Miscellaneous (Disaster Management and Security issues)

All of the above are punishable offences under the Disaster Management Act 2005.
Chapter X of the Act provides for offence and penalties. Some of which are:
-if one obstructs any government employee of the in the discharge of his functions under this Act or for refusing to comply with any direction given under the act.
-if one knowingly makes a claim which he knows or has reason to believe to be false for obtaining any relief, assistance, repair, reconstruction or other benefits.
-misappropriation of money or materials, etc. meant for providing relief in any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
-making or circulating a false alarm or warning as to disaster or its severity or magnitude, leading to panic.

Statement 1 is correct. Tsunami Ready is a community performance-based programme initiated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO to promote tsunami preparedness through active collaboration of public, community leaders, and national and local emergency management agencies.
The main objective of this programme is to improve coastal community’s preparedness for tsunami emergencies, to minimize the loss of life and property.
Statement 2 is incorrect. To implement and monitor the implementation of Tsunami Ready in India, Ministry of Earth Sciences established a National Board under the chairmanship of Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Centre (INCOIS) with members drawn from various institutions.
The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), Odisha has now implemented the Tsunami Ready programme in two villages, Venkatraipur in Ganjam District, Noliasahi in Jagatsingpur District.
Based on the National Board recommendations, UNESCO-IOC has approved the recognition of two communities as Tsunami Ready Communities. With this recognition, India is the first country to implement Tsunami Ready in the Indian Ocean Region and Odisha is the first state.

Option 1 is correctly matched. Durand Line is boundary established in the Hindu Kush in 1893 running through the tribal lands between Afghanistan and British India (Today Pakistan).
It was the result of an agreement between Sir Mortimer Durand, a secretary of the British Indian government, and Abdur Rahman Khan, the emir, or ruler, of Afghanistan.
Option 2 is correctly matched. McMahon Line is frontier between Tibet and North-east region of India, negotiated between Tibet and Great Britain at the end of the Shimla Conference (October 1913–July 1914) and named for the chief British negotiator, Sir Henry McMahon.
In 1962, the Chinese forces occupied south of the McMahon Line but subsequently withdrew after a cease-fire had been achieved.
Option 3 is correctly matched. The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcation line between the Indian and Pakistani portions of the Punjab and Bengal provinces (now Bangladesh) of British India.

Under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the central government may designate an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it: (i) commits or participates in acts of terrorism, (ii) prepares for terrorism, (iii) promotes terrorism, or (iv) is otherwise involved in terrorism.
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2019 additionally empowered the
government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds.

The Disaster Management Act was passed with the primary objective of preparedness, prevention and early planning towards disaster.
It puts into place a systematic structure of institutions at the national, state and district levels. Four important entities have been placed at the national level:
–The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) tasked with laying down disaster management policies and ensuring timely and effective response mechanism.
–The National Executive Committee (NEC) comprised of secretary level officers of the Government of India assigned to assist the NDMA
–The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) is an institute for planning and promoting training and research in the area of disaster management, documentation and development of national level information base relating to disaster management policies.
–National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for the purpose of specialist response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assists state governments by providing them support of the Central Armed Police Forces.
The Ministry maintains seven CAPFs: (i) the Central Reserve Police Force, which assists in internal security and counterinsurgency, (ii) the Central Industrial Security Force, which protects vital installations (like airports) and public sector undertakings, (iii) the National Security Guards, which is a special counterterrorism force, and (iv) four border guarding forces, which are the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal, and Assam Rifles.
The administrative control of the Assam Rifles is with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the operational control of Assam Rifles rests with the Ministry of Defence.

Under the Constitution, police and public order are state subjects. However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assists state governments by providing them support of the Central Armed Police Forces.
The Ministry maintains following CAPFs: The Central Reserve Police Force, which assists in internal security and counterinsurgency; the Central Industrial Security Force, which protects vital installations (like airports) and public sector undertakings; the National Security Guards, which is a special counterterrorism force, and four border guarding forces, which are the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal, and Assam Rifles.
The dual control structure for Assam Rifles, which comes under both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been recently under judicial scrutiny.

