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Saturday, October 15, 2022

Daily Current Affairs, 15th October 2022

20:42

 


1)  World Student’s Day 2022 celebrates on15 October

•October 15 is celebrated as World Students’ Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a celebrated Aerospace scientist and former President of India. The day is marked to acknowledge his efforts toward students and education. Dr Kalam was born on October 15, 1931. He served as an inspiration to many students to achieve and do something remarkable. After his tenure as the President came to an end, he became a visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong, IIM-Indore and IIM- Ahmedabad.


2)  International Day of Rural Women 2022 observed on 15 October

•October 15 is celebrated as the International Day of Rural women across the world. The day focuses to promote gender quality and highlight the important role played by women in rural areas. The International Day of Rural Women is a time to celebrate the important role that rural women play in society. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges faced by rural women and to call for action to address these issues. We hope that this day will help empower rural women and give them the recognition they deserve.


International Day of Rural Women 2022: Theme


•The theme for the International Day of Rural Women (15 October), “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All”, highlights the essential role that rural women and girls play in the food systems of the world. The contribution of women’s labour in agricultural and other related fields is the backbone of the economies of several countries. As per a UN report, approximately 40 per cent of the total agricultural labour force in developing countries comprises women. For Asian and African countries this figure rises to nearly half.


3)  PM Modi to Dedicate 75 Digital Banking Units to the Nation

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dedicate 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) to the nation on 16th October. He will address the occasion via video conferencing. The Finance Minister has announced the setting up of the 75 DBUs in 75 districts of the country to commemorate the 75 years of Independence of India as part of the Union budget speech for 2022-2023.


4)  India Opposes G7’s Just Energy Transition Plan

•The G7 nations’ plan of persuading India to start negotiations on a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), an initiative of the rich nations to accelerate phasing out of coal and reducing emissions has hit a road-block. JETP makes various funding options available for this purpose in identified developing countries. The Power Ministry has refused to give its consent to the negotiations so far, as it argues that coal cannot be singled out as a polluting fuel, and energy transition talks need to take place on equal terms.


5)  Cabinet approved PM-DevINE scheme for development of Northeast states

•Prime Minister’s development initiative for North East region (PM-DevINE), was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM-DevINE is a Rs 6,600 crore scheme to support infrastructure, industries, and other Livelihood projects in northeastern states of India.


6)  17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas to be held at Indore in January 2023

•The 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas Convention is to be held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh in January 2023. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar launched the website of the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas Convention with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan.


7)  Abdul Latif Rashid elected as President of Iraq

•The Iraqi Parliament chose Kurdish politician, Abdul Latif Rashid to lead the country. Rashid won more than 160 votes against 99 for the incumbent Saleh. Rashid, 78, is a British-educated engineer and was the Iraqi minister of water resources from 2003-2010. Outgoing President Saleh reportedly walked out of the parliament building as the votes were tallied.


8)  Global Hunger Index 2022: India ranks 107th out of 121 countries

•India ranks 107 out of 121 countries on the Global Hunger Index in which it fares worse than all countries in South Asia barring war-torn Afghanistan. India’s score of 29.1 places it in the ‘serious’ category. India also ranks below Sri Lanka (64), Nepal (81), Bangladesh (84), and Pakistan (99). Afghanistan (109) is the only country in South Asia that performs worse than India on the index.


•China is among the countries collectively ranked between 1 and 17 having a score of less than five. India’s child wasting rate (low weight for height), at 19.3%, is worse than the levels recorded in 2014 (15.1%) and even 2000 (17.15%), and is the highest for any country in the world and drives up the region’s average owing to India’s large population.


9)  Living Planet Report 2022: Wildlife Populations decline by 69% in 50 years

•There has been a 69 per cent decline in the wildlife populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, across the globe in the last 50 years, according to the latest Living Planet Report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 
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Allegations against Google over Revenue Sharing

08:03

 What is the issue?

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered a probe against Google for alleged unfair revenue sharing terms with regard to news content.

What is the case about?

  • The News Broadcasters and Digital Associations (NBDA) has filed a complaint against Google’s parent entities under the Competition Act, 2002.
  • Compensation- The central contestation is that the Google has not compensated news publishers for their contribution to its platforms.
  • News content- The NBDA has alleged that its members are forced to provide their news content to Google in order to prioritise their web links in the search engine result page.
  • Dominance- Owing to the tech-giant’s dominance in the space, the publishers were forced to integrate content on their platforms.
  • They have to trade in the company’s exchanges and use its buying tool, Google Ads/DV 360, to receive bids from advertisers.
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages- Google has been accused of forcing members into using their Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) or building mirror-like light-weight webpages.
  • Incompliance may affect the members’ placements in mobile search.
  • Paywall options- The tech giant restricted paywall options unless publishers rebuild their websites as per AMP standards.
  • Header bidding- The search-engine operator has also been accused of encouraging members to disable header bidding.

