9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – December 24th, 2022

Current Affairs Compilations for UPSC IAS Prelims 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

• Ensuring accessibility for disabled persons: A more accessible house
• Major questions about minors
• Fighting cancer – Along with vaccination, screening must be done to detect early signs of HPV
• Alleviating the scourge of private healthcare

GS Paper 3

• With REDD, the global economy can remunerate nations saving rainforests
• India’s Chipko movement changed the world’s vision
• A busy navy´s challenges
• On GM, follow the science

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• Centre to provide free ration to poor people for one year under food security law
• A short history of the looted Benin Bronzes, 20 of which Germany has returned to Nigeria
• What are ‘gelbots?’
• Year End Review: Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change
• Amid VHP row over song in school, recalling Muhammad Iqbal, also the poet of Saare Jahan Se Achcha
• CAG pulls up DRDO for delay in the completion of projects and failure to achieve key parameters
• Year-End Review -2022: Ministry of Panchayati Raj
• Around 60% of India prone to earthquakes
• One Rank One Pension(OROP): Union Cabinet approves revision of pension of Armed Forces Pensioners/family pensioners under One Rank One Pension
• Rajya Sabha passes Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill
• Year End Review: Ministry of Tourism

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

Ensuring accessibility for disabled persons: A more accessible house

News: The article explains the enforcement problems faced by the Accessible India campaign. It also suggests improvement in the existing policy framework for improving the accessibility of disabled persons. 

In December 2015, the Government of India launched the Accessible India Campaign to make the built environment, ICT ecosystem and transport facilities more disabled-friendly.  

What are the issues with the Accessible India campaign? 

The accessible India Campaign lacks a strong enforcement mechanism to ensure that ambitious milestones are set and pursued to their meaningful conclusion. 

Section 45 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 states that all existing public buildings shall be made accessible within five years of the date of promulgation of such rules. The relevant Rules by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs were notified in June 2017. But the deadline has been breached. Deadlines in the AIC have also been repeatedly breached. 

What is the way forward to ensure accessibility for disabled persons? 

There should be a requirement to make every new building accessible before it is granted an Occupancy Certificate and relevant provisions of the Harmonised Guidelines and Standards for Universal Accessibility in India, 2021 must be integrated into local bye-laws and state planning laws.  

Municipal authorities must have capability to gauge compliance with the norms to make the built environment accessible. 

The list of empanelled professionals maintained by municipal authorities must also consist of accessibility professionals. This requirement must be codified in model building bye-laws and the National Building Code. 

Parliament must set up an accessibility committee urgently. It must be tasked with delivering recommendations in a time-bound manner on making every aspect of the Parliamentary process more disabled-friendly.  

Central and state level procurement laws and policies must incorporate accessibility criteria in public procurement. Tender documents must set out applicable accessibility standards. 

The deficiencies in the Sugamya Bharat app should be rectified so as to enable a well-meaning intervention to realise its full potential. 

The Department of Disability must take the lead in ensuring that accessibility targets are met. 

Major questions about minors

News: The article explains the issue of criminalisation of consensual sexual activity between adolescents by misusing the provisions of POCSO Act. 

What is the POCSO Act?

What are the issues with the POCSO Act? 

POCSO blends exploitative sexual practice and general sexual expression by an adolescent. This has become an instrument to silence or regulates a non-exploitative consensual sexual relationship involving a minor girl, which is voluntary.  

It causes the victimisation of the“consenting girl”. POCSO, MTP and the Child Marriage Act create a complex socio-legal web that deprives the minor girl of the rights to dignity, liberty, and sexual and reproductive health, and undermines her privacy.  

It leads to poor sexual awareness among young girls. 

The law disregards the likelihood of a minor girl engaging in sexual activity voluntarily. It ignores social reality. According to the NFHS-5, for instance, 39% women had their first sexual experience before turning 18.  

As per NCRB data, the number of juveniles apprehended under the POCSO Act in the country has seen a staggering jump of 180% between 2017- 2021. Criminalising underage sexuality burdens the already-overburdened courts. 

What has been the approach of higher courts in this matter? 

