Supreme court questions repatriation of children by NCPCR.
The
Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the country’s apex child rights
body, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), to its
request to eight States to “produce” children living in care homes before the
local child welfare committees for their “immediate repatriation” with their
families.
•The
NCPCR reportedly wrote to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram,
Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Meghalaya in this regard. These States
together have 1.84 lakh children in care homes. This accounts for over 70% of
the children in care homes.
•A
Bench led by Justice L. NageswaraRao asked the NCPCR to respond why such
repatriation of the children to their families should not be done on an
individual basis. The next hearing is on November 24. The court is suomotu
monitoring the welfare of children placed in care homes during the pandemic.
•However,
on Friday, the court wondered whether the NCPCR could issue such general
directions to the States without considering the education, health, safety of
the children, the consent of their parents and their economical situation.
India to launch physical property cards under SVAMITVA
scheme.
Indian
PM Modi will launch the physical distribution of Property Cards under the
SVAMITVA Scheme tomorrow through video conferencing to transform rural India
and empower millions of people.
•The
SVAMITVA scheme, which was launched in April this year, aims to provide the
record of rights to village household owners in rural areas and issue Property
Cards.
•The
Scheme is being implemented across the country in a phased manner over a period
of four years and will cover around six lakh 62 thousand villages of the
country.
•The
launch will enable around one lakh property holders to download their Property
Cards through the SMS link delivered on their mobile phones. This would be
followed by physical distribution of the Property Cards by the respective State
governments.
•These
beneficiaries are from 763 villages across six States including 346 from Uttar
Pradesh, 221 from Haryana, 100 from Maharashtra, 44 from Madhya Pradesh, 50
from Uttarakhand and two from Karnataka.
International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear
Weapons .
Recently,
High-level Meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the
Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 26th September 2020, India reiterated that
nuclear weapons should be abolished in a step -by-step non-discriminatory
process.
•
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) declared 26th September 2013 to be the
International
Day
for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Abolition Day).
•
Its objective is to total elimination of nuclear weapons through enhancing
public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons
and the necessity for their Total Elimination.
•
Achieving global nuclear disarmament is one of the oldest goals of the United
Nations.
•
It also calls for progress on a nuclear weapons convention, a global treaty
involving the nuclear-armed states in the prohibition and elimination of
nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control.
Highlights:
•
India remains committed to the policy of No First Use (NFU) against nuclear
weapon states and non-use against non-nuclear-weapon states. The recent stand
indicates that India has not revised its key principles regarding the NFU
principle.
•
The Defense Minister hinted at a possibility of changing the principle by
declaring that ‘circumstances’ will determine the “No First Use” stance, in
2019.
•
India is a key partner in global efforts towards disarmament and strengthening
the non-proliferation order.
•
India believes that nuclear disarmament can be achieved through a step-by-step
process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed multilateral
framework after meaningful dialogues among all States possessing nuclear
weapons, for building trust and confidence.
•
The Conference on Disarmament (CD) remains the “world’s single multilateral disarmament
negotiating forum” and India supports holding of negotiations on a
Comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention at the CD.
•
FMCT is a proposed international agreement that prohibits the production of two
main components of nuclear weapons: highly-enriched Uranium and Plutonium.
•
The consultations under the treaty laid down the most appropriate arrangement
to negotiate a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear
weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
•
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the New START Treaty (between the USA and
the Russian Federation) are few of the most important global efforts towards
nuclear disarmament.
•
India has not signed NPT and CTBT.
UNWFP wins Nobel peace prize
The
United Nations’ World Food. Programme (WFP) won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday
for its efforts to combat hunger around the world and improve conditions for
peace in areas affected by conflict.
•The
Rome-based organisation says it helps some 97 million people in about 88
countries each year, and that one in nine people worldwide still do not have
enough to eat.
•“The
need for international solidarity and multilateral cooperation is more
conspicuous than ever,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel
Committee, told a news conference.