The Competition Act, 2002 and the 2007 amendment prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A).

How is the current situation?

  • Google’s stand- According to Google, the revenues accrued are spent towards defraying the costs of maintaining data centres, technological investments, enabling innovations and maximising advertiser return on investment.
  • CCI’s direction- The CCI has ordered the Director General (DG), its probe arm, to club the matters and submit a consolidated investigation report.

Why is Google dominant?

  • Market share- As per the NBDA, Google’s search engine commands a 94% market share in the country.
  • Online proliferation- It holds significance with the increased transition toward online news consumption (inclusive of app-based consumption).
  • With online proliferation, there is an increased reliance of news publishers on digital ad revenues, and in turn, tech-based companies.
  • Traffic- More than half of the total traffic on news websites is routed through Google.
  • Prioritizing the search queries- Readers would more often opt for an online web search rather than reaching out to a specific news website by typing its URL in a browser.
  • Since the search engine determines which news websites would be prioritised in search queries, it has become the first port of call for information online.

What is happening outside India?
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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 15.10.2022

07:57
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Friday, October 14, 2022

Daily Current Affairs, 14th October 2022

21:05

 


1)  World Standards Day celebrates on 14th October

•World Standards Day is marked every year on October 14 to raise awareness about the importance of using standardised measurements, technologies, and industries. This day, also known as International Standards Day, strives to educate consumers, policymakers, and businesses about the value of standardisation. The day is also used to commemorate the achievements of scientists for developing voluntary universal standards that can be used for various measurements.


World Standards Day 2022: Theme


•Every year, the World Standards Event has a theme around which events and knowledge materials are created. The theme for World Standards Day 2022 is ‘Shared Vision for a Better World.’ The theme is part of the IEC, ISO and ITU multi-year campaign to increase understanding about how standardisation is important to achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.


2)  International E-Waste Day 2022 observed on 14 October

•Each year, International E-Waste Day is held on 14 October, an opportunity to reflect on the impacts of e-waste and the necessary actions to enhance circularity for e-products. International E-Waste Day was developed in 2018 by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling (WEEE) Forum to raise the public profile of waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling and encourage consumers to recycle. 2022 is the fifth edition of International E-Waste Day.


•This year, the main focus of International E-Waste Day will be those small electrical devices that we no longer use but keep in drawers and cupboards or often toss in the general waste bin. This is why International E-Waste Day (#ewasteday) 2022 will be focusing on small items of e-waste, under the slogan “Recycle it all, no matter how small!”. #ewasteday will take place on 14 October 2022.


3)  Rajnath Singh is set to launch ‘Maa Bharati Ke Sapoot’ website

•Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh will be launching the ‘Maa Bharati Ke Sapoot’ (MBKS) website for the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (AFBCWF) during a function at the National War Memorial Complex in New Delhi. The AFBCWF is a Tri-service fund utilised to grant immediate financial assistance of ex-gratia to the next of kin and dependents of Battle Casualties. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan to be the ‘Goodwill Ambassador’.


4)  Odisha MP Aparajita Sarangi elected to IPU panel

•Lok Sabha member from Bhubaneswar, Aparajita Sarangi has been elected as a member to the executive committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The Parliamentarian from Odisha bagged 12 out of the total of 18 available votes in the election to the post held at Kigali, Rwanda. Sarangi will represent India at the 15-member executive committee of the union.


•Notably, this will be the first time in 20 years, that India will have her representative in the international committee.


•The Indian Parliamentary Delegation is being led by Harivansh, Deputy Chairperson in Rajya Sabha. Aparajita Sarangi, Harivansh and Sasmit Patra attended a meeting called by the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union following her nomination. The 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly is being held currently in Kigali, Rwanda.


5)  PM Modi inaugurated 4th Vande Bharat Express in Himachal Pradesh

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the fourth Vande Bharat Express Train of India. He also launched a slew of development projects in Himachal Pradesh. PM Modi flagged off the inaugural run of the new Vande Bharat Express Train from Amb Andaura to New Delhi.  He also laid the foundation stone of Bulk Drug Park.


6)  Israel and Lebanon Agreed to ‘Historic Agreement’ on the Maritime Dispute

•Lebanon and Israel have reached a “historic” deal to end a long-running maritime border dispute in the gas-rich Mediterranean Sea, according to negotiators from the two countries. Lebanon’s deputy speaker Elias Bou Saab said, after submitting the United States-brokered final draft of the deal to President Michel Aoun, that an agreement had been reached that satisfies both sides.


