National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 15th May 2019

by Mentors4ias · May 15, 2019

Coatal Zone Management

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Unbridled construction activities in eco-sensitive areas with natural water flow have a devastating effect and lead to natural calamities like those seen in the recent floods in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court warned.

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Expert opinions suggest that the devastated floods faced by Uttarakhand in recent years and Tamil Nadu this year are immediate result of uncontrolled construction activities on river shores and unscrupulous trespass into the natural path of backwaters.
The observations are part of its direction to the authorities in Kerala to demolish certain apartment blocks situated in ecologically sensitive areas. The court declared the permission given by the panchayat authorities for their construction as illegal and void.
The Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) has been prepared to check these types of activities and construction activities of all types in the notified areas.
Under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the authority is empowered to deal with the environmental issues relating to the notified Coastal Regulations Zones.
Construction activities in the notified CRZ areas can be permitted only in consultation with and concurrence of the authority.
It is the binding duty of the local self-governments, the competent authority issuing building permits to forward application for building permission to the authority along with the relevant records.

About Coastal Regulation Zone Rules:

CRZ Rules govern human and industrial activity close to the coastline, in order to protect the fragile ecosystems near the sea.
The Rules, mandated under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, were first framed in 1991.
They sought to restrict certain kinds of activities, like large constructions, setting up of new industries, storage or disposal of hazardous material, mining, or reclamation and bunding, within a certain distance from the coastline.
In all CRZ Rules, the regulation zone has been defined as the area up to 500 m from the high-tide line.
Several kinds of restrictions apply, depending on criteria such as the population of the area, the ecological sensitivity, the distance from the shore, and whether the area had been designated as a natural park or wildlife zone.

Source: The Hindu

CAG’s duties

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News:The Supreme Court’s observations in connection with the Rafale fighter aircraft deal by citing the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG’s) report on redacted pricing, and subsequent media reports and the controversy over “stolen files” brought back into the spotlight the role of the supreme audit institution of India.

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The CAG is mandated to audit all receipts and expenditures of the three-tier governments in India and report to the legislature judiciously, independently, objectively in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, without fear and favour.
He conducts financial compliance and performance audits and submits his reports to the legislature to help people’s representatives in enforcing legislative oversight and public accountability of the executive.
Legislative committees such as the Public Accounts Committee and Committee on Public Undertakings examine the CAG’s selected reports.

About Redacted Pricing:

“Redaction” is the striking out of specific information from a record. It is usually shown by blacking out the information in the record.

Source: The Hindu

Haemophilia A

Topic: Health related issues

In News: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s National Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai, has developed a cost-effective Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostic test for severe Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand Disease (VWD), a genetic disorder caused by missing or defective Von Willebrand factor (VWF), a clotting protein.

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This is the first in the world POC test for specific diagnosis of any common bleeding disorder. Working cost of these kits is less than Rs. 50 in comparison to existing conventional test for the diseases that costs around Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 1,0000.
The diagnosis can be done within 30 minutes of blood sample collection.

About Heampphilia A and Von Willebrand disease:

Haemophilia A (or hemophilia A) is a genetic deficiency in clotting factor VIII, which causes increased bleeding and usually affects males. In the majority of cases it is inherited as an X-linked recessive trait, though there are cases which arise from spontaneous mutations.
Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a genetic disorder caused by missing or defective von Willebrand factor (VWF), a clotting protein. VWF binds factor VIII, a key clotting protein, and platelets in blood vessel walls, which help form a platelet plug during the clotting process.

Source: The Hindu

Successful flight test of ABHYAS

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: India successfully conducted the flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from a test range in Odisha.

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The trial, carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore, was tracked by various radars and electro-optic systems.
It proved its performance in a fully autonomous way point navigation mode.
The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and it uses indigenously developed MEMS based navigation system.

Source: Livemint

Centre extends ban on LTTE for 5 years

Topic: Internal Security

In News: The Home Ministry today issued a fresh notification extending ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE in India for a further period of five years.

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Government of India under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 declares the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as an Unlawful Association.
LTTE was banned in India after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967:

This law is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
Its main objective is to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
The Act makes it a crime to support any secessionist movement or to support claims by a foreign power to what India claims as its territory.
The UAPA, framed in 1967, has been amended twice since: first in 2008 and then in 2012.

Concerns Regarding the Act:

The Act introduces a vague definition of terrorism to encompass a wide range of non-violent political activity, including political protest.
It empowers the government to declare an organisation as ‘terrorist’ and ban it. Mere membership of such a proscribed organisation itself becomes a criminal offence.
It allows detention without a chargesheet for up to 180 days and police custody can be up to 30 days.
It creates a strong presumption against bail and anticipatory bail is out of the question. It creates a presumption of guilt for terrorism offences merely based on the evidence allegedly seized.
It authorises the creation of special courts, with wide discretion to hold in-camera proceedings (closed-door hearings) and use secret witnesses but contains no sunset clause and provisions for mandatory periodic review.

Source: All India Radio

Fund for rural agricultural start-ups

Topic: Economy

In News: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Monday announced a Rs 700-crore venture capital fund for equity investments in agriculture and rural-focused startups.

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NABARD has been contributing to other funds till now and this is the first time that the rural development bank has launched a fund of its own.
The fund has been launched by Nabventures, a subsidiary of NABARD, and has a proposed corpus of Rs 500 crore with an option to retain over-subscriptions of Rs 200 crore, called as the greenshoe option.
NABARD has given an anchor commitment for the fund, which will be investing across startups engaged in agriculture, food and rural development space.
The fund will have a high impact as it will provide a boost to investment ecosystem in the core areas of agriculture, food and improvement of rural livelihoods.

About NABARD:

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is an apex development financial institution in India, headquartered at Mumbai with regional offices all over India.
The Bank has been entrusted with “matters concerning policy, planning and operations in the field of credit for agriculture and other economic activities in rural areas in India”. NABARD is active in developing financial inclusion policy.
It was established based on the recommendations of the Committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the chairmanship of Shri B. shivaraman.
It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of Reserve Bank of India, and Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently sold its entire stakes in the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) and National Housing Bank.
The decision to divest its entire stake was taken based on the recommendations of the second Narasimham Committee. The government now holds a 100 per cent stake in both NHB and NABARD.