The Madras, Delhi and Meghalaya High Courts have raised concerns over the criminalisation of romantic relationships between or with an adolescent under POCSO. 

The Madras High Court in Vijayalakshmi v State (2021) made it imperative to draw a line demarcating the nature of acts that should not be made to fall within the scope of this stringent law. 

In Dharmendra Singh v State Govt of NCT (2020), the Delhi High Court has attempted to increase the chances of bail of an accused, in case there is tacit approval by the girl and the age difference between the victim and the offender are less.  

Prima facie the judiciary seems to have a sympathetic approach in cases where the outcome of the love affair is marriage. However, courts are reluctant to grant bail in matters of a love affair with a minor girl gone bad. 

What is the way forward? 

There is a need to evolve a separate procedure for children while dealing with POCSO cases. The relief accorded by a few high courts to adolescent youth is disproportionate to the harm and harassment caused for fault of falling in love with a girl. 

Fighting cancer – Along with vaccination, screening must be done to detect early signs of HPV

News: The Indian government has decided to roll out vaccination for girls aged between 9 and 14 years through schools to fight cervical cancer. A study in the Lancet also suggests the rising of cervical cancer among women. 

What is cervical cancer? 

It is caused by infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV) and there are vaccines which protect against carcinogenic HPV. It is a preventable and treatable cancer.  

Click here to read more  

What are the key findings of the Lancet report? 

India accounts for the highest number of cervical cancer cases in Asia followed by China. More than 58% of all cases of cervical cancer and deaths globally were estimated in Asia. India accounted for 21% of cases and 23% of deaths followed by China. 

Due to these concerns, WHO has come up with several guidelines. It has specified that countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of fewer than 4 new cases of cervical cancer per 1,00,000 women a year.  

Therefore, it is necessary that 90% of girls be fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15 to achieve this goal. 

What steps are being taken by India to prevent cervical cancer? 

The government has decided to introduce the HPV vaccine in the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).  

UIP is one of the largest public health programmes targeting over 2 crore newborns and 2 crore pregnant women annually and offers free vaccines for at least 12 diseases. 

India is also expected to roll out the indigenously developed Cervavac vaccine by mid-2023. The vaccination will be provided primarily through schools.  

The government will reach those girls who do not go to school through community outreach and mobile teams. 

This is an important step because studies show that there is a link between cervical cancer incidence and human development index values. The incidence of cervical cancer decreases as HDI improves. 

Further, there is also a need for screening programmes to be conducted to detect early signs of the disease to allow time for treatment. 

India has to eliminate cervical cancer like it has eliminated diseases such as polio, maternal and neonatal tetanus, etc.

Alleviating the scourge of private healthcare

News: The article explains the dominant role of the private sector and its dispersed nature. It also explains other challenges that make healthcare unaffordable. 

What are the issues faced by the healthcare system in India? 

There is a dominant role in the private health sector. Its public health expenditure as a percentage of its GDP is 1.28%. The share of general government expenditure dedicated to health is 4.8% which remains akin to the poorest countries. Private spending still constitutes nearly 60% of overall expenditure on health. 

The private sector in India is dispersed. There exist inequities between rural and urban areas and widespread market failure. The private sector is differentiated into a host of organisations of varying sizes and scopes.  

Each of these organisations is serving its own customer base. These often provide care at apparently inexpensive rates. But it is of dubious quality. Such a situation provides few natural incentives for consolidation.  

Healthcare provision in cities tells about the stark market failure in healthcare. The booming number of providers in cities has increased the cost of healthcare. 

Indian healthcare faces regulatory challenges and unfulfilled economic promises. For instance, many States have their own Clinical Establishments Acts that are stuck short of full implementation. 

The high costs of medical education trigger cost recovery through resource-intensive ways of practice.  

What is the way forward to improve the healthcare system?

Affordable private healthcare: There is a need for initiatives that seek to make private healthcare more affordable without affecting care quality. This is likely to encompass a wide range of policy instruments that alter the operating conditions of the private sector. Such policies have to be enshrined in our national health policy.  