7)  Indian Navy Conducts Offshore Security Exercise, ‘Prasthan’

•‘Prasthan’ an Offshore Security Exercise was conducted by the Eastern Naval Command in the Offshore Development Area (ODA) off Kakinada. ‘Prasthan’ is a half-yearly exercise that was conducted in the KG basin to validate SOPs, address various contingencies and strengthen the command and control organization toward Maritime security.
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The HINDU Notes – 14th October 2022

14:53

 


📰 Centre to help set up paddy straw pellet units to arrest stubble burning

Environment Ministry’s ₹50-crore incentive scheme is aimed at stopping farmers in Punjab and Haryana from burning crop residue, a major cause of pollution in New Delhi

•With winter approaching and instances of stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana rising, the Union Environment Ministry announced a ₹50 crore scheme on Thursday to incentivise industrialists and entrepreneurs to set up paddy straw pelletisation and torrefaction plants.

•Paddy straw made into pellets or torrefied can be mixed with coal in thermal power plants. This saves coal as well as reduces carbon emissions that would otherwise have been emitted were the straw burnt in the fields, as is the regular practice of most farmers in Punjab and Haryana.

•New units set up after Thursday would be eligible for government funding in the form of capital to set up such plants. The estimated cost of setting up a regular pelletisation plant, which can process a tonne per hour, is ₹35 lakh. Under the scheme, the Centre will fund such plants to a maximum of ₹70 lakh subject to capacity.

•Similarly, the cost of establishing a torrefaction plant is ₹70 lakh. Under the scheme, it is eligible for a maximum funding of ₹1.4 crore. Torrefaction is costlier but can deliver a product whose energy content is much higher and theoretically substitute for more coal in a power plant.

One-time measure

•The Centre has underlined that this would be a “one-time only” scheme and regular pellet plants would be eligible for ₹40 crore of the overall pie.

•Every year, about 27 million tonne of paddy straw is generated in Punjab and Haryana. The problem is that about 75% or 20 million tonne is from non-basmati rice that cannot be fed to cattle because of its high silica content. “About 11 million tonne can be managed in the field and the rest is usually burnt which adds to the air pollution crisis in Delhi,” said MM Kutty, Chairman, Commission Air Quality Management (CAQM), at an event here to announce the scheme.

•Through the years the government has attempted to dissuade farmers from burning straw through penalising them as well as incentivising them.

•“The Environment Ministry has so far been seen as an organisation that stops everyone. But I’d like to congratulate the Central Pollution Control Board for devising this scheme that will help convert waste to wealth and provide job opportunities to our rural youth in Punjab and Haryana,” said Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.

📰 Does India need a population policy?

•Earlier this year, the United Nations published data to show that India would surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2023. According to the 2018-19 Economic Survey, India’s demographic dividend will peak around 2041, when the share of the working age population is expected to hit 59%. In this context, does India need a population policy? Poonam Muttreja and Sonalde Desai discuss the question in a conversation moderated by Sreeparna Chakrabarty. Edited excerpts:

The world’s population is expected to hit a peak and then drop by the end of the century. Is this good or bad?

•Poonam Muttreja: We need to move from a family planning approach to a family welfare approach. We should be focusing on empowering men and women in being able to make informed choices about their fertility, health and well-being. As fertility drops and lifespans rise globally, the world is ageing at a significant pace. Can increasing automation counteract the negative effects of an ageing population or will an ageing population inevitably end up causing a slowdown in economic growth? We need to look at all of that. We are where we are, so let’s plan for the well-being of our population instead of hiding behind the excuse that we don’t have good schooling or health because there are too many people. That mindset is counterproductive.

•Sonalde Desai: It is not about whether the population is large or small; it is about whether it is healthy, skilled and productive. Let me focus on the productive part of it. Thomas Malthus had said as the population grows, productivity will not be able to keep pace with this growth, and we will see famines, higher mortality, wars, etc. Luckily, he proved to be wrong. We need to take a lesson out of this and think about how to make our present population productive. Skills are important, but so is economic planning that ensures good jobs, agricultural productivity, etc.

•You had mentioned China. The lesson we can take from China is that making sharp changes in public policy to manage the population ended up having unexpected consequences there. China’s one-child policy led to a sharp reduction in the population growth rate. But now the Chinese have a rapidly rising population of the elderly. China also tried to relax these policies and is now encouraging people to have two or even three children but the men and women are not ready to comply. And China’s fertility continues to decline. So, we should focus not on fertility rate, but on creating a situation in which slow changes in the family size take place in the context of a growing economy.

Can increasing automation effectively counteract the negative economic effects of an ageing population?