First Information Report (FIR) is prepared by the police based on a complaint or available information in the case of cognizable offences. The information or the complaint is provided by an informant as per Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Zero FIR is a FIR lodged in any police station irrespective of the location of incidence or jurisdiction of the police station. It is later transferred to the appropriate jurisdictional police station.
Based on the Justice Verma Committee report, the Home Ministry, in 2013, issued an advisory to all states and union territories asking the police to register Zero FIR if an informant comes with the details of a cognizable crime irrespective of the jurisdiction in order to initiate investigation at the earliest.
# Cognizable offences are those which do not require an order from magistrate, and which requires the police to take immediate action on receipt of complaint or information.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Bureau of Police Research and Development is not a statutory body. The Government of India by a resolution on 28th August 1970 formally established the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), under the Ministry of Home Affairs giving a new orientation to then existing Police Research and Advisory Council (1966).
Statement 2 is correct. BPRD was established with a view to taking more direct and active interest in the matter and for promoting a speedy and systematic study of police problems in a changed society and bringing about rapid application of science and technology to the methods and techniques of the Policing in the country.

Smurfing (also called structuring) is a method in which small sizes of money
is kept in several number of bank accounts to hide the real identity of the real owner.
•This has been a very commonly used method of money-laundering.
•During the reform period, as more prudential norms of banking regulation evolved,
such acts declined in India.
•‘Smurfer’ (or ‘money mule’) is a person who does this.

There is no official definition of black money in economic theory, with several different terms such as parallel economy, black money, black incomes, unaccounted economy, illegal economy and irregular economy all being used more or less synonymously.
• The simplest definition of black money could possibly be money that is hidden from tax authorities.
• That is, black money can come from two broad categories: illegal activity and legal but unreported activity.

Methods used to calculate black money:
One of the more popular methods is the monetary method.
• This method assumes that the existence of and changes in the share of unaccounted income is reflected in the stock or flow of money in the system.
• In other words, track the money in the economy and you’ll get an idea of how much has not been accounted for.

Another method is the global indicator or input-based method.
• In this method, unaccounted income is modelled using a single universal variable with which it is assumed to be highly correlated, therefore these estimates are also called input-based estimates.
• Basically, the estimated level of activity in these indicators is compared to the reported level of GDP to arrive at an estimate of under-reporting.
• One common input used in this method is the quantity of land freight transport.
• The idea is that matching the actual amount of freight transported in the country to the reported amount of economic activity in the related sectors could give an estimate of how much is not being reported.
A third method to measure black money is a straightforward survey.
This one, however, requires voluntary information from people and businesses concealing their incomes and so is prone to inaccuracies.

India’s vision for the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) commonly known by its
acronym – SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).
The goal is to seek a climate of trust and transparency; respect for international maritime
rules and norms by all countries; sensitivity to each other’s interests; peaceful resolution of
maritime issues; and increase in maritime cooperation.
India would do everything to safeguard its mainland and islands and defend its interests.
Further, India will also work to ensure a safe, secure and stable IOR.

Statement 1 is correct. Army Static Switched Communication Network
(ASCON) was evolved to integrate the telecommunication infrastructure of the hinterland
with the tactical communication networks.
It is a digital, fully automated, secure, reliable and survivable static communication system
based on microwave radio, optical fiber cable, and satellite and mill metric wave
communication equipments.
Statement 2 is correct. Value added Services such as FAX, TELEX, Data Transfer and
Video are also available to defence users on this network.
# Cabinet Committee on Security has approved the proposal for establishment of Army Static
Switched Communication Network, ASCON Phase IV Network.
# The project will provide better survivability, responsiveness and high bandwidth in any
operational scenario and enhance the communication coverage of network closer to
International Border, Line of Control and Line of Actual Control.