This should not be confused with driving public funds into public-private partnerships. Rather, India needs overarching policies that drive down private healthcare costs even for the self-paying consumer with little or no government subsidy. 

Innovations in healthcare: There is a need to incentivise and propagate many business process innovations (BPI) that lie scattered across the healthcare landscape such as the cost-reducing innovations by Aravind Eye Clinic and Narayana Hrudayalaya.  

The healthcare ecosystem does not naturally incentivise such innovations. Regulatory and economic policy signals can be facilitative.  

Task shifting in healthcare: It is an evidence-based instrument to cut costs, especially in under-resourced settings. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 can be a boost in this direction. Widening the ambit of the practice of nurses and allied personnel should be a strong emphasis of health policy. 

Setting health boards: There is a need to set up regional health boards that organise care equitably within regions, exploit economies of scale, and bring down healthcare costs. Such boards should have adequate representation from communities. 

These boards should have enough power to determine local policy and resource allocation, impose caps on the maximum number of healthcare providers, and build working networks of care.  

Affordable medical education: The high cost of medical education needs policy attention.  

Strong public healthcare: The need for making private healthcare more affordable can not be denied. But, it can not substitute adequate public spending on health. Affordable private healthcare must only come to supplement strong public healthcare.

GS Paper 3

With REDD, the global economy can remunerate nations saving rainforests

News: The idea of incentivizing countries to protect forests first surfaced in the 2005 COP meeting held in Montreal. It was finally approved at COP meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt this year.

About ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ (REDD)

The key idea behind REDD: Forests capture and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). This is of great value in a world facing climate change.

The REDD mechanism has only been fully approved in 2022.

About Coalition for Rainforest Nations: It has more than 50 members. The members are primarily tropical countries. Its purpose is to work within a UNFCCC framework and the COP meetings. The Coalition sends its representatives to these meetings to argue for its goals to be included in the COP agenda and produce papers supporting these arguments.

About REDD offsets and Carbon credit

Claiming credits under the REDD system will require very good satellite imagery of forests with detailed case studies. Most member countries have been accumulating such data. In recent years, many American and European companies have announced they want to buy offsets to be carbon-neutral. So, there’s a huge increase in the market.

Why countries are incentivised to protect forests?

a) A hectare of tropical forest absorbs 50 to 100 tons of CO2 per annum, b) Forests are huge supports for biodiversity. The vast majority of the world’s animals, birds and insects, each with its own-natural service, live in forests.

c) Countries maintaining forests, found usually in developing economies. Hence, forests can produce carbon credits on the basis of the CO2 they capture and store. These can be sold on international carbon markets. REDD offsets will take a significant part of this trade and provide resources to tropical countries.

The entire process of REDD offset was finally passed this year at COP-27. This offers a good future for REDD.

India’s Chipko movement changed the world’s vision

News: India’s Chipko movement has lessons for social movements globally.

What is the reason behind Chipko movement?

The biogeography of Chipko was shaped by both colonial and post-colonial administrations. This is because economically, locals were excluded from such forests, and often dealt with punitively and in an unaccountable manner.

During pre-Independence era

There was a steady attempt by the British authorities and the forest department to carve out large parts of forested areas in the middle and upper Himalayas for extraction. This is because of the British economic interests encompassed shipbuilding, the expansion of the railways, etc. The Britishers have done this by;

a) Limiting local’s access to land: Demarcating lands as reserved and revenue forests to be used by the colonial regime and curtailing local community management and use of these.

b) Converting forests into resources: The colonial government has transformed some of the forests into monocultural plantations like pine to help build the railways, extract turpentine, etc.

Situation after Post-independence

a) The contractor system used by the forest department for felling trees engaged labour from outside, b) The government allocated areas for cutting with little concern for the slopes and villages nearby, often leading to landslides, etc.

Chipko emerged as a reaction to all these pressures.

What are the significances of the Chipko movement?

