-through to the final consumers, a USD 10/barrel increase in the crude prices could increase the fiscal deficit by 43 bps.

What is the Conclusion?

• This RBI study has presented broad results on the impact of oil price shock on the Indian economy from an accounting perspective.

• On the external side, it is shown that India will remain vulnerable to such shocks due to its high import dependence.

• This vulnerability can lead to episodes of sharp increase in CAD and rising GDP growth would be insufficient to counter it.

• On the domestic front, such episodes will lead to surge in inflation or fiscal deficit or both, depending on how much of the increased prices the fiscal authority decides to pass-through.

• The actual inflation and fiscal deficit will finally depend on the level of government intervention (changes in tax and subsidy) in the domestic oil market.

Ama Ghare LED Scheme

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently launched the ‘Ama Ghare LED’ (LED bulbs in our houses) scheme which will benefit about 95 lakh families in the State. What are the provisions of the scheme?

• Under the scheme, each beneficiary family will get four LED bulbs free of cost.

• The LED bulbs would be of 9-watt each.

• The bulbs will be distributed to the beneficiaries registered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS).

• The free LED bulbs will be distributed at Panchayat offices as well as PEETHA (People’s Empowerment—Enabling Transparency and Accountability of Odisha Initiative) camps across the state.

• Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) will be implementing the scheme.


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• The beneficiaries will have to produce their bio-metric authentication to avail benefits under the scheme.

What are the reasons to launch such a scheme?

• People in rural areas use incandescent or CFL bulbs due to non-availability of quality LED bulbs at a reasonable price.

• Due to use of low quality bulbs, the consumers are forced to pay high electricity bills.

• To tackle this problem, the Department of Energy has come up with this scheme.

• These bulbs are of high quality and will help people reduce their hefty electricity bills.

Establishing Gas Trading Hub/Exchange (GTHE) in the country

It has been agreed to establish the gas trading hub(s)/exchange(s) in the country wherein the natural gas can be freely traded and supplied through a market mechanism. What is a Gas Trading Hub?

• The Gas Trading Hub is used as a central pricing point for a network’s natural gas i.e. the Hub determines the price of the gas based on supply and demand and market forces.

• Globally, the Hubs in their structure may differ widely depending upon the supply structure or level of infrastructure development or the geographical spread of user industries.

• In general, they require a deregulated pricing environment, where suppliers have the freedom to access imports or domestic supplies, while consumers have the flexibility of choosing their suppliers.

• There could be two types of Hubs:

o Physical Hubs

§ A Physical Hub is an actual physical point such as the Henry Hub in the US, where several pipelines connecting buyers and sellers converge and serve as a transit point for transportation for consumers, distributors and storage operators.

§ Here, parties are required to book the same quantity for both entry and exit on a point-to-point transaction mode, assuming that pre-agreed gas injected into the network at one point will be taken off at a predetermined location.

o Virtual Hubs

§ A virtual gas trading hub such as the National Balancing Point (NBP) in the UK provides a trading platform defined through a pipeline grid (interconnected pipelines with no point of origin or end) representing the entire country or a trans-regional zone, managed by a system operator.

§ Generally, it is seen that countries short of domestic natural gas supply relying on various sources of supplies including LNG imports have a virtual trading system with multiple entry-exit points.

§ All gas within the virtual hub can be traded, irrespective of its actual physical location. § Individual buyers and sellers can book different quantities for entry and exit into the system without

a predetermined destination, thus increasing the flexibility and ease of trading than a physical hub. § A virtual hub is expected to have a greater market depth and liquidity than a physical hub, since

there is no specific ‘location’ and there is flexibility to withdraw more than the traded quantity and yet pay for the excess withdrawal.

§ Virtual hubs avoid the need for parties to account for varying distance-based transmission cost that can make price comparisons difficult and complicates trading.

How the gas is priced in India?


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• Presently the price of domestically produced natural gas is fixed by the government through modified Rangarajan formula.

• Natural gas prices in the country are revised every six months based on the pricing formula notified in October 2014.

• The formula pegs the price to the weighted average of four global benchmarks including US-based Henry Hub, Canada-based Alberta gas, UK-based NBP and Russian gas prices registered in the past one year with one quarter lag.

• India is currently the fourth-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world, sourcing nearly 45% of its gas requirements from the international markets.

• While a large part of these imports is typically bilateral and long-term contracts indexed partly or wholly to crude oil prices, domestically-produced gas is sold on government-mandated prices.

• As a result, there had always been a discrepancy between prices received by domestic suppliers and the prices paid for the imported gas.


• India will soon set up a gas trading hub and have the price for domestically produced gas determined through this market.

• The establishment of a hub is an attempt to meet operators' demands for the adoption of a market-based gas-pricing regime.

• The gas-hub plan ties in with the government’s efforts to boost the share of natural gas in India's energy mix to 15% by 2030, from just over 6% now.

• In order to develop the national gas grid, Government has taken a decision to provide a capital grant of Rs.5176 crore (i.e. 40% of the estimated capital cost of Rs.12,940 Crore) to GAIL for development of a 2655 Km long Jagdishpur-Haldia/Bokaro-Dhamra Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project.

• This pipeline will transport Natural Gas to the industrial, commercial, domestic and transport sectors in the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

• In addition, Oil Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) namely IOCL, BPCL and HPCL have decided to set up an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex with a refining capacity of 60 MMTPA (Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum) at Babulwadi, Taluka Rajapur in Ratnagiri District in the state of Maharashtra.

What kind of Gas Hub would be best suited for India?

• With a 45% dependence on imports and coming through a few ports, and the advantages of virtual hubs over the physical hubs, the natural option for India would be to let all gas to enter and exit through a virtual hub.


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• But with few entry nodes, and pipelines with single convergence points at major trading centres such as Hazira and Dahej, it may suit well to start a market place following the physical hub model of the US and focus on developing interconnected pipelines to move towards a virtual hub being operated by a private system operator with a clear mandate.

• The successful British (NBP) and European experience (TTF in the Netherlands, PSV in Italy, etc.) have proved that virtual hubs can provide for rapid development of the respective underlying economy than a physical hub.

• Developing a virtual gas trading hub for its advantages would be an ideal solution in the long term for a country like India with larger gas consumption potential.

• But with a pipeline density of a mere 0.005 km per sq km, compared with 0.114 for the UK, India has a long way to go in terms of setting up a virtual hub.

• So, a practical approach could be to allow trading based on a physical hub on the west coast with a policy-cum-regulatory focus on development of right infrastructure to support market growth.

• The start of gas trading based on a physical hub can attract market participants within a short time-frame and improve liquidity, thus creating the right investment conditions for a growing gas market.

What could be the benefits of developing a Gas Trading Hub in India?

• A trading hub will permit market participants to buy and sell gas on a short-term or daily basis without having to go through a long-term planning/negotiation process.

• This will provide for purchase and sale of any shortfall or excess gas quickly and anonymously.

• Additionally, it will not only enable natural gas consumers optimise their supplies as per requirement, but also help the market in mitigating short-term price volatility.

• It will help encourage flow of investments in the upstream, thus stimulating domestic production, striking a better balance between imports and domestic suppliers.

• Moreover, a developed natural gas market can be a critical contributor to India’s prosperity and economic growth, as is evidenced in developed countries such as the US.

• The establishment of a virtual natural gas trading hub with market-driven price will play a central role in reducing India’s LNG import, and promoting competition among value chain stakeholders.

• In the long run, this will help create a regional benchmark to facilitate trading in financial contracts on derivative exchanges.

• Eventually, this will place India on the global map as a hub for LNG and gas trading activities, a crucial step in safeguarding India’s energy security.

Henley Passport Index (HPI)

Japan takes the top spot in the Henley Passport Index 2019 with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a record total of 190 destinations. Who brings out the index?

• The index is compiled by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners and rankings are based on "exclusive" data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

• It was started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI) and was modified and renamed in January 2018.

What is the index all about?

• The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom for their citizens.

• The index provides a ranking of the 199 passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free.


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• The index is updated in real-time, as and when visa-policy changes come into effect.

• The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free 'score'.

• All distinct destination countries and territories in the IATA database are considered.

• However, since not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports to be ranked than destinations against which queries are made.

What are the HPI 2019 rankings?

• Offering its citizens visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a record total of 190 destinations Japan takes the top spot in the Henley Passport Index 2019.

• Singapore and South Korea come in joint second place while third place is shared by France and Germany.

• That the top countries in the list are all Asian, along with other significant movers from the region, shows that many Asia nations are "sustaining a high comfort level with mutually beneficial economic migration.”

• Iraq and Afghanistan have once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passports in the world.

• India jumped from the 81st position from last year to the 79th in the New Year.

• Elsewhere in the region, China jumped almost 20 places in just two years, from 85th in 2017 to 69th this year.

• Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal ranked further low at 104, 102 and 94 respectively.

• European countries also performed favorably, with European Union member states (along with Norway and the US) filling in the places behind the top three nations -- although the UK continues to drop down the rankings, along with the US.

• The two held joint-first position in 2015. What is International Air Transport Association (IATA)?

• The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines.

• Consisting of 290 airlines, primarily major carriers, representing 117 countries, the IATA's member airlines account for carrying approximately 82% of total air traffic.

• IATA supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy on critical aviation issues.

• It is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with Executive Offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) 2018

National Entrepreneurship Awards 2018 were presented recently by the Minister of Commerce and Industry & Civil Aviation Shri Suresh Prabhu and the Minister of state for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Ananthkumar Hegde. What are the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA)?


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• The National Entrepreneurship Awards have been instituted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE) in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country.

• These premier awards seek to recognise and honour entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship ecosystem builders for their outstanding efforts.

• The National Entrepreneurship Awards seek to recognise the efforts and achievements of exceptional entrepreneurs and those individuals and organisations who are working in the field of entrepreneurship development.

• The Awards also seek to highlight models of excellence for others to emulate and improve upon.

• The Award Winner Will Receive Award money of INR 5 lakh each to the enterprise/individuals and INR 10 lakh each to the organizations/institutes, Trophy and a Certificate.

How the awards are divided in different categories?

• The awards are classified into three investment categories: o below Rs 1 Lakh, o between Rs 1 Lakh to10 Lakhs, and o between Rs10 Lakhs to Rs1 Crore; covering small to big first-generation entrepreneurs below the

age of 40 years.

• This is to ensure that entrepreneurs from every socio-economic category take part in the award and they are duly recognised for their meaningful contribution to the economy of the nation.


• National Entrepreneurship Awards 2018, aimed at recognizing and honoring outstanding young first-generation entrepreneurs and those who have contributed immensely in building the entrepreneurship ecosystem, were presented recently.

• In this third edition of National Entrepreneurship Awards, this year, a total of 43 awards were presented, including 39awards for Young Entrepreneurs in different sectors and 4 awards for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders.

• The winners received a trophy, certificate and cash prizes ranging from Rs. 5 to 10 lakhs.

‘One Family, One Job’

Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Chamling launched ‘One Family, One Job’ scheme recently. What is this scheme?

• This scheme will give employment to a member of every family which does not have a government job in the state of Sikkim.

• Appointment letters were given to 12,000 youths at “Rojgar Mela” (employment fair) organised in Gangtok.

• New jobs to around 20,000 unemployed youth will be given immediately in the state.

• Although initially these posts will be temporary but they will get permanent after a serving period of 5 years.

• All these jobs are of Group C and Group D.

• Sikkim is the only state in India whose 70% expenditure with respect to total revenue collected, is on salary of employees.

• Sikkim is the state with a population of around 6.5 lacs and has 1 lac regular government employees.

• The ratio in it is around 1 employee for 6.5 people. What are the benefits of this scheme?


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• This scheme will definitely benefits lowest segment of society.

• These families that have no source of income will be befitted by the state government.

• This scheme will help to eradicate poverty from the currently Sikkim has a poverty of around 8 percent.

• Generally it is seen that in educated families so many members of a single family have the government jobs, which does segmentation in society.

• Government jobs are confined to few families.

• This scheme will manage this segmentation of society upto some extend.

Why other states cannot afford this scheme?

• The most common and evident argument in favour of Sikkim is its population size as compared with northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

• If the scheme were to be rolled out in these highly populated states, it would put a huge fiscal burden on them.

• For example, if Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of nearly 19.98 crore (as per census 2011) opt for the scheme, it will have to divert a huge chunk of its budgetary allocation towards employees' salary disbursement, leaving little room for other schemes.

• Same is in the case of neighbouring state Bihar which has a population of nearly 10.41 crore where 60 out of every 1,000 people are unemployed.

• State has its own schemes, like Kushal Yuva Programme (KYP) and Aarakshit Rozgar, Mahiloan ko Adhikar, which have hardly made ground.

• Meanwhile, Sikkim, the second smallest state in India, has a population size of 6.10 lakh with on an average 5 persons living in a family.

• This means, if the Sikkim government succeeds in keeping its promise, 1,22,000 families will be entitled to the employee benefits, which will cost the exchequer Rs 250 crore annually.

• The total cost of employment will not be very challenging to meet.

• As of now, Sikkim has nearly 1 lakh regularised employees on its pay rolls.

KRUSHAK ASSISTANCE FOR LIVELIHOOD AND INCOME AUGMENTATION (KALIA) SCHEME

Odisha cabinet has approved the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme, worth over Rs. 10,000 crore, for the development of farmers in the state. What is this scheme?

• The scheme provides an amount of Rs. 10,000 per family at the rate of Rs. 5,000 each for Kharif and Rabi seasons shall be provided as financial assistance for taking up cultivation.

• It also has a component for livelihood support for landless households and the landless households will have the option of selecting any of the units.

• This assistance is for five crop seasons spanning three years from 2018-19 to 2021-22, so as to ensure comprehensive coverage.

• The scheme, among others, will particularly benefit scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.

• The deserving families will be identified and selected by gram panchayats.

• Further, life insurance cover of ₹2 lakh and additional personal accident cover of ₹2 lakh will be provided to both cultivators and agricultural labourers covering about 57 lakh households.

• All the small and marginal farmers of the State (92% cultivators) will be covered under the scheme.

• This component is not linked to extent of land owned and will greatly benefit share croppers and actual cultivators most of whom own very small extent of land.


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• Under this initiative, 10 lakh landless households will be supported to take up activities like small goat rearing units, mini layer units, duck units, fishery kits for fishermen and women, mushroom cultivation and bee keeping.

What is the significance of KALIA Scheme?

• All the small and marginal farmers of the State (92% cultivators) will be covered under the scheme.

• The farmers will have complete independence to take up interventions as per their needs.

• KALIA is progressive, inclusive and will make a direct attack on poverty by way of massive investment in the agriculture sector and making benefits reach the neediest through direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.

• Under this initiative, 10 lakh landless households will be supported with a unit cost of ₹12,500 to take up activities like small goat rearing units, mini layer units, duck units, fishery kits for fishermen and women, mushroom cultivation and bee keeping.

Womaniya on GeM

The commerce ministry has said Government eMarketplace (GeM) has launched an initiative to enable women entrepreneurs and self-help groups to sell different products on the platform. What is this initiative?

• Government e Marketplace (GeM) has launched “Womaniya on GeM”.

• It is an initiative to enable women entrepreneurs and women self-help groups (WSHGs) to sell

o handicrafts and handloom, o accessories, o jute and coir products, o home décor, and o office furnishings--directly to various Government ministries, departments and institutions.

• The initiative aligns with Government’s initiatives for MSMEs, especially to reserve 3 percent in government procurement from women entrepreneurs.

What are the essence and benefits of the Womaniya initiative?

• The initiative seeks to develop women entrepreneurship on the margins of society to achieve gender-inclusive economic growth.

• Nearly 80 percent women-owned establishments are self-financed and,

• More than 60 percent of 8 million units are owned and or led by women entrepreneurs from socially-challenged sections of the society.

• Since women tend to invest up to 90 percent of their earnings back in their families to provide better nutrition, health care and education to their children, economic empowerment of women is a step in the direction of poverty alleviation.

• Artist Anukta M Ghosh’s artwork “Magan”, an illustration of women empowerment and grace, is the face of Womaniya on GeM.

• Womaniya homepage will inform procurement officers in various government ministries, departments and CPSEs about the drive to promote procurement of common use goods and services from women entrepreneurs.

• India has approximately 500 million Internet users and nearly 54 percent of them are more than 25 years of age with higher discretionary income and likely to transact more online.

• Half of internet users reside in small towns and present new opportunities for e-commerce and most importantly women constitute 33 percent or 143 million Internet users and control 44 percent of household spending in India.


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• Womaniya on GeM will spur hyper-local economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs and address goals and objectives under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

What is Government e Marketplace (GeM)?

• Government e Marketplace is a 100 percent government owned company setup under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry for procurement of common use goods and services by Government ministries, departments and CPSEs.

• GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement.

• It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money.

• GeM was setup in 2016 and has 731,431 product categories, with 180,862 registered sellers and 32,114 government buyers.

• Since inception, GeM has processed 1,171,761 orders worth Rs. 16,976 crores in gross merchandise values.

Space for Notes


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Tsunami of e-waste

'Tsunami of e-waste' to hit the world soon, warns new UN report. What is E-Waste problem?

• E-waste is one of the fastest growing

waste streams in the world

• The Global E-Waste Monitor

estimates that 44.7 million tonnes

(mt) of e-waste was generated in

2016

• India was the fourth-largest

generator (2 mt) after China (7.2 mt),

the US (6.3 mt) and Japan (2.1 mt) in

2016

• As Indians spend more on electronic

items and appliances with rising

incomes, e-waste is expected to

continue to grow rapidly

What are the reasons for rising e-waste?

• E-waste is generated when electrical or electronic equipment (EEE) is discarded, or returned within

warranty, by consumers, and also from manufacturing and repair.

• Discarded laptops, desktops, cell phones and their batteries, air conditioners and television sets,

cables and wires, tube lights and CFLs which contain mercury, are some examples of e-waste

• While technology obsolescence creates e-waste (for example, landline phones, 2G vs 4G), power

supply voltage surges which damage electronics are a major factor contributing to India’s e-waste

• India enjoys a frugal hand-me-down culture with a long line of re-users from a younger sibling to a

maid to her village.

• As a result, our e-waste takes a lot longer to reach end of life

• An additional problem arises when developed countries export their e-waste for recycling and/or

disposal (legally or illegally) to developing countries, including India.

What is the UN report?

• To highlight the rising challenge posed discarded electronics worldwide, seven UN entities have

come together.

• They launched the report- “A New Circular Vision for Electronics – Time for a Global

Reboot”- at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

• The aim is to offer some solutions to a behemoth-sized problem that is making the world sicker and

adding to environmental degradation.

ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY & BIODIVERSITY


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• The joint report calls for a new vision for e-waste based on the “circular economy” concept, whereby

a regenerative system can minimize waste and energy leakage.

What is the International convention in this regard?

• E-waste export is regulated under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary

Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal

• It has been ratified by 188 nations.

So where is the crisis?

• It lies in the fact that globally, only up to 20% of e-waste is recycled.

• The rest is undocumented and experts predict that it gets buried under the ground in landfills for

centuries as it is not biodegradable.

What are the solutions to the crisis reported by UN?

• The report calls for systematic collaboration with major brands, small and medium-sized enterprises,

academia, trade unions, civil society.

• It suggests associations in a deliberative process to reorient the system and reduce the waste of

resources each year with a value greater than the GDP of most countries.

• To capture the global value of materials in e-waste and create global circular value chains,

• Use new technology to create service business models,

• Better product tracking and manufacturer or retailer take-back programmes.

• The report notes that

o material efficiency, o recycling infrastructure and o scaling up the volume and quality of recycled materials to meet the needs of electronics supply

chains will all be essential for future production.

• The producers should also have buy-back or return offers for old equipment, and plans to incentivise

the consumer financially.

• The report also advocates a system of ‘urban mining’ by strengthening the extended producer

responsibility provision.

• If the electronics sector is supported with the right policy mix and managed in the right way, it could

lead to the creation of millions of decent jobs worldwide.

What is E-waste Coalition?

• The report supports the work of the E-waste Coalition, which includes

o International Labour Organization (ILO); o International Telecommunication Union (ITU); o United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment); o United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); o United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); o United Nations University (UNU) and o Secretariats of the Basel and Stockholm Conventions.

Why worry about e-waste?

• Organic and easily recyclable metal, glass and plastic waste need not permanently remain in landfills.


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• But hard-to-recover substances from e-waste like mercury make their home in landfills and keep

leaching into ground water.

• In recent years, its e-waste has grown faster than earlier anticipated.

• The Greenpeace study found e-waste growing at 15% annually and projected it to go up to 800,000

tonnes by 2012.

• But it stood at 1.7 million tonnes in 2014, the fifth highest in the world, according to a UN study.

• In India, e waste accounts for 4% of global e-waste and 2.5% of global GDP (2014 figures) – so it

has a higher share of e-waste than its share of gross domestic product (GDP). For China, the two

ratios are about the same.

• The US, on the other hand, accounts for a lower share of global e-waste than its share of GDP.

• According to a 2011 Rajya Sabha secretariat study, e-waste accounts for 70% of Indian landfills.

• If penetration of electronics and electrical products in India by 2030 have to grow even to today’s

average world capita which leads to e waste of 6 kg per capita.

• The absolute e-waste generation for India will grow five times the current level to 9 million tonnes

in 2030.

Why it is difficult to manage e waste in India?

• The producers/manufacturers do not have adequate information on their website regarding e waste

management.

• Customer care representatives do not have inkling about any take back or recycling programme and

even if they have set up collection centres, they are simply not enough for a geographically vast

country like India.

• India being a vast country, setting up collection mechanism is a big challenge.

• If any of the brands try individually to reach out to all corners of the country, it will economically

not be sustainable or feasible.

• Improper enforcement of the existing laws is another hurdle.

Gadgil Report and Kasturirangan Report on Western Ghats The Committee on Government Assurances in the Rajya Sabha has urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to constitute a committee to address the issues and grievances of local people in Western Ghats. The committee has submitted a report in this regard. What is the importance of western Ghats?

