january 2020 magazine · 8. national initiative for school heads’ and teachers’ holistic...

Smart Abhyas/February/2020 1


Polity and Social Issues

1. National Infrastructure on Pipeline(NIP) 2019-2025

2. Indian History Congress

3. India’s first Chief of Defence Staff

4. World Health Organization Report

5. Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS)

6. Savitribai Phule

7. 107th session of Indian Science Congress

8. 25th Western Zonal Council Meeting

9. State can regulate minority institutions, says Su-preme Court

10. Scientific Social Responsibility

11. Cabinet nod for ordinance enabling FDI in coal min-ing

12. Re-grassing is mandatory after mining, rules SC

13. Curative Petition

14. Crime in India Report 2018

15. National Youth Festival

16. State Energy Efficiency Index 2019

17. Right to access the internet

18. Levels and Trends in Child Mortality

19. Private property is a human right

20. Island Development Agency

21. Commissionerate system

22. Maharashtra, Gujarat lag behind in compensation for sewer deaths

23. Annual Status of Education Report

24. Classical language

Geography. Ecology and Biodiversity

25. Henley Passport Index 2020

26. Assam Inland Water Transport Project

27. Telecommunication Consumers Education and Pro-tection Fund

28. Inter State Council (ISC)

29. Social Mobility Index

30. The World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2020 (WESO) report

31. National Startup Advisory Council

32. Manipur tribes call truce

33. Democracy Index

34. Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI-2019)

35. Global Talent Competitive Index (GTCI)

36. Enemy properties

37. Establishment of Chairs in the Universities in the name of eminent women

38. Legislative Council

39. Bodo accord

40. Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining 2020

41. Time limit on advance bail violates personal liberty: Supreme Court

42. Public Health Emergency of International Concern

1. One-fifth of country’s forests prone to fires

2. Senna spectabilis

3. Tiger deaths in 2019

4. Northeast monsoon season

5. Statement on Climate of India during 2019


Science and Technology

International Relations, Summits and Meet-ings

Government Schemes and Initiatives

Economy

6. Kaziranga records 96 species of wetland birds

7. Taal

8. Global Risks Report 2020

9. Rajasthan to get first biotech park

10. The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) India annual report

11. India achieves complete phase out of one the most potent ozone depleting chemical

12. India Climate Collaborative(ICC)

13. Rising carbon dioxide levels may double floods

14. Platypus under threat

15. India gets 10 more Ramsar Sites

16. Yellow rust in wheat crop

1. Stressed urban cooperative banks to face PCA-like curbs

2. 2020 Global Economic Prospects report

3. National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) for the period 2019-2024

4. Fiscal deficit

5. World Economic Situation and Prospects(WESP) 2020

6. World Gold Outlook 2020

7. World Economic Outlook Report

8. Economic Survey

1. Swachh Survekshan 2020

2. Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan Yojana

3. Northeast gas pipeline grid project

4. Swachh Survekshan 2020

5. Forest Committee approves scheme to ‘trade’ in for-ests

6. Pulse Polio Programme

7. MGNREGA scheme

8. National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement

1. Vertical farming

2. New and Emerging Strategic Technologies

3. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

4. Artemis Program

5. H9N2

6. Special NATO class diesel for Indian Navy

7. GSAT-30

8. K-4 nuclear capable missile

9. Hyperloop technology

10. Xenobot

11. Archaeon

12. Indian Railways’ first waste to energy plant

13. Dhanush, India’s first indigenous long-range artillery gun

14. Coronaviruses

15. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope

1. Global meet on marine ecosystems

2. Global Drosophila Conference


Point Blank (Facts for prelims)

1. Current account deficit

2. Santusht Portal

3. Assam state zoo first to breed endangered Hargila

4. RBI launches mobile app MANI

5. Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)

