Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

NEWS

Institute for Social and Economic Change celebrates mark its golden jubilee

ABOUT

• Social science research institute
• Location -  Bangalore
• Founded in 1972
• Largest among the 27 institutions supported by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
• One of three major institutions established by Prof. V. K. R. V. Rao, along with the Delhi School of Economics and the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.
• President – Governor of Karnataka
• Helps in in formulating policies in various social and economic sectors, which contributed to the upliftment of weaker sections in Karnataka.
• Played the role of a catalyst while guiding the Karnataka Government in formulating policies in agriculture, finance, rural development, administration, governance and poverty reduction.

ABOUT V. K. R. V. Rao

• Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao
• 8 July 1908 – 25 July 1991
• Indian economist, politician and educator
• Born at Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu
• B.A and M.A in economics from Bombay University before earning another B.A from Cambridge where he was a member of Gonville & Caius College.
• Awarded the Ph.D. of Cambridge in 1937
• Studied with John Maynard Keynes.

NEWS

The Union government is planning to acquire for itself overriding powers to transfer IAS and IPS officers through Central deputation, doing away with the requirement of taking the approval of the State governments.

DETAILS

What is the present status –

• Centre every year asks states for an “offer list” of officers from the All India Services (IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service) cadre who are willing to go on central deputation, after which it selects officers from that list.
• With the concurrence of the State Governments concerned and the Central Government, be deputed for service under the Central Government or another State Government, in case of any disagreement, the matter shall be decided by the Central Government and the State Government or State Governments concerned shall give effect to the decision of the Central Government
• The Centre cannot take action against civil service officials who are posted under the state government, unless the latter agrees.
• Rule 7 of the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, states that the “authority to institute proceedings and to impose penalty” will be the state government if the officer is “serving in connection with the affairs of a state…”
• For any action to be taken against an officer of the All India Services, the state and the Centre both need to agree.

What is proposed –

• State Government shall make available for deputation to the Central Government,
• Number of eligible officers of various levels shall be adjusted proportionately by the number of officers available with the State Government concerned vis-a-vis the total authorised strength of the state cadre at the given point of time.
• Actual number of officers to be deputed to the Central Government shall be decided by the Central Government in consultation with State Government concerned

NEWS

Union Labour and Employment Minister said special camps would be organised to register brick kiln, plantation, forestry and other unorganised sector workers on the Centre’s e-Shram portal.

ABOUT E-SHRAM PORTAL

• National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW)
• By Ministry of Labour and Employment
• The workers will be issued an e-Shram card containing a 12 digit unique number.
• If a worker is registered on the eSHRAM portal and meets with an accident, he will be eligible for Rs 2.0 Lakh on death or permanent disability and Rs 1.0 lakh on partial disability.
• Eligibility
  • An unorganised worker between the age of 16 and 59 years
  • The worker must not be a member of EPFO/ESIC or NPS      

NEWS

Cabinet approves extension of tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis for three years

ABOUT

Established in the year 1993 as per the provisions of the NCSK Act 1993

After that the tenure of the NCSK has been extended as a non-statutory body from time to time.

Role of NCSK:

• Recommend to the Government regarding specific programmes for welfare of Safai Karamcharis, study and evaluate the existing welfare programmes for SafaiKaramcharis, investigate cases of specific grievances etc.
• Also as per the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, the NCSK has been assigned the work to monitor the implementation of the Act, tender advice for its effective implementation to the Centre and State Governments and enquire into complaints regarding contravention/non-implementation of the provisions of the Act.

NEWS

Large chunks of forests and the Aravalis in Gurugram and Faridabad could lose protection from construction under the National Conservation Zone as defined in the Regional Plan-2021, if the provisions in the Draft Regional Plan-2041 are implemented, fear environmentalists

DETAILS

• Natural Zone - According to the DRP- 2041 - zone comprising any natural features such as mountains, hills, rivers, waterbodies created by the action of nature
• In the new draft, the definition of the natural features has been tweaked and restricted to only those that are notified under certain acts and recognised in land records.

• The RP-2021 included rivers such as Yamuna, Ganga, Kali, Hindon and Sahibi; their tributaries, floodplains and flood-prone areas in the NCZ
• Draft RP-2041 excluded tributaries and floodplains from the newly defined NZ. The rivers, the tributaries and their floodplains are crucial for the water security and protection of the riverine floodplain habitat, which in turn is critical for protection of riverine biodiversity.
• The deletion of Aravali from the new draft will facilitate construction of real estate in the Aravalis and destroy the natural ecosystem of the Aravalis in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan that shelter a critical wildlife habitat and corridor
• The environmentalists want the RP-2041 to declare the 500-metre Mangar Bani sacred grove hill in Faridabad as “no construction zone” for its wildlife presence
• Section 6.3.3 of DRP-2041 which seeks “the interlinking of all green trails of the Aravali range and river Yamuna running in the region to become a part of integrated cycle trails and drive corridors in the region”.