• The Western Ghats is an extensive region spanning over six states, 44 districts and 142 taluks.

• It is the home of many endangered plants and animals.

• Western Ghats host India’s richest wilderness in 13 national parks and several sanctuaries.

• Recognised by UNESCO as one of the world’s eight most important biodiversity hotspots, these

forested hills are also sourcing to numerous rivers, including the Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery.

• The Western Ghats acts as a huge water tank supplying water to six states.

• Now there are many leakages and there is a water shortage.

• All the rivers are running dry now.

• And wherever there is water, it is highly polluted.

• Under this Government was accorded vast discretion to expropriate land for supposed public use.


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• Requirements of due process were scant, and the amount of money paid in return for land was often

inadequate.

• The Western Ghats needs high attention in the sustainability aspect of whole India and especially

South India.

• Ministry of Environment and Forests of India set up in March 2010 an expert panel (Gadgil

commission) to find a strategy for

conserving these Ghats.

What is Madhav Gadgil Committee Report on the Western Ghats?

• Gadgil Commission, an

environmental research commission

is named after its chairman Madhav

Gadgil.

• The commission is formally known as

Western Ghats Ecology Expert

Panel (WGEEP).

What are the recommendations of Gadgil Committee?

• The Western Ghats Ecology Expert

Panel (WGEEP) designated the

entire hill range as an Ecologically

Sensitive Area (ESA).

• The panel, in its report, has classified

the 142 taluks in the Western Ghats

boundary into Ecologically Sensitive

Zones (ESZ) 1, 2 and 3.

• ESZ-1 being of high priority, almost

all developmental activities (mining,

thermal power plants etc) were restricted in it.

• Gadgil report recommended that “no new dams based on large-scale storage be permitted in

Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1.

• Gadgil Committee report specifies that the present system of governance of the environment should

be changed.

• It asked for a bottom to top approach (right from Gram sabhas) rather than a top to bottom

approach.

• It also asked for decentralization and more powers to local authorities.

• The commission recommended constitution of a Western Ghats Ecology Authority (WGEA), as a

statutory authority under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, with the powers under Section

3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

What are the Criticisms of Madhav Gadgil Report?


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• The major criticism faced by Gadgil Committee report was that it was more environment-friendly

and not in tune with the ground realities.

• Recommendations were cited as impractical to implement.

• Gadgil report has asked for a complete eco-sensitive cover for the Western Ghats which hamper

different states on energy and development fronts.

• There was a criticism against the

constitution of a new body called WGEA.

• States insist that protection can be given

under existing laws.

• It doesn’t give a solution for revenue losses

due to the implementation of its

recommendations.

• It is against dams in the Western Ghats,

which is a crucial blow on the ailing power

sector.

• Considering the growing energy needs of

India, critics argue that this recommendation

cannot be taken.

• The Gadgil Committee report adversely

affects the various mafia.

What are the recommendations Kasturirangan committee on the Western Ghats?

• Instead of the total area of Western Ghats,

only 37% (i.e. 60,000 sq. km.) of the total

area be brought under ESA under

Kasturirangan report.

• A complete ban on mining, quarrying and

sand mining in ESA.

• Distinguished between cultural (58%

occupied in the Western Ghats by it like

human settlements, agricultural fields and

plantations) and natural landscape (90% of it

should come under ESA according to the

committee).

• Current mining areas in the ESA should be phased out within the next five years, or at the time of

expiry of mining lease, whichever is earlier.

• No thermal power be allowed and hydropower projects are allowed only after detailed study.

• Red industries i.e. which are highly polluting be strictly banned in these areas.

• Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats has made several pro-farmer recommendations,

including the exclusion of inhabited regions and plantations from the purview of ecologically

sensitive areas (ESAs).

• The Kasturirangan report had said 123 villages fall under the ESA purview.


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What are Criticisms of Kasturirangan committee Report?

• The Kasturirangan panel used remote sensing and aerial

survey methods for zonal demarcation of land in the

Western Ghats.

• The usage of such techniques, without examining the

ground reality, has caused many errors in the report.

• The power is vested with the bureaucrats and forest

officials and not with gram sabhas.

• Many fears that the farmers would get evicted if the

Kasturirangan Committee report is implemented.

• Under this report, the mining and quarrying lobbies are

expected to flourish.

• When these lobbies and tourism flourish, it will be

disastrous for the environment.

• There will be a water shortage, there will be pollution.

• Finally, farmers will have to quit the area.

• They will not be able to do farming there.

• The use of “erroneous method” had caused inclusion of

many villages under Ecologically Sensitive Areas (ESA)

though there were only rubber plantations and no forest

land!

• Kasturirangan report included ecologically non-sensitive

areas under ESA, and left out many ecologically sensitive

areas!

• As people turned violent and started protests, Oommen Chandy, the then Chief Minister of Kerala

set up an expert committee

What are the recent important observations made by the committee?

• Over 56,000 square kilometres of ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) in the Western Ghats could not

be earmarked as ‘no-go’ zones due to State

governments’ ‘insensitivity’.

• The recent monsoon floods in Kerala and

parts of Karnataka should serve as alarm

bells for the administrations in the States of

Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala,

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which have

failed to mark ESA in the Western Ghats.

• The committee is of the view that

implementation of the recommendations

of the Kasturirangan report is only possible

with active support of local population.

• It also requires consultation with the State

government at micro level to achieve the objectives of saving the Western Ghats.


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Climate Change Performance Index

India ranks 11th in this year’s CCPI, improving its standing by three places compared to the previous edition. What is Climate Change Performance Index?

• The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is an annual publication by Germanwatch and

Climate Action Network Europe.

• It evaluates the climate protection performance of 58 countries, responsible for over 90% of global

energy-related CO2 emissions.

• The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) compares countries in the areas of

o emissions trends and levels, o expansion and use of renewable energies, o energy efficiency and o climate policies.

• The CCPI is a tool designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics.

Its aim is to encourage political and social pressure on those countries which have failed to take ambitious

actions on climate protection as well as to highlight countries with best-practice climate policies.

• On the basis of standardised criteria, the index evaluates and compares the climate protection

performance of 58 countries that are, together, responsible for more than 90 percent of global

energy-related CO2 emissions.

• 80 percent of the evaluation is based on objective indicators of emissions trend and emissions level.

• 20 percent of the index results are built upon national and international climate policy assessments

by about 300 experts from the respective countries.

What is India’s Performance?

• India ranks 11th in

this year’s CCPI,

improving its

standing by three

places compared to

the previous edition.

• Most notably India

improved its

performance in the

Renewable Energy category, joining the group of medium

• However, national experts argue that plans to build new coal-fired power plants may pose a risk of

offsetting positive developments in the renewable energy sector.

• Comparatively low levels of per capita GHG emissions and a relatively ambitious mitigation target

for 2030 give India an overall high rating in the emissions category.

What is the global performance?

• Only few countries have started working towards limiting global warming below 2°C or even at

1.5°C.

• Globally, Sweden is in top position, followed by Morocco and Lithuania in the CCPI 2019.


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• The bottoms five in the list are Saudi Arabia, U.S., Iran, South Korea and Taiwan.

AGRI-VISION 2019

Inaugurating Agri-Vision 2019 on Envisioning Agro Solutions for Smart and Sustainable Agriculture at Hyderabad, VP stressed the need for a concerted action from all stakeholders to find comprehensive, long-term solutions to the multiple challenges faced by the agriculture sector.

What are the facts about Indian Agriculture?

• Agriculture sector accounts for 18 per cent of

India’s GDP and provides employment to 50

per cent of the workforce of the country.

• The Gross Value Added by agriculture,

forestry and fishing is estimated at Rs 17.67

trillion (US$ 274.23 billion) in FY18.

• During 2017-18 crop year, food grain

production is estimated at record 284.83

million tonnes.

• The introduction of high yielding varieties,

irrigation facilities, increased input flow

through fertilizers and pesticides, farm mechanization, credit facilities, price support, and other rural

infrastructure facilities ushered the green revolution over the past few decades.

• Growth of Agricultural sector is important for inclusive growth and poverty alleviation.

• Need for concerted efforts from all stake holders to find long term solution to various challenges

faced by Agricultural sector, Loan waiver is only a temporary relief but proves futile in long run in

addressing Farmers concerns

• India today is not only self-sufficient in respect of demand for food, but is also a net exporter of

agri-products occupying seventh position globally.

• It is one of the top producers of cereals (wheat & rice), pulses, fruits, vegetables, milk, meat and

marine fish.

• However, we are still facing deficit of pulses and oilseeds.

• Although, the availability of fruits, vegetables, milk, meat and fish has increased, the most important

aspect is to ensure access and affordability to a vast majority of Indians, including farmers.

• Food processing industry

o Plays a critical role in improving agrarian economy, raising farm incomes, reducing wastages, ensuring value addition, promoting crop diversification and generating employment opportunities as well as export earnings.

o Vital link between agriculture and industry. o The Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest. o The Indian Long-Termessing industry accounts for 32 per cent of the country’s total food

market, one of the largest industries in India.

• Organic Farming

o India holds a unique position among 172 countries practicing organic agriculture. o India is home to 30 per cent of the total organic producers in the world, but accounts for just

2.59 per cent (1.5 million hectares) of the total organic cultivation area of 57.8 million hectares.

• Horticulture


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o leading horticultural country of the world with a total annual fruits and vegetable production of 306.82 million tonnes during 2017-18

o India is the second largest fruit producer in the world.

• Livestock

o Has been growing faster than crop sector. o The contribution of livestock output to the total output of the agriculture sector has

significantly increased from 15 per cent in 1981-82 to 29 per cent in 2015-16 o acts as cushion and engine for agricultural growth.

• Dairy industry

o India is also the world’s second largest milk producer and is emerging as a major exporter now. o It is contributing around 26 per cent to total agriculture GDP.

What are the challenges for Indian agriculture?

• Climate change, fragmented land holding, increase in demand for food, stagnating farm incomes,

declining productivity, diminishing and declining natural resources etc.

• Lack of favourable terms of trade, vagaries of monsoon, technology not reaching farmers in time,

absence of proper marketing strategies etc.

• 85 per cent farmers are small and marginal with land holding of less than 2 hectares.

• Linking these small farmers with market is another major challenge in our system.

• To enhance the farmers’ income, it is necessary to link them with marketers, traders and exporters.

• Challenges for food security in the 21st century is not only improving productivity but also yield

stability through the development of crops which are disease-resistant, pest-resistant and adaptable

to climate change.

What are the solutions?

• Some ways to address the issues:

o accord top priority to farmer-oriented marketing, o providing adequate cold storage facilities and refrigerator vans, o focusing on food processing through value addition, o extending timely and affordable credit to farmers and ensuring that innovations and o technologies reach the farmers, researchers and farm experts to come out with solutions to the

multi-dimensional problems faced by the farming sector.

• United efforts by governments, scientific community, Krishi Vigyana Kendras and farmers to realize

the ambitious goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

• Students pursuing agri courses must spend at least six months with farmers to have a first-hand

understanding of the problems faced by the latter.

• Adopt the latest technologies from seeds to post harvest management to marketing and to improve

productivity on par with the other leading nations.

• The use of Information Technology, Space Technology, Geo-Informatics, Internet of Things (IoT),

Block Chain Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics and their first-mile

connectivity to farmers is vital for enhancing farm incomes.

• Digital technologies can also help in countering vagaries in farming and optimising the resources.

What are the government initiatives?

• Improve soil fertility on a sustainable basis through the soil health card scheme.

• Provide improved access to irrigation and enhanced water efficiency through Pradhan Mantri Krishi

Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).


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• Support organic farming through Paramparagat KrishiVikasYojana (PKVY).

• Creation of a unified national agriculture market to boost the income of farmers.

• To mitigate risk in agriculture sector, “Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) has been

launched for implementation from Kharif 2016.

• Focusing on irrigation with schemes like “Per Drop More Crop”,

• Provision of quality seeds and nutrients based on soil health,

• Setting up warehouses and cold chains to prevent post-harvest crop losses,

• Promoting value addition through food processing,

• Creating a National Farm Market,

• Removing distortions and e-platform across 585 Stations.

• To achieve the target of doubling farmer income by 2022 increasing investments in agricultural R&D

and

• Rolling out efficient institutional reforms are vital to tackle the emerging challenges in agriculture,

including food and nutrition security both at national and regional levels.

South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH)

A major international research programme is being carried out to tackle the challenge that nitrogen pollution poses for environment, food security, human health and the economy in South Asia. What is the significance of nitrogen?

• Nitrogen is the fifth most abundant element in

the Universe.

• It constitutes 78% of Earth's air.

• In the form of gas, it is colourless, odourless and

generally considered as inert gas.

• In the form of liquid, it is also colourless and

odourless and looks like water.

• Nitrogen is essential to life on Earth.

• The compounds of Nitrogen are present in organic materials, foods, fertilizers, explosives and

poisons.

• No doubt it is essential component for life but in excess everything is dangerous and so is Nitrogen

to the environment.

• Human Acceleration of the Nitrogen Cycle:

o Managing Risks and Uncertainty report produced by the OECD in collaboration with the UNICEF Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen (TERN), revealed that

o pollution caused by Nitrogen is being overlooked as governments continue to focus simply on carbon emissions, ignoring the growing risks to health and the environment.

What is Nitrogen pollution?

• Nitrogen makes plants grow but too much nitrogen flows to rivers, bays etc. which disturbs marine

life and kills fishes.

• According to scientist’s nitrogen pollution from fertilizers and other sources has become a major

environmental problem that threatens human health and welfare in several ways.

• Nitrogen pollution is caused by excess of nitrogen and phosphorous in air and water.


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• Too much nitrogen and phosphorous in the water causes algae to grow faster than ecosystems can

handle.

What are the impacts of Nitrogen Pollution?

• Half of the world’s population depends on nitrogen fertilisers for food consumption and since the

beginning of the 20th century

• The amount of nitrogen in chemically reactive forms has doubled.

• Nitrogen pollution significantly depends upon the local factors.

• Atmospheric emissions of nitrogen oxides reduce air quality by depleting the ozone layer.

• When it combined with ammonia via particulate matter, increases human health risk like respiratory

diseases and cancer.

• In water bodies the presence of nitrates contributes to the eutrophication in lakes and coastal areas,

impacting fisheries and drinking water quality.

• Not only this, nitrogen also damage ecosystems through acidification of soils and seas.

• As nitrogen change its form and

can be found in the air, water and

soils like

o nitrogen dioxide from cars can create ground-level ozone and then changes it to nitric acid which enters the soil and leech into groundwater.

• This changing nature of the

chemical makes it difficult to

track.

• To tackle the problem of

nitrogen pollution it is necessary

to report among other measures,

o suggests limiting the use of nitrogen in agriculture and industries,

o Detailed monitoring and reporting its effects and policies to regulate it at the national level. Why it is necessary to curb the use of nitrogen in the fertilizers?

• Nitrogen is an essential building block for amino acids, proteins and DNA.

• The growth of plants depends upon it.

• Animals and people get it from eating plants or other animals.

• As we know that all the nutrients in our food originally come from the soil.

• To make crops healthy with full of nutrients it is necessary for the farmers to make soil healthy and

for this farmer use nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium and potassium.

• These nutrients allow plants to grow.

• But if nutrients level is too low then the plant cannot function properly.

• After harvesting the crop for human consumption, it is necessary to re-fill the nutrients into the soil.

• Nutrients can be added from a variety of sources like organic matter, chemical fertilizers and even

by some plants.


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• In this way fertility of the soil is maintained and farmer continue to grow nutritious crops and healthy

crops.

What are the applications of Nitrogen?

• Nitrogen is present in pharmacological drugs. It is used as anaesthetic, in the form of nitrous oxide.

• In the form of gas as Cryopreservation it is used to conserve egg, blood, sperm and other biological

specimens.

• In computer CPUs it is used in the form of gas to keep them away from heating. X-ray detectors

also rely on this element. Several industries use it to destroy toxic liquids and vapours in industrial

tools.

• It is also used as oxidation reaction catalyst. Used as flour bleaching agent and rocket fuel. It is also

used in making lights bulbs.

• Used in packaged foods i.e. to preserve the freshness of packaged foods. Used as fertilisers.

• In making explosives it is also used. In making electronic parts that is transistors, integrated circuits

and diodes.

• It is used in manufacturing stainless steel, electroplating processes for making more resistant to

corrosion. It is used as dielectric gas for high voltage equipment.

• Used in pharmaceuticals as a constituent of almost major class of drugs including antibiotics, as an

anaesthetic agent etc.

What is South Asian Nitrogen Hub?

• The South Asian Nitrogen Hub, a partnership led by the UK’s Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

• It is comprising around 50 organisations from across the UK and South Asia

• It will be established with funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under its Global

Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

• The Hub is one of 12 GCRF hubs announced by the UKRI to address intractable challenges in

sustainable development.

• The interdisciplinary hubs will work across 85 countries with governments, international agencies,

partners and NGOs.

• India is a major partner with 18 Indian institutions in this project. India is the only country in South

Asia that has completed its nitrogen assessment over a year ago

• It is already co-leading the South Asian nitrogen assessment with CEH, UK, for the UN

Environment.

National Clean Air Programme

A time bound national level strategy for pan India implementation to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner in the form of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in New Delhi.

What is National Clean Air Programme?

• National Clean Air Programme is the latest initiative taken by the government of India to create

strategies for reduction in air pollution levels at both regional and urban scale.


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• The Goal of NACP is to meet the prescribed annual average ambient air quality standards at all

locations in the country in a stipulated timeframe.

What is the objective of NACP?

• To augment the capacity of air quality monitoring network across the country to provide reliable

data on the state of air pollution.

• To solicit public participation in

planning and mitigation of air quality

issues through public outreach,

transparency by disseminating data

in public domain.

• To have realistic and measurable

goals for prevention, mitigation and

abetment of air pollution in a time-

bound manner.

What are the tools to attain the proposed objective?

• National Air Quality Monitoring Program (NAMP):

o NAMP will help in determining the status of ambient air quality, and to ascertain the degree of violation of the air quality standards.

o This will help is identifying the non-attainment cities and corrective actions will be taken.

• National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS):

o NAAQS provides air quality standards with reference to pollutants notified by the central board of pollution control.

o It provides a yardstick to measure air quality at the national level and indicates appropriate levels of pollutants that must not be breached for a healthy living.

• National Air Quality Index (AQI):

o AQI was launched in 2015 as a tool to effectively communicate the air quality to the general public.

o It simplifies the complex air pollution data and presents it in easy to understand forms like index value and colour-coding.

o The objective is to reach local public and solicit their cooperation in managing the problem by making them aware of the associated risks.

• Forty-Two Action Plan:

o These are set of action plans issued by the central board of pollution control to control and mitigate air pollution in major cities.

o It includes measures related to vehicular emission, re-suspension of road dust, municipal solid waste disposal, industrial pollution, and construction and demolition activities.

• Graded Response Action Plan:

o The Plan has been notified in Delhi and NCR. It comprises of graded measures for each source of air pollution framed according to the AQI categories.

o It helps to take effective measures during an episodic breach of pollution level such as burning of stubble in winter, increase in road dust, and fly ash in summer.

• Source Apportionment Studies:

o A cost-effective approach to control ambient air quality is to identify the emission source and take targeted actions to control the emissions.

o The source apportionment studies which is primarily based on measurements and tracking down the sources through receptor modelling helps in identifying the source and extent of their contribution


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• These tools are not new and most of them are in action but what NACP tries to attain is to use these

tools holistically and augment the necessary infrastructure to improve the quality of data,

enforcement of rules and regulation and participation of the people to address the problem of air

pollution.

What are the Key components of NCAP?

• City-specific air pollution abatement action plan for 100 polluting cities of the country similar to one

for Delhi,

• Increasing the number of monitoring stations, data dissemination, public participation on planning

and implementation

• Setting up of Air Information Centre for data analysis, Resource apportionment studies, Setting up

of national inventory, Guidelines for indoor air pollution and setting up of rural monitoring stations.

• Collaborative and participatory approach covering all sources of pollution and coordination between

relevant Central Ministries, State Governments, local bodies and other stakeholders.

• Intensive awareness, training and capacity-building drive, with specific impetus on augmentation of

manpower and infrastructure facilities of CPCB and SPCB under the capacity building component

of NCAP.

• Technology is one of the critical elements of NCAP: solutions that are nationally acceptable, but

more importantly, which are locally possible.

What are the targets of NCAP?

• NCAP takes into account available international experiences and national studies.

• It notes that internationally, actions have been “city-specific” rather than country-oriented, and cites

examples such as Beijing and Seoul that saw 35%-40% PM2.5 reduction in five years.

• However effective this might have been abroad, reductions by similar levels might leave Indian cities

still heavily polluted.

• Delhi’s very severe pollution levels are four times the permissible limits now, and a 30% reduction

by 2024 would still leave it very dangerous for health.

• The Centre launched what it described as a “war against pollution” across the country — a Rs 300-

crore National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

• It proposes a “tentative national target” of 20%-30% reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations

by 2024, with 2017 as the base year for comparison.

• NCAP will be rolled out in 102 cities that are considered to have air quality worse than the National

Ambient Air Quality Standards.

• The government has stressed that NCAP is a scheme, not a “legally binding” document with any

specified penal action against erring cities.

PARIVESH

An ambitious web-based single-window system ‘Parivesh’ will be rolled-out at state levels by January 15, bringing an end to the clearance nightmare for entrepreneurs. What is PARIVESH?

• The Prime Minister launched PARIVESH (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive,

Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub) on the occasion of World Biofuel Day.


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• PARIVESH is a Single-Window Integrated Environmental Management System.

• It is developed in pursuance of the spirit of ‘Digital India’ initiated by the Prime Minister and

capturing the essence of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance.

• PARIVESH is a web based, role-based workflow application which has been developed for online

submission and monitoring of the proposals.

• The proposals have submitted by the proponents for seeking Environment, Forest, Wildlife and

CRZ Clearances from Central, State and district level authorities.

What are the features of this web-based tool?

• PARIVESH automates the entire process of submitting the application and tracking the status of

such proposals at each stage of processing.