•She
called the WFP a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a
weapon of war and conflict, and said the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WFP says
could double hunger worldwide, had made it even more relevant.
•It
also has provided passenger services to ferry humanitarian and health workers
where commercial flights were unavailable.
Kyrgyz opposition topples government and grabs power.
The
Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan slid deeper into chaos today, as rival
opposition factions made grabs for power.
•Earlier,
the Kyrgyz Central Election Commission declared the results of the
parliamentary elections held on October 4 void, amid violent protests.
•Meanwhile,
United Nations has said that UN Secretary General is closely monitoring the
situation in the Kyrgyz Republic, where protests erupted in the aftermath of
the October 4 parliamentary elections, reportedly leaving one person dead and
over one hundred injured.
•The
Secretary-General regretted the loss of life and urged all parties to exercise
the utmost restraint and refrain from violence.
•He
urged all Kyrgyz actors to engage in dialogue and agree on a way forward within
the constitutional framework.
•The
UN offered all support to find a peaceful resolution of the current situation,
including through the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy
for Central Asia.
RBI announces no change in policy rates.
The
Reserve Bank of India in its bi-monthly Monetary Policy statement issued today
has maintained a status quo keeping the key interest rates unchanged.The
reverse repo rate remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent, the repo rate at four per
cent.
• The Monetary Policy Committee has also decided to maintain its accommodative stance as long as necessary at least through the current financial year and next year as Indian economy is entering into decisive phase in its fight against coronavirus.
•
In major announcements today, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das proposed that the
RTGS system for real time fund transfer to become 24X7 from December 2020.
•
He said, the RBI stands ready to undertake further measures as necessary to
assure market participants of access to liquidity and easy finance
conditions.The new housing loans risk weights to be linked to Loan-to-value
ratio and also rationalize risk weights for all new housing loans until March
31, 2022.
•
Also the bank will extend scheme for co-lending to all NBFC, HFC. As for GDP,
the growth may break out of contraction and enter positive zone by fourth
quarter of current fiscal.
RBI decides to discontinue system- based automatic
caution-listing of exporters.
In
an effort to provide flexibility to exporters in the realisation of export
proceeds, the Reserve Bank has decided to discontinue the system-based
automatic caution-listing of exporters.
•Addressing
a virtual press conference today, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the decision
will also empower exporters to negotiate better terms with overseas buyers.
•Stating
that exports have been adversely affected due to the pandemic related
contraction in demand, Mr. Das said the decision is likely to make the system
more exporter-friendly and equitable.
•As
part of automation of the Export Data Processing and Monitoring System, the
'Caution/De-caution Listing' of exporters was automated in 2016. Accordingly,
the exporters were to be caution-listed automatically, if any shipping bill against
them remained outstanding for more than two years.
Two
women named Emmanuelle Charpentier of France, and American Jennifer Doudna have
been award with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Charpentier and Doudna were
working to develop the technology of genome editing.
•The
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a
technology for genome editing which makes a natural defence mechanism in
bacteria in order to get protection from virus attacks.
•Cas9
or the ‘genetic scissor’ protein is used to remove the problematic sequence in
the DNA strand that is identified through programmed RNA.
•But,
with this method, problematic sequence might regrow because of auto-repair
properties of DNA strand. So, under the CRISPR technology, genetic codes are
supplied while the DNA Strand is repairing itself.
•The
CRISPR technology is not 100 percent accurate so it can alter the genome. Further,
there is no any regulatory permission or oversight to regulate the technology.
Thus, the technology can be misused.
•In
that regard, Jennifer Doudna has been campaigning for the development of
internationally rules and guidelines for the use of CRISPR technology.
Zombie Fire increasing frequently.
According
to a new study, the fire regimes in the Arctic are changing rapidly, with
‘zombie fires’ becoming more frequent in addition to fires occurring in the
once-frozen tundra.