Certain mobile applications have been banned recently by invoking
government’s power under the Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
Section 69A of the Information Technology Act states that “where the Central Government
is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, in the interest of sovereignty and
integrity of India, defense of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign
States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable
offence relating to above, it may direct any agency of the Government or intermediary to
block for access by the public or cause to be blocked for access by the public any
information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource.”

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has published “The Human Cost of
Disasters 2000-2019” report to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13, 2020.

In the period 2000 to 2019, there were 7,348 major recorded disaster events claiming 1.23 million lives, affecting 4.2 billion people (many on more than one occasion) resulting in approximately US$2.97 trillion in global economic losses.

There has also been a rise in geo-physical events including earthquakes and tsunamis which have killed more people than any of the other natural hazards under review in this report.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was
adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, on
March 18, 2015.
It outlines four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks: (i)
Understanding disaster risk; (ii) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster
risk; (iii) Investing in disaster reduction for resilience and; (iv) Enhancing disaster
preparedness for effective response, and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation
and reconstruction.
# The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, held every 13 October, was started in
1989, after a call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global
culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Special Frontier Force (SFF) referred to as Vikas
Battalion was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-India war.
It mostly recruits Tibetans and Gorkhas and initially went by the name of Establishment
22. It was named so because it was raised by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, an Artillery
officer who had commanded 22 Mountain Regiment.
Statement 2 is correct. Special Frontier Force falls under the purview of the Cabinet
Secretariat headed by an Inspector General who is an Army officer of the rank of Major
General.
# Wikipedia says it is under the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). Technically R&AW is
also under Cabinet Secretariat.

Statement 1 is correct. The National Security Act 1980 empowers the
Center and State governments to detain a person if the authorities are satisfied that he/she
is a threat to the defence of India, the relations of India with foreign powers, or the security
of India.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The Central Government or the State Government may make
an order with respect to any foreigner directing that such person be detained with a view
to regulating his continued presence in India or to making arrangements for his expulsion
from India, it is necessary so to do.

Certain mobile applications have been banned recently by invoking
government’s power under the Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
Section 69A of the Information Technology Act states that “where the Central
Government is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, in the interest of
sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the State, friendly
relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the
commission of any cognizable offence relating to above, it may direct any agency of the
Government or intermediary to block for access by the public or cause to be blocked for
access by the public any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in
any computer resource.”

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) assists state governments by providing
them support of the Central Armed Police Forces.
The Ministry maintains seven CAPFs: (i) the Central Reserve Police Force, which assists in
internal security and counterinsurgency, (ii) the Central Industrial Security Force, which
protects vital installations (like airports) and public sector undertakings, (iii) the National
Security Guards, which is a special counterterrorism force, and (iv) four border guarding
forces, which are the Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema
Bal, and Assam Rifles.
The administrative control of the Assam Rifles is with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the
operational control of Assam Rifles rests with the Ministry of Defence.

With the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress
situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected, a
public charitable trust under the name of ‘Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief
in Emergency Situations Fund’ (PM CARES Fund)’ has been set up.
Statement 1 is incorrect. The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from
individuals/organizations and does not get any budgetary support.
Statement 2 is correct. PM CARES Fund has also got exemption under the FCRA and a
separate account for receiving foreign donations has been opened. This enables PM CARES
Fund to accept donations and contributions from individuals and organizations based in
foreign countries.
# This is consistent with respect to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). PMNRF
has also received foreign contributions as a public trust since 2011.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The Narcotics Control Bureau was set up as apex
drug law enforcement agency with view to coordinate actions of various central/state
agencies in the matters related with drug law in the country. It comes under the Ministry
of Home Affairs, Govt of India.
Statement 2 is correct. There are three United Nations Conventions on drug related
matters:
-Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961
-Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971
-UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988
India is a signatory to all these Conventions and enacted the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act in 1985 which met her obligations under these
Conventions.

