Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 01st Dec 2021

More than six lakh Indians renounced citizenship in the past five years, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha

DETAILS

• The District Magistrate will interview the applicant for issuing the certificate. The applicant needs to submit proof of address and proof of payment of fee other than the passport.
• After the submission of the copy of the form and verification of documents, the issuance of the renunciation certificate will take 60 days.
• As per the guidelines on the renunciation of Indian citizenship, when a person ceases to be a citizen of India under Section 8(1) of Citizenship Act, 1955, “every minor child of that person shall thereupon cease to be a citizen of India”. The child after attaining the legal age limit can apply for resuming his or her Indian citizenship.
• As per the 2009 Citizenship Rules, an applicant in India needs to pay a fee of Rs 5,000, and an applicant through an Indian Mission in a foreign country needs to pay a fee of Rs 7,000 to renounce his or her Indian citizenship.
• In 2018, for the first time, the revised Form XXII under the Citizenship Rules for Declaration of Renunciation of Citizenship under Section 8 of the Act Made by a Citizen of India included a column on “circumstances or reasons due to which applicant intends to acquire foreign citizenship and renounce Indian citizenship”. 

The Uttarakhand Government recently withdrew the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act.

What is Char Dham Act

• Legislated by the Uttarakhand State Assembly in 2019.
• Constituted a board called Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Board
• Board brought the Char Dham of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and 49 other temples under its purview.
• Chief Minister was the Chairman of the board and the Minister of Religious Affairs was the vice chairman
• Two MLAs of Yamunotri and Gangotri were members of the board and a senior IAS officer was the Chief Executive Officer.
• The board
  • Was responsible for management of temples
  • Had powers to frame policies, sanction expenditure, budget formulation
  • Had powers to give directions for the safe custody of temple jewellery and properties.

Why was Char Dham Act proposed : Most of the provisions of Shri Badrinath – Shri Kedarnath Act, 1939 were not relevant to the present context. It aimed to rejuvenate the temples.

• 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December, 1992.
• Through these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.
• The Acts came into force as the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993 and the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993.
• These amendments added two new parts to the Constitution, namely, 73rd Amendment added Part IX titled “The Panchayats” and 74th Amendment added Part IXA titled “The Municipalities”.
• The Local bodies–‘Panchayats’ and ‘Municipalities’ came under Part IX and IXA of the Constitution after 43 years of India becoming a republic.
• Local bodies (LBs) in the rural (Panchayati raj institutions) and urban (corporations and councils) areas were transferred the responsibility to deliver primary care and public health services.
• AIM – This would result in greater attention to and the allocation of funds for health services in the geographical jurisdiction of the local bodies.
• Rural settings continued to receive funding for primary health-care facilities under the ongoing national programmes.​

CHALLENGES

• Government funding for urban primary health services was not channelled through the State Health Department and the ULBs (which fall under different departments/systems in various States) did not make a commensurate increase in allocation for health
• Reasons included a resource crunch or a lack of clarity on responsibilities related to health services or completely different spending priorities.
• The well-intentioned legislative step inadvertently enfeebled the health services more in the urban areas than the rural settings.
• In 2017-18, 25 years after the Constitutional Amendments, the ULBs and RLBs in India were contributing 1.3% and 1% of the annual total health expenditure in India.
• In urban settings, most local bodies were spending from less than 1% to around 3% of their annual budget on health, almost always lower than what ULBs spend on the installation and repair of streetlights.
• Urban India, with just half of the rural population, has just a sixth of primary health centres in comparison to rural areas. Contrary to what many may think, urban primary health-care services are weaker than what is available in rural India. Regular outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya and the struggle people have had to undergo to seek COVID-19 consultation and testing services in two waves of the novel coronavirus pandemic are some examples.​

WAY FORWARD

• Grant should be used as an opportunity to sensitise key stakeholders in local bodies, including the elected representatives (councillors and Panchayati raj institution representatives) and the administrators, on the role and responsibilities in the delivery of primary care and public health services.
• Awareness of citizens about the responsibilities of local bodies in health-care services should be raised. Such an approach can work as an empowering tool to enable accountability in the system.
• Civil society organisations need to play a greater role in raising awareness about the role of LBs in health, and possibly in developing local dashboards (as an mechanism of accountability) to track the progress made in health initiatives.
• Fifteenth Finance Commission health grants should not be treated as a ‘replacement’ for health spending by the local bodies, which should alongside increase their own health spending regularly to make a meaningful impact.
• Mechanisms for better coordination among multiple agencies working in rural and urban areas should be institutionalised. Time-bound and coordinated action plans with measurable indicators and road maps need to be developed.
• Local bodies remain ‘health greenfield’ areas. The young administrators in charge of such RLBs and ULBs and the motivated councillors and Panchayati raj institution members need to grab this opportunity to develop innovative health models
• Before the novel coronavirus pandemic started, a number of State governments and cities had planned to open various types of community clinics in rural and urban areas. But this was derailed. The funding should be used to revive all these proposals.​

CONCLUSION

India’s health system needs more government funding for health. However, when it comes to local bodies, this has to be a blend of incremental financial allocations supplemented by elected representatives showing health leadership, multiple agencies coordinating with each other, increased citizen engagement in health, the setting up of accountability mechanisms and guiding the process under a multidisciplinary group of technical and health experts.

The Fifteenth Finance Commission health grant has the potential to create a health ecosystem which can serve as a much-awaited springboard to mainstream health in the work of rural and urban local bodies. The Indian health-care system cannot afford to and should not miss this opportunity.