Chipko became extremely well-known in the 1980s. This is because, 1) The movement had diverse groups of people uniting within it, b) The movement got the attention of people globally. The imagery of women hugging trees captured the imagination of people worldwide, c) Chipko is a showcase of complete social movement,

Note: Silent Valley movement in Kerala led to the creation of the ministry of environment and forests in Kerala.  

Even today, Chipko had an enormous impact on India and the world’s environmental vision and imagination. It offers new lessons to social movements globally.

A busy navy´s challenges

News: The Indian Navy has been expanding its fleet day by day. Despite this, challenges still exist for the Indian Navy. 

What are the challenges associated with the Indian Navy? 

Delay in construction: Ships required for the Indian Navy take more than twice the time of China which is around seven to nine years. Even after taking such a long time, required support such as the right long-range, air-defence missiles, heavyweight torpedoes, etc. remain missing. 

Inadequate number of ships: 2019 and 2020 saw the commissioning of just one submarine and a corvette while 2018 saw no major addition to the fleet. Further, as per a report, no aircraft has landed on either of India’s carriers in the last two years. 

Technological delay creating challenges: China uses advanced technology in its ships with more fuel and a heavier weapons load. China is now planning for war on the sea with killer drones and unmanned vessels. It is also developing a naval base around the Indian Ocean rim. 

Limited defence budgets: India has limited budgets for its defence due to which there are fewer orders given for the construction of ships. This ultimately hampers the Navy fleet. The Indian Navy mostly has old boats, and it requires changes with the new ones. 

Therefore, there are multiple challenges with the Indian Navy, even though its fleet is expanding, and new additions are being made. 

On GM, follow the science

News: The article explains the issues related to the environmental release of the GM mustard variety called DMH-11. 

GM is a disruptive technology because it can bring about targeted changes in crop varieties that cannot be achieved through normal breeding of plant lines. 

What is the need for hybrid technology? 

Hybrid plants that result from the crossing of genetically diverse parents generally demonstrate higher yields and wider adaptation. 

Hybrids typically show 20-25% yield increases over conventional varieties. It can play an important role in boosting the yields of rapeseed mustard. India’s current mustard yield is 1.2-1.3 tonnes per hectare. It is roughly half of the global average.  

In 2021-22, India spent Rs 1,56,800 crore on the import of 14.1 mt of edible oils. Hybrid technology can lead to the reduction of import dependence on edible oil. 

What is the role of GM hybrids? 

Hybrid seed production requires an efficient male sterility and fertility-restoration system. The purpose is to ensure that one of the parent lines can be crossed with the pollen from only the other parent, even as the resultant plant is fertile.  

The existing mustard hybrids have limitations of sterility breakdown under certain environmental conditions. It results in lower seed purity.  

The GM “Barnase-Barstar” system provides an alternative route for hybridisation in mustard that is robust and addresses the sterility breakdown problems. This technology has been successfully deployed in other countries. 

DMH-11 uses the “barnase-barstar” system with some improvements to breed the hybrid.  

What are the arguments against the allegations of safety on GM mustard?  

DMH-11 has undergone all the required regulatory testing processes. It was tested in confined field trials at multiple locations. It showed around 28%  higher yield over the national best mustard variety Varuna.  

It has been subjected to all the biosafety tests required under the officially stipulated guidelines and rules. 

The doubters have questioned the safety of the three genes called Barnase, Barstar and Bar that are used to develop GM mustard. Extensive studies on GM mustard lines have established their safety. 

The final allegation levelled against DMH-11 is that it will promote use of herbicides. The Bar gene does confer resistance to the herbicide glufosinate. But the gene has been used as a selectable marker in tissue culture during the breeding process.  

The herbicide-tolerance trait in both the Barnase female and Barstar male lines is to be exploited only for the production of hybrid seed and not in the commercial cultivation of hybrids. The GEAC has also approved herbicide use only for hybrid seed production.  

GM crops are today grown in over 30 countries. Adoption rates of GM traits have been more than 95% in some cases with no evidence of adverse effects. 

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Centre to provide free ration to poor people for one year under food security law

Source: The post is based on the article “Centre to provide free ration to poor people for one year under food security law” published in The Hindu on 24th December 2022

What is the News?