• With the launch of PARIVESH, the vision of the Prime Minister for E-Governance and enhancing

Ease of Doing Responsible Business is being translated into action by MoEF&CC.

• With PARIVESH, MoEFCC has become more of a facilitator, than a regulator.

• “PARIVESH” is a workflow-based application, based on the concept of web architecture.

• It has been rolled out for online submission, monitoring and management of proposals submitted

by Project Proponents to the

o Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), o The State Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAA), o to seek various types of clearances (e.g. Environment, Forest, Wildlife and Coastal Regulation

Zone Clearances) from Central, State and district-level authorities.

• The system has been designed, developed and hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and

Climate Change, with technical support from National Informatics Centre, (NIC), New Delhi.

What are the benefits of PARIVESH?

• Single registration and single sign-in for all types of clearances (i.e. Environment, Forest, Wildlife

and CRZ),

• Unique-ID for all types of clearances required for a particular project and a single Window interface

for the proponent to submit applications for getting all types of clearances (i.e. Environment,

Forests, Wildlife and CRZ clearances).

• PARIVESH offers a framework to generate economic growth and strengthens Sustainable

Development through EGovernance.


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• PARIVESH helps in improving the overall performance and efficiency of the whole appraisal

process.

• PARIVESH also helps the processing authorities, as it has a

o Single Window System for Central, State and District level clearances, o Auto-generation of agenda (based on first come, first served principle), o Minutes of the meetings and online generation of approval letters, o Resulting in ease and uniformity in processing of clearance applications, o Online submission and monitoring of compliance reports including geo-tagged images of the

site by regulatory body / inspecting officers even through the Mobile App for enhanced compliance monitoring.

• The facility of Geographic Information System (GIS) interface for the Appraisal Committee will

help them in analysing the proposal efficiently, automatic alerts (via SMS and emails) at important

stages to the concerned officers, committee members and higher authorities to check the delays.

• PARIVESH enables project proponents, citizens to view, track and interact with scrutiny officers,

generates online clearance letters, online mailers and alerts to state functionaries in case of delays

beyond stipulated time for processing of applications.

Cyclone-30

The country’s biggest cyclotron facility that will produce radioisotopes vital for diagnosis and treatment of cancer has become operational. What is Cyclone-30?

• Cyclone-30 will produce radioisotopes vital for diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

• It will be first and only cyclotron facility in country to produce Germanium-68 radioisotopes, which is used in diagnosis of breast cancer.

• Cyclotron is used to produce radioisotopes for diagnostic and therapeutic use for cancer care.

• Radiations from these isotopes are used to destroy cancer cells.

• It will also produce Palladium 103 isotopes, which is used for the treatment of prostate cancer.

• In its future stages, it will also produce Iodine 123 isotopes, which can help detect thyroid cancer.

• Cyclone-30 started working for first time when 30 MeV beam reached Faraday Cup (a metal cup designed to catch charged particles in vacuum).

• The beam from this facility was used to produce fluorine-18 isotope for preparation of radiopharmaceutical fluoro-de-oxy-glucose (FDG), which is used for diagnose various types of cancer.

• It will start regular production by mid-2019 after supporting nuclear systems and regulatory clearances are commissioned.

What is the significance?

• The high-energy and high-yielding Cyclone-30 machine will provide for affordable radio isotopes and related radiopharmaceuticals for entire country, especially for eastern states like West Bengal.

• It will also help in bringing down imports, while raising possibility of exporting radioisotopes in the future.

• It also has export potential for germanium-68 and gallium-68 generator for in-situ production of gallium-68 and palladium-103 isotopes, which are used for breast cancer diagnosis and prostate cancer treatment, respectively.

• It can also be used for research in the fields of material science and nuclear physics.


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ECO NIWAS SAMHITA

Bureau of Energy Efficiency and CPWD sign MoU on promoting energy efficiency in buildings What is ECO Niwas Samhita?

• Giving a further fillip to India’s energy conservation efforts, Ministry of Power has launched the

ECO Niwas Samhita 2018

• It is an Energy Conservation Building Code for Residential Buildings (ECBC-R).

• The Code was launched on the occasion of National Energy Conservation Day 2018 (14 December).

• The code focuses on

o building envelope, o mechanical systems and equipment including heating, o ventilating, and o air conditioning (HVAC) system, o interior and exterior lighting systems, o electrical system and renewable energy.

• It also takes into account the five climates zones (Hot Dry, Warm Humid, Temperate, Composite

and Cold) present in India.

• However, it addresses only energy efficiency of buildings.

• Water and other aspects are not covered under it.

• The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) was launched in 2007 by the BEE.

• The aim was to set energy efficiency standards for design and construction of buildings as a first step

towards promoting energy efficiency in the building sector.

What is about the Energy Conservation Building Code?

• It is prepared after extensive consultations with all stakeholders, consisting of architects & experts

including building material suppliers and developers.

• The parameters listed have been developed based on large number of parameters using climate and

energy related data.

• The code is expected to assist large number of architects and builders who are involved in design

and construction of new residential complexes.

• It has potential for energy savings to the tune of 125 Billion Units of electricity per year by 2030,

equivalent to about 100 million ton of Co2 emission.

What is National Energy Conservation Awards?

• Ministry of Power in association with Bureau of Energy Efficiency celebrates the National Energy

Conservation Day on every 14th December.

• On this day, 26 industrial units from various sectors were given awards for their excellent

performance in energy efficiency.

What is about Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)?

• BEE is a statutory body under Ministry of Power which was setup in 2002 under the provisions

of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001.

• It is mandated to implement policy and programmes in the area of energy efficiency and

conservation.


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• The objective of such initiatives is to

o reduce energy intensity in our country by optimizing energy demand and o reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) which are responsible for global warming and

climate change.

• India has committed to reduction of 33-35% GHG emission by 2030 as part of the document

submitted to UNFCCC.

What is the role of BEE?

• Processing of application for star rating of buildings, Preliminary scrutiny of application, Data

verification of CPWD maintained buildings, Installation of smart meters, Award of certificate &

label, Support for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Support for construction of ECBC complaint

buildings, Efficient coordination with CPWD and Capacity building of CPWD officials.

What about Central Public Works Department (CPWD)?

• CPWD came into existence in July, 1854 when Lord Dalhousie established a central agency for

execution of public works and set up Ajmer Provincial Division.

• It is headed by DG who is also the Principal Technical Advisor to the Government of India.

• It has pan India presence and has ability to undertake construction of complex projects.

• It has been involved construction of stadiums and other infrastructure requirements for Asian

Games 1982 and Commonwealth Games 2010.

• CPWD is now engaged in construction of Afghan Parliament Building (beyond national boundaries).

What is the Star Rating for Commercial Buildings?

• It is based on the actual performance of a building in terms of its specific energy usage in

kwh/sqm/year.

• It rates office buildings on a 1-5 Star scale, with 5 star labelled buildings being the most efficient.

• It is on a voluntary basis and label provided under it is applicable for a period of 5 years from the

date of issue.

• It provides public recognition to energy efficient buildings, and creates a “demand side” pull.

• Various categories of buildings like Day Use Office Buildings, BPOs, Shopping Malls and Hospitals

in the five climatic zones have been identified under the scheme.

What are the other agencies that promote energy efficiency in buildings?

• LEED-India:

o Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is an international recognized certification system for the green buildings.

o The LEED-India Green Building Rating System is an international benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings (provided by IGBC).

• IGBC Ratings:

o The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is a division of the Confederation of Indian Industry that works closely with the government and aims at sustainably built environment.

• TERI GRIHA:

o The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is a national rating system for green buildings that is adopted while designing and evaluating new buildings.


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Small Woodbrown butterfly

Small Woodbrown butterfly rediscovered in Sikkim after 120 years What are the important facts?

• After a span of 120 long years, researchers at the Sikkim University in Gangtok have rediscovered

the Small Woodbrown butterfly species from Bakhim in Khanchendzonga National Park.

• The Small Woodbrown butterfly was discovered in Sikkim in 1887.

• The Small Woodbrown butterfly, scientifically known as Lethe nicetella is named after its brown-

coloured wings patched with white round spots.

• It is amongst the smallest members of the genus Lethe, with wings that are up to 50 millimeters long.

• The species is endemic to the eastern Himalayas and occurs in forests lying between elevations of

1,800-2,800 metres.

• Across the world, species of Lethe are found in Sunda

Islands, Japan, Siberia, Himalayas and peninsular India.

• Of the 41 species of Lethe that are found in India, 32

species are reported from Sikkim alone.

What is the importance of butterflies?

• Butterflies are important components of the natural

ecosystem.

• They help to pollinate flowers—a process which is necessary for plants to produce viable seeds.

• Also, some species of butterflies feed on plants, some on animal dung, and very few on smaller

insects like aphids, making them important links of Nature’s food chain.

• Butterflies are also used as indicator species—that is, species whose abundance and physical traits

are used by scientists to study forest or ecosystem health.

• Since the Small Woodbrown butterfly is found only in forests, their degradation leading to the

disappearance of host plants is a key potential threat to its existence.

• After this important rediscovery, researchers plan to explore the diversity of butterfly species in other

areas of Sikkim namely Teesta and Rangeet valley and adjoining areas in Darjeeling-

Kalimpong of West Bengal.

SCATFORM Project

Tripura has launched a project for Sustainable Catchment Forest Management at Hatipara in West Tripura. What is Sustainable Catchment Forest Management (SCATFORM) Project?

• The project is jointly funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and

Government of India.

• It aims to improve quality of forest in the catchment area by sustainable forest management, soil and

moisture conservation and livelihood development.

• The Tripura Forest Department (TFD) is the Executing Agency of the Project.

• Eighty per cent of the project would be funded by JICA while Government of India would fund 20

per cent of the project value.


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What are the important facts?

• The SCATFORM project has got provisions to build 1,447 check dams in hilly terrains of Tripura.

• This new project has got many components including fisheries, agriculture, forest, tourism etc.

• 1,447 check dams would be constructed in hilly terrains of the state to make sure that there is no

chance of a flood in the plains.

• The water this conserved would be used for agricultural purposes and for fisheries and poultry

farming (ducks).

• This project aims to address issues such as forest cover loss and forest degradation.

• Which have been mainly caused by shifting cultivation, which increases soil erosion risks on hill

slopes especially in upper catchment areas.

• It would be implemented mainly in upper catchments where forest degradation and soil erosion are

severe and livelihood improvement needs are high.

• The project aims to the improve quality of forest in the catchment area by sustainable forest

management, soil and moisture conservation and livelihood development.

• The activities undertaken under the project involves

o promotion of bamboo plantation, o agroforestry based livelihood, o eco-tourism development, o development of value addition for bamboo and other Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) in

order to create alternate livelihood opportunities for local communities.

• The 80 per cent of the cost is contributed by JICA and the rest would be funded by the state and

central governments.

What is about JICA?

• Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is established by a specific law as an incorporated

administrative institution under the Government of Japan.

• It aims to promote international cooperation as the sole Japanese governmental agency in charge of

ODA implementation.

• JICA is the world’s largest bilateral donor agency.

• JICA works as a bridge between Japan and emerging countries.

• It provides assistance in the form of loans, grants and technical cooperation, so that the emerging

countries can strengthen their capabilities.

Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW)

An alliance of global companies has launched a new organization- AEPW- to help eliminate plastic waste, especially in the ocean. What is about the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW)?

• The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) is comprising about 30 companies.

• It has pledged over $1 billion to eliminate plastic waste across the world. The alliance is designed as

a non-profit organization.

• It includes companies from across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa

as well as the Middle East are part of the Alliance.


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• The aim is to develop solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and promote a circular economy

by utilising used plastics.

• Member companies include those that make, use, sell, process, collect and recycle plastics, as well as

chemical and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods companies, retailers, converters, and waste

management companies, also called the plastics value chain.

• From India, Reliance Industries will advance efforts towards a sustainable future.

What is the significance?

• Plastic waste management is a complex and serious global challenge that calls for swift action and

strong leadership.

• The issue of plastic waste is seen and felt all over the world. It must be addressed.

• This new alliance is the most comprehensive effort to date to end plastic waste in the environment.

Important Projects in news

§ The National Wildlife Board has given its approval for the Trishna Gas project of ONGC which falls in the Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary in the Gomati district of Tripura.

§ The Supreme Court, hearing a petition on the status of Polavaram multi-purpose project, has ordered the Centre to hold a public hearing in the project affected area in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

§ The Centre has signed an agreement with Chief Ministers of five States — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh — to restart construction of the Renuka multipurpose dam project in the Upper Yamuna Basin

What is about Trishna Gas Project?

• The National Wildlife Board has given its approval for the Trishna Gas project of ONGC which

falls in the Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary in the Gomati district of Tripura.

• ONGC has discovered 10-12 gas bearing wells in the Trishna Wildlife sanctuary.

• Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1988.

• The vegetation covers four broad categories of

o tropical semi-evergreen forest, o the east Himalayan lower Bhanar sal, o Moist mixed deciduous forest and o the Savanah woodland.

What is about Polavaram project?

• Polavaram Project is a multi-purpose irrigation project.

• The dam across the Godavari River is under construction located in West Godavari District and

East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh state.

• Its reservoir spreads in parts of Chhattisgarh and Orissa States also.

• The project is multipurpose major terminal reservoir project on river Godavari for

o development of Irrigation, o Hydropower and o drinking water facilities to East Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, West Godavari and Krishna

districts of Andhra Pradesh.

• The project is likely to displace over 1.88 lakh people across 222 villages and so far, 1,730 persons

in six villages have been rehabilitated by the government.


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What is about the Renuka dam project?

• The Renuka dam project has been conceived as a storage project on the Giri river (a tributary of the

Yamuna) in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

• The project envisages making a 148-metre-high dam for supplying water to Delhi and other basin

states.

• It will also generate 40 MW of power.

• Around 90% of the cost of irrigation/drinking water component of the project will be provided by

the Central government and the remaining by the rest of the basin States.

• After the construction of the dam, the flow of the Giri river will increase by about 110%, which will

help meet the drinking water needs of Delhi and other basin States.

• Water from the Renuka dam will be used by U.P., Haryana and National Capital Territory of Delhi

from Hathnikund barrage, by the NCT of Delhi from Wazirabad barrage and by U.P., Haryana and

Rajasthan from the Okhla barrage and Uttarakhand.

What about National Board for Wild Life?

• National Board for Wild Life is a “Statutory Organization” constituted under the Wildlife Protection

Act, 1972.

• Theoretically, the board is “advisory” in nature and advises the Central Government on framing

policies and measures for conservation of wildlife in the country.

• However, it is a very important body because it serves as apex body to review all wildlife-related

matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.

• Primary function of the Board is to promote the conservation and development of wildlife and

forests.

• It has power to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks

and sanctuaries.

• No alternation of boundaries in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be done without approval

of the NBWL.

• The NBWL is chaired by the Prime Minister.

• It has 47 members including the Prime Minister.

• Among these, 19 members are ex-officio members.

• Other members include three Members of Parliament (two from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya

Sabha), five NGOs and 10 eminent ecologists, conservationists and environmentalists.

In-shorts

Two new species of moss rose discovered in south India, Crocodile Census, Odisha celebrates 1st Turtle Festival in Puri, Great Indian Bustard What is the news about two new species of moss rose?

• Portulaca badamica and Portulaca lakshminarasimhaniana.

• Portulaca badamica is named after the site of its discovery that is, the Badami hills.

• The second new species—Portulaca lakshminarasimhaniana—honours Pakshirajan

Lakshminarashimhan,


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• He is the head of the Botanical Survey of India, western regional circle in Pune, for his significant

contribution to plant taxonomy.

• IUCN Status: Portulaca badamica- data deficient category and Portulaca

lakshminarasimhaniana- critically endangered.

What is the news about Crocodile Census?

• Recent Crocodile Census is by Odisha

• Important facts:

o The population of the saltwater or estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) has increased in the water bodies of Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park and its nearby areas in Kendrapara district.

o 1,742 individuals have been recorded in this year’s annual reptile census. o The increase in population was primarily due to the far-sighted measures of the government.

• There are three species of crocodilians—saltwater, Mugger and Gharial.

• Mugger:

o The mugger crocodile, also called the Indian crocodile, or marsh crocodile, is found throughout the Indian subcontinent.

o IUCN status: vulnerable o The mugger is mainly a freshwater species, and found in lakes, rivers and marshes.

• Gharial:

o The Gharial or fish-eating crocodile is native to the Indian subcontinent. o IUCN status: Critically Endangered. o Small released populations are present and increasing in the rivers of the

§ National Chambal Sanctuary, § Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, § Son River Sanctuary and § the rainforest biome of Mahanadi in Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary, Orissa.

• Saltwater Crocodile:

o It is the largest of all living reptiles. o IUCN status: least concern. o It is found throughout the east coast of India.

What is the about Odisha Turtle Festival?

• First Odisha Turtle Festival was held recently in Puri

• Aim was to create awareness and promote ideas on conservation of olive ridley turtles.

• Odisha has half of the world’s Olive Ridley turtle population and 90% of India’s turtle population

lives in the state.

• Despite that no actions have been taken for their conservation.

• Therefore, the government should develop some infrastructure near the turtle nesting sites at Devi

and Rusikulya rivers, the two major nesting grounds

• There are five species in Indian waters —

o Leatherback (Vulnerable), o Loggerhead (Endangered), o Hawksbill (Critically Endangered), o Green (Endangered) and o Olive Ridley.

• In India, sea turtles are protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

• The Olive ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles


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• It is found in the areas inhabiting warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.

• The Olive ridley is the most numerous among the sea turtles found in India

• It is well known for its arribadas, or annual mass nestings when thousands of turtles migrate to the

breeding ground to nest simultaneously.

• IUCN status: Vulnerable

• International trade in these turtles and their products is banned under CITES Appendix I.

• ‘Operation Kachhapa’:

o Conservation of the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle was launched by the Wildlife Protection Society of India in collaboration with § the Orissa State Forest Department and the § Wildlife Society of Orissa and other local NGOs.

• To reduce accidental killing in India, the Orissa government has made it mandatory for trawls to use

Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs)

• It is a net specially designed with an exit cover which allows the turtles to escape while retaining the

catch.

Space for Notes


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Polar Vortex

A cold wave recently swept through the US with many states hitting sub-zero temperatures. The reason being the blast of Arctic air, which in turn is a result of what is known as a “polar vortex” event. In this context, let us understand the significance of Polar Vortex. What is a polar vortex?

• The polar vortex forms every winter because of the temperature difference between the equator and

the poles.

• In the polar stratosphere, sunlight gets cut off during the late fall and early winter and makes it really

cold, while the equator remains quite warm.

• A jet forms to balance this temperature difference. This jet is called the polar vortex or the polar

night jet. It flows in a complete circle around the pole, 10 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.

• It's strongest in the middle of winter when the temperature

difference is at the maximum. It’s affected by waves created at

the surface of the Earth. If Earth’s surface was completely flat

then the polar vortex wouldn’t break up.

• These flows of air, known as Rossby waves, propagate upwards

into the stratosphere, where they break just like waves break on

a beach. Every time a wave breaks, it imparts momentum to the

vortex.

• Sometimes a breaking wave can be strong enough to displace the

vortex over the pole, or even reverse the direction of the vortex.

When that happens, the temperature in the polar stratosphere

can go up by 50 degrees in a week. It’s an extreme event.

• These waves splits the vortex into two segments, called daughter vortices

What happens when the Vortex splits?

• One segment usually moves over Siberia and the other moves over North America. Once that

happens, the jet stream in the troposphere over the Atlantic moves to the south.

• Cold Arctic air is then able to go into the middle latitudes on the East coast, in the Midwest and over

Western Europe.

• Storms, which ride along the jet stream, move south, too. They don’t shift immediately. It can take

a few weeks for them to organize themselves to respond and catch up to the jet.

Why does the polar vortex affect only Atlantic and not Atlantic not pacific basin?

• Though the exact reason in unclear, scientists believe it has something to do with the location of the

jets in the two basins.

• In the Atlantic basin, the jet stream is located at higher latitudes. In the Pacific basin, it’s closer to

the equator.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY


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• Topography may also play a role. In the Atlantic basin, air flows over the Rockies and waves come

off of those high mountains and affect the jet stream. In the Pacific, the jet stream is further away

from any mountains that might generate disruptive waves.

What is Artic Oscillation (AO)?

• Like El Niño and La Niña, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is a big picture of atmospheric conditions

that influence weather.

• The AO, which ranges between two distinct modes, describes how pressure patterns are distributed

over the Arctic region and the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

• When the Arctic Oscillation flips from one mode to another, that represents a fundamental change

in the circulation of the atmosphere, the way the winds blow.

• The AO can persist in one phase from anywhere from days to months. When pressure is higher than

normal over the Arctic, and lower than normal over middle latitudes, the AO is in its negative mode.

• When it is positive, air pressure is lower than normal over the Arctic and higher than normal over

middle latitudes.

Are anthropological reasons to blame for the Polar Vortex?

• The term “polar vortex” has

been around since the late 1940s.

It forms every winter and breaks

up in the spring.

• However, for the last 20 years,

the polar vortex has been very

disturbed in the middle of winter.

• Increasing carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere cools the polar

stratosphere, which could

increase the temperature

difference between the pole and the equator and strengthen the polar vortex.


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• The waves that are propagating upwards in the troposphere are getting more energetic as the planet

warms, leading to a more disturbed polar stratosphere.

Swine Flu in India The death George Fernandes after swine flu, has triggered concern over infection by the H1N1 virus. Let us look into the disease and its recurrence in India. What is Swine flu?

• The reference to swine comes from 2009, when the world witnessed a particularly severe outbreak

of a strain of swine Flu, H1N1 that the World Health Organisation declared a “pandemic”.

• It is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that regularly cause outbreaks

of influenza in pigs. Influenza viruses that commonly circulate in swine are called “swine influenza

viruses” or “swine flu viruses”. Like human influenza viruses, there are different subtypes and strains

of swine influenza viruses.

• The virus is contagious and can spread from

human to human. Symptoms of swine flu in

people are similar to the symptoms of regular

human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat,

body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

• The name swine flu has been used even though

the virus has long bypassed the need for swine as

an intermediate carrier. The infection is now called

seasonal flu by the Government of India’s

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme

(IDSP).

How many cases does India account for?

• Data compiled by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the Ministry of Health

and Family Welfare shows 4,571 cases of swine flu and 169 deaths from the disease across the

country this year.

• Rajasthan has been the worst hit this year so far, with 1,856 cases of H1N1 and 72 deaths.

• H1N1 typically spikes between January and March in North India, and reduces as the summer sets

in.

• It resurfaces during the monsoon and lasts until after the rains. However, some cases are reported

round the year, which is why the World Health Organisation recommends vaccination.

Leprosy in numbers

India accounts for 60% of new cases detected in 2017, 1.26 lakh out of 2.10 lakh. Let us look into the staggering number of Leprosy cases in India in the context of the recently celebrated World Leprosy day on 27th January. What is Leprosy?

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Cases of Swine Flu

Cases of Swine Flu


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• Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium

leprae bacteria.

• The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral

nerves, mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory

tract and the eyes.

• Leprosy is known to occur at all ages ranging from

early infancy to very old age. Leprosy is curable

and early treatment averts most disabilities.

• The exact mechanism of transmission of leprosy

is not known. The most widely held belief is that

the disease is transmitted by contact between cases of leprosy and healthy persons.

• Recently the possibility of transmission by the respiratory route is gaining popularity.

How many cases does India report?

• Over 2 lakh new leprosy cases are detected around the world, with India accounting for more than

half of these.

• World Leprosy Day, which focuses on the target of zero cases of leprosy-related disabilities in

children, was observed globally on January 27 and in India on January 30 marking M K Gandhi’s

death anniversary.

• Data from the World Health

Organization (WHO) and India’s

National Leprosy Eradication

Programme (NLEP) shows that India’s

numbers have consistently been more

than half the world figures since 2008.

• New cases have declined gradually

since 2008. However, they hit a sudden increased in 2012 and 2016. This was the trend for both

India and globally.

• As of March 2018, Bihar had 14,338 cases of leprosy, followed by India’s most populous state, Uttar

Pradesh, with 12,583 cases. Next were Maharashtra (9,836) and West Bengal (9,175).

• In terms of prevalence, the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagra Haveli topped the count, with its 202

cases (March 2018) representing 4.85 cases per 1 lakh population. Among the states, Chhattisgarh

had the highest prevalence (2.25)

Germ-line edited China has recently attacked its 'baby gene editing' scientist He Jiankui for violating both ethics and laws in his research. In this context researchers around the world have been questioning the ethics of gene-editing. What is germline modification?

• Human germline modification means deliberately changing the genes passed on to children and

future generations.

• He Jiankui claims to have created the world's first genetically edited babies last year. In his research,

he claims to have altered twin girls' genes so they become resistant to HIV.


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• The stated objective of He’s experiment was to disable a gene called CCR5 so the girls might be

resistant to potential infection with HIV/AIDS.

• He (the Scientist) justified his experiment two ways:

o First, he made a human case in the talk at the Hong Kong meeting, saying the father of the

girls had HIV and wanted to ensure his children would never suffer like he has.

o Second, he made a scientific case for CCR5 as a well-studied genetic mutation. He claimed

that there is “real-world medical value” to figuring out how CRISPR (A gene editing

technology covered in our previous CSM editions) can be used to cripple it and prevent

HIV/AIDS.

• In other words, he felt the use of CRISPR technology was medically appropriate.

• He faced severe condemnation as any application of gene editing on human embryos for

reproductive purposes was unethical.

• He had also allegedly used technology of an uncertain safety level.

Why is He facing scientific backlash?

• Editing the ‘human germline’ is an exercise with unknown risks and embryo gene-editing is not as

precise as is needed today. The use of technology can result in unintended mutations, which in turn

can cause cancers.

• There is also the danger of mosaicism, in which some cells inherit the target mutation, while others

do not.

• Even when gene-editing becomes fool-proof, the decision to edit embryos will have to be assessed

on its other ethical aspects. This is because, today, there is less understanding on how exactly

individual genes influence phenotypes (the visible traits of people).

• Every gene likely influences multiple traits, depending on the environment it interacts with. This

makes it hard to predict the ultimate outcome of an embryo-editing exercise without decades of

follow-up.

• In He’s experiment, he sought to immunise a pair of twins from HIV by tinkering with a gene called

CCR5. But while protecting against HIV, a deactivated CCR5 gene can also make people more

susceptible to West-Nile Fever.


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Somatic (Skin) cell Therapy Germ line Therapy

Largest area of development using

CRISPR technology to fix genetic

flaws in individuals.

Alteration in those cells that can be

inherited.

Regulations in place, no ethical issue No regulations but ethical concerns

Research permitted Limited research permitted

What is the significance of the experiment?

• Gene-editing using the Crispr-Cas9 editing system offers boundless opportunities.

• Editing DNA to correct disease mutations has been possible for a while now, which means others

can also do what Mr. He did.

• Over a.

• None of the over dozen clinical trials currently on to treat diseases like HIV, multiple myeloma and

other forms of cancer involve editing the so-called 'human germ-line'.

• Instead, they have restricted themselves to fixing genetic flaws in sick adults.

• Mr. He deactivated a gene in two human embryos, which means that the changes he made could be

inherited by the next generation. In doing so, he violated the widely held ethical consensus that it

is too early for germ-line editing, as less is known on the risks associated.

Saturn’s Rings

The rings were first observed by telescopes centuries ago but knowledge about their formation and composition has been relatively slow. A study suggests that the rings formed between 100 million and 10 million years ago, and so are much younger than the 4.5-billion-year-old Saturn. What do we know about the Rings?

• Most of our knowledge about the Saturn’s rings has come from four robotic spacecraft that have

visited Saturn, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Cassini. The rings consist of a large number of

small particles that orbit Saturn.

• They are about 400,000 km (The distance between the Earth and the Moon) but are as little as 100

m thick.

• There are many rings (500 to 1,000) and there are gaps within them.

• The study has concluded that Saturn hasn’t

always had rings. These finding comes from

Cassini’s final trajectory.

• In September 2017, the NASA spacecraft

Cassini made its death plunge into Saturn’s

atmosphere.

• Cassini was acting as a gravity probe. From its

final trajectory, scientists have made precise measurements leading to the finding about the age of

the rings.


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• Based on the strength of their gravitational pull, scientists have made the first accurate estimate of

the amount of material in Saturn’s rings which is about 40% of the mass of Saturn’s moon Mimas,

which itself is 2,000 times smaller than Earth’s moon.

• Calculations based on this led to the conclusion that the rings are relatively recent, having originated

less than 100 million years ago and perhaps as recently as 10 million years ago.

Fast Radio bursts

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment or CHIME recently reported repeating fast radio burst from deep space for only the second time in history, and some experts suggested they could be evidence of advanced alien life. What are Fast Radio Bursts?

• Fast Radio Bursts are brief bursts of radio waves coming

from far beyond the Milky Way galaxy lasting for few

millisecond.

• The phenomenon was first reported in 2007 and as of mid-

2017, roughly two dozen have been reported and their

origin is unknown.

• The origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs), millisecond-long pulses of radio waves, is unknown, but most

scientists say they are generated by powerful astrophysical

phenomena emanating from billions of light years outside

our galaxy, the Milky Way such as black holes or super-

dense neutron stars merging together.

What did CHIME observe?

• A mysterious radio signal emanating from a galaxy far, far

away has been detected by CHIME.

• The discovery is significant because it’s only the second

time ever a repeating signal has been observed by scientists.

In addition to the second repeater, the researchers were

able to shed new light on FRBs because they detected them

at a much lower frequency than previously recorded finds.

• The radio bursts were observed by CHIME at frequencies

between 400 megahertz (MHz) and 800 MHz. The

majority of previously detected FRBs were found at frequencies near 1400 MHz.

• The majority of the 13 FRBs showed signs of “scattering”, suggesting their sources could be

powerful astrophysical objects in locations with special characteristics.

What is CHIME?

• The CHIME Telescope is located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO), a

national facility for astronomy operated by the National Research Council of Canada.


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• The DRAO site is protected against man-made

radio-frequency interference by municipal,

provincial and federal regulation.

• The CHIME telescope's large collecting area, wide

bandwidth and enormous field-of-view make it a

superb detector of FRBs.

• The CHIME FRB event rate is predicted to be

between 2 and 50 FRBs per day.

• So high an event rate promises major progress on this puzzling new astrophysical phenomenon.

• Bright CHIME-discovered FRBs will be found in real time and reported immediately to the

worldwide astrophysical community for multi-wavelength follow up.

Space for Notes


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National Girl Child Day

Ministry of Women & Child Development Celebrates National Girl Child Day in the Capital on 24 januray,2019. What is the news?

• The Women & Child Development Ministry celebrated National Girl Child Day (NGCD) 24th

January, 2019

• The celebrations also marked the anniversary of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme.

• The theme of this NGCD is “Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow”

• It was celebrating with objectives of generating awareness on the issue of

declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and create a positive environment

around valuing the girl child.

What are the achievements?

• In the last four years, the Ministry has managed to change the

mindset of people towards girl child.

• Enumerating girl child centric measures taken by the Government,

with combined efforts of States and Centre the Ministry has been

successful in implementing

o One Stop Centres, o Panic Button, o measures of cancelling passports of NRI marriages, o Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place etc.

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao has been one of the most successful programmes of the Government.

• Secretary WCD highlighted the achievements under BBBP and steps being taken for all round

development of the girl child.

• A booklet on “Innovations under BBBP” was also released on the occasion.

• The Ministry has compiled 38 Innovative Activities from Districts across the country to set an

example for other Districts.

• These interventions have been categorized according to five themes, which are

o Survival, o Protection, o Education, o Participation and o Valuing Girls.

• The occasion was also marked by felicitation of the 5 States and 25 Districts under the Beti Bachao

Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme for their exemplary performance.

What is Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme?

• Government of India has introduced the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme for survival,

protection & education of the girl child.

SOCIAL ISSUES


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• It aims to address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) through a mass campaign across the

country targeted at changing societal mindsets & creating awareness about the criticality of the issue.

• The Scheme will have focussed intervention & multi-sectoral action in 100 districts with low Child

Sex Ratio.

• The criteria/norms for selection/identification of 100 districts under the Beti Bachao Beti Padao

programme are as under: -

o 87 Districts have been selected from 23 States/UTs having Child Sex Ratio below the National average of 918.

o 8 Districts have been selected from 8 States/UTs having Child Sex Ratio above National average of 918 but showing declining trend.

o 5 Districts have been selected from 5 States/UTs having Child Sex Ratio above National average of 918 and showing improving trend so that other parts of country can learn from them.

• It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family

Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

• The Sectoral interventions under the programme include the following:

• Ministry of WCD:

o Promote registration of pregnancies in first trimester in AnganwadiCentres (AWCs); o Undertake Training of stakeholders; o Community Mobilization & Sensitization; o Involvement of Gender Champions; o Reward & recognition of institutions & frontline workers.

• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare:

o Monitor implementation of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCP&DT) Act, 1994;

o Increased institutional deliveries; o Registration of births; o Strengthening PNDT Cells; o Setting up Monitoring Committees.

• Ministry of Human Resource Development:

o Universal enrolment of girls; o Decreased drop-out rate; o Girl Child friendly standards in schools; o Strict implementation of Right to Education (RTE); o Construction of Functional Toilets for girls.

• As the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme has been approved recently, no fund allocation has

been made so far to the States.

The Global Risks Report 2019

The Global Risks Report 2019 has been released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). What is Global Risks Report?

• The Global Risks Report is an annual study published by the World Economic Forum ahead of the

Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

• Based on the work of the Global Risk Network, the report describes changes occurring in the

global risks landscape from year to year and identifies global catastrophic risks.

• The report also explores the interconnectedness of risks, and considers how the strategies for the

mitigation of global risks might be structured.


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• Sources for the report include an assessment by several major insurance and reinsurance companies

and focus workshops, interviews and a survey of internationally recognised experts.

• The report is intended to raise awareness about the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to the

mitigation of global risk.

What is Global risk?

• The criteria for what constitute a global risk have been set as follows:

• Global scope:

o To be considered global, a risk should have the potential to affect (including both primary and secondary impact) at least three world regions in at least two different continents.

o While these risks may have regional or even local origin, their impact can potentially be felt globally.

• Cross-industry relevance: The risk has to affect three or more industries (including both primary

and secondary impact).

• Uncertainty: There is uncertainty about how the risk manifests itself within ten years combined

with uncertainty about the magnitude of its impact (assessed in terms of likelihood and severity).

• Economic impact:

o The risk has the potential to cause economic damage of at 10 billion US$ or more; and/or Public Impact:

o The risk has the potential to cause major human suffering and to trigger considerable public pressure and global policy responses.

• Multi-stakeholder approach: The risk’s complexity both in terms of its effects and its drivers as

well as its inter-linkages with other risks require a multi-stakeholder approach for its mitigation.

What is the Global Risk Network?

• The Global Risk Network was established in 2004 and tracks the evolution of a set of risks in five

areas over a ten-year time frame.

• The five areas are:

o Economics, Geopolitics, Environment, Society, Technology.

• In 2009 the set of risks totalled 36, up from 31 in the 2008 taxonomy.

• Each year the risk set is assessed using quantitative and qualitative means in terms of likelihood

and severity to come up with a 'Risk Landscape' of risks to watch in the short to medium term.

• These include high likelihood and high severity risks, but also low likelihood and high severity

risks that constitute 'outliers' whose impact would be significant in the unlikely event they would

occur.

• The Global Risk Network also publishes a selection of regional and topical reports each year.

What are the top 10 risks by likelihood as per the latest report?

• Extreme weather events.

• Failure of climate change mitigation and adaption.

• Major natural disasters.

• Massive incident of data fraud/theft.

• Large scale cyber-attacks.

• Man-made environmental damage and disasters.

• Large-scale involuntary migration.

• Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.


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• Water crises.

• Asset bubbles in a major economy.

What is the analysis of the report?

• Environmental risks dominate the worldwide risks landscape in terms of impact and probability for

the third year in an exceedingly row.

• This includes extreme weather events and failure of climate mitigation and adaptation.

• Solely twelve years left to remain below one.5C.

• However, there's a scarcity of political can to line a lot of stretching targets to chop emissions.

• The report finds that business leaders area unit a lot of involved concerning climate within the long

run.

• This disconnect can

ought to be tackled.

• Global risks area unit

augmentative, however

our capability to reply to

them is declining.

• Power is moving towards

a lot of nationalist,

authoritarian states and

that they are getting a lot

of inwards-looking.

• With larger government

friction, our ability to join

forces to unravel

challenges like cyber risks

and temperature change

has become tougher.

• Geopolitics and geo-

economic factors, like

uncertainty and

nationalism area unit fuelling risks.

• Innovation is additionally outpacing our ability to manage it and their area unit growing issues around

technology misuse.

• Shorter-term fears area unit around government and cyber threats.

• For high business leaders, cyber risk concern is rising globally and is that the highest hierarchical

threat.

• Different issues additionally exist together with commercial enterprise crises, state, energy worth

shocks, national governance failure, interstate conflict and natural disasters.

• There is a major finance gap (US$18 trillion) in infrastructure capital – with solely US$79 trillion

presently planned between currently and 2040.

• This suggests two hundredth a lot of finance is required than we tend to area unit setting up

nowadays.

• Moreover, infrastructure must be resilient to extreme weather events.

• Business, with its reliance on public sector infrastructure, are wedged and wish to figure with

government on solutions.


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DAY-NRLM - Reducing Poverty through Livelihood Diversification The pace of reduction of poverty in India has speeded up in recent years as per the Global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index 2018 as also the note published by the Brookings Institution.

What is Deendayal Antodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)?

• The Deendayal Antodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is aimed at

alleviation of rural poverty through building sustainable community institutions of the poor.

• It seeks to mobilize about 9 crore households into SHGs

• It links them to sustainable livelihood opportunities by building their skills and enabling them to

access

o formal sources of finance, o entitlements and services from both public and private sectors.

• It is envisaged that the intensive and continuous capacity building of rural poor women will ensure

their social, economic and political empowerment and development.

What are the achievements of the Mission?

• Mission Footprint:

o During the period, 2411additional blocks have been covered under the “Intensive” strategy. o Cumulatively, the Mission is being implemented in 5,123 blocks spread across 612 districts of

29 States and 5 Union Territories (UTs).

• Community Institution Building:

o More than 3 crore rural poor women have been mobilized into 26.9lakh Self Help Group (SHGs) across the country.

o Cumulatively, more than 5.63 crore women have been mobilized into more than 49.7 lakh SHGs.

o Further, the SHGs have been federated into more 2.73 lakh village level federations and about 25,093 cluster level federations

• Financial Inclusion:

o The loan outstanding to SHGs have increased from Rs. 32,565 crores in March 2014 to Rs. 76,591 crores in October 2018.

o Cumulatively, Rs.1.96 lakh crore worth of bank credit has been leveraged by the SHGs during the last five years.

o The quality of the portfolio has also shown a marked improvement with NPA declining to 2.64% in the current year.

o This is a result of sustained efforts made by the states to promote timely repayment of loans by the SHGs.

• Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana and Value Chain Initiatives:

o In order to promote agro-ecological practices that increase women farmers’ income and reduce their input costs and risks, the Mission has been implementing MKSP.

o About 3 lakh additional women farmers have been covered under MKSP bringing the total coverage to 35.92 lakh women farmers under the project.

o Since FY 2015-16, DAY-NRLM has also made significant efforts on creating value chain development interventions to enhance market linkages.

o The idea is to develop a complete business model to provide primary producers with end-to-end solutions from creating producer organizations to building marketing linkages.

o The Mission has approved proposals to support 2 lakh SHG members under value chain development interventions.

o The sanctioned projects cover a variety of agriculture, livestock and NTFP commodities.


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o The interventions are in vegetables, floriculture, mango and ginger, cashew, hill broom, tamarind, amla, bael, salai gum and other NTFP products, dairy, fishery and goatery value chain development.

o These interventions are focused on developing value addition and market linkages through Producers’ Enterprises.

o As on date, 1.2 lakh SHG members have already been covered under these interventions. o Further, the Mission has also supported in the development of 7028 Custom Hiring Centre/

Community Managed Tool Banks across multiple States during the preceding four years. o These hiring centres enable small and marginal famers to hire farm equipment and services

such as soil testing, cold chain management etc., at nominal rates.

• Community Livelihood Professionals:

o A proposal to the directions given by NITI Aayog in 2016, profiles of more than 1.99 lakh community members have been digitised.

o The CRPs have been trained and deployed to provide support to the community institutions in a variety of themes, such as book keeping, training and capacity building, financial services etc.

o This also includes more than 31,889 Community Livelihoods Resource Persons (CLRPs) such as Krishi Sakhi and Pashu Sakhi who provide 24X7 door step extension services to the small and marginal farmers including dairy farmers.

• Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme:

o DAY-NRLM has been promoting SVEP to promote and strengthen rural start-ups in the non-farm and off-farm sector.

o The strategy is to promote knowledge about business feasibility, management and to provide access to loan finance for start-up as well as scaling-up the existing enterprise.

o Implemented in 17 States since 2016-17, about 30,352 enterprises have been supported under SVEP till 2018.

• AajeevikaGrameen Express Yojana (AGEY)

o It was launched in August 2017 o Aim is to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to

connect remote rural villages. o As on 2018, proposals from 17 States have been approved and 624 vehicles are currently

plying on road.

• Independent Assessment of DAY-NRLM:

o During January to March 2017, the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) carried out an independent assessment of design, strategy and impacts of DAY-NRLM.

o The sample consisted of nearly 4500 households spanning across 746 villages. o The results of the survey indicate that the households in the treatment areas:

§ have a higher number of livestock assets as compared to control areas; § show a higher proclivity to save in formal institutions; § have a higher loan size and are more likely to borrow from formal financial sources; § NRLM households also pay a lower rate of interest; § have 22% higher (net) income than the households in the control areas; and § participate more in PRIs.

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) – 2018

Annual Status of Education Report 2018, released recently, finds some improvements in primary education. What is the background?

• The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is being released by a non-governmental

organisation Pratham since 2005.

• Each year’s report has been presenting a dismal picture of primary education in India.


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• The reports focus on children aged between 6 years and 14 years in rural India.

• It maps the schooling status of

and the impact of primary

education on a child’s ability to

complete basic reading and

arithmetic tasks.

• Despite enacting Right to

Education in 2010, which has

mandated free and compulsory

education for each child between

the age of 6 and 14 years,

learning outcomes remained

poor.

What are the highlights of the report?

• For the first time since India adopted RTE, reading abilities of Class V students in government

schools have improved and their basic mathematical abilities have started growing faster.

• For instance, the proportion of government school students in Class V, who can read a Class II-

level text has risen from 41.7% in 2016 to 44.2% this year.

• This ratio had been declining from 53.1% in 2008.

• Similarly, 27.3% of students in Class III can now read a Class II text, up from 21.6% in 2013.

• India has also moved further ahead on gender parity, wherein the proportion of girls in the age group

of 11-14 years who stayed out of school declining from 6% in 2010 to 4.1% in 2018.

• Moreover, it is the first time that the proportion of children not enrolled in schools has fallen below

3%.

• Also, among states, the reading

ability among Class V students

in Kerala jumped 10 percentage

points in 2018 from that in 2016.

• In Himachal Pradesh, the

growth is nearly 8 percentage

points and in Chhattisgarh and

Odisha it is around 7 percentage

points between 2016 and 2018.

• Still, data from states such as

Jharkhand, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu shows a marginal dip in the same

criterion for the same cohort.

What are the concerns?

• The basic reading and mathematics abilities of children in Class VIII continue to slowly decline.

• For instance, among Class VIII students attending government schools, the proportion that can read

a Class II text has continued to decline from 83.6% a decade ago to 69% in 2018.

• The proportion is similar when it comes to mathematical abilities.

• The picture is slightly more encouraging at the Class III level, where there has been gradual

improvement since 2014.


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• However, even in 2018, less than 30% of students in Class III are actually at their grade level, that

is, able to read a Class II text and do double-

digit subtraction.

• The performance in private schools is better

than government schools.

• In fact, in private schools, reading and

mathematical abilities for students in both Class

V and Class VIII have shown improvement.

• However, the performance difference is not

great as learning deficit is present across both

government and private schools.

• Traditionally, students in private schools have

fared better than their government school

counterparts, but that’s a relative situation.

• For example, while 40% of Class VIII students in government schools can do simple division, the

figure is only 54.2% in private schools.

• Private school students are believed to have better family background, both in economic and

education front, which serves as a key differentiator.

• This means the improvements in educational achievements are not broad-based.

• In particular, higher primary (class VI to Class VIII) have not shown enough improvements.

• Thus, the report

shows the prevalence

of learning deficit and

the poverty of basic

reading and arithmetic

skills among students

in Indian schools.

• Access to elementary

(classes I-VIII)

schooling is almost universal and the number of children out of schools is below 4%, but

• A quality deficit, that too for more than a decade, raises questions about the priorities of governments

at the central and state levels. Last year, the World Bank said Indians born today are likely to be just

44% productive as workers, way below their Asian peers.

Why is learning level in schools important?

• India’s demographic dividend depends on the learning level of students.

• The quality of education has a direct bearing on any economy.

• With some 240 million students or nearly 20% of the Indian population in school, their quality of

learning or lack of it assumes significance for the competitiveness of the country.

• It has an impact on the quality of life, efficiency at the workplace, and labour productivity issues.

• The quality of the learning level bears directly on India’s future workforce, its competitiveness and

the economy.

• India’s demographic dividend depends on the learning level of students.

• Since children at the higher primary level is closest to joining the labour market or the next level of

education, they need adequate foundational skills such as literacy and numeracy.


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• Thus, it can be revealed from the latest report that India continues to stare at a crisis and hence need

concerted efforts to be taken at the earliest

What is way forward?

• It is a long time to have only awareness, and a quantum jump in the education sector is the need of

the hour.

• As the problem has now been diagnosed and public advocacy has got the momentum, the

governments and civil society need to focus on three aspects:

o A bigger spending on education, maybe 6% of GDP instead of the present 2.7%, o The political willingness to improve education, and o A drastic change in the quality of teacher education.

Jan Shikshan Santhans (JSS)

In a bid to boost skill training and entrepreneurship in the remotest corners of the country, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Petroleum and Natural Gas (MSDE) announced comprehensive reforms for Jan ShikshanSansthan (JSS), to further strengthen the skills ecosystem benefiting those in the underprivileged sections of society. What is Jan ShikshanSansthan (JSSs)?

• Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) has been instrumental in skill training and introducing avenues of

entrepreneurship among the socio-economically backward and educationally

disadvantaged groups such as neo-literates, semi-literates, SCs, STs, women and girls, slum

dwellers and migrant workers.

• By bringing them under the aegis of the national skill framework, the agenda was to align all skilling

activities to a common cause of skill development at the district and gram level.

• An Overview of Jan Shikshan Sansthan

o Currently, there are 247 JSSs working across the country. Aim is to making skilling and entrepreneurship benefits accessible to the underprivileged and are imparting vocational skill training programmes to beneficiaries at their doorstep.

• In the past five years, over eight lakh people have benefitted from the JSS scheme. More than 86,000

men have been registered. More importantly, and what is a very encouraging sign, there has been an

unprecedented surge in the registration of women, with over 7 lakh registrations.

• JSSs have helped open over 1 lakh bank accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY)

and Mobilized around 7.5 lakh beneficiaries who were enrolled in Pradhan Mantri Suraksha

BimaYojana (PMSBY). With a substantial rise in establishment of more than 1 lakh entrepreneurs,

JSS has successfully generated employment across various sectors.

• Earlier known as Shramik Vidyapeeth and later renamed Jan ShikshanSansthan in April 2000, the

scheme has been successfully working for the past 50 years.

• Formerly under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Jan ShikshanSansthan has

been transferred to the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in 2018.

What is the significance of JSS?

• The emergence of the rural industry as an important growth engine for the economy makes it an

imperative for us to stress on skilling our youth in remote districts of the country.

• JSSs can play an important role in bridging information asymmetry between skill training and market

opportunities.


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• It is giving an impetus to the creation of a workforce equipped in technology-driven skills, including

in areas like

o health & wellness, o tourism, o e-commerce, o retail and trade.

• JSS guidelines have been reformed keeping in mind the diverse stakeholders engaged in running

these institutions, and will bring in greater flexibility, transparency and uniformity.

• The conference released the new guidelines, aligning the JSSs to the National Skill Qualification

Framework (NSQF).

• This marks an important step towards the convergence of all skilling activities under the aegis of one

ministry, bringing in transparency and accountability to the entire skilling ecosystem.

What are the National Skills Qualifications Framework?

• National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) is a quality assurance framework which organizes

qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude.

• These levels are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of

whether they were acquired through formal, non-formal or informal learning.

• The NSQF would also help shift emphasis to outcome-based learning - both in the general and

vocational space.

• There is lack of uniformity in the outcomes associated with different qualifications across

institutions, each with its own duration, curriculum, entry requirements as well as title.

• This often leads to problems in establishing equivalence of certificates/diplomas/degrees in different

parts of the country

• Which in turn impacts the employability and mobility of students.

• By shifting the focus from inputs to learning outcomes, the NSQF aimed to tackle this challenge.

• NSQF also facilitate Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

• RPL is largely lacking in the present education and training scenario.

• Additionally, it would help alignment of Indian qualifications to international qualifications.

• The credit accumulation and transfer system that integrated in the NSQF.

• It allows people to move between education, vocational training and work at different stages in their

lives according to their needs and convenience.

• The framework anchored and operationalized by the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA),

an autonomous body attached to the Ministry of Finance

• It is mandated to coordinate and harmonize skill development efforts of the Government of India

and the private sector.

• The NSQF is a nationally integrated education and competency-based skill framework

• It provides multiple pathways, horizontal as well as vertical, both within

o vocational education and vocational training and o among vocational education, vocational training, o general education and technical education, thus linking one level of learning to another higher

level.

• There are 10 levels in the framework, with the entry level being 1, and the highest level being 10.

• This will enable a person to acquire desired competency levels, transit to the job market and, at an

opportune time, return for acquiring additional skills to further upgrade competencies.

What is Blended Training System?


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• The conference saw the pilot launch of Amrita University’s Blended Training System at Jan Shikshan

Sansthans (JSSs) with e-content entailing selected skill courses.

• This is a comprehensive ICT -based platform that provides numerous benefits for trainees and

trainers.

• Additional Announcement: MoU with NACER

o MSDE and NSDC signed a MoU with NACER, the apex body for Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) under MoRD.

o The objective of this collaboration is to provide skilled PMKVY candidates from PMKKs for the 10-day residential Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) at RSETIs.

o RSETIs shall also support the candidates to access loans through credit linkages with public sector banks and also provide two-year mentorship support to the candidates.

o NACER has a strong institutional set up and also provides two- year mentorship to the candidate post loan linkage & Successful record for availing credit from banks.

Rat-Hole Mining in Meghalaya

A coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills collapsed recently, trapping at least 15 workers who are feared dead. What is rat-hole mining?

• It involves digging of very small tunnels, usually only 3-4 feet high, which workers (often children)

enter and extract coal.

• The rat-hole mining is broadly of two types - side-cutting and box-cutting.

• In side-cutting procedure, narrow tunnels are dug on the hill slopes and workers go inside until they

find the coal seam.

• The coal seam in hills of Meghalaya is very thin, less than 2 m in most cases.

• In the box-cutting type, a rectangular opening is made, varying from 10 to 100 sq. m.

• Through this, a vertical pit, 100 to 400 feet deep, is dug.

• Once the coal seam is found, rat-hole-sized tunnels are dug horizontally through which workers can

extract the coal.

Why is it prevalent?

• In Jharkhand, the coal layer is extremely thick, where open-cast mining can be done.

• But no other method would be economically viable in Meghalaya, where the coal seam is extremely

thin.

• Removal of rocks from the hilly terrain and putting up pillars inside the mine to prevent collapse

would be costlier.

• So, despite a ban, rat-hole mining remains the prevalent procedure for coal mining in Meghalaya.

• Rat-hole mining is the locally developed technique and the most commonly used one.

• It is not regulated by any law, and coal extraction has been made by unscrupulous elements in a most

illegal and unscientific manner.

• Meghalaya’s annual coal production of nearly 6 million tonnes is mostly said to have come through

rat-hole mining.

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned it in 2014, on grounds of it being unscientific and

unsafe for workers.

• The state (Meghalayan) government has challenged the NGT ban in the Supreme Court.


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• The government does not have a policy in place to regulate mining and the new mining policy drafted

in 2012 has not yet been implemented, Moreover,

• The NGT found the 2012 policy inadequate as it does not address rat-hole mining.

What are the impacts of Rat Hole Mining?

• Environmental Degradation: It has caused the water in the Kopili river (flows through Meghalaya

and Assam) to turn acidic.

• Pollution: Roadsides used for piling of coal leads to air, water and soil pollution.

• Exploitation of workers: Maximum mining in Meghalaya is from rat hole mining where workers

put their lives in danger but benefits are cornered by few private individuals.

• Risk to Lives: Rat-holes mines without adequate safety measures pose high risk to miner’s lives.

According to one estimate, one miner dies in these rat-holes mines every 10 days.

• Fuelling illegal activities: Illegal money earned from these unlawful mines also end up fuelling

insurgency in the state.

• Encouraging Child Labour: According to a Shillong based NGO, rat-hole mining employs 70,000

child laborers.

• Less Capital Intensive: This type of mining when done in a scientific way, with suitable equipment

is less capital intensive.

• Easy self-employment: rat-hole mining provides easy self-employment to people.

What are the shortcomings?

• Political Influence: Maximum politicians are either owners of mines or have stakes in the largely

unregulated coal mining and transportation industry.

• Populism: Directly and indirectly about 2.5 lakh people are dependent on rat-hole mining economy,

having influence on 16 out of 60 assembly seats.

• Lack of alternative Employment opportunities: It forces people to work in these dangerous mines.

• Lack of Adequate Policy:

o The NGT finds The Meghalaya or cherrapunji Mines and Mineral Policy, 2012 inadequate. o The policy does not address rat-hole mining and instead states Use of Violence by Mining

Mafia: Anyone who reports on these illegal mining activities is met with violence.

• Legal Framework: Mining activities are a state subject, but safety of mine workers is a central

subject which creates problems in implementation of safety policies.

• Misuse of Sixth Schedule Provisions:

o The 6th Schedule of the Constitution intends to protect the community’s ownership over its land and the community’s autonomy and consent over its nature of use.

o Coal mining currently underway in Meghalaya was a corruption of this Constitutional Provision wherein

o private individuals having private interests in earning monetary benefits from minerals vested under the land are engaging in coal mining.

• Lack of Monitoring: Mining activities are spread across too vast an area spreading over four

districts.

“Web- Wonder Women” Campaign

The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, has launched an online campaign, ‘#www: Web- Wonder Women’.


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What is web- wonder women campaign?

• The Campaign aims to discover and celebrate the exceptional achievements of women, who have

been driving positive agenda of social change via social media.

• Through the campaign, the Ministry and the Campaign’s Partners aim to recognize the fortitude of

Indian women stalwarts from across the globe who have used the power of social media to run

positive & niche campaigns to steer a change in society.

• This Campaign will recognize and acknowledge the efforts of these meritorious Women.

• The Campaign invites Entries via Nominations from across the world, as per the laid-out criteria.

• Indian-origin women, working or settled anywhere in the world, are eligible for nomination.

• The shortlisted entries will be open for public voting on Twitter and the finalists will be selected by

a specialized panel of judges.

• Nominations have been invited in a large number of categories including Health, Media, Literature,

Art, Sports, Environmental protection, fashion among others.

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Heritage Conservation in Indian Railways

The Ministry of Railways has initiated several steps to promote heritage conservation.

What’s happening?

• The conservation measures undertaken by railways include a revival of Steam Locomotives, up-

keeping Hill Railways, a special delegation of powers to Divisions for promoting Hill and Steam

tourism, strengthening Railway museums, conservation of built heritage, digitization of Railway

Heritage and bringing it online for universal access etc.

What are the measures undertaken for heritage conservation?

• Zonal Railways/Production Units are organising drives from time to time for identification and

preservation of Railway heritage assets like buildings, bridges, rolling stocks, documents,

photographs, artefacts, equipment, clocks, benches etc, which currently lying unnoticed or

overlooked at different locations.

• A specific provision was made by the Ministry of Railways in the budget outlay for 2018-19 for the

revival of steam locomotives including restoration .and procurement of spares.

• A weekly regular timetabled train on steam traction has been made operational between Garhi

Harsaru and Farukhnagar

• Maintenance of five hill railways of India [Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), Nilgiri Mountain

Railway (NMR), Kalka Shimla Railway (KSR), Matheran Light Railway (MLR) and Kangra Valley

Railway (KVR)] are undertaken as per codal provision of Indian Railways and UNESCO Guidelines.

• Special powers have been delegated to Divisional Railway Managers of five hill railways for

promoting tourism in these five hill railways.

• Ministry of Railways had also organised a day-long event of heritage officers of Zonal Railways and

Production Units to give complete attention to the century-old rich heritage of Indian Railways and

to train them in heritage conservation approaches.

Monuments of National Importance

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has declared 6 monuments as Monuments of national importance in 2018

Which are the monuments of national importance in 2018?

• The six monuments declared as Monuments as Monuments of national importance in 2018 are:

o Old High Court Building in Nagpur

o Maharashtra Haveli of Agha Khan in Agra

o Haveli of Hathi Khana in Agra

o Neemrana Baori in Rajasthan’s Alwar district

o Group of Temples at Ranipur Jharail in Odisha’s Bolangir district

o Vishnu temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand.

What are the criteria for the declaration of monument of national importance?

ART & CULTURE


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• The Archaeological Survey of India declares a site as Monument of National importance based on

the following criterion:

o The remains of an ancient monument

o The site of an ancient monument

o The land on which there are fences or protective covering structures for preserving the

monument

o Land by means of which people can freely access the monument.

What is an Ancient monument?

• The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 defines Ancient

Monument as any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any

cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest

and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years.

What are the facts?

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) recently declared that it has added six structures to the list

of monuments of national importance, taking the total number to 3,693.

• With 506 monuments under its belt, Karnataka continues to top the list in South India, followed by

Tamil Nadu (413). Nationally too, Karnataka is in the second place after Uttar Pradesh, which has

745 such monuments.

What is ASI?

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), under the Ministry of Culture, is the premier organization

for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation.

• Functions: Maintenance of ancient monuments and archaeological sites and remains of national

importance is the prime concern of the ASI. Besides it regulates all archaeological activities in the

country as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act,

1958. It also regulates Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972.

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was formed in 1861 by a statute passed into law by

Canning, with Alexander Cunningham as its first Archaeological Surveyor, to excavate and conserve

India’s ancient built heritage.

Sabarimala opens for Makaravilakku festival season

The Sabarimala shrine has been opened for the annual 21-day annual Makaravilakku festival season Why is it important?

• The History was made on 2nd January 2019. Women on the menstrual age entered the Sabarimala

shrine during this season of Makaravilakku festival.

• Even though Supreme Court had struck down the century-old religious practice which barred the

entry of women in the menstrual age to the temple, the entry of women was not possible due to

widespread opposition by the religious groups.

• But during the early hours of 2nd January 2019 two women by name Bindu Ammini, 42 years and

Kanaka Durga, 44 years entered the adobe of Swamy Ayappa.


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What is Makaravilakku?

• Makaravilakku is the religious practice

performed by the tribes in the forest of

Ponnambalamedu. Once the Cyrus star

(Makara Jyothi) appears in the sky during the

day of the Makara Sankranti festival, the

tribes perform their rituals in a temple at

Ponnambalamedu forest.

• As part of the ritual, the tribes perform

aarathi by lighting camphor and ghee in a

vessel and circling around the idol at the

temple in the Ponnambalamedu forest 3

times.

• This Aarathi performed by the tribes is

referred to as Makaravilakku.

Sanskriti Kumbh

The Uttar Pradesh Governor Shri Ram Naik inaugurated the Sanskriti Kumbh at Prayagraj.

What is Sanskriti Kumbh?

• The Sanskriti Kumbh celebrates the conglomeration of Spiritual Consciousness and Cultural

Heritage of India in the main premises of Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

• It is being organised by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha

Bharat initiative.

• The Sanskriti Kumbh is aimed at showcasing the vibrancy of India.

• The Sanskriti Kumbh will give a chance to people to experience all the colours of Indian Culture at

one place.

• This cultural extravagance aims to promote and reconnect the people especially the youth with our

magnificent and multifaceted culture along with the opulence and its historical significance.

• The cultural performances would display the legacy of India’s Spiritual and Mythological practices.

• The performances will showcase the inclination of visitors towards devotion and Kumbh tradition.

• The folk dances, representing states from East West North South India, will showcase the spirit of

Unity in Diversity that is Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.

• Under the ambit of Sanskriti Kumbh, Rashtriya Shilp Mela is being organised to display handicrafts

and live demonstration of the skill by craftsmen.

What is Kumbh Mela?

• Kumbh Mela is one of the oldest and largest congregation in the world.

• The Kumbh Mela is now part of the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural heritage for humanity in

2017.

• This year Kumbh Mela is being organized in the city of Prayagraj which is located at the confluence

of the Ganges, the Yamuna and Mystic river of Saraswati in Uttar Pradesh.


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What is Rail Kumbh Seva Mobile App?

• During Rail Kumbh Seva Mobile App has been

launched by the North Central Railway (NCR) to

help the devotees arriving in Allahabad for

the Kumbh Mela.

• The Mobile Application ‘Rail Kumbh Seva

Mobile App’ has been designed to provide critical

and valuable information to the devotees, tourists

and other passengers who will visit Allahabad

during the Kumbh Mela period.

• The app will assist to navigate through the city

and the mela grounds.

• The app will also provide information regarding

all the ‘Mela special’ trains that will be run during

the period.

• The app will provide a link to the user to buy both unreserved and reserved train tickets.

• The app will aid in knowing their current location and also aid in getting directions to reach railway

stations, the mela zone, major hotels, bus stations and other facilities within Allahabad city.

• The app will also provide information about passenger amenities available at the stations like parking

lots, refreshment rooms, waiting rooms, book stall, food plaza, ATMs and train enquiry

What is the story of Kumbh?

• Thy Mythological story related to Kumbh is narrated below, “During an ongoing war between the

demons and the demigods for the possession of the elixir of immortality (Amruth), few drops fell to

earth at four places: Allahabad, Haridwar, Nasik, and Ujjain.

• At each of the four places, Kumbh Mela is held.

• At Allahabad, the drop of Amruth is believed to be fallen near Sangam and people assemble near

the Sangam during Kumbh Mela to purge themselves of all sins by taking a dip in the waters and

attain Moksha (Salvation).”

• The Kumbh Mela is held in these four places based on the astrological calculations it returns to each

place after a gap of twelve years.

• The normal Kumbh Mela is held every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is held every six years

at Haridwar and Allahabad (Prayag) while the Purna (complete) Kumbh mela takes place every

twelve years, at four places Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik.

• The Maha Kumbh Mela is celebrated at Prayag after 144 years (i.e. after 12 ‘Purna Kumbh Melas’)

Supreme Court gives nod for Chardham Project

The Supreme Court has given its nod to Chardham Development Plan which connects the holy places of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath by all-weather roads.

What is the issue?

• The construction of all-weather roads in the environmentally critical zone of Himalayas was

questioned in the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

• The National Green Tribunal had cleared the Chardham Project and had formed an oversight

committee to monitor the environmental safeguards during the construction of the project.


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• This order was questioned in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court refused to stay the order of

NGT and had asked the Centre to file its affidavit on a plea seeking a stay on the order of the NGT.

What is the significance of Char Dham yatra?

• As per Hindu traditions, Char Dham Yatra opens the gates of salvation by washing away all the sins.

• The term Chardham is believed to be coined by Shri. Adi Shankaracharya, which means four abodes

of God or Holy Destinations.

• The Yatra begins from Yamunotri, then the pilgrims head to Gangotri, thereafter to Kedarnath and

finally to Badrinath to complete the Chardham Yatra.

• Yamunotri is the source of the sacred Yamuna River. Yamuna was the sister of Yamraj and she was

promised by Yamraj that whoever takes the holy dip in the Yamuna River will not be taken to

Yamlok and they would attain salvation.

• Yamunotri is also the seat of Goddess Yamuna.

• Gangotri i.e. Gomukh is the birth place of the Holy River Ganga.

• The stone on which King Bhagirath did meditation to bring Goddess Ganga to earth is located near

Ganga Temple in Gangotri.

• A temple dedicated to Goddess Ganga is located in this pious area.

• Kedarnath is one of the twelve jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva and the temple is believed to be restored

by Adi Shankaracharya.

• Badrinath is considered as the most sacred among the four shrines and is located on the left bank of

the Alaknanda River.

• The temple at Badrinath is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the protector and preserver of the divine

Hindu Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva).

• It is also believed that Adi Shankaracharya got freedom from the process of reincarnation at

Badrinath.

• The Chardham Development Plan is the project of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Hunar Haat Exhibition

Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley and Union Minority Affairs Minister Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inaugurated Hunar Haat exhibitions in New Delhi.

What is Hunar Haat? • Hunar Haat plays an important role in national and international branding of the heritage of master

artisans in India.

• Hunar Haat is aimed at “Development with Dignity” of the artisans and craftsmen from the minority

communities.

• Hunar Haat exhibitions are organised by the Ministry of Minority affairs under its USTAAD

(Upgrading the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme.

• USTAAD scheme aims to preserve the heritage of traditional arts and crafts of minority

communities, build the capacity of traditional craftspersons and artisans and establish linkages of

traditional skills with the global market

• Together with boosting the skill of craftsmen, weavers and artisans engaged in the traditional

ancestral work, USTAAD scheme aims to enhance the market access to the traditional arts and crafts,

so that the rich heritage of the minority communities is preserved for future generations.