•SD: Automation makes a big difference to the productivity of individuals, sometimes to the detriment of employment. But in any case, it really is an important contribution of the modern world. However, it doesn’t replace human nature and human touch. For example, I heard that Chinese families are now groaning under the burden of taking care of elderly parents. Automation doesn’t help you take your mother to a doctor or provide the emotional warmth and security that family members provide to each other. So, in that sense, ageing is going to be an issue for us. We need to figure out how to address ageing in the context of changing families and the nature of state support in India and create conditions in which the elderly population can have a healthy and happy life.

Does India possess the institutional capability to tap into its huge youth population? Or will an ageing population turn out to be a liability in the absence of adequate institutional or state capacity?

•PM: Let me first touch upon the elderly population and China. If China hadn’t invested in literacy and good health systems, it would not have been able to lower its fertility rates. In any case, I think we have much to learn from China about what not to do. And especially in the case of the elderly, where the estimates show that 12% of India’s total population by 2025 is going to be the elderly. Every fifth Indian by 2050 will be over the age of 65. So planning for this segment merits equal consideration.

•Coming back to the young, we have the capacity to tap into the potential of our youth population. There is a brief window of opportunity, which is only there for the next few decades. We need to invest in adolescent well-being right away, if we want to reap the benefits. Otherwise, our demographic dividend could turn easily into a demographic disaster.

•SD: India certainly has the capacity to invest in its youth population. But we don’t recognise the gender dimension of some of these challenges. Fertility decline has tremendous gender implications. What it means is that women have lower burden on them. But it also has a flip side. Ageing is also a gender issue as two-thirds of the elderly are women, because women tend to live longer than men do. Unless we recognise the gender dimension , it will be very difficult for us to tap into these changes. So, what do we need to do? India has done a good job of ensuring educational opportunities to girls. Next, we need to improve employment opportunities for young women and increase the female employment rate. Elderly women need economic and social support networks.

India’s total fertility rate has dropped below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman. What could be the economic implications of this declining fertility rate?

•PM: As I said, the numbers are going to be only important if you see them in the right way. Economic policy should be geared towards the skilling and education of our large adolescent population with a special focus on gender, as Sonal said. As we look ahead, addressing the unmet needs of the young people should become a priority. We cannot allow the huge advances we have made in accelerating education, delaying child marriage, addressing sexual and reproductive health needs and building agency be wasted. Special attention must be given to addressing ways in which the pandemic may have affected the lives of our adolescent and youth. If the country does not address the rights and well-being of adolescents immediately, it will set us back by many years.

•SD: I think it’s not just the economic implications that we need to think about but also the implications of the political economy. India’s fertility fell below 2.1 births for certain States 10 years ago. In four other States, it’s just declining. So, not only is the fertility falling, the proportion of the population that will be living in various States is also changing. The future of India lies in the youth living in U.P., Bihar, M.P. If we don’t support these States in ensuring that their young people are well educated, poised to enter the labour market and have sufficient skills, they will become an economic liability.

Do we need a population policy?

•PM: India has a very good population policy, which was designed in 2000. And States also have their population policies. We just need to tweak these and add ageing to our population policy focus. But otherwise, the national population policy is the right policy. We keep talking about population as the biggest problem in India, but nobody talks about the poor investments in family planning or about investments in population more broadly.

•SD: What we need is a policy that supports reproductive health for individuals. We also need to start focusing on other challenges that go along with enhancing reproductive health, which is not just the provision of family planning services. I also think we need to change our discourse around the population policy. Although we use the term population policy, population control still remains a part of our dialogue. We need to maybe call it a policy that enhances population as resources for India’s development, and change the mindset to focus on ensuring that the population is a happy, healthy, productive. Perhaps it is time to think about getting rid of some of the archaic notions around population control, which continue to persist... you know, people with larger families not being allowed to participate in elections or get maternity leave, and so on.

•PM: Our arguments and discussions have not gone beyond the two-child norm. The two-child norm indicates a coercive approach to primarily one community. And there are too many myths and misconceptions around population issues, which lead to this discourse, which takes away attention from doing all the things Sonal and I suggested through this conversation. We need to move away from the focus on the two-child norm.

📰 The democratisation of India, the Mandal way

•In his book The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters, William Dalrymple wrote: “Ten years ago every second person at Delhi drinks parties seemed to be either an old schoolfriend of the Prime Minister or a member of his cabinet. Now, quite suddenly, no one in Delhi knows anyone in power. A major democratic revolution has taken place almost unnoticed, leaving the urban Anglicised élite on the margins of the Indian political landscape.” And, in a meet with Mr. Dalrymple, the late Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh remarked after his elevation to the national cabinet in 1996, “…for the first time, power had come to the underprivileged and the oppressed and we will use it to ensure that their lot is bettered.…”

•The socio-political movement that led to this phenomenon known as “Mandal” has dramatically changed the demographic diversity of people’s representatives. It is no wonder then that scholar Christophe Jaffrelot called it, ‘India’s Silent Revolution’.