Regional Plan 2041

Area covered: Entire Delhi, eight districts of Uttar Pradesh, 14 districts of Haryana and two districts of Rajasthan.

Priority areas

• Urban regeneration,
• Future ready infrastructure,
• Multi-modal transport and logistics,
• Industries and MSME,
• Economic corridor,
• Tourism,
• MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions) and leisure,
• Farm income and traditional economy,
• Skill development and employment,
• Smart and digital NCR and
• Ease of Doing Business.

ARAVALLI HILLS

• Aligned in north-east to south-west direction.
• Run for about 800 km between Delhi and Palanpur in Gujarat.
• One of the oldest (very old) fold mountains of the world and the oldest in India. {Fold Mountains – Block Mountains}
• After its formation in Archaean Era (several 100 million years ago), its summits were nourishing glaciers and several summits were probably higher than the present day Himalayas.
• Now they are relict (remnants after severe weathering and erosion since millions of years) of the world’s oldest mountain formed as a result of folding (Archaean Era).
• Continue up to Hariddwar buried under the alluvium of Ganga Plains.
• The range is conspicuous in Rajasthan (continuous range south of Ajmer where it rises to 900 m.) but becomes less distinct in Haryana and Delhi (characterized by a chain of detached and discontinuous ridges beyond Ajmer).
• According to some geographers, one Branch of the Aravalis extends to the Lakshadweep Archipelago through the Gulf of Khambhat and the other into Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
• General elevation is only 400-600 m, with few hills well above 1,000 m.
• At the south-west extremity the range rises to over 1,000 m. Here Mt. Abu (1,158 m), a small hilly block, is separated from the main range by the valley of the Banas. Guru Sikhar (1,722 m), the highest peak, is situated in Mt. Abu.
• Pipli Ghat, Dewair and Desuri passes allow movement by roads and railways.

EASTERN SWAMP DEER

NEWS

The population of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, extinct elsewhere in South Asia, has dipped in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

EASTERN SWAMP DEER

• Also called as barasingha
• Distributed in the Indian subcontinent.
• Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal.
• Locally extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and its presence is uncertain in Bhutan.
• In Assamese, barasingha is called dolhorina; dol meaning swamp.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN Red List: Endangered
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act of 1972: Schedule I

Kaziranga National Park

• Where - Assam.
• Spread across the floodplains of the Brahmaputra River
• Home to tigers, elephants and the world’s largest population of Indian one-horned rhinoceroses.
• Much of the focus of conservation efforts are focused on the ‘big four’ species— rhino, elephant, Royal Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo.
• The 2018 census had yielded 2,413 rhinos and approximately 1,100 elephants.
• The tiger census of 2014 estimated 103 tigers, the third highest population of the striped cat in India
• Home to nine of the 14 species of primates found in the Indian subcontinent.

 NEWS

Denison barb (Miss Kerala), a native freshwater fish species commonly found in parts of Karnataka and Kerala, has been included in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021.

DETAILS

• Red-line torpedo barb and roseline shark.
• Scientific name - Sahyadria denisonii.
• Featured with red and black stripes on its body.
• Found in the States of Kerala and Karnataka.
• Listed on the IUCN Redlist as Vulnerable, in 2010.
• Why included in Schedule I of WPA:
  • Highly sought-after in the international aquarium trade, constituting 60 – 65% of the total live ornamental fish exported from India.
  • Its numbers are also decreasing owing to habitat degradation due to deforestation, mining, agriculture, urban expansion and hydro-electric projects.

WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACT (WPA), 1972

Consists of 6 schedule lists, which give varying degrees of protection.

SCHEDULE 1 AND PART II OF SCHEDULE 2

• Animals listed in schedule 1 and parts II of schedule 2 have absolute protection - offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties.
• Examples of animals listed in schedule 1 are lion tailed macaque, rhinoceros, great indian bustard, narcondamhorn bill, nicobarmegapode, black buck, etc.
• Examples of animals listed in schedule 2 are rhesus macaque, dhole, Bengal porcupine, king cobra, flying squirrel, Himalaya brown bear, etc.

SCHEDULE 3 AND SCHEDULE 4

• Animals listed in schedule 3 and schedules 4 are also protected, but the penalties are lower compared to schedule 1 and part 2 of schedule 2.
• Examples of animals listed in schedule 3 are hyaena, hogdeer, nilgai, goral, sponges, barking deer, etc.
• Examples of animals listed in schedule 4 are mangooses, vultures, etc.

SCHEDULE 5

• Animals listed in schedule 5 are called “vermin” which can be hunted.
• Mice, rat, common crow and flying fox (fruit eating bats) are the list of animals (only 4 nos) in schedule 5 [i.e. vermin].