6. Lai Haraoba

7. ‘Cyber Safe Women’ initiative

8. Exercise Naseem Al Bahr

9. NSE Knowledge Hub

10. Neon, the world’s first ‘Artificial Human’

11. Operation Sankalp

12. 16th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas

12. 16th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas

13. 23rd National Youth Festival

14. Indo-Japanese joint exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’

15. K9 VAJRA-T Gun

16. 1st Session of India-Norway Dialogue on Trade & Investment

17. Exercise ‘Winged Raider’

18. Vyommitra

19. 1t.org

20. First Mahatma Gandhi convention centre

21. Yarrabubba Asteroid Impact Crater

22. 10th National Voters Day

23. International Summit on Women in STEM

24. Ashuganj-Akhaura road project

25. Ganga-Volga Dialogue

3. Cooperation in Polar Science

4. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

5. Raisina Dialogue : All you need to know

6. Blue Corner notice

7. Reskilling Revolution Initiative

8. International Court of Justice

9. World Sustainable Developement Summit

10. USA’s Middle East plan

11. International Maritime Organization


Index

Polity and Social Issues

1. Governance Index

2. National Crime Records Bureau

3. Extradition

4. Army Day

5. Netaji Subhash chandra bose

6. Central Bureau Investigation

International Relations, Summits and Meet-ings

All India Radio

Geography. Ecology and Biodiversity

1. A discussion on Raisina Dialogue

2. A discussion on Army Day

3. A discussion on succesful launch of GSAT - 30 Satel-lite

4. A discussion on National Voters Day

1. Indian Meteorological Department

2. Australia Fire – Climate emergency

3. Carbon Trading and Climate Change

Science and Technology

1. India’s Solar Mission - Aditya

2. Corona Virus

1. Raisina Dialogue

2. World Economy in 2020


POLITY AND SOCIAL ISSUES

National Infrastructure on Pipe-line(NIP) 2019-2025

What is the issue?

• The Union Finance Minister has released a report of the task force on National Infrastructure on Pipe-line(NIP) 2019-2025

• TaskForcewas constituted to draw up the NationalInfrastructurePipeline(NIP) for each of the years from financial years 2019-20 to 2024-25.

About National Infrastructure on Pipe-line(NIP) Taskforce:

• The Central Government had constituted a task force to draw up a National Infrastructure Pipeline(NIP) from 2019-20 to 2024-25.

• The Task Force has been chairedbytheSecretary,DepartmentofEconomicAffairs,MinistryofFi-nance.

• The task force has prepared a roadmap as it is esti-mated that India would need to spend $4.5 trillion on infrastructure by 2030 to sustain its growth rate.

• Hence, the endeavour of the NIP is to make this hap-pen in an efficient manner.

Key takeaways

• The task force unveiled the National Infrastructure Pipeline(NIP) with projects worth Rs. 102 lakh crore.

• The private companies will account for 22%-25% of the investments and the balance will come from the Centre and the states in equal proportions.

• The projects have been classified under two broad categories namely economic infrastructure and social infrastructure for both ease of doing business and ease of living.

• Under the projects, energy sectors make up the lion’s share of 24%, followed by roads(19%), urban development(16%) and the railways (13%).

• The shares of rural and social infrastructure projects which includes health, education and drinking water are 8% and 3% respectively.

Indian History Congress

What is the issue?

• Recently, the 80th session of theIndianHistoryCon-gress(IHC) was held at Kannur,Kerala.

More on the issue

• Indian History Congress(IHC) was founded in 1935. In 1935, an AllIndiaCongresswas organised by the BharataItihasaSamshodhakaMandala(BISM) to celebrate its silver jubilee. The event resulted in the inception of the IHC.

• It is the largest association of professional historians in South Asia.

• The first session of Indian History Congress(IHC) took place in Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Poo-na in 1935.

• The main objective of IHC is to

1. regulate the standard of works of history pro-duced in India

2. promote impartial and substantive history and

3. commit to a fair and scientific history, devoid of bias and politics.

• The IHC has passed significant resolutions regarding

the protection of monuments of historical impor-tance and the role the government and Archaeologi-cal Survey of India should play in their preservation.