‘Delhi Declaration on Emergency Preparedness’ to strengthen and
operationalise cross border capacities for disaster reduction and response was unanimously
adopted at the 72nd Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South East Asia in
Delhi in 2019.
It builds on the disaster preparedness and response benchmarks set by South-East Asia
Regional Health Emergency Fund (SEARHEF) which was set up following the Indian Ocean
tsunami, 2004.
The key initiatives under Delhi Declaration are identifying risks by mapping and assessing
vulnerabilities, evidence-based planning, implementing measures for disaster risk
reduction; and preparing and operationalizing readiness.

# Recently at the conclusion of the 73rd session of WHO South East Asia Region (SEAR) held
under the Chairmanship of Minister of Health, Thailand, the Health Ministers of the member
states agreed to the SEAR Member States’ Declaration on the collective response to COVID-19
in South-East Asia Region.

Hybrid warfare is an emerging notion in conflict studies. It refers to the use
of unconventional methods as part of a multi-domain war-fighting approach. These
methods aim to disrupt and disable an opponent’s actions without engaging in open
hostilities.
It generally involves a combination of activities, including disinformation, fake news,
economic manipulation, use of proxies and insurgencies, non-state actors with advanced
military capabilities, diplomatic pressure and military actions.
Hybrid warfare is employing multiple, diverse tactics simultaneously against an opponent.

According to the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD): The Deep Depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards and intensified into Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’. IMD has issued Cyclone Alert (Yellow) for South Tamilnadu and South Kerala coasts.
Burevi will be the fifth cyclone over the North Indian Ocean this year, after Amphan, Nisarga, Gati and Nivar. The name ‘Burevi’ has been suggested by Maldives.

In 2000, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) agreed to start assigning names for cyclones over the North Indian Ocean using a list of names suggested by the countries surrounding the ocean basin.
There are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) across the globe to monitor cyclogenesis, issue advisories and name cyclones.
IMD’s RSMC in New Delhi is one among them that provide advisories to 13 countries in the north Indian Ocean basin: Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. RSMC, New Delhi is also responsible for naming cyclones over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
Cyclone Nivar has been named from Iran’s suggestions, Amphan from Thailand’s and the Burevi Cyclone has been named from the list submitted by Maldives.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The CDRI was launched by the Prime Minister of India during his speech at the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019.
The Prime Minister had initially announced India’s intention to work with partner countries and key stakeholders to form a coalition working towards the goal of improving the disaster resilience of infrastructure at the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) held in November 2016 in New Delhi.
Statement 2 is incorrect. CDRI is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and academic and knowledge institutions.
At present, it is not an intergovernmental organization, which are ordinarily treaty-based organizations.
# Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed an event by Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) recently. The theme of the event was “Build Back Better: building resilient health infrastructure and supply chains.”

The ‘SolarWinds hack’, a cyberattack recently discovered in the United States, has emerged as one of the biggest ever targeted against the US government, its agencies and several other private companies.
This is being called a ‘Supply Chain’ attack: Instead of directly attacking the federal government or a private organisation’s network, the hackers target a third-party vendor, which supplies software to them. In this case, the target was an IT management software called Orion, supplied by the Texas-based company SolarWinds.

Transition to Triumph book is the history of the Indian navy covers the period from 1965 to 1975.
• Indian Naval history (Transition to Triumph) also records that “by themselves the ships of the Eastern Fleet were too few and too slow to enforce contraband control and help would be needed from Vikrant’s aircraft.
• But the extraordinary extent to which Vikrant’s aircraft actually succeeded in assisting ships in contraband control and apprehending merchant ships, over and above their air strikes against East Pakistan, came to be fully realised only after the war.”