Zombie Fire:
•
It is a fire from a previous growing season that can smoulder under the ground
which is made up of carbon-rich peat. When the weather warms, the fire can
reignite. These are also known as holdover fires.
•
The tundra is drying up and vegetation there like moss, grass, dwarf shrubs,
etc are starting to catch fire.
•
In 2019 and 2020, burning occurred well above the Arctic Circle, a region not
normally known to support large wildfires. Wildfires on permafrost in Siberia
south of the Arctic are not uncommon.
Reasons:
•
The reason for this anomaly is that temperatures in winter and spring were
warmer than usual during 2019-20. Temperature in Siberia in 2020 had gone
through the roof, with the region recording a Severe Heatwave.
•
Nearly all of this year’s fires inside the Arctic Circle occurred on continuous
permafrost,with over half of these Burning on Ancient carbon-rich peat soils.
Impact:
•
The fires and record temperatures had the potential of turning the carbon sink
into a carbon source and increasing global warming.
•
The Arctic region has a cold body of water and permafrost, it naturally acts as
a carbon sink. On average it absorbs 58 megatons of CO2 a year in its cold
water.
•
Soils in areas of permafrost contain twice as much carbon as there is currently
in the atmosphere. As the climate and permafrost soils have warmed, microbes
have started to break down this organic carbon, which has been frozen and fixed
in the permafrost. That has led to a rise in land emissions of CO2 and methane.
•
Also there will be less absorption of carbon by water with rising temperature.
•
Arctic fires will affect the global climate over the long term depending on
what they burnt.
That’s
because peatlands, unlike boreal forest, do not regrow quickly after a fire, so
the carbon released is permanently lost to the atmosphere.
Precision Agriculture.
The
Session on “Sensors and Sensing for Precision Agriculture” was recently
organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Indian Agricultural
Research Institute (ICAR-IARI).
Highlights:
•
Recent advances in the field of sensors, remote sensing, deep learning,
artificial intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) for monitoring and
quantification of soil, plant and environment to enhance farm productivity with
increased input use efficiency and environmental sustainability.
•
The session is a part of the Vaishwik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit 2020.
•
VAIBHAV is a Government of India initiative to bring together the thought
process,practices, research and development (R&D) culture of overseas and
Indian Scientists/Academicians.
About Precision Agriculture:
•
It is an approach where inputs are utilised in precise amounts to get increased
average yields, compared to traditional cultivation techniques such as
agroforestry, intercropping, crop rotation, etc.
•
It is this century’s most valuable innovation in farm management that is based
on using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
•
It is based on sustainable agriculture and healthy food production and it
consists of profitability and increasing production, economic efficiency and
the reduction of side effects on the environment.
•
It increases agriculture productivity.
•
It prevents soil degradation.
•
It reduces chemical application in crop production.
•
It uses of water resources efficiently.
•
It disseminates modern farm practices to improve the quality, quantity and
reduced cost of production.
•
It changes the socio-economic status of farmers.
Focus
on Civil Service Mains:
India and Myanmar relationship review.
Recently,
a two-day visit by the Foreign Secretary of India and the Army Chief to Myanmar
completed with Greater Engagement between India and Myanmar.
•
As a part of India’s Medical or Drug Diplomacy a package of 3,000 vials of the
antiviral Remdesivir given to assist Myanmar in its fight against the pandemic.
•
India has shown willingness to prioritise Myanmar in sharing Covid -19
vaccines, when available.
•
Operationalisation of the crucial Sittwe port in Myanmar’s Rakhine state by
March 2021 is committed.
•
The two sides also discussed progress in the ongoing Indian-assisted
infrastructure projects such as the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway
and the Kaladan Multi-
Modal Transit Transport Project.
•
Security: India has been concerned over some militant groups like the United
National Liberation Front (UNLF) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland
(NDFB) from the North-East region taking shelter in Myanmar.
•
Myanmar handed over 22 cadres of Indian insurgent groups in May 2020.