India’s first Chief of Defence Staff

‘Dual-hatted role’ of the Chief of Defence Staff

• The dual-hatted role refers to the two hats the CDS wears: one of the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee which has the three service chiefs as members, and the other of the head of the newly creat-ed Department of Military Affairs (DMA) in the ministry.

• The former is a military role while the latter is a role in the government; it is as the head of DMA that his major responsibilities within the ministry will be discharged.

How many other departments does the De-fence Ministry have, and who so far was looking after what will now be the charter of DMA?

• The ministry already had four departments: Depart-ment of Defence; Department of Defence Produc-tion; Department of Defence Research and Devel-opment; and Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare. Each of them is headed by a Secretary, with the Department of Defence being the nerve centre of the ministry, looking after all issues pertaining to the armed forces, defence policy and procurement.

• The charter of duties of the DMA was so far looked after by the Department of Defence, which is headed by the Defence Secretary who is also the secretary in-charge of the Defence Ministry. Work exclusively per-taining to military matters will fall within the purview of the DMA while the Department of Defence will deal with larger issues pertaining to defence of the country. To give an illustrative example, this means that while tri-service military training institutions will fall under the DMA, organisations like IDSA and NDC whose remit is broader than military matters will fall under the Department of Defence.

Are the armed forces — the Army, the Navy and the Air Force — not departments of the ministry?

• No, the service headquarters, and thereby the armed forces, are attached offices in the ministry. They used to come under the Department of Defence so far, but will now fall under the ambit of DMA, and will have an appropriate mix of civilian and military officers at every level.

• Attached offices are generally responsible for pro-viding executive direction required in the implemen-tation of policies laid down by the department to which they are attached, in this case now the DMA. They also serve as a repository of technical informa-tion and advise the department on technical aspects of questions they deal with. In essence, they are ex-ecutive agencies carrying our directions of the De-fence Ministry whose task is to draft them, obtain approval from the government and communicate them for implementation to the defence services.

But won’t the CDS command the three ser-vice chiefs, and be the single-point military adviser to the government?

• No, neither. He will act as the Principal Military Advis-er to the Defence Minister only on tri-services mat-ters. In fact, the three service chiefs will continue to advise the Defence Minister, as done so far, on mat-ters exclusively concerning their respective services.

• The government has also made it explicitly clear that the CDS will not exercise any military command, includ-ing over the three service chiefs. But the service chiefs will be members of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, which will be headed by the CDS. And the DMA, head-ed by the CDS, will also have the armed forces under its ambit — if promotions, postings and disciplinary mat-ters of three services fall under the DMA, it will give the CDS extensive influence over the three service chiefs.

Have the service chiefs lost any of their ma-jor powers or tasks to the CDS?

• Not really. None of the powers of the service chiefs, including of advising the government, has been cur-tailed and transferred to the CDS. The only thing is the role of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Commit-tee, which used to be headed by the senior-most chief by rotation. That has been shelved with the CDS being the permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, where he will be support-ed by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff.

• However, the CDS has been given a time-bound task, to be done within three years, to bring about joint-ness in operations, logistics, transport, training, sup-port services, communications, and repairs and main-tenance of the three services, which will eventually lead to the shedding of responsibilities by the service headquarters.


• As the head of the DMA, the CDS has to also facil-itate the restructuring of military commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through the estab-lishment of joint/ theatre commands. This is again a far-reaching move, which will potentially impinge on the remit of the service chiefs.

The CDS has the status of a Cabinet Secre-tary but functionally will head a department headed by a Secretary. Also, he will be under a ministry where the Defence Secretary is in charge of the ministry. Isn’t this a bit compli-cated?

• Yes, it is. But that is the nature of government func-tioning and his dual-hatted role will decide the dif-ferent kind of powers, access and relationships that will be forged by the CDS. Norms of functioning and political guidance, more than hard-coded bureaucrat-ic rules, will determine the functional efficiency and effectiveness of the CDS and it will be upon General Rawat to establish this as the first incumbent of the new office.

Finally, will the CDS be responsible for the defence of the country?

