Brief of newspaper articles for the day bearing
relevance to Civil Services preparation
- GS PAPER 2
- Tap potential of youth, PM tells States {Governance}
- Ministry seeks law panel’s opinion on uniform civil code { Polity}
- Heeding the 24×7 potential {Governance}
- Sri Lanka must stay the course {International Affairs}
- GS PAPER 3
- India abstains on vote for LGBT rights at U.N. {International organisation}
- In distress { Agriculture}
GS PAPER 2
[1]Tap potential of youth, PM tells States
Issue
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all States to put in place a 14-point charter to tap the potential of youth to the optimal level and increase their participation in national schemes.
Direction given by PM
- Mr. Modi has directed all departments, youth organisations, magistrates and governments to mobilise youths by designing an ‘inspiring/ patriotic youth anthem in sync with the 21st Century’ and recording ‘100 sentences commonly used in youth conversations’ to be disseminated in a booklet or electronic form.
- All of this just to ensure that the youth participate in large numbers in a national event designed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs on January 12 every year.
Various other suggestion to tap youth potential
- Youth must be cultivated for greater participation in cleaning of schools/colleges/public places and statues, for making villages open defecation-free, creating national awareness on water conservation and construction of farm ponds, recharge wells.
- The youth must also be tapped for planting of saplings, for ‘actively supporting’ Indradhanush immunisation programme, and popularising the game of football.
- States had been asked to create their own youth portals to make available information that is of interest to the younger generation. Departments and the governments have been asked to proactively engage with the youth on social network.
- During 2017, FIFA-U-17 World Cup will be held in India. All concerted efforts must be made to popularise the game among the younger generation
[2]Ministry seeks law panel’s opinion on uniform civil code
Issue
- The Union Law Ministry has asked the Law Commission to examine in detail all issues pertaining to the Uniform Civil Code and submit a report to the government.
Constitutional basis of UCC
- Article 44 of the Constitution say that there should be a Uniform Civil Code.
Present status
- Government said that a decision on the future course of action would be taken on the basis of the Law Commission report. If it is required in the larger interest of the country, all stakeholders will be consulted.
[3]Heeding the 24×7 potential
Issue
- About Centre’s Model Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2016.
About the Bill
- Removing regulatory barriers to employ more people in various areas of economic activity is a national priority and this Bill will enable operation of such services all 365 days of the year, and round-the-clock,will be significant step forward.
- The model law, which is available to the States to either adopt fully or in a modified form, is to be welcomed for specifying labour issues such as working hours, overtime, casual and earned leave, protection for women including transport access for those opting to work night shifts, and workplace facilities.
- In the model law, protections are to be enforced by a cadre of Chief Facilitators and Facilitators.
- Its major innovation is the elimination of the licensing bureaucracy, and therefore a lot of corruption.
Why this Bill is being passed
- According to Economic survey there is a robust annual growth in services such as trade, hotels, transport and communications. Creating a healthy environment for the growth of consumer-focussed services will catalyse it further.
- In the existing regulatory regime, many of these aspects are impressively inked on paper, but with poor outcomes in practice. Workers are left without effective mechanisms of redress. This is a moment to strike a blow for the rights of workers, and State governments must show as much concern for labour welfare as the facilitation of business. The Labour Ministry can achieve this by welcoming online registration of complaints, and the process can be aided by trade unions.
- A simplified, online common registration procedure for the businesses covered by the Act should definitely be part of State law; this would be a big leap in ease of doing business. State governments looking to accelerate economic activity and generate higher revenues should adopt the law immediately.
Reforms needed by state
- Two areas that need urgent reform in all States are provision of reliable public transport and strong law enforcement.
- Even in big cities with organised bus, rail and feeder networks, these systems are not reliable at night. The new sharing economy has been filling the gap with app-based commercial taxi services operating 24×7, but a decision to promote retail services round-the-clock requires a good, affordable public transport backbone with security arrangements to ensure safe travel.
- One other aspect of reform to support employees of shops and establishments is health care. It should be mandatory for employers to cover their medical expenses through standalone or group insurance policies, since private health insurance is generally unaffordable to such workers.
[4]Sri Lanka must stay the course
Issue
- The frequent human rights updates in Geneva provide an occasion for the world to discuss Sri Lanka’s post-war situation, especially the progress made in investigating the excesses during the last phase of the civil war that ended in 2009.
How Sri Lanka saw this
- Until last year, Sri Lanka considered the process hostile and inimical to its interests.
- Now, with a new government in Colombo, there has been constructive engagement with the international community and Sri Lanka says it is looking for ways to implement a unanimous resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in October 2015.
UN Human Rights Council and Sri lanka
- The UNHRC has tried to nudge Sri Lanka towards rebuilding civilian lives through resettlement, reducing the military presence in the north and east, and delivering accountability for past crimes through a credible judicial process with international participation.
- However, the update presented by High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein (Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein is the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) in Geneva does not present an encouraging picture.
- He expressed concern about the “heavy military presence” in Tamil areas, noting that the process of the military returning land to its civilian owners has been tardy. There is a lack of urgency in coming up with tangible measures to build confidence among minorities and victims of human rights violations.
What Sri Lankan Government is doing
- Sri Lanka has informed the ongoing session in Geneva that the government has instructed the military to release by 2018 all civilian land it holds.
- Government has promised that the proposed judicial mechanism will inspire confidence among the stakeholders, but has drawn attention to the “divergent views” in the country on it, perhaps a hint of further delay.
GS PAPER 3
[1]India abstains on vote for LGBT rights at U.N.
News
- India abstained during a voting at the UNHRC to set up the office of Independent Expert to end discrimination against LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual) persons.
Why India took this stand?
- The government has taken this stand as it has taken into account that the issue of LGBT rights in India is a matter being considered by the Supreme Court under a batch of curative petition.
- And the Supreme Court is yet to “pronounce” on the issue of rights of LGBT persons.
[2]In distress
Issue
- Agricultural distress, particularly in Punjab.
Key Points:-
- India’s agriculture has been under increasing stress over the past two years, due not only to back-to-back droughts but also global factors.
- Rise in farmer suicides reflects extreme outcome of this agrarian stress.
- Falling lease rentals on farmland in Punjab, show how the rural ecosystem is being more adversely affected by market forces than its urban counterpart.
- Farmers in Majha region of Punjab have been at the receiving end of a fall in India’s agricultural exports because of the crash in global commodity prices.
- As such, not only have the yields of the Basmati crop fallen in the last two years, the price realisation has also collapsed.
- In Malwa, Punjab’s main agricultural heartland, the fall in lease rates has been due to intrinsically agrarian reasons: The Bt cotton crop widely cultivated in this belt suffered heavy losses due to whitefly infestation.
Implications of these falling rentals
- Farmers will be reluctant to take risks.
- This has made farmers reverting to the safe choice of growing non-Basmati rice, where price realisations are assured due to the government’s minimum support price guarantee.
- Because of this, there will be a certain decline in crop diversification.
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