•
The maintenance of security and stability in their border areas and mutual
commitment not to allow their respective territories to be used for activities
inimical to each other were re-stressed.
Transition
to Democracy:
•
Myanmar successfully conducted the 4th meeting of the 21st Century Panglong
Peace Conference in Nay Pyi Taw.
•
The Union Peace Conference: 21st Century Panglong is a continuing peace
conference started in 2016.
•
It aims to have a stable political environment in Myanmar with peaceful
transition into democracy.
•
Outcome of 4th Meeting: The Government of Myanmar and ten armed ethnic groups
signed a framework agreement for the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
•
Indian Support: India assured continued support in sharing experiences in constitutionalism
and federalism to assist Myanmar in its democratic transition.
Rohingya Issues:
•
India came forward for support for ensuring safe, sustainable and speedy return
of Rohingya refugees from Refugees Camps of Bangladesh.
•
Liaison Office: With the formal inauguration of liaison office in Naypyitaw,
India has taken one more significant step towards establishing its embassy in
Naypyitaw.
•
India has its embassy in Yangon, the former capital.
Highlights:
•
A bust of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Mandalay Jail is a symbolic gesture for a
closer relationship and understanding mutual existence.
•
Between 1908 and 1914, he spent 6 years in Mandalay Prison for defending the
actions of revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki.
•
Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki had tried to assassinate the District Judge,
Mr.
Kingsford
by throwing bombs at the carriage in which he was supposed to travel.
•
With investments of over USD 1.2 billion, Myanmar has the highest Indian
investment in any country in South Asia.
•
India's development cooperation in Myanmar is estimated at USD 1.4 billion. The
two countries are also expanding partnership in the area of energy cooperation.
•
Recently, India approved an investment of over USD 120 million in the Shwe Oil
and Gas project.
About India-Myanmar:
•
India and Myanmar have shared cultural roots and historical relations, apart
from the strategic, Economic, Social and political ties.
• Myanmar is a member of both Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is an organization of East Asian nations as well as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which bridges South and
South-East Asia.
•
Connectivity projects through Myanmar help India overcome its Chicken-neck
dilemma (Siliguri Corridor). Myanmar is also necessary for the development of
North-Eastern India.
•
Myanmar stands at the confluence of India’s Neighbourhood First and Act East
Policy and India-Myanmar partnership is at the heart of India’s vision to
create a connected and cooperative neighbourhood.
•
Recently, India and Myanmar had signed 10 agreements with a focus on
socio-economic development of Myanmar, during Myanmar President U Win Myint’s
visit to India.
•
Myanmar's growing closeness with China and the recent proposal of China Myanmar
Economic Corridor is a cause of concern for India amidst growing India-China
tension.
1Centre to fix Jurisdiction of River Boards.
Water
Resources Minister of India has recently said that the Centre will determine
the jurisdictions of the Krishna and Godavari river management boards (KRMB and
GRMB).
Constitutional Provisions regarding
Inter-State River Disputes:
•
Entry 17 of State List deals with water i.e. water supply, irrigation, canal,
drainage,embankments, water storage and water power.
•
Entry 56 of Union List empowers the Union Government for the regulation and development
of inter-state rivers and river valleys to the extent declared by Parliament to
be expedient in the public interest.
•
According to Article 262, in case of disputes relating to waters:
✓ Parliament may, by law
provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise
jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as mentioned above.
Mechanism
for Inter-State River Water Disputes Resolution:
•
The resolution of water dispute is governed by the Inter-State River Water
Disputes Act,1956.
•
According to its provisions, if a State Government makes a request regarding
any water dispute and the Central Government is of opinion that the water
dispute cannot be settled by negotiations, then a Water Disputes Tribunal is
constituted for the adjudication of the water dispute.
•
The act was amended in 2002, to include the major recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission.
•
The amendments mandated a one year time frame to setup the water disputes
tribunal and also a 3 year time frame to give a decision.
