National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 25th October 2019

Kartarpur Corridor

Topic: India and neighborhood relations

In News: India and Pakistan signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur corridor that will facilitate pilgrims from India to visit the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.

More on the Topic:

• The agreement is valid initially for five years. India will hand over the list of pilgrims to Pakistan 10 days in advance and those granted permission to go may be informed only four days before the proposed date of travel.

About Kartarpur Sahib Corridor:

• The corridor is being built to connect Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, to commemorate Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary celebrations on November 12(2019).
• Gurudwara Darbar Sahib is 16th century Gurdwara located on the banks of the river Ravi in the of Punjab province of Pakistan.
• It is located about 3 to 4km from Indo-Pak border in Pakistan in Punjab. This gurudwara was established by the first Sikh Guru in 1522.
• It is important for Sikhs as Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism and its first guru had assembled Sikh community and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.

Source: Hindu

Polio

Topic: Health

In News: In an announcement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on World Polio Day (October 24), an independent commission of experts declared that wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) has been eradicated worldwide.

More on the Topic:

• This follows the eradication of smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2.
• There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains: wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), wild poliovirus type 2 (WPV2) and wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3).
• Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death. But there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains three separate viruses that must each be eradicated individually.
• Poliovirus type 1 virus remains in circulation in just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Polio and India:

• The last reported cases of wild polio in India were in West Bengal and Gujarat in January 2011. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared India a polio free country in March 2014. Since no cases of wild polio been reported in for five years.

Source: Hindu

Government e Marketplace (GeM)

Topic: Government Initiatives

In News: The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Federal Bank to offer various services.

More on the Topic:

• The MoU will facilitate a cashless, paperless and transparent payment system on the portal and would create an efficient procurement system for government entities.
• GeM is a state-of-the-art national public procurement platform of Ministry of Commerce and Industries, that has used technology to remove entry barriers for bonafide sellers and has created a vibrant e-marketplace with a wide range of goods and services.

Source: PIB

Web content regulation

Topic: Governance

In News: The Supreme Court transferred to itself all cases pending before HCs relating to web content regulation. The Centre informed the Court that the entire process of finalising the laws on regulating social media will be completed by January 2020.

More on the Topic:

• There is need for regulating web contents due to the following reasons,
• There is an enormous rise in the number of people using the Internet and social media.
• There is also an exponential rise in hate speech, fake news, anti-national activities, defamatory postings, and other unlawful activities using Internet/social media platforms.
• The Internet has emerged as a potent tool to cause unimaginable disruption to the democratic polity.
• The Centre took note of this growing threat by social media platforms to individual rights and nation’s integrity, sovereignty, and security.
• Internet service providers also expressed concerns over unregulated functioning of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Challenges in framing Rules:

• The Centre’s new draft of Intermediary Guidelines, originally issued in 2011, was made public last year, and comments invited from all sections. [Internet intermediary refers to a company that facilitates the use of the Internet – Internet service providers (ISPs), search engines, social media platforms.]
• The government will have to collate and analyse the suggestions and comments received.
• The provisions on the mandatory disclosure of “originators” of offending messages are a source of worry to social media platforms that use end-to-end encryption.
• Whether it is technologically feasible for the platforms to provide back-door access to law enforcement is uncertain.
• Besides, balancing between requiring access to the originators of encrypted content and respecting individual privacy will be a huge challenge.
• It is also a unique opportunity to test the impact of the S. Puttaswamy verdict (2017) on the proposed legal framework. The judgment had declared privacy as a fundamental right.
• Other requirements such as proactive removal of offending content through automated tools may have an impact on free speech and expression.

Source: Hindu

MSMEs

Topic: Economy

In News: The government, reportedly, will soon change the way it defines the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

More on the Topic:

• The change in definition would require an amendment to the MSME Development Act.
• In 2018, the Union Cabinet had approved amendments to the MSMED Act.
• It had decided to shift from a criterion of classifying MSMEs based on ‘investment in plant and machinery’ to a criterion based on ‘annual turnover’.

Significance of MSME Sector:

• According to an RBI report, the MSMEs are amongst the strongest drivers of economic development, innovation and employment.
• Since 2000-01, MSME sector growth has almost every year outstripped overall industrial growth in the country.
• The sector contributes in a significant way to the growth of the Indian economy with a vast network of about 38 million enterprises.
• It contributes about 45% to manufacturing output, more than 40% to exports, over 28% to the GDP.
• Importantly, it creates employment for about 111 million people.
• In terms of volume, this stands next to the agricultural sector.
• One of the key attractions of this sector is the huge employment generation potential at relatively lower capital investment.

How are MSMEs defined at Present?

• The RBI, in its report, had noted that at present the sector is exceedingly heterogeneous. This is in terms of size of the enterprises and variety of products and services, and levels of technology employed.
• As is known, there has been no uniformity over the years about the definition of what exactly one means by “small scale industries” in India.
• g. under the Industrial Development and Regulation (IDR) Act, 1951, small industries were conceived in terms of “number of employees”
• But it was found that obtaining reliable data on the number of employees was difficult.
• At present, the classification of MSMEs is done based on investment in accordance with the provision of Section 7 of the MSMED Act, 2006.

Significance of New Definition:

• Definitions based on investment limits in plant and machinery/ equipment were decided when the Act was formulated in 2006.
• But that does not reflect the current increase in price index of plant and machinery/equipment.
• Moreover, given their small scale of operations and informal organisation, MSMEs do not always maintain proper books of accounts. This essentially results in their not being classified as MSMEs.
• The change of definition is likely to address the above drawbacks and improve the ease of doing business for MSMEs.
• In the process, it would make it easier for them to pay taxes, attract investments and create more jobs.

Source: Indian Express

Snow Leopard Population Assessment

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Union Environment Ministry launched the First National Protocol on Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India.

More on the Topic:

• It was launched in the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Program on International Snow Leopard Day.
• It is the first of its kind, developed in association with the Snow Leopard States/UTs – Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Snow Leopard is found in 12 countries – India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Mongolia, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
• It is listed as a ‘vulnerable’ category in the Red List of IUCN.

About GSLEP:

• It is the world’s first initiative that aims to conserve high mountain ecosystems by protecting snow leopard in the region.
• It unites all 12 range country governments, non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, local communities, private sector.
• Arunachal Pradesh is one of the 22 priority landscapes of the GSLEP.
• In 2004, WWF-India introduced the concept of Community Conserved Area (CCA) in the State to empower local communities to become active decision-makers and implement conservation initiatives.
• This year, the GSLEP Program is being organised by the Union Environment Ministry at New Delhi.
• The Steering Committee meeting of GSLEP chaired by Nepal and Co-Chaired by Kyrgyzstan.

Source: Hindu

Eastern Zonal Council

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: The 11th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council was held at Patna.

More on the Topic:

• The five Zonal Councils (Northern, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Central Zonal Councils) were set up under the State’s Reorganization Act, 1956.
• The 7 North Eastern States and Sikkim are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
• Union Home Minister is the Chairman of these councils.
• The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• Members- Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
• It is to foster Inter-State co-operation and co-ordination among the States.
• The Zonal Councils are mandated to discuss and make recommendations on any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning, border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-State transport etc.

Model Mains Question: Comment on the role of zonal councils in enhancing cooperative federalism.

Source: PIB