On social justice

•The social justice discourse in modern India can be traced to the initiatives of social revolutionaries such as Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai Phule, Sahuji Maharaj and Periyar during colonial rule. But a sustained intervention with a concrete outcome in terms of policy prescriptions surfaced only with B.R. Ambedkar arriving on the national scene. The “depressed classes” (Dalits) and “tribals” (Adivasis) — as they were termed by the colonisers — were already listed as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, respectively, by 1935. The benefits of reservation in education and employment for these social groups in proportion to their population were adopted as soon as the Constitution of India came into force. But a large section of the “backward classes” and occupational caste groups remained socially and educationally backward; hence, their presence in the bureaucracy, the judiciary, academia or the media remained abysmal.

•The post-Independence years witnessed Nehruvian socialism losing its sheen. The polity and governance remained in the grips of cherry-picked brahmanical minds. At this juncture, the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) sounded the clarion call, “Sansopa ne bandhi gaanth, pichhda pawe sau me saath” (SSP was committed for 60 per cent share for the backward classes”). The Constituent Assembly had debated caste-class dichotomy. It was envisioned that backward classes would be backward communities. This was endorsed by B.R. Ambedkar who said: “…a backward community is a community which is backward in the opinion of the government….” But the Mandal report reaffirmed this with the line “a caste can be and quite often is a social class in India”.

•Article 340 of the Constitution entailed egalitarian possibility that resulted in two Backward Classes commissions, the Kalelkar Commission (1953-1955) and the Mandal Commission (1978-80). The first did not yield anything. The mobilisation campaign for implementing the recommendations of the second led to a “Mandal movement”. The announcement of implementing one of its recommendations, of 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the central services on August 7, 1990, was the “Mandal moment”. Even while Mandal parties lost power at the Centre, the Mandal effect has continued. The 73rd and 74th Amendments have furthered the idea of social justice by extending reservation benefits to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs. Horizontal reservation was also extended to all women. In 2006, reservations were extended to OBC candidates in institutions of higher learning — popularly known as Mandal II.

On fraternity

•The popular understanding of secularism in India has undergone a sea change. Much has been written about its failings. The real test of secularism and social democracy is hinged on mutual co-existence of communities. Thus, secularism needs to be situated within the perspective of “Fraternity” as enshrined in the ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution. This entails instilling confidence and camaraderie in the minority communities. Mandal parties checkmated communal mobilisations and hate mongering by the right wing. There were two spectacular political decisions in 1990 — the arrest of L.K. Advani by the Lalu Prasad -led government in Bihar at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Second, the Mulayam Singh-led government in Uttar Pradesh ordering the police to fire at kar sevaks assembled in Ayodhya near the Babri Masjid.

•Another point of merit derived from “Mandal” has been the identifying of socially and educationally backward castes and communities by not letting religion become a barrier. The consciousness generated by Mandal demolished a perception about Indian Muslims being a homogenous monolith. The churning around Mandal also led to the emergence of a pasmanda (backward in Persian) movement among backward Muslims demanding democratisation and representation. The Mandal report fairly recognised a large section of Muslims and Christians who converted from Hinduism, but with a majority of them continuing with their earlier caste-based occupations. Thus, Mandal situated backwardness at the intersectionality of caste and religion.

Blunders and course correction

•Mandal(ite) political parties have made serious blunders too by restricting key organisational positions to family members and extending favours to caste brethren. However, there could be possible course correction such as being more accommodative towards the aspirations of the lower castes such as the economically backward classes or most backward classes; forging alliances with parties championing Dalit and Adivasi agendas; and pushing for quota within quota in the women’s reservation Bill — which is still pending — with fresh insights, and also fielding more women candidates from the marginalised communities. Solidarity does work in politics. The role played by two Dalit icons, Kanshi Ram and Ram Vilas Paswan for mobilisation and implementation of Mandal has been immense. It is worth recalling how Kanshi Ram met with successive defeats in the Lok Sabha elections from Allahabad and East Delhi in 1988 and 1989, respectively. Mulayam Singh extended unconditional support to his candidature in 1991 and helped him win from Etawah, Uttar Pradesh. In turn, the Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party alliance fixed the mighty Bharatiya Janata Party in the hotly-contested Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections of 1993. One of the popular slogans in that election still has high decibel and political value — “Mile Mulayam-Kanshiram; Hawa me Ud Gaye Jai Shri-Ram (When Mulayam and Kanshi Ram came together, the euphoria of ‘Jai Shri-Ram’ evaporated”).

