Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 23rd Dec 2021

NEWS

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has accredited city-based Kristu Jayanti College (Autonomous) with A++ grade. It is the second institution in the country and the first in Karnataka to have achieved the highest CGPA

NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC)

• Organisation that assesses and accredits higher education institutions (HEIs) in India.
• Autonomous body funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• Outcome of the recommendations of the National Policy in Education (1986)
• Headquartered in Bangalore.
• Mandate - making quality assurance an integral part of the functioning of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
• Functions through its General Council (GC) and Executive Committee (EC) comprising of educational administrators, policymakers and senior academicians from the cross-section of Indian higher education system.

ENVIRONMENT & GEOGRAPHY

FOREST RIGHTS ACT

The act was passed in December 2006. It deals with the rights of forest-dwelling communities over land and other resources. The Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities, partially correcting the injustice caused by the forest laws.

Rights under the Act:

• Title rights – Ownership to land that is being farmed by tribals or forest dwellers subject to a maximum of 4 hectares; ownership is only for land that is actually being cultivated by the concerned family, meaning that no new lands are granted.
• Use rights – to minor forest produce (also including ownership), to grazing areas, to pastoralist routes, etc.
• Relief and development rights – to rehabilitation in case of illegal eviction or forced displacement; and to basic amenities, subject to restrictions for forest protection.
• Forest management rights – to protect forests and wildlife.

FRA is in existence for 15 years, Still, majority of the tribal communities in India are poor and landless. They practise small-scale farming, pastoralism, and nomadic herding. On the Human Development Index, the tribal-populated States always rank lower than the national average.

ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION

GRAM SABHA

• Act Requires the constitution of a Forest Rights Committee comprising members from within the village by conducting a Gram Sabha with two-thirds of the members present at the meeting.
• The process was not followed in many places.
• These committees were mostly constituted by the Panchayat Secretaries upon the directives received from District Magistrates at short notice.
• The nominations for members for the taluk-level and district-level committees were also not transparent.

WOMEN RIGHTS

• The contribution of women to the forest economy is well known.
• The FRA provides for equal rights in titles issued under the Act for women.
• They have the equitable role at every stage of decision-making. However, on the ground, the women were hardly visible in this regard.

DOCUMENTATION

• In the initial stages of implementation, there was insistence on satellite images as evidence while other admissible proofs were ignored, as happened in Gujarat. This resulted in mass rejections of claims by the authorities.
• In some villages around Bastar, Chhattisgarh, the plots claimed and the documents confirming the award did not match. Besides, the extent of land that was awarded was far smaller than what was claimed within the ceiling.

LACK OF AWARENESS

• Overall, poor awareness levels among the tribal people proved to be a handicap, especially in the scheduled areas which are remotely located.
• To effectively present claims, a fair understanding of the Act and its implementation process is necessary.

DECLINING PRODUCE, LIVELIHOODS

• Many tribal areas are witnessing a decline in the quality of forest produce in their vicinity, thus forcing them to look for other sources of livelihood.
• The recognition given to their lands under the FRA gave the tribal people a psychological boost. However, they possess lands (including the lands recognised under the FRA) that are small, of poor quality (particularly lands located on hill slopes) and are not very fertile.
• Lack of irrigation facilities forces them to depend only on rainfall. To enhance their income, they migrate to work as construction or road-laying labourers.
• Quality of education received by the youth in the remote districts, the possibility of acquiring meaningful jobs remains thin

SOME SUGGESTIONS

• Livelihoods of the locals would improve if horticulture practices are promoted in addition to bamboo and aloe vera plantations with an assured market.
• Promote medical and ecotourism along the lines of the Kerala model
• Providing skill-based education with assured jobs on a large scale in proportion to the demand would do wonders in these areas.
• Evidence suggests that implementation was better in areas which were fairly close to urban settings or where accessibility was easy. In these places, most Central and State government schemes and programmes such as Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, were implemented, empowering the people to assert their positions.

THE WAY FORWARD

The FRA was never going to be a panacea to address all the issues of the tribal people, but it is important. To improve the condition of the tribal people, especially those living in remote areas, there needs to be a push on every possible aspect of their socioeconomic life. This can be attained if schemes and programmes already drafted for the tribal people are implemented in letter and spirit across the country. With protective laws like the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, in place, it is only a matter of will. One way forward could be to induct people who are sensitive to the cause of tribal people in the decision-making process at every stage.

NEWS

The first batch of next-generation Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicles (AERV) was formally inducted into the Indian Army

DETAILS

• Indigenously designed and developed by DRDO
• Manufactured by the Pune unit of Bharat Electronics Limited
• 90% indigenous content
• Versatile BMP-IIK amphibious Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV)
• Fitted with instruments for water reconnaissance, land reconnaissance, navigation and data backup.
• Capable of measuring soil bearing capacity on riverbanks to determine if they are motorable for military vehicles on Go-No-Go basis (critical parameters for bridge laying), dry and wet gaps in day and night conditions, slopes and height of river banks or canals.”
• Can navigate terrain using Military Grid Coordinate System
• Measure and plot underwater beds and water currents of rivers or canals
• Store data from various instruments on Control Console for further analysis and decision-making.

NEWS

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted the maiden flight test of indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile 'Pralay', from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha.

About the Missile

• The new missile followed the desired quasi ballistic trajectory and reached the designated target with high degree accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms.
• All the sub-systems performed satisfactorily. All the sensors deployed near the impact point across the eastern coast, including the downrange ships, tracked the missile trajectory and captured all the events.
• The missile is powered by a solid-propellant rocket motor and many new technologies.
• The missile has a range of 150-500 kilometres and can be launched from a mobile launcher.
• The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics.
• The advanced missile has been developed in a way to be able to defeat interceptor missiles. It has the ability to change its path after covering a certain range mid-air.

NEWS

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passed a resolution permitting a carve-out in sanctions against the Taliban to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. It was put forward by USA

ABOUT UNSC RESOLUTIONS

• Formal expressions of the opinion or will of United Nations organs.
• Adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council (UNSC).
• According  to UN Charter
  • Draft resolution on non-procedural matters is adopted if nine or more of the fifteen Council members vote for the resolution, and if it is not vetoed by any of the five permanent members
  • Draft resolutions on “procedural matters” can be adopted on the basis of an affirmative vote by any nine Council members.
• Resolutions by the Security Council are legally binding.
• If the council cannot reach consensus or a passing vote on a resolution, they may choose to produce a non-binding presidential statement instead of a Resolution. These are adopted by consensus. They are meant to apply political pressure—a warning that the Council is paying attention and further action may follow.

UNSC

• One of six main organs of the United Nations
• Primary responsibility - maintaining international peace and security
• Meet whenever peace is threatened.
• 15 members of which 5 are permanent and 10 are non-permanent members
• Non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the UN General Assembly.
• Five permanent members are- US, UK, France, Russia, and China.
• Only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.

• Two earthquakes of magnitude 2.9 and 3.0 were recorded in Chickballapur by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre

• The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) has launched the ‘EV Mithra’ app to help residents locate electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations in the city.

• British architect-urbanist Richard Rogers designer of the iconic Pompidou Centre in Paris, passed away