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• Being a medium/platform of earning for the local and others of the region, the festival put its focus

especially to the business activities for the better economy generation through rural tourism.

What are the benefits of Hunar Haat?

• Projecting the talent of Indian artisans.

• Build a credible brand of Indigenous Talent of Indian artisans and craftsmen.

• Promoting the artisan and craftsmen heritage of India which had been marginalised for a long time.

• Provides an Empowerment & Employment Exchange platform for master artisans and craftsmen.

• Provides a platform to fulfil the commitments under “Make in India”, “Stand up India” and “Startup

India”.

Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan

The Governor of Tamil Nadu inaugurated the Kavi Sammelan, a National Symposium of Poets in Chennai.

What is Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan? • This Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan of All India Radio (AIR) aims to provide a creative platform for

national integration and linguistic harmony through mutual interaction and coordinated presentation

of the best in contemporary poetry of all Indian languages.

• This Kavi Sammelan made its beginning in 1956 and is one of its kind programmes wherein 23

eminent poets from 22 Indian languages come together on one stage to offer their creative best.

• The Kavi Sammelan is the reflection of rich culture, literacy and shared heritage of Indian languages.

• The poems were recited in the original language by the poets themselves and then they were

translated to Hindi and Tamil.

What is All India Radio?

• All India Radio is the National Radio Broadcaster of India. Living up to its motto – ‘Bahujan Hitaya:

Bahujan Sukhaya’ it is striving to inform, educate and entertain the masses of the country. The All

India Radio broadcasts programmes in 23 languages and 179 dialects.

Bharat Parv begins at Red Fort

Bharat Parv is a five-day event hosted as part of Republic Day celebrations.

What is Bharat Parv?

• Bharat Parv organised at Red Fort, Delhi aims to generate a patriotic fervour and promote the rich

cultural diversity of the country.

• Bharat Parv showcases the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.

• The important attractions of Bharat Parv are:

o Replica of the Statue of Unity.

o Gandhi Gram in which 10 painting artists will create paintings on the theme of Ideology of

Mahatma Gandhi.

o Display of Republic Day parade tableaux Performance by the Armed Forces bands.

o Theme based State Pavilions where each state showcases its strength along with its tourism

products.

o Daily cultural performances by North Zone Cultural Centre.


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• Bharat Parv has been organised by Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with other Central Ministries

and State Governments

What is The Beating Retreat Ceremony?

• The Beating Retreat Ceremony marks the conclusion

of Republic Day celebrations.

• Through this ceremony, the defence forces which

had come to the national capital to be a part of

Republic Day celebrations are sent back to their

barracks by the President.

• The Beating Retreat Ceremony is held every year on

January 29th at Vijay Chowk.

• Traditionally the bands of the three wings of the military, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian

Air Force, and pipe bands from the Army participated in the Beating retreat ceremony.

• From 2016 bands of the Central Armed Police Forces and the Delhi Police are also participating in

the event.

• The bands play traditional Indian tunes like ‘Herana Heran”,” Mushkoh Valley”,” Tejas”,” The Great

Marshal”,” Namaste India”.

• A popular western tune” Abide with me” would also be played by the bands. The ceremony comes

to a conclusion with the popular tune” Sare Jahan se Acha”.

• Once the bands conclude” Sare Jahan se Acha”, the Raisina Hill complex would be lit up in the riot

of colours.

• Beating Retreat is a centuries-old military tradition, at the sounding of retreat, the troops ceased

fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield, returning to their camps at sunset.

• The Beating Retreat Ceremony was started in the early 1950s when the government had asked Indian

army to design a ceremony for the display by the massed bands.

National Salt Satyagraha Memorial

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at Dandi in Navsari district, Gujarat.

What is National Salt Satyagraha Memorial?

• The memorial is conceived as an experiential journey recreating the spirit and the energy of the 1930

Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi

and 80 of his fellow Satyagrahis.

• The memorial takes the visitors step

by step through visualisation of events

to aid them in understanding the

methodology of Satyagraha, which

finally led to India’s Independence

from the British colonial rule.

• The Memorial is the project of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and is advised by a

High-Level Dandi Memorial Committee (HLDMC) with IIT Bombay as a Design Coordination

Agency.


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What is the historical Background of Salt Satyagraha?

• From the very beginning of British Rule in India, the salt tax was considered to be a good source of

income.

• The beginning was made in the form of ‘land rent’ and ‘transit charges’, and in 1762, it was

consolidated into duty.

• As a result of the duty, India and in particular Bengal and its surrounding provinces were rendered

dependent upon imported salt from Liverpool and elsewhere.

• The indigenous industry oppressed with the burden of extravagant charges was unable to compete

with its English rival. The salt tax/duties on the annual requirement of a family amounted at one

time up to nearly two months’ wages of a labourer.

• The Indian National Congress from the very inception opposed the salt tax. Nationalist leaders such

as Dadabhai Naoroji and GK Gokhale had particularly raised their voice against it.

• Gandhiji had begun raising opposition to oppressive duties on common salt right from his student

days in London.

• All these culminated in Gandhiji selecting Satyagraha against salt taxes as the key issue in 1930 while

leading the civil disobedience movement for India’s freedom from the British colonial rule.

• The Salt tax was chosen by Gandhi during the civil disobedience movement because it not only

appeared to be basically unjust in themselves but also because it symbolised an unpopular,

unrepresentative alien government.

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In this section, we present to you precise, point wise gist of this month’s Kurukshetra, a go-to monthly compilation for Civil

Services Aspirants.

Power for All- A Dream Coming True

• Electricity is a key element in modern day life. Access to reliable and affordable energy increases the

ease of living and generates employment. It powers the development of the country. It is a

prerequisite to digital connectivity in rural India, thereby opening new vistas for the people hitherto

unconnected to the outer world. In the past four and a half years, India has added more than one

lakh megawatts of new generation capacity and have added almost one lakh circuit kilometers to the

inter-state transmission capacity-connecting the entire nation to one grid. Now, for the first time,

India has One Nation-One Grid-the entire network operating on one frequency. Energy deficit has

been brought own 4.2 per cent to almost zero. India has become an exporter of electricity-exporting

electricity to Nepal and Bangladesh. A major landmark to universal access to electricity was crossed

when our country achieved 100 percent village electrification on 28th April, 2018.

• Extensive infrastructure has been created under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana

(DDUGJY). Special focus was on feeder separation (rural households and agricultural) and

strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure including metering at all levels in

rural areas. This programme has also set an example of effective cooperative federalism wherein all

stakeholders synergized their efforts for common goal.

• The next step was to light up every household. The Prime Minister launched the ‘Pradhan Mantri

Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana’-Saubhagya in Sep 2017 with the aim to achieve universal household

electrification. Achievement of this within targeted timeline of 31st March 2019 is the challenge. As

the name of the scheme itself suggests, it has inherent features of ‘Sahaj’ i.e. Simple/Easy/Effortless

and ‘Har Ghar’ i.e. inclusive universal household electrification. More than 2.50 crore households

have already been electrified under Saubhagya. The International Energy Agency called India’s

electrification journey as one of the greatest success stories of the Year 2018. Hardly 4 lakh odd

households are now remaining and within the next few weeks, every household of the country will

have an electricity connection.

• In addition to providing last mile connectivity in rural areas, the Government launched Integrated

Power Development Scheme (IPDS) with an aim to strengthen power infrastructure in urban areas.

The infrastructure created under IPDS during the last four and a half years is equally important to

ensure supply of adequate power with desired quality and reliability. The focus areas of IPDS are-

o Strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network in the urban areas. o Metering of distribution transformers/feeders/consumers in the urban areas. o IT enablement and automation of distribution sector.

• Renewable Energy. India have developed a roadmap to achieve 175 GW capacity in the

renewable energy sector by 2022, which includes 100 GW of solar power and 60 GW of wind

power. The overall installed capacity of Renewable Energy has been more than doubled from 34,000

MW to 75,000 MW and solar capacity increased 8 times. Today, India stands at 5th position in the

world in installed solar capacity, at 4th position in installed wind capacity and at 5th position in

overall renewable energy (installed capacity).

• Energy Efficiency. A number of innovative and visionary policy measures have been taken for

promotion of energy efficiency. Household LED bulb distribution program UJALA and

GIST OF YOJANA


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SLNP (Streetlight National Project) for replacing conventional streetlights with smart and

energy efficient LED street lights have saved billions of unit electricity per year. In addition,

Star Labeling program, Energy Conservation Building Code and Energy efficiency measures

through Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) are also important initiatives in the field of

energy efficiency. The first cycle of the PAT for industry achieved savings of more than 8.6

million tonnes of oil equivalent which is almost 1.23 percent of primary energy supply of

India. The second cycle is estimated to achieve even higher savings.

What is the Way Forward?

• A new Tariff Policy is being finalized which makes it mandatory to provide reliable and 24x7 power

supply for all from 1st Aril 2019. If a power outage occurs without a valid reason (e.g. for scheduled

maintenance or disruption due to natural calamity), the concerned power distribution company

(DISCOM) will face penalties. The use of Smart Electricity Meters will reduce AT&C losses, better

health of DISCOMs, incentivization of energy conservation and ease of bill payment etc. Further, it

will generate skilled employment for the youth. The Government has launched the National E-

Mobility programme to promote electricity vehicles in a big way.

Creating Adequate Infrastructure in Health Care

• India has systematically improved health conditions. Life expectancy has doubled from 32 years in

1947 to 66.8 years at present: Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has fallen to 50 per thousand live births.

Further, it is estimated that public funding accounts for only 22 percent of the expenses on healthcare

in India. Most of the remaining 78 percent of private expenditure is out of pocket expense. The

share of the richest 20 percent of the population in total public sector subsidies is nearly 31 percent,

almost three times the share of the poorest 20 per cent of the population.

• Indian healthcare delivery system is categorized into two major components-public and private. The

Government i.e. public healthcare system comprises limited secondary and tertiary care institutions

in key cities and focuses on providing basic healthcare facilities in the form of Primary Healthcare

Centers (PHCs) in rural areas. The private sector provides majority of secondary, tertiary and

quaternary care institutions with a major concentration in metros, tier I and tier II cities.

• Universal access to health care is a well-articulated goal for both global institutions and national

governments. India’s National Health Policy, 2017 envisions the goal of attaining highest possible

level of health and well-being for all at all ages through a preventive and promotive health care

orientation in all developmental policies and universal access to good quality health care services

without financial hardship to the citizens.

Major Government Initiatives

• Ayushman Bharat. In August 2018, the Government of India has approved Ayushman Bharat-

National Health Protection Mission as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme contributed by both Centre

and state governments at a ratio of 60:40 for all states, 90:10 for hilly North Eastern States and 60:40

for UTs with legislature. The Centre will contribute 100 percent for UTs without legislature.

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. On 23th Sep 2018, Govt of India launched Pradhan Mantri Jan

Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) to provide health insurance worth Rs 5, 00,000 to over 100 million families

every year.


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• Kayakalp. The ‘Kayakalp’ is an initiative to promote sanitation and hygiene in public healthcare

institutions. Facilities which outshine and exceed the set measures are awarded and incentivized

under Kayakalp.

• Mission Indradhanush. This has been launched to achieve at least 90 per cent immunization

coverage by Dec 18 which will cover unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children in rural and

urban areas of India.

• Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). This has the objectives of correcting regional

imbalances in the availability of affordable/reliable tertiary healthcare services and also to augment

facilities for quality medical education in the country. It has two components:

o Setting up of AIIMS like institutions. o Upgradation of Government Medical College Institutions.

• The government’s expenditure on the health sector has grown to 1.4 percent in FY 18 from 1.2

percent in FY 14. The Government of India is planning to increase public health spending to 2.5

percent of the country’s GDP by 2025.

• In 2017, the Government of India approved National Nutrition Mission (NNM) towards a lifecycle

approach for interrupting the intergenerational cycle of under nutrition.

• The Govt approved National Medical Commission Bill 2017 aims to promote medical education

reform

Private Sector in Health Care

• The Supreme Court in a recent judgment directed government hospitals in Delhi to refer poor

patients to private hospitals. This mandatory ruling was given on the ground that the land for

construction was given on an undertaking which bound the private players to provide free health

care to people who belong to economically weaker sections of the society. This decision would go a

long way in strengthening the public health system.

Market Size

• The healthcare market can increase three-fold to Rs 8.6 trillion by 2022. India is experiencing 22-25

percent growth in medical tourism and the industry is expected to double its size from present (April

2017) US $ 3 billion to US $ 6 billion by 2018.

Road Ahead

• India’s competitive advantage also lies in the increased success rate of Indian companies in getting

Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approvals. India also offers vast opportunities in R&D

as well as medical tourism. To sum up, there are vast opportunities for investment in healthcare

infrastructure in both urban and rural India. Public healthcare service should ensure three Es-

‘Expand’- ‘Equity’- ‘Excellence’.

Bharatmala Pariyojana: The Biggest Revolution in Indian Highways

• Roads are the lifeline for any country and the lifeline needs to be better and stronger to improve

mobility, boost economy and generate jobs. Though the road network in India has increased from

3.99 lakh KM in 1951 to 56.03 lakh KM in 2016, a large share of them are less than two-lane while

more than 70 per cent of the National Highways (NHs) in India are either two-lanes or less.


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• The first major policy push to widen the NHs was made in 1998 by launching the National Highways

Development Programme (NHDP), which had two major components of 5846 Kms of Golden

Quadrilateral (GQ) connecting the four metro cities of India and 7,142 Kms’s network connecting

Srinagar to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Porbandar. These networks are known as North-South and

East-west corridors.

• The second big revolutionary decision to upgrade NHs was taken in October 2017 when the Central

government approved the phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana covering 24,800 Kms with completion

target by March 2022. The massive highway development programme has many firsts to its credit;

starting from preparation of the plan to identifying the highway stretches and the new approach of

building roads on new alignment.

The Process

• Improved logistics movement has a force multiplier effect on the economy. The origin-Destination

study also considered the integration of economic corridors with the ongoing projects under NHDP.

In addition to development of new corridors and feeder routes, there was a need to improve the

throughput of the road stretches already developed under the NHDP. Moreover, to cater to the need

for infrastructure development in the border and coastal areas to India’s Export-Import (EXIM)

trade, the highway development programme has provisioned for improving border roads based on

strategic importance, particularly the ones connecting to trading points with India’s neighbours-

Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Components

• Economic Corridor. The origin-destination study which was commissioned with the aim of

improving logistics efficiency identified 44 new Economic Corridors. The Economic Corridors are

expected to carry 25 percent of freight in the coming years.

• Inter Corridor and Feeder Routes. The origin destination study also identified a network of shorter

inter corridor routes connecting two existing corridors and feeder routes to the corridor network.

These roads are expected to carry around 20 percent of freight.

• Improvement in Efficiency of National Corridors. Currently, the NHs carry nearly 35 percent of

India’s freight. All these stretches will be declared National Corridors. All these stretches will be

widened to 6-8 lanes. In the past few years, these corridors have also developed choke points

impacting logistics efficiency. So, to decongest and do away with these choke points, new Ring Roads

and bypasses/elevated corridors will be built.

• Development of Border and International Connectivity Roads. Around 3,300 KMs of border roads

have been identified to be built and widened along the international border for their strategic

importance.

• Development of Coastal and Port Connectivity Roads. About 2100 Kms of coastal roads have been

identified to be built along the coast. These roads would boost both tourism and industrial

development of the coastal region. These will also improve connectivity to ports to facilitate EXIM

trade. A major focus will be to improve linkage to state government owned and private ports.

• Development of Green-field Expressways. This programme also envisages building expressways

close to the National and Economic Corridors where traffic has breached the 50,000 PCUs and there

are multiple choke points. About 1,900 Km of these stretches have been identified for development

of green field expressways.

Benefits


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• Bharatmala Pariyojana once implemented will enable improvement in efficiency of freight and

passenger movement on National Highways. The identified network will cater to 80 percent of the

inter district freight movement in the country. The network will connect 550 districts in the country

accounting for nearly 90 percent of the nation’s GDP. Standardized wayside amenities on the

corridors will come up, which will improve convenience of passenger movement significantly. The

development of economic corridors and the associated inter corridor and feeder routes will enable

improvement in average speeds of vehicles by about 20-25 percent which will have three major

benefits: improved vehicle utilization resulting in faster breakeven and hence lower freight cost per

tonne per kilometer, improvement in fuel efficiency of the vehicles due to lower idling time will

result in lower freight cost and reduction in average inventory carried in freight. The first phase is

expected to generate roughly 10 crore man-days of employment during the construction phase and

roughly 22 million permanent jobs driven by increased level of economic activities due to

development of the Economic Corridor network.

National Water Ways: Integrated Transport Network

• The Government of India is aggressively pushing for the development of inland waterway routes as

part of an integrated transport network strategy. On November 12, 2018, the PM dedicated India’s

first riverine multimodal terminal on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) at Varanasi to the nation.

106 new national waterways were announced under the National Waterways Act, 2016. With the five

existing National waterways (NW), the addition of the new ones takes the total number to 111 in the

country. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is mandated to make National waterways

commercially navigable. The IWAI aims to increase the cargo transportation on NWs up to 150

million tonnes by 2023.

• A developed IWT will not only augment the overall transport capacity of the country but will also

help correct the transport modal mix that impose huge logistics costs on the Indian economy. The

costs of logistics in India at 15 percent of GDP, is about twice those in the United states. The logistics

share of waterways in the USA is 8.3 percent, in Europe (7 percent), in China (8.7 percent), while in

India, it is only about 1.5 percent. India has 14,500 Kms of navigable inland waterways.

• Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). This project has been commissioned on the National Waterway-1

(NW-1) to enable commercial navigation on Varanasi-Haldia stretch of river Ganga. Soon after, the

capacity augmentation has begun on NW-1 under the JMVP with the technical assistance and

investment support of the World Bank. It is a wholly inclusive, economic and environment friendly

game changer intervention on river Ganga. According to World Bank economic analysis,

approximately 1.5 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities will be created due to

interventions under the Jal Marg Vikas Project.

Benefits

• Low emissions. CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases emission per tonne Km of cargo transportation

is 15 g by IWT, 28 g by Rail and 64 g by Road transport.

• Low energy consumption. 1 HP can carry 4000 Kg load in water, 500 Kg by Rail and 150 Kg on

Road.

• Low fuel cost. 1 litre fuel can move 105 tonne-km by IWT, 85 tonne-km by Rail and 24 tonne-Km

of freight by Road.

• IWT can provide optimal modal mix by integrating river transport with other modes thereby

reducing total logistics cost.


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• It eases congestion on Road and Rail networks. IWT requires very little land acquisition as compared

to Road and rail modes. IWT caters to the needs of the relatively under developed hinterland.

In this section, we present to you precise, point wise gist of this month’s Kurukshetra, a go-to monthly compilation for Civil

Services Aspirants.

Micro-irrigation for agricultural growth

• India accommodates more than 17 % of world’s population, but the country has only 4 %

water resources and 2.5 % land resources of the world. Water is a scarce natural resource and there

is a huge demand –supply gap to meet the requirements of various sectors. According to National

Water Policy (2012), water saving in irrigation has been given vital importance to achieve water use

efficiency.

• Micro irrigation is an innovative water saving technology in which water is directly supplied to the

crops with very less conveyance and evaporation losses. Thus, this technology boosts up overall

water use efficiency. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) (Har Khet Ko Pani and Per

Drop More Crops) considers micro irrigation as its integral part due to enhanced water productivity

and water use efficiency through its proximity and focused water application.

Benefits of Micro Irrigation • Increase in water use efficiency. Micro Irrigation technique ensures higher water use efficiency up to

50-90 percent.

• Energy Efficiency. Micro Irrigation technique ensures energy consumption saving up to 30.5

percent.

• Fertilizer Use Efficiency. Micro Irrigation technique ensures saving in fertilizer consumption up to

28.5 percent.

• Productivity increase. This irrigation ensures crop yield for fruits up to 42.4 percent and for

vegetables up to 52.7 percent.

• Irrigation Cost Saving. This ensures irrigation cost savings up to 31.9 percent.

• New Crop Introduction. This ensures introduction of new crops, intercropping and crop rotation.

• Increase in Farmer’s income. More focused and judicious us of water and nutrients result in good

quality produce and increase in farmer’s income.

Challenges and Disadvantages of Micro Irrigation

• Energy Crisis. Rural farmers face power outages and unscheduled interruptions across India.

However, this problem may be solved by integrated drip irrigation with solar panel system which is

considered best option for off grid farmers.

• Expensive Micro Irrigation. Most of the adopters are wealthier farmers and poor farmers cannot

afford it. This problem is resolved by inventing low cost systems by different agencies.

• The major disadvantage of solar panel enabled micro irrigation system is that farmers have to

schedule irrigation during sunshine hours only, which otherwise they would be using the time for

other productive works.

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Streamlining storage and marketing

• Better storage and transportation facilities for agricultural products can add to the productivity of

farm resources thus making domestic agricultural sector more competitive in international markets.

According to World Bank Report, the food grains and perishables which are wasted due to improper

storage could be sufficient to feed the one third of world’s poor population.

Strengthening Cold Storage/Warehousing

• Cold storage plays a vital role in reducing post-harvest loses of edible commodities by

increasing their storability and shelf life. At present, 6227 cold stores are available in India

with a storage capacity up to 3000 million tonnes. Lack of cold storage space is one of the

major reasons behind higher post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables in India which reach

up to 25 to 40 percent of the total production on an annual basis. Two prominent changes

that have created a significant growth prospects in warehousing are the implementation of

GST in India and creating a unified taxation and the rapid growth of e-commerce necessity

building of large-scale warehousing across various locations. As per a recent report by

ASSOCHAM, it is reported that Indian cold-chain industry which stood at Rs 102 billion in

2009 is expected to register a compound annual growth rate of 25.8 percent and it will touch

to Rs 640 billion by 2017.