📰 The Interpol General Assembly meeting in Delhi
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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 14.10.2022

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Thursday, October 13, 2022

Daily Current Affairs, 13th October 2022

19:13

 


1)  International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 observed on 13 October

•October 13 is designated as International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction with a focus on encouraging a global culture of risk awareness and catastrophe preparedness. The day is an opportunity to acknowledge the progress being made toward preventing and reducing disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods, economies and basic infrastructure in line with the international agreement for reducing global disaster risk and losses.


•In 2022, the International Day will focus on Target G of the Sendai Framework: “Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030.” The urgency to achieve this target was strengthened in March 2022 by the announcement made by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres that “the United Nations will spearhead new action to ensure every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years.”


2)  53rd Capacity Building Programme in Field Administration Inaugurated

•53rd Capacity Building Programme in the Field Administration for the Civil Servants of Bangladesh was inaugurated at National Centre for Good Governance (NCGC) at Mussoorie. This institute is the only institute that has trained 1,727 field-level officers of Bangladesh Civil Service such as Assistant Commissioners, SDMs, and Additional Deputy Commissioners.


3)  Himachal Pradesh govt starts new scheme “HIMCAD” to help farmers

•The state government of Himachal Pradesh has started a new scheme named ‘HIMCAD’, to provide irrigation facilities to farmers. According to the latest data, about 80% of the agricultural area of Himachal Pradesh is rain-fed. The scheme will provide end-to-end connectivity of farmers’ fields for better water conservation, crop diversification and integrated farming.


4)  CRII: India up six places for reducing inequality, ranks 123 globally

•According to the latest Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRII), India has moved up six places to rank 123 out of 161 countries for reducing inequality but continues to be among the lowest performers in health spending. Norway leads the CRII followed by Germany and Australia.


•The Index which is prepared by Oxfam International and Development Finance International (DFI) measures government policies and actions in three areas proven to have a major impact on reducing inequality. The three areas are public services (health, education, and social protection), taxation and workers’ rights.


5)  4th Heli-India Summit 2022 inaugurated by Jyotiraditya Scindia

•Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia inaugurated the 4th Heli-India Summit 2022. The civil enclave will be built in Jammu for Rs 861 crore and Srinagar’s present terminal will be expanded three times from 20,000 square meters to 60,000 square meters for Rs 1500 crores.


•The 4th Heli-India Summit 2022 is inaugurated with the theme of ‘Helicopters for Last Mile Connectivity’ at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre, Srinagar in the presence of Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Majon Sinha.


7)  Indian-American Tulsi Gabbard Exits Democratic Party

•Former US Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard – who was the first Hindu-American to run for the White House in 2020 announced her exit from the Democratic Party ahead of next month’s midterm elections. Gabbard blamed the party for “racializing every issue in the nation” and denouncing it as the “elitist cabal of warmongers.” The former US Congresswoman was a member of the party for the last 20 years.


8)  Retail Inflation Highest Since April Stands At 7.41%

•India’s retail inflation accelerated to 7.41 per cent in September from a year ago on higher food and energy costs, the highest since April and above the upper end of the RBI’s 2-6 per cent tolerance band in each month this year. Data released by the National Statistics Office showed consumer price index-based inflation (CPI) in September rising to 7.41 per cent from a year ago, compared to August’s 7 per cent.


9)  IMF Slashed India’s GDP growth at 6.8% from 7.4% in Current Financial Year

•The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest World Economic Outlook report, cut its forecast for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in financial year 2022-23 (FY23) by 60 basis points (bps) to 6.8 per cent, warning of a long and tough economic winter.
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Insights IAS Current Affairs Monthly Mindmaps September 2023 PDF

16:46

Insights IAS Current Affairs Monthly Mindmaps September 2023 PDF

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The HINDU Notes – 13th October 2022

16:23

 


📰 Home Minister to launch Hindi version of first-year MBBS books on Oct. 16

•Union Home Minister Amit Shah will launch the Hindi versions of first-year MBBS textbooks in Bhopal on October 16. With this, Madhya Pradesh will inch closer to becoming the first State to provide medical education in Hindi.

•The scheduled launch comes at a time when the Chief Ministers of two southern States have voiced their reservations against the move of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, headed by Mr. Shah, to employ Hindi as a medium of instruction in key institutions in the Hindi-speaking States, and regional languages elsewhere.

•Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, however, said the initiative would change mindsets and prove that one could progress in life even after being educated in the Hindi medium. He said the move would make students feel proud of their mother tongue.

•The translated versions, says Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang, of books on medical biochemistry, medical physiology, and anatomy, have been prepared by a panel of 97 doctors over the past eight to nine months. He said not everyone warmed to the idea initially. “There was resistance from the experts. Some said it was not possible, while others said students might lose the competitive advantage but we persisted taking into account all these reservations,” Mr. Sarang said.