• No, as per the gazette notification issued by the government on December 30, the Department of De-fence — headed by the Defence Secretary — will be responsible for the “defence of India and every part thereof, including defence policy and preparation for defence and all such acts as may be conducive in times of war to its prosecution and after its termina-tion to effective demobilisation”.

World Health Organization Report

What is the issue?

• A recent report released by the World Health Organi-zation projected what it calls “a powerful shift in the global tobacco epidemic”.

• While male tobacco use rose by around 40 million, from 1.050 billion in 2000 to 1.093 billion in 2018, the report projected a decline in the number of males us-ing tobacco. The number has stopped growing and is projected to decline by more than 1 million male users come 2020 (or 1.091 billion) compared to 2018 levels, and 5 million less by 2025 (1.087 billion).

Key takeaways

• Overall global tobacco use fell from 1.397 billion in 2000 to 1.337 billion in 2018 (around 60 million peo-ple). The fall was largely driven by reductions in the number of females using tobacco products — with their numbers shrinking from 346 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2018, or more than 100 million users.

• By 2020, WHO projects there will be 10 million fewer tobacco users, male and female, compared to 2018, and another 27 million less by 2025, amounting to 1.299 billion. Some 60 per cent of countries have been experiencing a decline in tobacco use since 2010,” the WHO said.

• In India, which had a 44% prevalence of tobacco use (male and female combined) in 2000, this is expected to reduce almost by half to 22.3% by 2025. Globally, the prevalence was at 33.3% in 2000, and is projected to reach 20.9% in 2025.

• Current tobacco use rates in India in 2018 for peo-ple aged 15 years and older were higher than global rates among both males and females. However, the rates of tobacco smoking were lower than global rates.

• Among other key findings, the report found that approximately 43 million children (aged 13-15) over the world used tobacco in 2018 (14 million girls and 29 million boys).

Political Parties Registration Tracking

Management System (PPRTMS)

What is the issue?

• The Election Commission has launched Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS).

More on the issue

• It is an onlinesystemthatwillallowpoliticalpartiestotracktheirapplicationsforregistrationwiththeECIonareal-timebasis. The salient feature is that the applicant, who is applying for a political party registration from 1st January, 2020 will be able to track the progress of his/her application and will get status updates through SMS and e-mail.


• Registration of political parties in India is governed by section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

• An association seeking registration has to submit an application to the ECI within a period of 30 days from the date of its formation.

Savitribai Phule

• Savitribai Phule, the social reformer who is consid-ered to be one of India’s first modern feminists, was born on January 3, 1831.

• Among her accomplishments, she is especially re-membered for being India’s first female teacher who worked for the upliftment of women and untouch-ables in the field of education and literacy.

Who was Savitribai Phule?

• Phule was born in Naigaon,Maharashtrain1831and married activist and socialreformerJyotiraoPhule when she was nine years old.

• After marriage, with her husband’s support, Phule learned to read and write and both of them even-tually went on to foundIndia’sfirstschoolforgirlscalledBhideWadainPunein1948. Before this, she started a school with Jyotirao’s cousin Saganbai in Maharwada in 1847. Since at that time the idea of teaching girls was considered to be a radical one, people would often throw dung and stones at her as she made her way to the school.

• Significantly, it was not easy for the Phule’s to advocate for the education of women and the untouchables since in Maharashtra a nationalist discourse was playing out between 1881-1920 led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. These nationalists including Tilak opposed the setting up of schools for girls and non-Brahmins citing loss of nationality.

Savitribai Phule’s contribution

• Essentially, both Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule rec-ognised that education was one of the central planks through which women and the depressed classes could become empowered and hope to stand on an equal footing with the rest of the society.

• In the social and educational history of India, Mahat-ma Jotirao Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule stand out as an extraordinary couple. They were engaged in a passionate struggle to build a movement for equality between men and women and for social justice.

• The Phules also started the Literacy Mission in India between 1854-55.

• The Phules started the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society for Truth-Seeking), through which they wanted to initiate the practice of Satyashodhak marriage, in which no dowry was taken.

• Because of the role Phule played in the field of women’s education, she is also considered to be one of the “crusaders of gender justice,” as one paper published in the International Journal of Innovative Social Science & Humanities Research has said. The paper also credits Phule as being one of the first published women in modern India, who was able to develop a voice and agency of her own, at a time when women were suppressed and lived a “sub-hu-man existence”.

107th session of Indian Science Con-

gress

What is the issue?

• The107thIndianScienceCongress was held at the UniversityofAgriculturalSciencesinBengaluru,Karnataka.

• The five-day summit witnessed participation from several policymakers, scientists, academians, inven-tors and politicians from across the world.

• The theme for the 2019 Indian Science Congress is “Science&Technology:RuralDevelopment”.

• For the first time in the history of Indian Science Congress, a Farmers Science Congress is being held this year.

More on the issue

• Indian Science Congress is organised by the Indian Science Congress Association. Indian Science Con-gress association is a premierscientificorganisationofIndia having a membership of more than 30,000 scientists.


• Indian Science Congress association is a premier scientific organisation of India having a membership of more than 30,000 scientists.

• It is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.

• The association started in the year 1914 at the initia-tive of two British chemists namely ProfessorJ.L.SimonsenandProfessorP.S.MacMahon.

• The association meets annually, generally in the first week of January.

Objectives

• To advance and promote the cause of science in India.

• To hold an annual congress at a suitable place in India.

• To publish such proceedings, journals, transactions and other publications as may be considered desir-able.

• To secure and manage funds and endowments for the promotion of Science.

25th Western Zonal Council Meeting

Zonal Councils

• Zonal councils have been established by the Parlia-ment to promoteinterstatecooperationandcoordi-nation.

• They are statutory bodies established under the States Reorganisation Act 1956 and not constitution-al bodies.

• They are only deliberative and advisory bodies

There are 5 five Zonal councils namely:

• The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

• The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Mad-hya Pradesh.

• The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal.

• The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

• The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Megha-laya (vii) Sikkim and (viii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.

Composition of Zonal Councils

• Chairman – The Union Home Minister is the Chair-man of each of these Councils.

• Vice Chairman – The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.

• Members- Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.

• Advisers- One person nominated by the Planning Commission (which has been replaced by NITI Ayog now) for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretar-ies and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone. Union Ministers are also invited to participate in the meetings of Zonal Councils depending upon necessity.

ThemainobjectivesofsettingupofZonalCouncilsare:

• Bringing out national integration.

• Arresting the growth of acute State consciousness, regionalism, linguism and particularistic tendencies.

• Enabling the Centre and the States to co-operate and exchange ideas and experiences. Establishing a climate of co-operation amongst the States for successful and speedy execution of development projects.


State can regulate minority institu-

tions, says Supreme Court

What is the issue?

• The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality ofWestBengalMadrasahServiceCommissionAct2008 observing that there is no absolute and unqual-ified right of appointment for minority educational institutions

More on the issue

• The West Bengal Assembly had passed an act called West Bengal Madrasah Service Commission Act of 2008.

• The Act mandated that the process of appointment of teachers in aided madrasahs, recognised as mi-nority institutions would be done by a Commission whose decision would be binding.

• The Act was challenged in the apex court on the ba-sis that the act violates Article30oftheConstitutionwhich deals with the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

What the SC has said

• The State is well within its rights to introduce a regulatory regime in the national interest to provide minority educational institutions with well-qualified teachers in order for them to achieve excellence in education.

• It also applied the principles laid down in the deci-sion in TMA Pai Foundation case.ItobservedthattheprovisionsoftheActarenottransgressingtherightsoftheminorityinstitutions.

• Further, the court also said that the management of minority institutions cannot ignore a legal regime by saying that it is their fundamental right under Article 30 of the Constitution to establish and administer their educational institutions according to their choice.

Scientific Social Responsibility

What is the issue?

• The idea of implementing a Scientific Social Respon-sibility policy was mooted during the 107thIndianScienceCongress.