Agricultural Marketing in India

• Agriculture Marketing in India promotes the efficient use of resources in the production and

distribution systems. Therefore, agricultural market policies are treated as an integral part of

development polices and their functioning has remained an important part of public policy in India.

• APMC Act. All the states of India have enacted this Act except Kerala, J&K and Manipur. The Act

mandates that the sale or purchase of agricultural commodities notified under the Act, is to be carried

out in specified market areas, yards or sub-yards. Market charges, costs and taxes vary across states

and commodities. The advantages of APMC Act are as follows: -

o Removal of several malpractices and imperfections from agricultural markets.

o Creation of transparent marketing conditions.

o Ensuring a fair price to the farmers to sell their produce.

• Model APMC Act 2003. Under the model APMC Act, the private sector and cooperatives can be

licensed to set up markets. This act also has provision for contract farming and direct marketing by

the private players. Except for few states, all the states and UTs have either fully or partly adopted

the model APMC Act.

• E-NAM-An Electronic Portal for Agriculture Marketing. It was launched in April 2016. It is an

electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national

market for agricultural commodities. This platform facilitates pan-India trade in agriculture

commodities and provides better price discovery through transparent auction process based on

quality of produce along with timely online payment. At present, 585 regulated mandis in 14 states

are linked with the e-NAM which helps farmers/producers to discover real time price in a

transparent manner.

• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY). It was launched in April 2015 as an elaborated

component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under the Centrally Sponsored scheme, National


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Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). It aims at supporting and promoting organic farming

through adoption of organic village by cluster approach and Participatory Guarantee System (PGS)

certification. This scheme encourages the farmers to adopt eco-friendly concept of cultivation and

reduce their dependence on fertilizers and agricultural chemicals.

Institutional credit for agriculture

• Availability of timely and affordable credit facilitates the farmer to gain access to quality inputs and

other support services. However, it is also an accepted fact that in most of the states of the country,

the marginal and small farmers are more dependent on the informal sources for meeting their credit

needs. The percentage of credit that is met from informal sources is 40.6 percent, 52.1 percent and

30.8 percent for the landless, marginal and small farmers respectively. The strategy has, therefore,

been to strengthen the role of institutional sources of credit to agriculture so as to replace informal

sources of credit such as money lenders.

Flow of Institutional Credit for Agriculture

• India had adopted the multi-agency approach to purvey rural credit since nationalization in the late

1960s. A large number of formal agencies like the Co-operative Banks, Commercial Banks and the

Regional Rural Banks were actively involved in providing bank credit for agriculture and its allied

activities. Even, Non- Banking Financial Institutions (NBFCs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs)

and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) were also involved in purveying agricultural credit.

• In the annual budgets, GOI set targets for the institutional credit to agriculture to ensure flow of

adequate bank funds to this sector. Since then, all banks put together have been consistently

surpassing the targets set by GOI in so far as credit flow to agricultural sector is concerned. Since

March 2011, the agricultural credit flow has grown at a CAGR in excess of 14 percent. It may also

be a reasonable assumption that this increase in credit flow had a more than direct impact in

production of food grains touching record levels over the last decade.

Coverage of Small and Marginal Farmers

• The share of land holdings less than 2 ha (small and marginal farmers) are on the increase: from 70

percent in 1970-71 to 85 percent in 2011-12. Providing timely and affordable credit to this resource-

constrained group is the key to attaining inclusive growth. Small and Marginal Framers accounted

for about 72 percent of agricultural loan accounts and 50 percent of the agricultural credit flow in

2016-17.

The Way Forward

• In order to realize the Vision of GOI to double the farmers’ income by 2022, many new initiatives

have been taken up and are being implemented by the Govt of India, RBI, NABARD and the various

stakeholders in this regard. The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme was envisaged to provide easy

and hassle –free credit to the farmer. It has met with admirable success and with the launch of RuPay

KCC, became more cost effective.

• Recent amendments to the Priority Sector guidelines by the RBI providing for specific sub-targets

in flow of credit to Small/Marginal Farmers are also a welcome step. Financial products aimed at

supporting more climate resilient and adaptive farming practices are the need of the hour.

• Simple insurance products that provides for hassle free cover will also help improve resilience of the

average Indian farmer and make agriculture a risk worth taking.


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• A robust Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (NWR) system will enable farmers to monetize their

produce early and avoidable distress sale.

• Higher investments in agricultural infrastructure from out of the dedicated Long-Term Irrigation

Fund (LTIF) and Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) will further boost credit flow to

this sector, thereby ensuring realization of the mission to double farmer’s income in a manner ideally

envisaged.

New initiatives in research and extension

• Research and extension are among the core activities identified for accelerating agricultural growth

and prosperity of farmers. After the globally acclaimed green revolution during 1960s, science led

synergistic extension approach led the agricultural sector towards white, blue, golden and pink

revolutions. Further, a strong extension support is also imperative to disseminate emerging

technologies at grass root level for quick adoption and practice. The interface between research and

technology transfer is indeed very critical for converting research outputs into farming outcomes.

New Varieties and New Hopes

• To address the core concern of productivity in Indian farming, research efforts were focused on

development of new varieties that give higher yield and show resistance/tolerance to pest and

diseases. Studies indicated that by using high-yielding varieties, the yield increases in the range of 15-

20 per cent depending upon the crop. It can be further raised up to 45 percent with efficient

management of other inputs. Responding to the call, ICAR developed and released a total of 795

new crop varieties during last four years and 136 varieties of horticultural crops. Most of the varieties

exhibit the most desired trait of high-yield but few are specialized varieties.

Improved Livestock for Livelihood Security

• Livestock including poultry and fisheries play a central role in livelihood of farmers by assuring

additional income with low investment and also an insurance against climate distress. Hence, breeds

of popular livestock species were developed through systematic research mainly for higher

production.

• To improve livestock health, an ambitious research programme to develop indigenous vaccines and

diagnostic kits was launched in ICAR institutes. Vaccines developed against PPR, sheep pox, equine

influenza, classical swine fever have been found effective against respective diseases.

• In fisheries sector, the technology of marine cage culture of high Cobia and Silver Pompano fishes

is proving a game changer technology in coastal regions.

• More nutritious and low-cost fish feeds developed by modern research are gaining popularity among

aqua culturists. Under an innovative research pathway, high value compounds and nutraceuticals

have been developed for human health and have been commercialized also.

Integrated Farming for Improved Income

• Recently, integrated farming system (IFS) approach has become a core research activity due to its

potential to increase farmers’ income and site-specific employment to small land holders.

Additionally, it cuts-down cultivation cost through multiple use of resources and provides desired

resilience to climate change scenario. Development of agri-voltage system for fields is breakthrough

researches where electricity is generated by installing solar PV modules in fields and crops are

cultivated in inter space area. Rain water is also harvested from top surface of PV modules.


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Lab to Land

• Farmers, being the end users of agricultural research are at the center stage of outreach systems

designed for speedy dissemination of agricultural technologies. A vast and pan India network of 692

Krishi Vigyan Kendras are extending training and technology support to the farmers for quality seed,

planting material and animal/fish seed production.

Boosting agriculture through agri-business

• Government has initiated a number of measures not only to augment the income of farmers but also

to put agriculture on sound footing in the country. Farmers and other stakeholders involved in agri-

business activities need to be made aware about these initiatives. Further, effective convergence in

between and among various programmes may also be operationalized in a time bound manner.

Among others, two important programmes are Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee

Scheme and National Rural Livelihood Mission so that efforts of different programmes are

optimized.

Government efforts to promote agri-business

• A network of 25 Agri-business Incubation (ABI) centers under the National Agriculture Innovation

Fund (NAIF) scheme has been initiated in different states of country. These ABIs act as an effective

platform for fostering the growth of sustainable business endeavor and nurturing the techno-

entrepreneurs. The ABI centers provide a wide range of services such as research support; business

planning; office space; access to information and communication technologies and advice on

management, marketing, technical, legal and financial issues.

• Realizing the importance of agri-business and motivating youth towards agriculture, a programme

entitled ‘’Attracting and Returning Youth in Agriculture’’ (ARYA) was started during 12th plan

period. Both individual and group-based activities/enterprises are being encouraged under it based

on the nature of the enterprise. Under this project, operational costs to support critical inputs like

seeds, fertilizers, small farm equipment are being provided to farm youth. This provides additional

opportunities to the youth unemployed rural youth in primary and secondary agriculture and related

enterprises.

• In order to give focus on the engagement of youth in agricultural activities, another programme

named as Student Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana (READY) programme

was started in 2015-16. Student READY is an essential course module for the award of degree at

Bachelors level to ensure hands on training and practical experience depending on the requirements

of respective discipline in agricultural Universities.

• Several concrete initiatives have been stated by the Government to link the farmers with the markets

with the purpose to help the farmers in trading of their food grain. Agricultural marketing is done

by the network of 6630 regulated wholesale markets set up under the provision of respective state

APMC Act.

• Mega Food Park and Cold Chain Schemes for setting up of food processing infrastructure have been

in operation since 2008. Now, under ‘Pradhan Mantri Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)’ promotion,

modernization and capacity enhancement of food processing industries in the country has been

initiated with a total allocation of Rs 6000 crores.

• In order to provide credit at reasonable rate of interest at 7 percent to farmers, the Government of

interest at 7 percent to farmers, the Government of India is implementing an interest subvention


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scheme of 2 per cent for short term crop loans up to Rs 3.00 lakh through public sector banks and

private sector banks (reimbursement through RBI, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperatives).

In this section, we present to you precise, point wise gist of this month’s EPW, a go-to monthly compilation for Civil Services

Aspirants.

Climate Change and Rural Poverty Levels in India

• Poor and marginalized people will be affected the most by the risks posed by climate change and

extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, cyclones and other natural calamities.

• This has an impact on their lives and livelihoods through loss of crop yields, incomes, assets,

employment, etc. Added to this, a rise in food prices following crop loss hurts the poor who are net

buyers of food.

• The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that

climate change and climate variability will “worsen existing poverty, exacerbate inequalities and

trigger both new vulnerabilities and some opportunities for individuals and communities … it will

create new poor between now and 2100 in developed and developing countries, and jeopardize

sustainable development”.

• It will impede economic growth and efforts to achieve the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable

Development Goal 1 that seeks to reduce the number of poor people by half and eradicate extreme

poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030.

• Funds that can otherwise be used for development purposes have to be diverted to invest in climate

infrastructure and build climate resilience as well as provide safety nets for the poor.

• The Stern Review (2007) observes that climate change is a grave threat to the developing world and

a major obstacle to continued poverty reduction across its many dimensions.

• India is well suited for conducting the study to assess the impact of climate change on poverty levels.

It has the largest concentration of the world’s poor, accounting for almost 30% of the total global

poor of 767 million in 2013 living below the international poverty line of $1.9 per person per day

(World Bank 2016).

• It is well known that poverty, environment and population growth are closely linked. Population

pressure on scarce environmental resources such as land can result in overexploitation of fragile

resources which will impact the poor and poverty levels.

Impact of Climate Change on Indian Agriculture

• India is still primarily an agrarian society with close to 50% of the labour force dependent on

agriculture for their livelihood. Hence the agricultural sector, which is most climate sensitive, will

continue to influence the fortunes of the poor in India.

• According to the study based on the IPCC’s benchmark warming scenario, a rise in mean

temperature by + 20 C and in mean precipitation levels by a +7%, net farm revenues would decline

by -8.69% to -12.3%.

• A few studies indicate a probability of 10%–40% loss in crop production in India with increases in

temperature and changes in other climate variables by 2080–2100.

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• The Economic Survey 2017–18 suggests that climate change can reduce annual agricultural income

by -15% to -18% on the average and up to 20%–25% for unirrigated areas.

Impact of Climate Change on Rural Poverty

• Rural poverty trends in India which witnessed a significant decline during the post reform period

beginning from 1991 may get reversed and increase due to the likely adverse impacts of climate

change on Indian agriculture, and other drivers of poverty. Not only will the proportion of poor

population rise, but also the depth and severity of rural poverty.

• From the theoretical and empirical literature, it is seen that a number of factors influence rural

poverty. Of them agricultural performance or output is seen to be a major factor influencing rural

poverty. In a seminal paper observed a strong negative association between agricultural performance

and rural poverty in India.

• A good agricultural performance is advantageous to the poor in many respects. A higher agricultural

output helps reduce prices as well as improve food availability both of which are beneficial to the

poor. Besides, it will not only augment employment opportunities in the agricultural sector but also

spur growth in the non-agricultural sector, thereby creating income earning opportunities.

• Agricultural growth helps in raising agricultural incomes which benefits the poor. The World

Development Report 2008 notes that growth in agriculture is two to three times more effective in

reducing poverty than the same quantum of growth in the non-agricultural sectors.

• Another factor that influences rural poverty is food prices. Food constitutes a major share of the

consumption basket of the poor and hence a rise in food prices acts as a regressive tax and hurts the

poor the most since they are net buyers of food, as noted earlier.

The Way Forward

• The situation demands for strengthening safety nets, social networks and enhancing the

adaptive capacity of the poor to face the risks posed by climate change and extreme weather events

to Indian agriculture and economy.

• Popularizing of crop varieties, farm technologies and practices, and farming systems that can adapt

to different biophysical and climatic environments may enable the agricultural sector to become

climate smart and help mitigate the climate threats faced by the poor.

The Pyramid of Reporting Domestic Violence in India

• How domestic violence is addressed is a barometer of the country’s commitment to gender equity.

Domestic violence has serious economic, social, and health consequences not only for women but

also for children and the wider family.

• It is an acute problem in India; one in three women reports physical abuse at some point in her life.

Domestic violence is an offence; it can be tried under either criminal law (Section 498A of the Indian

Penal Code (IPC), 1983) or civil law (Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005).

• Despite legal provisions, and the mainstreaming of discourse around gender-based violence

following recent brutal rapes, however, violence against women is on the rise, and there appears to

be no concomitant changes in the processes by which families, institutions, and the wider society

recognize and proactively respond to violence against women.

• Women who reported domestic violence, the averages for four broad sources they sought help

from—the natal family, husband’s family, acquaintances, and formal institutions such as the police.


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The natal family is most frequently contacted for help—it is more than double the second most

frequent category. This is followed by the husband’s family, acquaintances, and formal authorities.

In the case of the police, it is only about 0.5%.

• Not only is reporting the first step towards ending the silence around domestic violence, it can also

be construed as an act of resistance and an exertion of female agency.

• However, India lacks mandatory reporting mechanisms such as routine screening, and reporting by

hospitals when women visit with suspicious injuries associated with domestic violence. The NFHS-

3 data show that of all women who have experienced domestic violence, as many as 74% have never

shared this or reported it to anybody.

Why are reporting rates so low?

• Lack of acceptance by families, Social humiliation, fear of further abuse, low self-esteem, mistrust of

others, fear of humiliation, perception of limited options and hopelessness, and intimidation by the

abuser are important reasons for not disclosing domestic violence, especially to friends or

neighbours, although women are willing to reveal this information in a healthcare setting.

• Institutional reporting is constrained by an even greater set of reasons: the norm of not discussing

family problems with outsiders, weak/inaccessible institutional support, lack of awareness of legal

rights, and fears of biases and humiliation from patriarchal institutions. The responses of family,

friends, and neighbours can also influence the decision to report domestic violence to institutional

sources.

• Due to deeply entrenched patriarchal practices within legal institutions, domestic violence is often

treated as a private family matter. The majorities of women are financially dependent on their

husbands and did not view divorce as a viable option.

• Some high courts have instructed the police not to file complaints unless “visible signs of abuse are

present”. A fraction of police reports produces legal charges and only a fraction of these ends in

convictions. Hence, it is unsurprising that for many women the severity of violence may not be a

good predictor for reporting to the police.

• Men’s rights groups and organizations such as Save Indian Family Foundation have called to repeal

or rescind parts of Section 498(A) of the IPC.

• In India, there are a cluster of constraints to reporting, including “cultural” factors that suggest that

women prefer dealing with the problem within the family itself, thereby retaining familial honour

and reducing stress on others. Some forms of violence are culturally legitimized in the guise of

disciplining errant wives.

• Given the presence of strong patriarchal norms, even when family members—especially those in the

natal family—are told about violence, the instinct is often to normalize it and ask women to endure

it and adjust to it. It is rarer still to seek help of institutions. The institutions of law and order are

viewed with suspicion, and there is hesitation even in approaching healthcare providers regarding

injuries from domestic violence.

• Even when women report violence to natal families, entrenched patriarchal norms—on matters such

as the importance of marriage, the symbolic importance of husbands and social penalties for

separation— along with persistent poverty and structural violence circumscribe the extent of support

they receive.

• It is contingent on factors such as poverty, hold of patriarchal norms, cultural legitimization of

violence, and structure of the natal family. These factors may discourage women from sharing their

experience of domestic violence even with the natal family.

• Although there were non-governmental organizations working in country, few women were aware

of any of them that could help abused women.


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Population Challenges in India

• Following the unparalleled decline in fertility, India’s population growth has shown signs of

deceleration in the recent decades. Despite this, India will overtake China and is slated to be the most

populous country in the world within the next decade.

• Historically, India had a lower fertility rate than the European countries (before the medical

revolution in Europe). The low fertility recorded initially has been primarily due to India’s traditional

social and cultural norms and practices. However, India’s demographic achievements are far worse

than those of China and the East Asian Tigers, despite the efforts long made by successive

governments of independent India.

• The coercive and highly incentive-based sterilization programme had in turn reduced India’s fertility

rates much faster than its socio-economic and mortality transition. Data shows that India has already

reached the replacement level fertility rate, but its infant mortality rate is still relatively high compared

to many developing and developed countries at this stage of fertility transition. Therefore, the link

between sterilization driven family planning and development is not appealing.

• Neo-Malthusian thinking dominated the approach to population control programmes in the post-

independent era. Under the umbrella of the neo-Malthusian movement, it was believed that checks

on population would combat the adverse effects of famine, epidemics, and poverty, and the

propagation of modern methods of population control was emphasized.

• As a result, the family planning programme had been introduced to control population growth along

with improving maternal health in the First Five Year Plan. During the consecutive five-year plans

and in the documents of the NPPs, various demographic targets had been put forward, but many of

these targets had not been realized as these were highly ambitious targets. Therefore, the goals had

been shifted time and again beyond the time frame of different five-year plans and population

policies over the decades.

• India experienced a mixed bag of outcomes as far as progress in family planning programmes was

concerned. Although family planning contributed to fertility decline in a major way, from the

beginning, family planning methods in the country were skewed towards the sterilization of women

rather than the more expensive one of teaching the know-how of the use of spacing methods of

contraception, despite successive years of economic growth. This was because the government chose

the cheaper action of sterilization.

• Further, the integration of family planning with reproductive and child health (RCH) services has

stalled the progress of family planning in India in the past two decades.

Major Population Issues

• There are several diverse socio demographic challenges, notably the institution of marriage, fertility,

health, and quality of data as the major population concerns in India. Culture has significant impact

on the issues of fertility, nuptiality, and stability of marriage. Indian society has several chronic

problems such as child marriages and emerging issues such as live-in relationships and rising divorce

rates. There are primarily four reasons for the breakdown of marriages: rise in individualism,

economic independence of women, the rising costs of marriage, and movements towards gender

equality.

• Same-religion and same-caste marriages are more stable than their counterparts, but there are no

demonstrated evidential bases for this argument. although same-caste and same-religion marriages

could enhance economic progress, such practices would not yield benefits for all sections of society


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as it would only encourage the existing societal inequity in terms of the superiority of one religion

and caste over the others.

• Other major concerns are current demographic trends and diversity and its implications for the

future. To govern the large size of its population, India needs an efficient political and administrative

management system, especially in the large states. The high growth rate of population, child marriage

and adolescent fertility, childhood malnutrition, and worsening child sex ratio, maternal, infant and

child mortality in Empowered Action Group (EAG) states continue to be the burning population

issues in India.

• Good governance is crucial for the successful implementation of programmes, including health and

family welfare as well as civil registration of births and deaths. Technological development would

pave the way to good governance by way of easy diffusion and circulation of information.

• Among the developing countries, India performs poorly in terms of fertility and mortality along with

Bangladesh. The populations of China and India have the most unfavorable sex ratio for females

mainly due to sex-selective abortions. Although gender inequalities are higher among other

developing nations in general, conditions are the worst in India. The availability of hospital beds and

physicians is poorer in Bangladesh and India compared to other developing countries. At the same

time, the condition of India is the worst in the case of open defecation. Although the availability of

drinking water is slightly better in India, it has a long way to go to reach the standards set in the

developed countries. Energy consumption per capita, particularly oil and electricity in India is much

lower than the developed countries and India even lags behind the developing countries such as

China, Brazil, and Indonesia. The motto of policymaking should be, “observe globally, think

nationally and act locally” rather than just “think globally and act nationally.”

The Way Forward

• There are several ways to address the challenges, particularly for India to catch up to the

East Asian Tigers in realizing its anticipated demographic bonus.

• There is a need for credible data sources. For that, the Aadhaar card (unique identification number

or UID) is to be integrated with the CRS database.

• To eradicate child marriage practices, there is a need for launching of behavioral change campaigns.

• For better maternal and child health service provision and family planning, the maternal and child

health programmes need to be separated from the family planning programme to meet the prevailing

unmet need of family planning in India. This is required so that the quality contraceptive services,

choices of methods and their easy access, treatment facilities of primary and secondary sterility

become accessible to everyone. However, a majority of the research studies conducted worldwide

still advocate the integration of family planning with maternal and child health services.

• Against the background of the differentials in population growth across the states of India based on

the NPP 2000 recommendation, Parliament has frozen the number of seats in the lower house up

to 2021. Thereafter, the political representations and regional power balance may be changed as per

the population size of the states. Hence, the number of seats of members of Parliament (MPs) is to

be frozen permanently. However, the number of parliamentary seats may be against the

constitutional rights of “one person one vote,” but the issue is larger than the mere representation

of the population. It is the representation of language, culture and ethnic values in a diverse and large

country like India. The debate should not only revolve around the size of the population, but must

include its diverse population composition.