SCHEDULE 6

• Cultivation, Collection, extraction, trade, etc. of Plants and its derivatives listed in schedule 6 are prohibited.
• Red Vanda, blue Vanda, kuth, pitcher plant, beddomes cycad and ladies slipper orchid are the list of plants listed in schedule 6.

NATIONAL DISASTER RESPONSE FORCE

NEWS

PM greets NDRF team on their Raising Day

ABOUT

As per The Disaster Management Act 2005

Why - specialized response to natural and man-made disasters.

BACKGROUND

Two national calamities in quick succession in the form of Orissa Super Cyclone (1999) and Gujarat Earthquake (2001) brought about the realization of the need of having a specialist response mechanism at National Level to effectively respond to disasters.

ROLE AND MANDATE OF NDRF:

• Specialized response during disasters.
• Proactive deployment during impending disaster situations.
• Acquire and continually upgrade its own training and skills.
• Liaison, Reconnaissance, Rehearsals and Mock Drills.
• Impart basic and operational level training to State Response Forces (Police, Civil Defence and Home Guards).
• Community Capacity Building Programme.
• Organize Public Awareness Campaigns.

NEWS

Sixty Ninth Meeting of Governing Body of National Water Development Agency (NWDA) was held recently

ABOUT

• Agency of the Union Ministry of Water Resources.
• Set up in July, 1982 as autonomous society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• Established to carry out the water balance and other studies on a scientific and realistic basis for optimum utilisation of Water Resources of the Peninsular rivers system.
• Tasked to prepare feasibility reports and give concrete shape to Peninsular Rivers Development Component of National Perspective.
• In 1990, it was also entrusted with the task of Himalayan Rivers Development Component of National Perspectives.
• Recently, the functions of NWDA have been further modified and the work of preparation of detailed Project Reports (DPR) of various link proposals and Pre-feasibility Reports.
• It has been also entrusted to prepare feasibility reports of intra-State links as proposed by the States.

• Also called as Pacific rim, Circum-Pacific Belt
• Area along the Pacific Ocean that is characterised by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.
• Home to about 75 per cent of the world’s volcanoes – more than 450 volcanoes
• 90 per cent of the world’s earthquakes occur here.
• Length is over 40,000 kilometres and traces from New Zealand clockwise
• Almost circular arc covering Tonga, Kermadec Islands, Indonesia, moving up to the Philippines, Japan, and stretching eastward to the Aleutian Islands, then southward along the western coast of North America and South America.
• The area is along several tectonic plates including the Pacific plate, Philippine Plate, Juan de Fuca plate, Cocos plate, Nazca plate, and North American plate.
• The movement of these plates or tectonic activity makes the area witness abundant earthquakes and tsunamis every year.

• Volcanic arcs and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin form the so-called Ring of Fire. The trenches are shown in blue-green. The volcanic island arcs, although not labelled, are parallel to, and always landward of, the trenches. For example, the island arc associated with the Aleutian Trench is represented by the long chain of volcanoes that make up the Aleutian Islands.
• Along much of the Ring of Fire, tectonic plates move towards each other creating subduction zones. One plate gets pushed down or is subducted by the other plate. This is a very slow process – a movement of just one or two inches per year. As this subduction happens, rocks melt, become magma and move to Earth’s surface and cause volcanic activity.

HISTORY – ART - CULTURE

NEWS

In a bid to revive the Saraswati river, the governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh will enter into an agreement that entails the building of a dam to supply round-the-year water flow to the river channel

SARASWATHI

• Originated from Kapal Tirith in the Himalayas in the west of Kailash
• Flowed southward to Mansarovar and then turned towards the west.
• Flowed through Haryana, Rajasthan and North Gujarat.
• It also flowed through Pakistan before meeting the Western Sea through the Rann of Kutch and was approximately 4,000 km in length.
• The river had two branches: western and eastern.
• The Himalayan-born Satluj “of the PAST”, which flowed through the channels of present-day Ghaggar-Patialiwali rivulets, represents the western branch of the ancient river.
• On the other hand, Markanda and Sarsuti represented the western branch of Saraswati, known as Tons-Yamuna.
• The confluence of the branches was near Shatrana, 25 km south of Patiala. And suddenly, it flows across the desert (Rann of Kutch) and meets the Gulf of the western sea.
• Evidence
• One of the main Rigvedic rivers
• Rig Veda includes a hymn called the ‘Nadistuti Sukta’, which sings praises of the Saraswati as being “perfect mother, unsurpassed river, supreme goddess”.
• For 2000 years, between 6000 and 4000 B.C, the Saraswati flowed as a great river

• Indonesia passed a bill replacing its capital Jakarta with East Kalimantan, situated to the east of Borneo island. The new capital city of the country will be called Nusantara.
• PM condoles demise of noted cartoonist Shri Narayan Debnath Ji