The Government of India has decided to provide a free ration to 81.35 crore poor people under the National Food Security Act(NFSA) for one year.

What is presently being given under the National Food Security Act(NFSA)?

Under the NFSA, the government currently provides 5kg of food grains per person per month at ₹2-3 per kg. The families covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana(AAY) get 35 kg of food grains per month.

Rice is given to poor persons under the NFSA at ₹3 per kg and wheat at ₹2 per kg.

What is being changed now?

For one year, the Central Government will bear the entire burden of providing free food grains under NFSA.

The beneficiaries under NFSA will not have to pay a single rupee to get food grains. 

This is expected to cost the government around Rs 2 lakh crore yearly.

What about Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)? 

The government has decided not to extend the free ration scheme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) which ends on December 31.

Under the PMGKAY, 5kg of food grains per person per month is provided free to 81.35 crore beneficiaries covered under the NFSA. This is over and above the monthly distribution of highly subsidized food grains under the NFSA.

A short history of the looted Benin Bronzes, 20 of which Germany has returned to Nigeria

Source: The post is based on the article “A short history of the looted Benin Bronzes, 20 of which Germany has returned to Nigeria” published in Indian Express on 24th December 2022

What is the News?

Germany has returned the 20 Benin Bronzes that were looted in the 19th century to Nigeria at a ceremony.

What are Benin Bronzes?

Benin Bronzes are a group of over 3,000 sculptures and artworks from the ancient Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria. This kingdom dates back to at least the 16th century. 

These historical pieces were looted by British colonial forces during their infamous raid on Benin City in 1897.

Significance: The Benin Bronzes prized for their beauty and technical artistry are of spiritual and historical significance for the people from that part of Nigeria.

Which other looted artefacts have countries demanded to be returned?

Koh-i-Noor diamond: There have been repeated demands for the return of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the largest and perhaps the most storied diamonds in the world, which was taken away by the British East India Company in 1849 and is now part of the British crown jewels.

Rosetta Stone: It is an ancient Egyptian stone that features the inscriptions that formed the basis of Egyptology itself. The stone was discovered by the army of Napoleon Bonaparte near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in 1799 during the emperor’s campaign to conquer Egypt.It was passed on to the British after they defeated the French in 1801.

What are ‘gelbots?’

Source: The post is based on the article “What are gelbots?” published in The Hindu on 21st December 2022

What is the News?

John Hopkins University scientists have built a soft robot named Gelbots.

What are Gelbots?

Gelbots are made out of gelatin. They are created by 3D printing.

They are capable of moving without requiring an extra power source because of the way their shape, dimensions and patterning of gel are designed.

This is because the gels swell or shrink in response to temperature. This property can be strategically manipulated to move robots forward and backwards on flat surfaces or to have them crawl in certain directions with an undulating, wave-like motion.

What are the potential applications of Gelbots?

Gelbots can be a significant advance in the world of soft robotics. (Soft robotics is a branch of robotics where the robots are fashioned out of organic and non-metallic materials)

They can be used a) To create smart structures, b) For moving on surfaces through the human body to deliver targeted medicines, c) To deploy as marine robots, patrolling and monitoring the ocean’s surface and d) Trained to crawl in response to variations in human biomarkers and biochemical.

Year End Review: Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change

Source: The post is based on the article “Year End Review: Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change” published in PIB on 23rd December 2022

What is the News?

The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change has launched several initiatives and schemes in 2022.

What are the schemes and initiatives launched by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change in 2022?

Lifestyle for Environment – LiFE

“In Our LiFEtime” campaign

Circular Economy

Steps taken by Government to promote Circular Economy

NITI Aayog has constituted 11 Committees for the development of circular economy (CE) action plans for different categories of waste. 

Circular Economy Action Plans for 10 waste categories such as Lithium-ion batteries; E-waste; Toxic and hazardous industrial waste; Scrap metal among others have been finalized, and are under implementation. 

Regulations on market-based Extended Producer Responsibility(EPR) principle have been notified for four categories of wastes i.e. plastic packaging waste, battery waste, e-waste and waste tyre.