The average contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 level in November was 14.6%, according to data from the government-run monitoring agency SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research).

AIR POLLUTION IN DELHI

Delhi is one of the most polluted cities, that features largely in the top 50 polluted cities of the world according to many parameters.

CAUSES

• Increasing population and related developmental activities
• Unplanned development and industrialization units
• Increased vehicular traffic (which has not come down despite the Delhi metro)
• Piling up of solid waste
• Large scale construction activities lead to increased dust pollution
• Landlocked geography of Delhi
  • north-westerly winds coming from Rajasthan, sometimes Pakistan and Afghanistan bring in the dust to the region
  • The Himalayas obstruct the escape route of the air. This causes the dust and pollutants to settle in the region.
• Stubble burning  - During the winter months, the large scale stubble burning practised in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan cause a thick blanket of smog to cover Delhi-NCR.
• Firecrackers, although not the top reason for air pollution, also contributes to the problem.

HOW SERIOUS IS STUBBLE BUENING : According to a study, the burning of crop residue released about 149 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than 9 million tonnes of carbon monoxide, 0.25 million tonnes of oxides of sulphur (SOX), 1.28 million tonnes of particulate matter (PM) and 0.07 million tonnes of black carbon. As evident, it contributes to a lot of greenhouse gas emissions.

SYSTEM OF AIR QUALITY AND WEATHER FORECASTING AND RESEARCH - SAFAR

• National initiative introduced by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
• To measure the air quality of a metropolitan city
• By measuring the overall pollution level and the location-specific air quality of the city.
• Indigenously developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and is operationalized by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• Giant true color LED display that gives out real-time air quality index on a 24×7 basis with color-coding (along with 72 hours advance forecast).
• Integral part of India’s first Air Quality Early Warning System operational in Delhi.
• Monitors all weather parameters like temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction, UV radiation, and solar radiation.
• Pollutants monitored: PM2.5, PM10, Ozone, Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, and Mercury

On 1 December 1965, India’s first line of defence, the Border Security Force (BSF) was formed.

ABOUT

• Sentinels of Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• K F Rustamji, IPS was the first chief and the founding father of the organization.
• Under the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India.
• Has an air wing, marine wing, commando units and artillery regiments.
• Was created by merging various State Armed Police Battalions for achieving a better coordinated synergy between the border guarding functions in peace time and fighting the war during the eventuality on both Western and Eastern fronts.
• Deployed on Indo-Pakistan International Border, Indo-Bangladesh International Border, Line of Control (LoC) along with Indian Army and in Anti-Naxal Operations.
• Has proven its credentials during various counter insurgency and anti-militancy operations, internal security duties, natural calamities etc.
• One of the five Central Armed Police Forces of Union of India under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• Mandated with guarding India’s land border during peacetime and preventing transnational crime.
• World’s largest border guarding force.
• The ethos: “Any task, any time, any where”.
• Motto is “Jeevan Paryant Kartavya” meaning “Duty Unto Death”.
• Role:
• During peacetime:
  • Promoting a sense of security among the people living in the border areas.
  • Preventing smuggling and other illegal activities along the border.
  • Preventing trans-border crimes including unauthorized entry into or exit from India.
  • Engaging in anti-infiltration.
  • Collecting trans-border intelligence.
• During wartime:
  • Defending the assigned sectors.
  • Engaging in limited aggressive action against enemy forces.
  • Maintaining law and order in enemy territory under army’s control.
  • Acting as guides to the army in border areas.
  • Guarding POW camps.
  • Controlling refugees.
  • Providing escort.
  • Performing special tasks related to intelligence including raids.

Nearly 400 years after the country became a British colony, Barbados has become the world's newest republic

WHERE IS BARBADOS : The Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands

HISTORY

• Barbados, which is said to have been made a ‘slave society’ by the British, first became an English colony when a ship arrived at the Caribbean in 1625.
• On November 30, 1966, Barbados gained its independence Errol Barrow became the country's first prime minister.
• Barbados opted to remain within the Commonwealth of Nations.
• The effect of independence meant that the Queen of the United Kingdom ceased to have sovereignty over Barbados, but the island chose to remain a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II as Queen of Barbados.
• The Monarch was represented locally by a Governor-General.

Who took over as the new head of Barbados: Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, who was selected to become the first president of Barbados last month, took over as the President of the country.

REPUBLIC : A government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law

SNIPPETS

• Ramanagar district administration is planning to launch “seri-tourism” in association with the tourism department
• Admiral R Hari Kumar on Tuesday took charge as the new chief of the Indian Navy after incumbent Admiral Karambir Singh retired from service.
• An international team of researchers has discovered a new marine reptile. The specimen, a metre-long skull, has been named Kyhytysuka sachicarum.
• Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal, at 37 years of age, has become the youngest CEO leading an S&P 500 company, only slightly younger than Meta Platform Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Agrawal, a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay’s 2005 batch, replaced Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who stepped down from the executive role.
• The World Health Organization has classified a new variant of the novel coronavirus, which belongs to a lineage named B.1.1.529, as a ‘variant of concern’, and named is Omicron.
• Nagaland is celebrating its 59th Statehood Day this year 2021.Nagaland was granted statehood on December 1, 1963, with Kohima being declared as its capital. The state has experienced insurgency, as well as an inter-ethnic conflict, since the 1950s.
• PM condoles the passing away of renowned Telugu film lyricist Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry