National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 21st August 2019

RERA

Topic: Governance

In News: The Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs said that RERA has seen a resounding success, RERA is here to stay & has begun to show effect.

More on the Topic:

• The landmark legislation Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), marking the beginning of a new era in the Indian real estate sector and a step towards reforming the real estate sector in India, encouraging greater transparency, citizen centricity, accountability and financial discipline.

Key provisions:

• The core objective of this transformative legislation is to ensure regulation and promotion of real estate sector in an efficient and transparent manner and to protect the interest of home buyers.
• Establishment of Real Estate Regulatory Authority: The Authority will enforce the provisions of the Act. It will act as the nodal agency to co-ordinate efforts regarding development of the real estate sector and to render necessary advice to the appropriate Government to ensure the growth and promotion of a transparent, efficient and competitive real estate sector.
• It makes it mandatory for all builders – developing a project where the land exceeds 500 square metre – to register with RERA before launching or even advertising their project.
• The promoter of a real estate development firm has to maintain a separate escrow account for each of their projects. A minimum 70% of the money from investors and buyers will have to be deposited. This money can only be used for the construction of the project and the cost borne towards the land.
• RERA requires builders to submit the original approved plans for their ongoing projects and the alterations that they made later. They also have to furnish details of revenue collected from allottees, how the funds were utilised, the timeline for construction, completion, and delivery that will need to be certified by an Engineer/Architect/practicing Chartered Accountant.
• Rights and Duties of Allottees: Right to obtain stage-wise time schedule of project,Claim possession as per promoter declaration,Obtain refund with interest for default by the promoter,Allottees to make payments and fulfill responsibilities as per
• Real Estate Appellate Tribunal: It is constituted to hear appeals from the orders of the Authority and the adjudicating officer. The Appellate Tribunal is to be headed by a sitting or retired Judge of the High Court with one judicial and one administrative/technical member
• Punitive Provisions: Punitive provisions including de-registration of the project and penalties in case of contravention of the provisions of the Act or the orders of the Authority or the Tribunal

Importance:

• With respect to Consumers: RERA along with the Rules would ensure timely completion of projects. This is helping to achieve the vision “HOUSING FOR ALL”. It prevents diversion of funds and protects the buyers’ interests, The Act helps to curb black money. It makes operations transparent – project information will be available – promoting informed choice for buyers. The Disclosure of ‘Carpet Area’ for sale curbs the unfair trade practices, Provision of equal rate of interest to be paid by the promoters and buyers, in case of default or delays thus brining equity in operations.
• With respect to Developers: Channelize investment into the sector, Regulatory mechanism will increase the confidence of the financial institutions in real estate sector,Proper regulatory mechanism of the Act will increase foreign investment (FDI, ECB) in the real estate sector.

Source: PIB

Draft on National Resource Efficiency Policy 2019

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released a draft on National Resource Efficiency Policy (NREP) 2019. It aims to streamline the efficient use of the resources with minimum negative impact on environment. Comments and suggestions on the draft NREP will be accepted till August 24, 2019.

More on the Topic:

• Vision: NREP envisions a future with environmentally sustainable and equitable economic growth, resource security, healthy environment (air, water and land), and restored ecosystems with rich ecology and biodiversity.

The guiding principles of the policy are:

• Reduction in primary resource consumption to ‘sustainable’ levels, in keeping with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and staying within the planetary boundaries, Creation of higher value with less material through resource efficient and circular approaches, Waste minimization, Material security and Creation of employment opportunities and business models beneficial to the cause of environment protection and restoration.
• National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA): National Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA) will be constituted under the provisions of Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It will be mandated to drive the agenda of resource efficiency across the country. It will have a core working group housed in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and a members group with representations from different ministries, state/union territory, and other stakeholders. It will be supported by an Inter-Ministerial National Resource Advisory Efficiency Board(NREAB) to guide on the aspects critical to its implementation.

The functions of NREA are:

• Develop and implement resource efficient strategies for material recycling, reuse and land-filling targets for various sectors.
• Set standards for reuse of secondary raw materials to ensure quality.
• Maintain a database of material use and waste generated, recycled and land filled, across various sectors and different regions and monitor the implementation.

Features of NREP:

• It plans to offer tax benefits on recycled materials, green loans to small and medium Enterprises (SMEs) and soft loans to construct waste disposal facilities, apart from setting up Material Recovery Facilities (MRF).
• Manufacturers and service providers would also be required to use more recycled or renewable materials and awareness would be created among consumers to indicate the shift.
• Idea of the national policy is to drive the country towards circular economy through efficient use of available material resources, based on principle of 6R and ‘green public procurement’.
• The 6R stands for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Redesign, Re-manufacture and Refurbish. Green public procurement is to procure products with lower environmental footprints such as secondary raw materials and locally sourced materials.
• It also pitches for moving towards ‘zero landfill’ approach in the country, where ‘landfill taxes’ and ‘high tipping fees’ for bulk generators of waste will be imposed so that they can move towards optimal use of materials and better waste management.

Resource Efficiency:

• India as a signatory to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) is committed to provide for sustained economic growth along with sustainable use of natural resources and safeguarding the environment.
• Resource efficiency has a vital role towards mitigation of climate change, land degradation and biodiversity loss. Resource efficiency means to create more output as products/services using less inputs. It reduces waste, drives greater resource productivity, delivers a more competitive economy, addresses emerging resource security/scarcity issues, and helps reduce the associated environmental impacts.