Waste-to-Wealth Mission

National Clean Air Programme(NCAP)

PRANA Portal

Articles on Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy(LT-LEDS)

What is India’s long-term strategy to transition to a low-emission pathway to become carbon-neutral by 2070?

India Submits its Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy to UNFCCC

Cheetah Introduction in India

India establishes Asia’s largest Ramsar Sites network in the 75th Year of Independence

National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems(NPCA)

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change(MoEF&CC) 

Type: Centrally Sponsored Scheme

Aim: It is a scheme for conservation and management of identified wetlands (includes lakes) in the country on cost sharing basis between Central Government and respective State Governments. 

The scheme covers various activities such as interception, diversion and treatment of wastewater, shoreline protection, in-situ cleaning, stormwater management, bioremediation, catchment area treatment, lake beautification, bio-fencing, fisheries development, weed control, education and awareness creation, community participation, etc.

Ban on identified Single Use Plastics from 1 July 2022

Plastic Waste Management

Prakriti & other Green Initiatives for Effective Plastic Waste Management

TX2 International Award: The TX2 Tiger Conservation Excellence award is organized by a consortium of international organizations namely the Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS), Global Tiger Forum, IUCN Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme among others.

Purpose: The award is given to tiger reserves that have made significant progress towards doubling the tiger number since 2010 or displayed conservation excellence.

2021 Award: The TX2 award for the year 2021 was bagged by the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu. 

Amid VHP row over song in school, recalling Muhammad Iqbal, also the poet of Saare Jahan Se Achcha

Source: The post is based on the article “Amid VHP row over song in school, recalling Muhammad Iqbal, also the poet of Saare Jahan Se Achcha” published in Indian Express on 24th December 2022

What is the News?

Police in Uttar Pradesh has booked the principal of a government school for hurting religious sentiments by making students recite “Lab Pe Aati Hai Dua” poem during a morning assembly.

Who wrote Lab pe Aati Hai Dua?

Lab pe Aati Hai Dua was written by Iqbal in 1902. It has been sung at several educational institutions in India and Pakistan including some prestigious schools which sing it in their morning assembly.

Who was Muhammad Iqbal?

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) was a writer, philosopher and scholar and politician whose poetry in the Urdu language is considered among the greatest of the twentieth century.

Iqbal is commonly referred to as Allama, which is a title given to Islamic scholars.

Important work: The most celebrated work of Iqbal is the immortal ‘Saare jahan se achcha Hindustan hamara’ written in 1904. This beautiful poem to India became one of the songs that inspired the freedom fighters against British rule.

The idea of Pakistan: In his later life, Iqbal came to favour the idea of a separate nation for Muslims, and is believed to have been the influence behind Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s vision of a separate nation of Pakistan.

In Pakistan, Iqbal is regarded as the ideological founder of the nation — the man who envisioned the state that Jinnah gave physical shape.

CAG pulls up DRDO for delay in the completion of projects and failure to achieve key parameters

Source: The post is based on the article “CAG pulls up DRDO for delay in the completion of projects and failure to achieve key parameters” published in The Hindu on 24th December 2022

What is the News?

The Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) has submitted a report in Parliament titled “Management and Outcome of Mission Mode Projects in DRDO”.

What are Mission Mode(MM) Projects?

“Mission Mode”(MM) projects are taken up by the DRDO on high priority, based on specific user requirements and with definite timeframes for their completion.

These projects depend on technologies that are already available, proven and readily accessible within the DRDO or India or from abroad at a short notice.

What are the observations made by CAG on the DRDO Mission Mode Projects?

Mission Mode(MM) projects have a very high outcome certainty due to ready availability of underlying technology.

But still there were several issues in these projects such as 1) considerable delays in the initiation and sanction of such projects by the DRDO. 2) cost overrun in completion of projects, 3) irregular closure of projects declaring them successful despite non-achievement of key objectives and 4) taking up of new projects for realizing the unachieved objectives of earlier closed projects declared as successful.

For instance, in 119 out of 178 projects, the original time schedules could not be adhered to. In 49 cases, the additional time was in fact more than 100% of the original timeframe.