• The poor outcome of population policies in India is due to its centralized nature, being implemented

in different states of India, which are in dissimilar stages of demographic transition. So, the states


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should be allowed and encouraged to formulate a separate population policy and implement it for

better policy outcomes.

Mining into a Death Trap

What is Rathole Mining?

• Rathole mining is illegal coal mining practiced in Meghalaya, mostly in the East Jaintia Hills. Pits of

depths up to 100 meters and more, with rickety bamboo ladders, lead to tunnels resembling ratholes,

dug sideways to reach the coal beds.

• It is mostly migrants from Nepal, Bangladesh and Assam, and the most vulnerable amongst the

locals who choose this dangerous crawling work in wet pits.

• Children as young as nine and below, and boys/men short in height are found to be suited for the

underground work.

• They enter with shovels and torches tied to their heads to chip away coal with pickaxes, hauling it

away in baskets or a wheelbarrow, and working for long stretches. This unregulated and hazardous

industry used to be projected as a “cottage industry” of Meghalaya.

• There are, on an average, more than 50 mines per square kilometer in the Jaintia Hills. It is a tragedy

that coal has become the mainstay of the economy, as other sources of livelihood have dried up

because of mining.

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has put a ban on it in 2014.

• There were no serious efforts to enforce the ban, though. In fact, the ruling parties came to power

with the promise to get the ban lifted. Mining is the biggest source of electoral funding in the state,

with many of the present ministers and legislators either owing or running the mines. Many

candidates in the elections of 2018 had stakes in mining and transport activities.

• Meghalaya was never exempted from central laws regulating mining, although, now, the government

is making efforts to circumvent the “illegality.”

How it affects Inclusive Development

• Deaths and injuries from falls, cave-ins, and flooding are an everyday event in the mining area, for

which no one is held accountable. More than 15 workers were trapped in one such black hole on 13

December 2018. Forty men had died in a similar way in 2002, while five miners were crushed to

death in 2013.

• Rathole mining has been disastrous for the environment as well. Jaintia Hills has come to be known

as the “land of dead rivers,” as the high sulphur and metal wastes have made the rivers toxic and

acidic, killing the fish and degrading the soil quality.

• Thousands of acres of forest have been cleared and fields have been destroyed for mining or storing

the coal. The landscape stands disfigured and ravaged, with the uncovered abandoned pits acting as

death traps.

• Not all locals benefit from mining. It has led to the privatization of the commons and grabbing of

land by a few. It is directly related to the increasing landlessness in the districts in which it is prevalent.

• Those with access to more capital and resources inevitably get more profits, while the locals, in

whose name the extraction is done, live at the behest of coal barons.

• Scientific mining also does not appear to be the answer, as coal seams are thin and deep inside and

spread out, requiring mining over larger areas.


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• The coal is also not of a good quality, undermining the economic viability.

• With such degradation of the environment, mafia activities, child labour (an estimate putting their

numbers at 70,000 in 2010), trafficking, and the lack of concern for workers’ life and safety, the

government’s promises of regulation do not invite trust.

Financing the Micro and Small Enterprises in India

• The mandate to provide financial support to the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) has been

wedded to the social banking priorities in India since the 1960s. The Small-Scale Industries (SSIs)—

by the virtue of their potential for generating large scale employment, promoting social and economic

equity, and spawning new entrepreneurship—had become a sector for priority lending (along with

agriculture) to the Indian banks in the post-nationalization phase (post-1970s).

• As the country moved into the liberalization phase in the early 1990s, these priorities have been reset

and redefined to match the objectives of developing a primarily profit-oriented, efficient and

competitive banking sector.

• The rationale of continuing with the priority sector approach itself was questioned by a section of

the banking and financial sector experts, both in India and beyond (IMF and World Bank 2018).

• The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006 has, for the first time,

defined “medium” enterprises as those with investments, in plant and machinery between ̀ 50 million

and `100 million, while also raising the upper investment bound of small manufacturing enterprises

to ̀ 50 million.1 The act has also introduced the term “enterprise” in place of “industrial undertaking”

in a bid to make the definition inclusive of both manufacturing and services.

• There have been some warning signals based on the experiences of countries like China, Malaysia

and the European Union, that the MSMEs may end up losing their competitive advantage due to

increased costs of operation relative to firm size and the lack of adequate cash flow. Hence,

reforming the MSMEs, hence, becomes a part of the fundamental project of redrawing political

strategies to address the structural infirmities in resource distribution and usage.

Chronic Bottleneck of Small Enterprise Growth

• The strategic intent of reorienting the industrial policy in the mid-2000s by carving out a new

category called the MSMEs has not served the purpose of making institutional credits available to

the MSEs.

• Further, the pro-market financial inclusion rhetoric of the second half of the current decade has not

helped in enhancing the access of the MSEs, especially those engaged in manufacturing activities, to

the bank credit.

• The large universal banks are increasingly inherently incapable of channelizing financial resources to

small enterprises and businesses in mutually viable ways.

• It is well recognized that a critical factor limiting the performance potential of the MSMEs is access

to finance. Empirical studies across countries have found that the MSMEs face higher risk premiums

due to the small size of demand, high transaction costs, and the opacity and/or lack of collateral

characteristics that make them less desirable in the financial market.

• The fourth and the latest MSME Census (2006–07) estimates, available, suggest that 87% of the

Indian small firms have not received any external financing and, hence, have resorted to self-

financing. This share is as high as 97% in the case of unregistered enterprises. Even among the

registered enterprises, only about 10% have availed institutional credit.

• An estimate of the World Bank shows that approximately 70% of MSMEs in the emerging markets

lack access to credit, while the number of unserved (needy, but without any loan or overdraft) and


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underserved (have loans, but face access constraints) enterprises—formal and informal put

together—is pegged to be between 200 million and 245 million (IFC 2013). The estimated financing

gap is $ 2.1 trillion to $ 2.6 trillion, or 30% to 36% of the outstanding MSME credit. There are

regional variations in credit gap, with Africa and Asia reporting wider gaps.

Is MUDRA the Answer?

• Given the historical disadvantages faced, especially, by micro and small units in accessing credit, the

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), the refinance scheme launched in 2015 targeting MSEs.

• There are three distinct types of loan products under the scheme: (i) up to `50,000; (ii) `50,001 to

`5,00,000; and (iii) `5,00,001 to `10,00,000.

• Between 2016–17 and 2017–18, the public sector banks have infused about `226 billion under the

scheme, whereas the NBFCs (including NBFCs–MFIs) have channelized `271 billion. The private

sector banks and small finance banks (SFBs) together could deploy `214 billion during this period.

• The available evidence does not conclusively suggest that the MSEs in India, which had starved for

financial support for years, have started securing adequate, appropriate and hassle-free credit due to

the PMMY.

• This is understandable as the scheme has neither made any additional funds available to the system

nor has conveyed any clear direction to address many of the structural bottlenecks faced by the

MSEs, including technology, competitiveness and market, which, in turn affect their ability to absorb

and utilize credit efficiently.

• It has only made banks “reclassify” their income-generation loans up to the size of a million rupees,

sanctioned on or after 8 April 2015, as PMMY loans. The involvement of NBFCs and MFIs has

widened the institutional choice for the potential borrowers.

The Small Finance Banks (SFBs) and the Payment Banks

• The mandate of the small banks (with a minimum paid-up equity capital of `1 billion) is to provide

savings vehicles mainly to the unserved and underserved population sections, as also credit to small

business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries, and other unorganized sector

entities.

• Provision of payments and/or remittance services to migrant workers, low income households, small

businesses and other unorganized sector entities forms the primary mandate of the payment banks.

• Both are envisioned as technology-driven models to achieve business viability. The financial

inclusion goals of the country are touted to be fulfilled by the new banking ecosystem, which is

expected to discover market-led ways of doing viable business by serving the small economic players.

The Way Forward

• Several reports and consultation documents in the recent past have recommended the promotion of

a banking structure that is layered and differentiated, and owned and operated mainly by private

entities.

• These recommendations have informed the move of the RBI to allow more private players in the

universal banking space and introduce two new classes of banks in 2015: the SFBs and the payment

banks.

• The report of the committee set up to examine the financial architecture of the MSME sector by the

department of financial services of the Ministry of Finance suggested that the financial architecture

for the MSMEs should be built on a system that encourages registration, opening of bank accounts,

equity and receivables financing and credit guarantee.


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• The roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) is seen by many as having given a big boost to the

formalization project and provides the formal lenders with an opportunity to engage closely with the

MSMEs as their transactions become more transparent.

Space for Notes


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In this section, we shall present to you high resolution Maps of the places in news that are often asked in the Examination.

Moreover, Maps help in making sense of International Relations and Geographical aspects of the world.

Countries Surrounding Syria

#After the announcement of USA pulling out its troops from Syria, there have been doubts about the region’s

future, the return of ISIS, Turkey’s opposition of Kurds who became the ground force in defeating the ISIS and the

Syrian Democratic Forces. In this context, the location of Syria and its neighbouring countries becomes important

for the Prelims Examination.

MAPPING


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1. Regarding the ‘Agri Export Zone (AEZ)’ of India, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It was introduced under the Exim Policy-2001. 2. It envisaged an end-to-end approach of integrating the entire process of potential products right from the stage of production till it reaches the market. 3. So far, 60 such zones have been notified by the Govt. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 2. Regarding the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs), which of the following statements is/are true? 1. These are statutory bodies in India. 2. These are established by the State Governments. 3. The objective of these bodies is to work for the benefit of the persons and areas affected by mining related operations. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 1 and 3 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 3. With reference to the ‘Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram Scheme’, sometimes seen in news, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme of govt. 2. It aims to develop the personality and leadership qualities of the youth and to engage them in nation building activities. 3. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and Youth Hostels (YH) are sub-schemes under this. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 4. Consider the following statements about "Interest Equalisation Scheme (IES)", recently seen in news. Which of the following statements is/are correct in this context? 1. Earlier, it used to be called as Interest Subvention Scheme. 2. The operational instructions of the scheme are issued by the RBI.

3. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently given its approval for the inclusion of merchant exporters also under this. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 5. With reference to the ‘Green Agriculture project’ jointly launched by the Central Govt and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It aims to transform agricultural production to generate global environmental benefits by addressing biodiversity conservation, land degradation, climate change mitigation and sustainable forest management. 2. It is being funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). 3. Its goal synchronizes with the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) that focuses on integrated farming systems for climate resilience. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 6. With reference to the ‘Scramjet Engine’ sometimes seen in the news, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. 2.It reduces the need for carrying the oxidizer along with the fuel as the oxidizer is derived from the atmosphere itself. 3. India is the first country to demonstrate the flight testing of a Scramjet Engine. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 7. The terms ‘Monpa, Memba, Sartang, Wancho’ sometimes mentioned in the new recently are related to (a) Scheduled Tribes of North East. (b) Tribal art forms of Central India. (c) Scheduled Tribes of Western Ghats. (d) Mountain peaks of Eastern Ghats.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE


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8. Which of the following initiative(s) can make agriculture more adaptive and resilient to climate variability and may reduce carbon emission? 1. Increasing of the area under System of Rice Intensification (SRI) as an alternative to transplanted paddy. 2. Deployment of zero tillage drill machines and other residue management equipment while planting of crops.

3. Promotion of micro irrigation and use of slow release nitrogen fertilizers. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1 and 3 only 9. Which one of the following states has launched a project for “Development of Gandhi Circuit: Bhitiharwa-Chandrahia-Turkaulia under Rural Circuit theme of Swadesh Darshan Scheme”. (a) Rajasthan (b) Karnataka (c) Bihar (d) Uttar Pradesh 10. Regarding the ‘Sittwe port’ which is a part of Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project of India, belongs to which one of the following countries. (a) Indonesia (b) Myanmar (c) Singapore (d) Malaysia 11. With reference to the major objectives of ‘National Bamboo Mission’, sometimes seen in news. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Increasing of the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest Government and private lands. 2. Promotion of skill development, capacity building, awareness generation for development of bamboo sector from production to market demand. 3. To supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) None of the above 12. Consider the following statements about the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), sometimes seen in the news. 1. It is responsible for the conduct of large-scale sample surveys in diverse socio-economic subjects on All India basis. 2. The results of its surveys are used for planning, policy formulation and decision making. 3. It comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 13. Consider the following statements about the ‘National Anti-Profiteering Authority’’, sometimes seen in the news. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India. 2. It can recommend punitive actions including cancellation of Registration. 3. It comes under Department of Revenue. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 14. Regarding the ‘Competition Commission of India’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is a statutory body of the government of India. 2. It gives opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law. 3. It undertakes competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 15. Regarding the ‘EXIM bank of India’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It was established under an Act of Parliament as the apex financial institution for financing, facilitating and promoting India's international trade. 2. It tracks and forecasts the movement in India’s merchandise exports on a quarterly basis, based on an in-house model to generate an Export Leading Index (ELI) for India. 3. It is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1, 2 and 3 (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 2 only (d) 1 and 3 only 16. Regarding the ‘GST Council’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is a constitutional body. 2. It makes recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax. 3. It is chaired by the Union Finance Minister. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only


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(c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 17. Consider the following pairs: Site of Atomic Power plant State 1. Chutka Madhya Pradesh 2. Chhaya Mithi Virdi Gujarat 3. Haripur West Bengal 4. Jaitapur Maharashtra Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (a) 2, 3 and 4 only (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 only 18. Consider the following pairs: Landscape of high-conservation value State 1. Chambal Madhya Pradesh 2. Dampa Mizoram 3. Similipal Odisha 4. Desert National Park Rajasthan 5. Corbett-Rajaji Uttarakhand With reference to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) assisted ‘Green Agriculture project’, which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only (b) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only (c) 2, 3 and 4 only (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 19. The terms ‘PABUK, Titli, Ockhi, Gaja and Mora’ recently seen in the new are related to (a) Tropical Cyclones. (b) Newly discovered species in Western Ghats. (c) Scheduled tribes of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. (d) Temperate Cyclones. 20. Anti-dumping and anti-subsidies & countervailing measures in India are recommended by the (a) Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR). (b) Directorate General of Foreign Trades (DGFT). (c) Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (d) Export Inspection Council 21. Consider the following pairs: Festivals on harvesting Seasons State 1. Pongal Tamilnadu 2. Poush Parbon West Bengal 3. Uttarayan Gujarat 4. Bhogali Bihu Assam Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (a) 2, 3 and 4 only (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 only 22. Consider the following pairs:

Recipient of Gandhi Peace Prize Year 1. Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari 2015 2. Akshaya Patra Foundation & Sulabh International 2016 3. Ekal Abhiyan Trust 2017 4. Shri Yohei Sasakawa 2018 Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (a) 2, 3 and 4 only (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 only 23. Regarding the ‘National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK)’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is a Non-Statutory body of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 2. It does not enjoy the powers of a civil court. 3. It also entertains complaints pertaining to the caste-based discrimination/violence. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 24. Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR), a Navratna Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) of India comes under by the (a) Ministry of Shipping. (b) Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. (c) Ministry of Civil Aviation (d) Ministry of Railway 25. In which one of the following states is Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary located (a) Andhra Pradesh. (b) Maharashtra. (c) Madhya Pradesh. (d) Kerala 26. Which one of the following agencies publishes the Global Risks Report? (a) World Bank. (b) World Economic Forum. (c) International Monetary Fund. (d) World Health Organization 27. Anti-dumping and anti-subsidies & countervailing measures in India are levied by the (a) Department of Commerce. (b) Department of Revenue. (c) Department of Economic Affairs. (d) Department of Financial Services. 28. Regarding the recently launched ‘National Clean Air Programme’ of India, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It a time-bound national level strategy to tackle increasing air pollution.


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2. It aims to reduce pollution caused by particulate matter (PM) only. 3. It envisages increasing number of monitoring stations in the country including rural monitoring stations. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 29. Regarding the recently launched ‘Yarn Bank Scheme’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It provides interest free corpus fund to power loom weavers to enable them to purchase yarn at wholesale rate. 2. It aims to avoid fluctuation in yarn price. 3. It avoids middleman and local supplier's brokerage charge on sales of yarn. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 30. Regarding the recently approved Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood (SANKALP) and Skills Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) schemes, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. SANKALP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and STRIVE is a Central Sector Scheme. 2. Both the Schemes are assisted by the World Bank. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 31. Status Paper on Government Debt in India are released by the (a) Department of Expenditure. (b) Department of Revenue. (c) Department of Economic Affairs. (d) Department of Financial Services. 32. ‘Diffo Bridge’ which has been recently completed under the ‘Project Udayak’ of the Border Roads Organization (BRO), is located in which of the following states? (a) Manipur (b) Nagaland (c) Arunachal Pradesh (d) Assam 33. Regarding the recently released ‘recombinant Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) kits’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. These kits will help in the diagnosis of two diseases named as Glanders and Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA).

2. Glanders is a fatal infectious disease and is caused by a bacterium. 3. Equine infectious anemia is a chronic infectious disease and is caused by a retrovirus. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 34. Consider the following statements about the ‘Renukaji Multi-Purpose Project’, recently seen in the news. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Punjab and Rajasthan will also be the beneficiary state of this project. 2. The project is proposed to be constructed on the Yamuna river and two of its tributaries, Tons and Giri, in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 35. Regarding the recently launched ‘Unispace Nano satellite Assembly & Training programme of ISRO (UNNATI)’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is a three-year training programme for capacity building on Nano satellite development. 2. It aims to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space (UNISPACE-50). 3. It will provide opportunities to the participating developing countries to strengthen in assembling, integrating and testing of Nano satellite. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 36. Consider the following pairs: Location Oil Refinery 1. Barauni(Bihar) Indian Oil Corporation

Limited (IOCL) 2. Kochi (Kerala) Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Limited (BPCL)

3. Bathinda (Punjab) Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) 4. Koyali (Gujarat) Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (a) 2, 3 and 4 only (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 only


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37. With Reference to the ‘Great Indian Bustard’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is listed as Critically Endangered species on the IUCN Red List. 2. It is listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 3. Its protected areas are located in Rajasthan only. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 38. With Reference to the ‘Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA)’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is a statutory body of the central govt. 2. It is engaged in promoting energy efficiency in various sectors of economy. 3. It formulates policies and strategies for petroleum conservation, aimed at reducing excessive dependence of the country on oil requirement. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 39. With Reference to the ‘National Wildlife Board’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It is a statutory organization of the central govt. 2. It was constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. 3. It is chaired by the Prime Minister. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 1 and 3 only 40. Regarding the recently launched online campaign ‘Web-Wonder Women’, which of the following statements is/are true? 1. It aims to discover and celebrate the exceptional achievements of women, who have been driving positive agenda of social change via social media. 2. The Campaign has been launched by the UNICEF. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 41. With reference to the ‘Exercise Sea Vigil’, the largest ever coastal defence exercise off the Indian coast. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The exercise was aimed to validate the efficacy of measures taken since the episode of '26/11'.

2. The exercise was undertaken along the entire

coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India.

Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 42. With reference to the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme (BBBP)’, a campaign of the Government of India that aims to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services intended for girls. Which of the following Ministries is/are actively involved in it? 1. Ministry of Women and Child Development. 2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 3. Ministry of Human Resource Development. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 2 and 3 only 43. With reference to the ‘INS Kohassa’, recently seen in news, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It has been commissioned at the Shibpur Naval Air Station in North Andaman Island. 2. The Naval Air Station has been developed as a dual use military and civil airfield. 3. Shibpur Naval Air Station was identified by the NITI Aayog as one of the "early bird" projects as part of a holistic development plan of the islands. 4. Kohassa is a white-bellied sea eagle which is endemic to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2, 3 and 4 only (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 only 44. Consider the following statements about “National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP)", recently launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Which of the following statements is/are correct in this context? 1. It aims to attract talent and strengthen higher education in the agricultural sector of India. 2. This project will be equally funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 45. Consider the following statements about the ‘Project ReWeave’ recently seen in the news. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. It aims to revive the handloom weaving ecosystem in India.


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2. This is a multi-year program with the first pilot in the state of Telangana. 3. Recently, a new e-commerce platform has been launched under this project to empower handloom weavers in Telangana. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 2 and 3 only 46. As per the latest Lloyds Report, which one of the container ports of India has been listed amongst the top 30 container ports globally? (a) The Chennai Port. (b) The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). (c) The Tuticorin Port. (d) The Cochin Port. 47. Which one of the following organizations/departments has launched a new platform named Samwad with Students (SwS) with an aim to instill scientific temper among youngsters? (a) Indian Space Research Organization. (b) Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. (c) Defense Research & Development Organization. (d) Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited. 48. Consider the following statements about the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C-44), recently launched by India. 1. It injected two satellites named Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2. 2. Microsat-R is an imaging satellite which has been designed for the military applications 3. Kalamsat-V2 is the world's lightest satellite and it has been made by the students. 4. It was for the first time ISRO used the last stage of the rocket as a platform to perform experiments in space.

Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 2, 3 and 4 only (b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 (c) 1, 2 and 4 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 only 49. The recently seen ‘Size India’, a first of its kind project, belongs to which one of the following industries? (a) Sports items. (b) Gems and Jewelry. (c) Textiles and Garment. (d) Furniture. 50. Consider the following statements about ‘the Future of Rail’’, first-of-a-kind global report recently seen in the news. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The report has been prepared by the International Energy Agency (IEA). 2. The report analyses the current and future importance of rail around the world through the perspective of its energy and environmental implications. 3. The IEA is an inter-governmental organisation that works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy. Select the correct answer using the codes below. (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 1 and 2 only (c) 1, 2 and 3 (d) 2 and 3 only

Space for Notes


127

1 C 11 C 21 B 31 C 41 C

2 D 12 C 22 B 32 C 42 C

3 C 13 C 23 A 33 C 43 B

4 D 14 C 24 D 34 B 44 C

5 C 15 A 25 A 35 C 45 C

6 B 16 D 26 B 36 C 46 B

7 A 17 B 27 B 37 A 47 A

8 A 18 D 28 C 38 B 48 B

9 C 19 A 29 C 39 C 49 C

10 B 20 A 30 C 40 A 50 C

ANSWERS


128

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