Source: Hindu, Wikipedia

Household Air Pollution

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: A study published by the Collaborative Clean Air Policy Centre states that the single greatest contributor to air pollution in India is the burning of solid fuels in households.

More on the Topic:

• Firewood, animal dung, and agricultural waste are some of the fuels commonly used in households across India as a means of generating energy for cooking, light, and heating, among other things. One of the many pollutants produced on the burning of such solid fuels is fine particulate matter.
• Fine particulate matter refers to particles or droplets with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres (0.000001 metres) or less, and is also known as PM2.5. Such particles can travel deep into the respiratory system, and exposure to them can cause several adverse health effects, both short-term and long-term, including respiratory problems and heart disease.

What is Household Air Pollution and how dangerous is it?

• The emissions of PM2.5 generated by the burning of solid fuels in households is termed Household Air Pollution (HAP).
• The study claims that approximately 800,000 premature deaths occur in India every year as a result of exposure to HAP indoors. Moreover, the HAP produced indoors travels outdoors, and becomes a contributor to ambient air pollution, with around 300,000 more premature deaths per year attributable to exposure to outdoor HAP.
• The full impact of HAP is thus composed of the exposures to HAP 1) inside and around a given house and 2) from the household contribution to ambient air pollution.

The Depth of the Problem:

• The median estimate for the contribution of HAP is, according to the study, around 30%, far greater than that of industries (2%-10%), power plants (8%-15%), and transportation (8%-11%). The contribution of HAP to premature mortality is, as per the median across all studies, 58% higher than premature mortality due to coal use, 303% higher than that due to open burning, and 1,056% higher than that due to transportation.

How many people use solid fuels in India?

• In states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Assam, around 72.1% of the population regularly uses solid fuels, and the median annual ambient is a level that is rated “unhealthy” as per the Air Quality Index, and can lead to serious health concerns with prolonged exposure.

What are the study’s recommendations?

• The study asserts that immediate action is required to rectify the harm caused by HAP. It points to initiatives undertaken by the government of India to promote LPG for use in households as opposed to the traditionally used solid fuels, such as the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. However, the study claims that more effort is required, in particular, increasing the use of electricity as a substitute in these scenarios, and ensuring that the use of LPG is sustained.

About PMUY:

• It aims to provide LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) connections to poor households.Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a below poverty line family identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) is given a deposit-free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.
• The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Source: Indian Express, Wikipedia

Mobile Metallic Ramp to Indian Army

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over the design of Mobile Metallic Ramp (MMR) to the Indian Army.

More on the Topic:

• With load bearing capacity of 70 metric ton (MT),the MMRhas been designed and developed by DRDO’s premier research laboratory, Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES) on the requirements projected by Army for reducing the Strategic Mobility time of mobilizing Armoured Fighting Vehicles.
• The ramp will provide the strategic mobility for Armoured and Mechanized units and formations of the Army. It is portable, modular in design, which can be easily assembled or disassembled.

Source: PIB

Linking Aadhaar to social media: SC to hear Facebook plea

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: Underscoring the need to strike a balance between privacy and security, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea by Facebook to transfer to the apex court four petitions filed in the High Courts of Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh seeking the “linking of Aadhaar information to social media accounts”.

Views Supporting Linking Aadhaar to Social Media:

• Law and order concerns: There are threats like the Blue Whale challenge which took number of lives through online platform.It’s source had still not established.
• Fake News: There were many instances of mob lynching associated with false news spread through social media platforms.
• Defamation and Threats: It has become a common thing to use social media to threatening/defaming people/organisations who has difference of opinion on issues. Ex: Threats to people who opinioned India is becoming intolerant.
• Extremist propaganda: Social media is used as a mean to recruit youngsters and spread the propaganda of Terrorist and other extremist organisations.
• Child pornographic contents: There is a wide circulation of child porno graphic content using social media platforms.
• To solve and mitigate the above mentioned crimes there is a need to know the sources of the messages. At present the social media platforms are not co-operating with the concerned authorities citing the reason of user privacy.

Views Against Linking Aadhar to Social Media:

• It beaches the fundamental right of Right to privacy under Article 21.
• There is chances that state may misuse the provision for spying in to the rivals accounts.
• The most of the social media are global platform and any order would have international ramifications.

Conclusion:

• There is a conflict between privacy and how the government should run the country when crimes are committed.
• There has to be a balance regarding Under what condition information can be given and to whom.
• There is a need to discuss the issues with technical experts and looking in to the practices followed by other countries as well.

Source: Hindu and Wikipedia

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS) recently made the first precise measurements of an interplanetary shock using high-resolution instruments. These interplanetary shocks provide ideal test beds for learning about larger universal phenomena.

More on the Topic:

• NASA’s MMS investigates how the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one to the other in a process that is important at the Sun, other planets, and everywhere in the universe, known as magnetic reconnection.
• Reconnection limits the performance of fusion reactors and is the final governor of geospace weather that affects modern technological systems such as telecommunications networks, GPS navigation, and electrical power grids.

Mission Objectives:

• By observing magnetic reconnection in nature, MMS provides access to predictive knowledge of a universal process that is the final governor of space weather, affecting modern technological systems such as communications networks, GPS navigation, and electrical power grids.
• MMS will establish knowledge, methods and technologies applicable to future space weather missions and the future growth and development of space weather forecasting.
• MMS sensors will measure charged particle velocities, as well as electric and magnetic fields, with unprecedented (milliseconds) time resolution and accuracy needed to capture the elusively thin and fast-moving electron diffusion region.

Source: Down To Earth