Overall, the delays ranged from 16% to 500% and the extension of time for the completion of projects was taken multiple times.

Year-End Review -2022: Ministry of Panchayati Raj

Source: The post is based on the article “Year-End Review -2022: Ministry of Panchayati Raj” published in PIB on 23rd December 2022

What is the News?

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has launched several initiatives and schemes in 2022.

What are the schemes and initiatives launched by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in 2022?

SVAMITVA Scheme

 e-Gram Swaraj and Audit Online

Citizen Charter: In order to focus on the commitment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs) towards its Citizens with respect to the Standard of Services, Information, and Grievance Redress, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has provided a platform to upload the Citizen Charter document with the slogan “Meri Panchayat Mera Adhikaar – Jan Sevaayein Hamaare Dwaar”.

– This charter also includes expectations of the Organization from the Citizens for fulfilling the commitment of the Organization.

Gram Urja Swaraj initiative: It has been launched by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj with an aim to promote the adoption of renewable energy at the Gram Panchayat level.

Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA)

Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan(RGSA)

Smart Vending e-Cart:

Developed by: Ministry of Panchayati Raj in collaboration with the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Department of Science and Technology and six IITs.

Purpose: To be used by Vendors in rural areas for storage of perishable foods/items like vegetables & fruits etc.

Around 60% of India prone to earthquakes

Source: The post is based on the article “Around 60% of India prone to earthquakes” published in Down To Earth on 23rd December 2022

What is the News?

The Union minister for science and technology has informed Lok Sabha that around 59% of the landmass of India (covering all states) is prone to earthquakes of different shaking intensities.

What is an Earthquake?

Click Here to read

About Earthquake Risk in India

According to the seismic zoning map of India prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), India has been divided into four zones – II, III, IV and V.

Zone V is seismically the most active region while Zone II is the least.

Around 11% of the country falls in Zone V, 18% in Zone IV, 30% in Zone III and the remaining in Zone II.

What is the other news covered in the article?

Coal-based power: Over the years, the share of coal in the total primary energy mix has increased from about 42% in 2009-10 to 45.56% in 2020-21.

– More than 72% of the electricity generated in the country is coal-fired (including lignite).

Landless tribal households in northeast India: According to the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 report, around 59% of rural households in northeast India have no land.

One Rank One Pension(OROP): Union Cabinet approves revision of pension of Armed Forces Pensioners/family pensioners under One Rank One Pension

Source: The post is based on the article “Union Cabinet approves revision of pension of Armed Forces Pensioners/family pensioners under One Rank One Pension ” published in PIB on 24th December 2022

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet has approved a pending pension revision for pensioners from the armed forces and their families under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme which has been delayed since July 2019.

What is One Rank One Pension(OROP)?

OROP implies a uniform pension for defence personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement.

Why was there a need for OROP?

In view of the need of the defence forces to maintain physical fitness, efficiency and effectiveness, personnel retire at an early age compared to other agencies of the government. 

A sepoy in the army and equivalent rank in navy and air force retire after 17-19 years of service and officers retire before attaining the age of 60 years.

Before the implementation of OROP, the computation of pension was linked to the pay drawn by the personnel in a particular pay scale at the time of his/her retirement. 

Pay scales were revised to the higher side generally on the recommendation of Pay Commissions. As such, the personnel retiring after the revision of the pay scales got more pension than those who had already retired. Hence, the gap remained in the pension of the past and present retirees.

OROP bridges this gap between the rates of pension of current and past pensioners at periodic intervals.

The OROP scheme was implemented with retrospective effect from July 1st, 2014 with 2013 as the base year.

What has happened now?

The OROP scheme envisages revision of pension once every five years. The re-fixation of pension was to be done in the year 2019, but the matter was pending in court at the time.

Now the OROP has been revised with effect from July 1, 2019 and the arrears will be paid for the period July 2019 to June 2022.

Rajya Sabha passes Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill

Source: The post is based on the article “Rajya Sabha passes Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill” published in Indian Express on 23rd December 2022

What is the News?