INS Vikrant – Initially laid down as HMS Hercules for the British Navy, but construction was put on hold. India purchased the incomplete carrier in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961 and inducted as first aircraft carrier of India.
It was decommissioned in 1997, scrapped in 2014.
*NOTE: INS Vikrant (2013) – First domestically built aircraft carrier expected to join service by 2020.
INS Viraat – A Centaur-class aircraft carrier commissioned in 1959 as the British Navy’s HMS Hermes and later sold to India in 1987 and it was decommissioned in 2017.
INS Vikramaditya – Originally built as Baku for Soviet Navy and it was entered into Indian Navy in 2013.

Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system (UAS) provides real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) over vast ocean and coastal regions.
• Based on the proven Global Hawk UAS, Triton’s autonomous operations are supported by land-based command and control mission planners and sensor operators.
• Triton will be equipped with a unique and robust mission sensor suite that provides 360-degree coverage on all sensors, providing unprecedented maritime domain awareness for the U.S. Navy.
• Triton also incorporates a reinforced airframe, for increased internal payload, and wing for hail, bird strike, and gust load protection, along with de-icing and lightning protection systems.
• These features allow the aircraft to descend and ascend through harsh maritime weather environments to gain a closer view of ships and other targets at sea when needed.
• Built for the U.S. Navy, Triton will support a wide range of missions including maritime ISR patrol, signals intelligence, search and rescue and communications relay.
• The aircraft can fly over 24 hours at a time, at altitudes higher than 10 miles, with an operational range of 8,200 nautical miles.

India had always been the first respondent in situations of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management (HADR) in the subcontinent said by Indian Home Minister.

•Addressing the 10th meeting of the Heads of Departments of SCO member-States, he called on the Shanghai Cooperation organisation (SCO) members to make a concerted, synchronised effort towards securing people from disasters.
• Minister expressed the confidence that the four-day Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search and Rescue (SCOJtEx)-2019, held in November 2019, and the ministerial meeting would help in finalizing an action plan for managing disasters for the year 2020-21.

Mobile phones can get infected through a type of cyber-attack called Juice Jacking. A USB port is not simply a power socket, you can also use it to transfer and sync your data.
• A hacker can tamper with a USB charging port at a public charging station to steal passwords and export data.
• The main way to avoid juice jacking is to stay away from public charging stations or portable wall chargers.
• Carry a personal charger or a power bank or use USB condoms which are adaptors that allow the power transfer but don’t connect the data transfer pins.
• Switch off your phone or lock your phone and then plug it into the charging port. But this technique only works on few mobile models

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) confirmed that a malware had indeed infected its system at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP), a day after KKNPP officials had categorically asserted that the systems at the plant could not be accessed by anyone outside the network as they were all isolated.
• The cyberintrusion came to light on Monday after the website VirusTotal uploaded a data dump that seemed to point to a data breach in the KKNPP system.
• The dump pointed to a ‘dtrack’ malware, which can be used as a remote administrator tool, having infected systems at the KKNPP.

Culling is a practice of segregating organisms from a group according to
desired or undesired characteristics and then reducing that population by selective
slaughter.
•In Australia, camels will be shot by professional firearms experts from helicopters. It
is being done to prevent the animals from drinking too much water in the
drought-affected regions.
•According to reports, 10,000 camels will be shot today after an order from the
Aboriginal leaders in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands.
•The camels are being culled because according to locals they have been wrecking
havoc searching for water sources.
•Another reason for the culling is being stated as the greenhouse gas emissions.
•Camels reportedly emit methane equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide per
year.

At a time when India has managed to increase its forest cover to over 20 percent of its geographical area, forest health continues to show signs of strain.
• Regeneration is either inadequate or absent in about 45 percent of all forest areas and about 95 percent of all forest plots inventoried show some signs of degradation.
• The report, “Strengthening Forest Fire Management in India”, jointly prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the World Bank says forest fires are today a leading cause of forest degradation in India.
• The report discusses policies on forest fire prevention and management (FFPM) at the national, state and local levels, underscoring the need for a comprehensive national policy and guidelines.
• It provides recommendations on five broad themes – policy, institutions and capacity, community engagement, technology, and data and information and looks at national and international best practices in FFPM.