More on the issue

• Under the programme, researchers who are work-ing on a science project funded by any of the Min-istries under the Central government will have to undertake activities to popularise science and make it more accessible to the public.

• This could range from going to colleges delivering lectures, writing an article in a magazine or doing something beyond the curriculum.

• The science outreach would be mandatory and researchers had to include this as part of their out-come report.

• The move would not only bridge the gap between research institutes and the civilians, but also help scientists hone their communication skills.

Significance

• Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) is the conflu-ence of scientific knowledge with visionary leader-ship and social conscience

• It is about building synergies among all stakeholders in scientific knowledge community and also about developing linkages between science and society.

• The SSR policy will facilitate easy access to resources and knowledge about the investments and impacts of Science and Technology on society.

• It would inculcate moral responsibility amongst the scientific community which may trigger social entre-preneurship and start-ups impacting S&T ecosystem and society.


Cabinet nod for ordinance enabling

FDI in coal mining

What is the issue?

• The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to amend two laws to ease mining rules, enabling for-eign direct investment in coal mining.

• The ordinance to amend the MinesandMinerals(DevelopmentandRegulation)Act,1957andtheCoalMines(SpecialProvisions)Act,2015 was ap-proved

More on the issue

• The amendment opens up coal mining to any firm whose office is registered in India.

• The move will promote FDI in the sector. This will help India gain access to sophisticated technology for underground mining used by global miners.

• The government aims at greater participation in commercial mining of coal and targets 1000 Million Tonnes (MT) coal production by Financial Year (FY) 2023 -24.

• The move will boost both production and mining efficiency besides substituting import of coal worth Rs 30,000 crore.

• The amendment extends the policy of composite mining licence to the coal sector.

Re-grassing is mandatory after min-

ing, rules SCWhat is the issue?

• The Supreme Court ordered that mining leasehold-ers should be held responsible for re-grassing mined areas, so that biodiversity gets a second chance in these scarred landscapes.

Observations and views of the SC

• A Bench led by Chief Justice of India ordered the government to include re-grassing of mined areas as a mandatory condition in every mining lease, environmental clearance and mining plan across the country.

• Environmental issues caused by mining include erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water by chemicals from mining processes, and the effects persist for years.

• “We see no reason why the area which has been mined should not be restored so that grass and other vegetation, including trees, can grow in the mining area for the benefits of animals. We are of the view that this can be achieved by directing the Union of India to impose a condition in the mining lease and a similar condition in the environmental clearance and the mining plan to the effect that the mining lease holders shall, after ceasing mining operations, undertake re-grassing the mining area and any other area which may have been disturbed due to their mining activities and restore the land to a condition which is fit for growth of fodder, flora, fauna, etc.” the Supreme Court held.

• The Bench also directed the government to devise methods to ensure compliance by mining leasehold-ers. The cost of re-grassing the mined area and wher-ever damage was caused, would be entirely borne by the licence holder.

• The mandatory re-grassing would be in addition to the other conditions imposed on the licence holder in the mine closure plan, to restore biodiversity.

Curative Petition

• A curative petition may be filed after a review plea against the final conviction is dismissed.

• It is meant to ensure there is no miscarriage of jus-tice and to prevent abuse of process.

• A curative petition is usually decided by judges in the chamber unless a specific request for an open-court hearing is allowed.

Origin

• The concept of the curative petition was first evolved by the Supreme Court of India in Rupa AshokHurravs.AshokHurraandanothercase(2002) on the question whether an aggrieved person is entitled to any relief against the final judgement/order of the Supreme Court, even after the dismissal of a review petition.


• The apex court examined whether an aggrieved person is entitled to any relief against the final judge-ment/order of the Supreme Court after the dismissal of a review petition.

• The Supreme Court held that in order to prevent abuse of its process and to cure gross miscarriage of justice, it may reconsider its judgements in the exer-cise of its inherent powers.

• For this purpose, the Supreme Court has devised what has been termed as a curative petition.

Procedure:

• A curative petition may be filedafterareviewpleaagainstthefinalconvictionisdismissed.