•There are, however, some fears about a Hindi-centric approach robbing students of crucial opportunities, and about the practical difficulties involved. Aakash Soni, former president of the Madhya Pradesh Junior Doctors’ Association (Undergraduate wing), said if such a move was made compulsory, then people may only be able to work in Hindi-speaking States.

•One UG medical student from Bhopal said medical education involved going through a lot of reference books that are in English, and a mix of languages could cause confusion.

📰 Army prepares road map for induction of electric vehicles

•In line with the national focus on reducing carbon emissions, the Army has put into plan a road map to induct electric vehicles (EV) wherever possible considering the operational commitments, sources said. The move will help significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

•“Keeping in view the necessity and employability of EVs over various terrains, the Army will equip a few units located in peace stations with EVs sequentially. Around 25% of light vehicles, 38% buses and 48% motorcycles of select units and formations will be changed to EVs with adequate charging infrastructure,” a source said. “Various factors unique to Indian Army’s employability, remote locations of employment and operational commitments were considered to arrive at a definite time-bound road map.”

•Stating that the Army was also procuring EVs through the capital route, the source said the existing shortage of buses would be fulfilled by procuring electric buses for select peace establishments for initial exploitation. An open tender enquiry for procurement of 60 electric buses along with 24 fast chargers would soon be floated, the source said.

•The Army has already started using EVs as part of civil hired transport, officials said. Stations such as Delhi Cantonment have already established charging stations to support EVs being hired or inducted subsequently, one official said, adding that at Delhi Cantonment, a number of charging stations were also open to civilians.

Support infrastructure

•To enable a viable EV ecosystem as part of the overall plan, the required support infrastructure is being created, the source said. EV charging points on the parking lots of offices and residential complexes for charging are being set up, which will have at least one fast charger and two or three slow chargers.

•This also includes electric circuit cables and transformers with adequate load bearing capability based on anticipated number of EVs per station. Solar panel-driven charging stations are also planned in phases.

📰 The Court and the problem with its collegium

•Once again the collegium of the Supreme Court of India is in the news, and once again for the wrong reasons. This time, it is because of the difficulty that its five judges have in getting together for one meeting. The Chief Justice of India, Justice U.U. Lalit, assumed office on August 27, 2022. He has a short tenure and demits office on November 8, 2022. Nevertheless, he tries to set a scorching pace. He constitutes as many as five Constitution Benches to hear extremely important matters which his predecessors put on the back burner. The CJI also takes it upon himself to fill six vacancies in the apex court. He sets in motion the procedure contemplated for the collegium of the Supreme Court which is enshrined in the Memorandum of Procedure of 1999.

•A meeting was held on September 26 at which all the five members of the collegium were present. They decided affirmatively on one candidate, Justice Dipankar Datta, now Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. There are several other names under consideration for the remaining slots, and these include four Chief Justices of High Courts and one lawyer practising in the Supreme Court. This is deferred to September 30. However, the meeting on September 30 is not held because Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, the seniormost puisne judge and in line to be the next CJI, sits in court till 9.30 p.m. Since the meeting cannot be held as scheduled, the CJI tries to obtain approval by circulation. Two judges accord approval but Justice Chandrachud and Justice Nazeer withhold approval. Apparently they do not object to the names but object to the procedure of circulation. In the meantime there is a letter from the Law Minister asking the CJI’s view on the appointment of his successor. With that the curtain is brought down on the proposed appointments. For some reason no one can fathom, the CJI’s collegium becomes a lame duck during his last month, while his court retains every power till the last minute of his last day in office.

Relevant questions

•If this was any other body conducting business for selecting the highest officers for the organisation, those in charge would face both questions and flak. Simply put, since the matter is of obvious importance, why could not five people who work in the same building meet the next day, or the day after, to conclude the business? If meeting in person was so difficult, surely we are all used to online conduct of business. The court itself has been quite proficient in conducting judicial work online for many months after COVID-19 struck us. If any of the names are not good enough, why not say so in circulation? If they were good enough, then why not just make the appointments by following any procedure feasible, whether personal meeting, circulation or online meeting? If business has to be done, then there appears to be no good reason why it did not get done.

•The problem, as has been the problem with the collegium, is that there is nobody in it to ask these questions. Time and again, it has been widely commented that this is an extra-constitutional or non-constitutional body brought in force by judgments of the Supreme Court virtually wresting the power of appointment of judges. The Constitution of India gave the last word to the President of India but mandated consultation with the Court. These judgments give the last word to the Court mandating consultation with the government. Not only that, what makes the problem even worse is that there is no seat in the collegium for any non judge — neither from the executive, the Bar or anywhere else. In other words, there is no one to offer suggestions or raise questions or even to observe what is going on.