Water Dispute between Telangana and
Andhra Pradesh:
•
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh share stretches of the Krishna and the Godavari
and own their tributaries.
•
Both states have proposed several new projects without getting clearance from
the river boards, the Central Water Commission and the Apex Council, as
mandated by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
•
The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 mandates for constitution of an
Apex Council by Central Government for the supervision of the functioning of
the Godavari River Management Board and Krishna River Management Board.
•
The Apex Council comprises the Union Water Resources Minister and the Chief
Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
•
The Srisailam reservoir is constructed across the Krishna River in Andhra
Pradesh. It is located in the Nallamala hills.
•
The Andhra Pradesh government retaliated with its own complaints saying that
Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi Lift Irrigation Schemes on the Krishna River and
Kaleshwaram,Tupakulagudem schemes and a few barrages proposed across the
Godavari are all new projects.
Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal:
•
Two tribunals have been constituted to resolve the disputes of the Krishna
water.
•
Andhra Pradesh has countered the second Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT)
order issued by Justice Brijesh Kumar in 2010.
•
The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal has allocated 81 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft)
of surplus water to Maharashtra, 177 tmcft to Karnataka and only 196 tmcft to
Andhra Pradesh.
•
After the creation of Telangana as a separate state in 2014, Andhra Pradesh is
asking to include Telangana as a separate party at the KWDT and that the
allocation of Krishna waters is reworked among four states, instead of three.
•
It has challenged the order of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal in the Supreme Court.
Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal:
•
The Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal headed by Justice Bachawat was constituted
by the Government in April, 1969.
• The tribunal was tasked to look after the dispute over Godavari River between Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Karnataka over the sharing of the Godavari river water.
•
The Bachawat Tribunal gave its final award in 1980.
•
Accordingly, each State was free to utilise the flow in Godavari and its
tributaries up to a certain level.
•
Thus, Andhra Pradesh decided to divert 80 tmcft of Godavari water from
Polavaram to Krishna River, upstream of Vijayawada, so that it could be shared
with Karnataka and Maharashtra.
•
Once Telangana came into existence in 2014, the Godavari water and, more
specifically, the Polavaram project became the bone of contention between
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
•
While the project will take care of the irrigation needs of the Godavari
districts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana fears it would submerge many villages in
its Khammam district.
•
Odisha too has expressed its reservations over the Polavaram dam's design.
About Godavari River:
•
Source: Godavari River rises from Trimbakeshwar near Nasik in Maharashtra and
flows for a length of about 1465 km before out falling into the Bay of Bengal.
•
Drainage Basin: The Godavari basin extends over states of Maharashtra,
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in addition to smaller parts
in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Union territory of Puducherry.
•
Tributaries: Pravara, Purna, Manjra, Penganga, Wardha, Wainganga, Pranhita
(combined flow of Wainganga,Penganga, Wardha), Indravati, Maner and the Sabri.
About Krishna River:
•
Source: It originates near Mahabaleshwar (Satara) in Maharashtra. It is the
second biggest river in peninsular India after the Godavari River.
• Drainage: It runs from four states Maharashtra (303 km), North Karnataka (480 km) and the rest of its 1300 km journey in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh before it empties into the Bay of Bengal.
•
Tributaries: Tungabhadra, Mallaprabha, Koyna, Bhima, Ghataprabha, Yerla, Warna,
Dindi, Musi and Dudhganga.
About Krishna River:
•
Source:It originates near Mahabaleshwar (Satara) in Maharashtra. It is the
second biggest river in peninsular India after the Godavari River.
•
Drainage: It runs from four states Maharashtra (303 km), North Karnataka (480
km) and the rest of its 1300 km journey in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh before
it empties into the Bay of Bengal.
•
Tributaries: Tungabhadra, Mallaprabha, Koyna, Bhima, Ghataprabha, Yerla,
Warna,Dindi, Musi and Dudhganga.