• It can be entertained if the petitioner establishes that there was a violationoftheprinciplesofnat-uraljusticeandthathewasnotheardbythecourtbeforepassinganorder.

• It must be rare rather than regular.

• A curative petition must be first circulated to a Bench of the three senior-most judges, and the judges who passed the concerned judgment, if available. Only when a majority of the judges conclude that the matter needs hearing should it be listed before the same Bench.

• The Bench at any stage of consideration of the cu-rative petition can ask a senior counsel to assist it as amicus curiae (Friend of the court).

• A curative petition is usually decided by judges in the chamber unless a specific request for an open-court hearing is allowed.

• In the event of the Bench holding at any stage that the petition is without any merit, it may impose a penalty on the petitioner.

Crime in India Report 2018

What is the issue?

• TheNationalCrimeRecordsBureau published the annual CrimeinIndiaReport2018

Key takeaways

• According to the report, 3,78,277 cases of crime against women were reported in the country, up from 3,59,849 in 2017. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 59,445 cases, followed by Maharashtra (35,497) and West Bengal (30,394).

• The conviction rate in rape-related cases stood at 27.2% even though the rate of filing charge sheets was 85.3% in such cases.

• Cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.9%) followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (27.6%) constituted the major share of crimes against women, the report said.

• A total of 50,74,634 cognisable crimes — 31,32,954 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 19,41,680 Spe-cial & Local Laws (SLL) crimes — were registered in 2018, showing an increase of 1.3% in registration of cases compared to 2017 (50,07,044 cases). Thecrimerateperlakhpopulation,however,camedownfrom388.6in2017to383.5in2018.

• TheincidentsregisteredundertheScheduledCasteandScheduledTribesrelatedActssawadeclinefrom6729incidentsreportedin2017to4816in2018.

• A total of 29,017 cases of murder were registered in 2018, showing an increase of 1.3% over 2017 (28,653 cases).

• A total of 76,851 cases of offences against public tranquillity were registered in 2018, out of which ri-oting, 57,828 cases, accounted for 75.2% of total such cases, the report said.

• As many as 27,248 cases of cybercrimes were regis-tered in 2018, up from 21796 cases in 2017.

Accidental Death and Suicides in India 2018 report

• TheNCRBalsoreleasedtheAccidentalDeathandSuicidesinIndia2018report, which said that 10,349 people working in the farm sector ended their lives in 2018, accounting for 7.7 % of the total number of suicides in the country.

• Therewere5,763farmers/cultivatorsand4,586ag-riculturallabourersamongthosewhoendedtheirlives.


• The total number of people who committed suicide in 2018 was 1,34,516, an increase of 3.6% from 2017 when 1,29,887 cases were reported. The highest number of suicide victims were daily wagers — 26,589, comprising 22.4% of such deaths.

• The majority of the suicides were reported in Ma-harashtra (17,972) followed by Tamil Nadu (13,896), West Bengal (13,255), Madhya Pradesh (11,775) and Karnataka (11,561)

• Many States and Union Territories have reported nil data on suicides by farmers, cultivators and farm labourers. “West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides by farmers/cultivators as well as agricultural labour-ers,” the NCRB report said.

National Youth Festival

What is the issue?

• Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and State Gov-ernment of Uttar Pradesh are jointly organizing 23rd National Youth Festival (NYF) 2020 at Lucknow, UP.

• The theme of the 23rd National Youth Festival 2020 is ‘FITYOUTHFITINDIA’.

• ItisorganizedbytheMinistryofYouthAffairsandSports, Government of India in collaboration with one of the State Governments.

More on the issue

• The National Youth Festival in India is an annual gathering of youth with various activities including competitive ones.

• The festival is being conducted since the year 1995. ItiscelebratedtocommemoratethebirthanniversaryofSwamiVivekananda.

• The objective of the festival is to provide a platform to bring the youth of the country together in an attempt to provide them with the opportunity to showcase their talents in various activities.

january 2020 magazine · 8. national initiative for school heads’ and teachers’ holistic...

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