Rajya Sabha has passed the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill which the government said would provide an effective legal instrument to combat Maritime Piracy. The bill is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

Note: Lok Sabha has already passed this Bill.

What are the key provisions of the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill?

Definition of Piracy: It defines piracy as any illegal act of violence, detention or destruction against a ship, aircraft, person or property, for private purposes, by the crew or passengers of a private ship or aircraft.  

– The definition also includes inciting and intentionally facilitating such acts of violence, and voluntarily participating in the operation of a pirate ship or aircraft.

Applicability: The bill will apply not only in territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but also on the high seas — beyond the EEZ which is 200 nautical miles from the country’s coastline.

Punishment: For committing acts of piracy, the convicts shall be punished with imprisonment for life or death in case the act of piracy itself causes the death or attempts to cause the death of another person.

– Participating in or assisting acts of piracy will be punishable with up to 14 years of imprisonment and a fine.

Extraditable offences: Piracy offences have been made extraditable under the provisions of this bill. If India has an extradition treaty with countries, accused offenders can be transferred more easily.

Designated Court: The central government, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the concerned High Court, may notify the Sessions Courts to be the Designated Courts for speedy trial of offences of piracy under the Bill.

What is the significance of the Bill?

Firstly, in the absence of a specific law or a legal provision in the Indian Penal Code or the Criminal Procedure Code on piracy, this Bill would provide an effective legal instrument to combat maritime piracy. 

Secondly, it would enable us to discharge our obligations under the UNCLOS which we had signed in 1982 and ratified in 1995.

What are the issues with the bill?

It is unclear how the overlap of the 14-year term and the life term will be determined since committing an act of piracy will necessarily include participation as well.

Under the bill, a person, while committing an act of piracy causes or seeks to cause death, s/he will be punished with death.

– However, the Supreme Court of India has advocated for the use of the death penalty in the “rarest of rare” cases. 

Year End Review: Ministry of Tourism

Source: The post is based on the article “Year End Review: Ministry of Tourism” published in PIB on 23rd December 2022

What is the News?

The Ministry of Tourism has launched several initiatives and schemes in 2022.

What are the schemes and initiatives launched by the Ministry of Tourism in 2022?

National Digital Tourism Mission(NDTM): It aims to connect stakeholders in the tourism eco-system digitally along the same lines as the National Health Mission. Digitalization is key to bring tourism activities under a unified system and thereby enhance the competitiveness of the Hospitality & Tourism sector.

National Summit on Developing Sustainable & Responsible Tourist Destinations:

– Organized by: Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the United Environment Program (UNEP) and Responsible Tourism Society of India (RTSOI) 

– At the summit, the Ministry of Tourism launched the National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Traveller Campaign. 

– The Strategy document has identified the strategic pillars for the development of sustainable tourism like 1) Promoting Environmental Sustainability, 2) Protecting Biodiversity, 3) Promoting Economic Sustainability, 4) Promoting Socio-Cultural Sustainability, 5) Scheme for Certification of Sustainable Tourism and 6) IEC and Capacity Building and Governance. 

YUVA Tourism Clubs: The vision of establishing YUVA Tourism Clubs is to nurture and develop young ambassadors of Indian tourism who would become aware of tourism possibilities in India, appreciate our rich cultural heritage and develop an interest and passion for tourism. 

National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry(NIDHI+)

Setup by: Ministry of Tourism

Aim: To facilitate digitalization and promote ease of doing business for the hospitality & tourism sector. 

– It provides a clear picture on the geographical spread of the Hospitality & Tourism Sector, its size, structure and existing capacity so as to offer relevant services to the industry like showcasing, Star Classification etc.

– This initiative is being upgraded as NIDHI+ to have more inclusivity that is of not only Accommodation Units but also Travel agents, Tour Operators, Tourist Transport Operators, Food & Beverage Units, Online Travel Aggregators Convention Centres and tourist Facilitators. 

Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Tourism Service Sector(LGSCATSS): Under this scheme, working capital/personal loans were provided to people in the tourism sector to discharge liabilities and restart businesses impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.