•In 2014, Parliament by unanimity — mark the word unanimity — backed by State legislatures enacted the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC); it comprised three judges, the Law Minister and two eminent persons to handle the task of appointing judges. By a 4:1 majority, the Supreme Court struck that down, setting at naught the entire legislative will of the country which was trying to reverse a constitutional coup. If the Court was concerned about being overruled in appointments, it could have just tinkered with and read down the Act, deleted the second eminent person and thus secured a situation where the judges were in the majority. This would have secured judicial primacy, provided for some executive involvement as well as had one person representing a larger public constituency. The point is that this will at least provide a place at the table for the question why and the question why not to be asked. There can be accountability and perceived performance only when these questions can be asked and have to be answered. Otherwise there will be insularity and opacity.

On judicial appointments

•In recent times, the Government seems to have given up on pursuing the commission for judicial appointments. One wonders why. Perhaps the answer partly lies in successive collegiums not putting forth names anathema to the Government, notably that of Justice Akil Kureshi (he retired in March as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court). This is hardly a satisfactory solution. It is time to revisit this question and secure a better, broad-based and transparent method of appointing senior judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court. While doing so, we may also ask why there have been no appointments from the category of distinguished jurists which Article 124 of the Constitution contemplates. Appointments to the top court seem to be the preserve of judges from the High Courts with a handful of appointments from the Bar. Surely some nodding acknowledgement should be given to a specific provision made by the founding fathers in the Constitution. Or is it the view that in all these years we have produced no distinguished jurist worth the name?

📰 Unfilled vacancies, stagnant workforce delay RTI replies

The number of information commissioners and public information officers has to improve to handle the rise in RTI applications

•Data show that the number of information officers and first appellate authorities in the Central government has remained stagnant in the last few years. In contrast, the new Right to Information (RTI) applications filed as well as pending applications are increasing every year. Worryingly, the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions, the final recourse in matters concerning RTI, also face manpower shortage. As a result, appeals and complaints are piling up.

•The RTI Act is implemented using a three-level structure. At the first level is the Central Assistant Public Information Officer/Central Public Information Officer (CAPIO/CPIO). Once an RTI query reaches the CAPIO/CPIO, they are expected to reply within 30 days. If the reply is not satisfactory or does not arrive on time, a first appeal can be made to the First Appellate Authority (FAA). If the FAA does not answer or if its answer is not satisfactory, the Central Information and State Information Commissions can be approached.

•A report released in October by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan, titled ‘Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India, 2021-22’, states that the number of appeals and complaints pending before the Central and State Information Commissions as of June 30, 2022 was 3,14,323. The figure is based on data gathered from 26 Information Commissions obtained through 145 RTI applications. Chart 1 plots the increase in the number of pending appeals and complaints from 2.18 lakh to 3.14 lakh in the last three years.

•Chart 2 shows the State-wise backlogs in the 26 Information Commissions and the Central Information Commission as of June 30, 2022. Maharashtra leads the list with nearly 1 lakh appeals and complaints pending followed by Uttar Pradesh (44,482) and Karnataka (30,358). Data were not available for Tamil Nadu’s State Information Commission. The Commissions in Jharkhand and Tripura were defunct.

•Chart 3 shows the estimated time required for the disposal of an appeal/complaint by the Central and State Information Commissions. Using the backlog data and the monthly disposal rate, the Satark Nagrik Sangathan calculated the time it would take for an appeal/complaint filed on July 1, 2022 to be disposed of by the Central and State Information Commissions. The Sangathan assumed that appeals and complaints would be disposed of in a chronological order. The chart shows that it would take the West Bengal State Information Commission 24 years and 3 months to dispose of a complaint filed on July 1, 2022. A similar analysis in Odisha and Maharashtra showed that it would take five years. Only Meghalaya and Mizoram showed no waiting time (not plotted on the tree map). Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Tripura could not be plotted for reasons mentioned above.

•Chart 4 shows the opening balance of RTI requests at the beginning of every year and the number of new RTI requests filed in a year. This data pertains to the first level of the RTI process involving CAPIO/CPIO. As can be observed, both the figures are rising at a rapid pace, while the new filings came down a bit during the pandemic year.

•Chart 5 shows the number of CAPIOs, CPIOs and FAAs working for the Central government agencies. The number of CPIOs and FAAs has remained stagnant in recent years. While the number of CAPIOs surged earlier, that too has become stagnant in recent years.

•So, while the number of new and pending RTIs is rising at a rapid pace, the number of officers required to answer them has remained stagnant.

📰 No more indictment under Section 66A of IT Act: Supreme Court
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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 13.10.2022

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