National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 30th August 2019

by Mentors4ias · August 30, 2019

North East Rural Livelihood Project

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) has empowered the poor and improved the lives of people in about 3,00,000 rural households in Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.

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Launched in 2012, the NERLP is a World Bank aided, multi-state project under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
The project has been implemented in 11 districts of Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim with an aim to improve rural livelihoods especially that of women, unemployed youth and the most disadvantaged, in the four North Eastern States.
There are four components to the Project: Social empowerment,Economic empowerment, Partnership development, Project management

The specific project objectives are to :

Create sustainable community institutions around women Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Youth Groups of men and women (YG) and Community Development Groups (CDG).
Build capacity of community institutions for self governance, bottom up planning, democratic functioning with transparency and accountability.
Increase economic and livelihood opportunities.
Develop partnership of community institutions for natural resource management, microfinance, market linkages, and sectoral economic services.
The project also works in partnerships with expert organizations to focus on cluster development through value chain.

Outcomes:

It has impacted the lives of about 18 lakh population, with creation of common economic assets (including rural infrastructure) worth around total Rs. 136 crores.
Under the project, 10,462 boys and girls have been trained in various job skills and 5,494 of them are employed as of now.
Various activities have been undertaken by CDGs such as reclamation of wasteland, construction of check-dams, plantation, horticulture projects etc.
Livelihood activities pursued by SHG members have increased considerably, thus increasing family incomes.
Women have become more knowledgeable and expressive and display better leadership qualities.

Source: PIB

Dindigul Lock and Kandangi Saree

Topic: Intellectual Property Rights

In News: The Geographical Indications Registry has granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag to two products from Tamil Nadu: Dindigul lock and Kandangi saree. A GI Tag indicates that the product originates from a definite territory in India and has unique characteristics or qualities.

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The Dindigul locks are known throughout the world for their superior quality and durability, so much so that even the city (Dindigul) is called Lock City.
The Kandangi sarees are manufactured in the entire Karaikudi taluk in Sivaganga district.
Worn in summer, these are characterised by large contrast borders.

Source: The Hindu

Angikaar Campaign and Cource for Vulnerability Atlas of India

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched two initiatives: Angikaar, a campaign for behavioural change and an e-Course on ‘Vulnerability Atlas of India’.

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Campaign Angikaar: It has been launched for social behaviour change, focusing on issues such as water & energy conservation, waste management, health, tree plantation, sanitation and hygiene for beneficiaries of completed houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – PMAY (U).
The campaign will converge with schemes and missions of other Ministries dealing with the stated subjects.
The convergence would especially focus on Ujjwala for gas connection and Ayushman Bharat for health insurance to the beneficiaries of PMAY (U).
E-course on Vulnerability Atlas: It is a unique course that offers awareness and understanding about natural hazards, helps identify regions with high vulnerability with respect to various hazards and specifies district-wise level of damage risks to the existing housing stock.
The e-course will be a tool for effective & efficient disaster mitigation & management in the field of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Urban & Regional Planning, Housing & Infrastructure Planning, Construction Engineering & Management and Building & Materials Research.

Source: PIB

CAMPA

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Union Environment Ministry has transferred ₹47,436 crore to 27 States for afforestation. The funds are long-pending dues, part of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF),that has been collected for nearly a decade as environmental compensation from industry.

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The CAF Act was passed by the centre in 2016 and the related rules were notified in 2018.
The CAF Act was enacted to manage the funds collected for compensatory afforestation which till then was managed by ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
Compensatory afforestation means that every time forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes such as mining or industry, the user agency pays for planting forests over an equal area of non-forest land, or when such land is not available, twice the area of degraded forest land.
As per the rules, 90% of the CAF money is to be given to the states while 10% is to be retained by the Centre.
The funds can be used for treatment of catchment areas, assisted natural generation, forest management, wildlife protection and management, relocation of villages from protected areas, managing human-wildlife conflicts, training and awareness generation, supply of wood saving devices and allied activities.

Concerns with CAMPA:

Under Utilisation: In 2002, the Supreme Court had observed that collected funds for afforestation were under-utilised by the states and it ordered for centrally pooling of funds under ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund.
Finding Out Land for Afforestation: The law says that land selected for afforestation should preferably be contiguous to the forest being diverted so that it is easier for forest officials to manage it. But if no suitable non-forest land is found, degraded forests can be chosen for afforestation. In several states like Chattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand where the intensity of mining is very high, to find the non-forest land for afforestation to compensate the loss of forest is a big task.
Choice of Plant Specie: Moreover, at several places, the loss of natural species is compensated with plantation of non-native species in the name of the artificial plantation. It serves as a threat to even the existing ecosystem.

Way Forward:

There should be Standard Operating Procedure to follow for the compensatory Afforestation to enable the accountability of the states.
The central government should adopt the concept of outcome budgeting for allocation of funds to the state government in which funding will be done on installment basis by checking the outcome of previous funds.
The selection of plants should be suiting to the environment.
There should be technology enabled solutions for finding out land for the purpose.
The priority should be given to restoring the existing forests rather than creating new ones.

Source: PIB and Down To Earth

Eastern Economic Forum (EEF)

Topic: Important International Groupings

In News: Mr. Modi has been invited by Mr. Putin as the chief guest of the EEF to be held in Vladivostok (in Russia’s Far East) on September 5.

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EEF is an international forum held each year, which was established by decree of the President Putin in 2015 to support the economic development of Russia’s Far East .
The Russian Far East comprises the eastern Russian territory between Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean. This region bordering China is rich in mineral resources like diamonds, borax materials, gold, tungsten, fish and seafood
In EEF, India and Russia are likely to seal a military logistics support agreement, the Agreement on Reciprocal Logistics Support (ARLS),
ARLS will facilitate access to each other’s’ military facilities for exchange of fuel and provisions on mutual agreement, simplifying logistical support and increasing operational turnaround.
A pact may be signed where Russia will construct six nuclear power plants in India, apart from the six being set up in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu.

Source: The Hindu

The Law Commission of India

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: The government is yet to take a call on reconstituting the Law Commission. The last commission had gone out of office a year. The Law Commission of India, the oldest amongst the national-level bodies remains an odd one even in its 65th year.

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Law Commission of India is an executive body established by an order of the Government of India. Its major function is to work for legal reform. Its membership primarily comprises legal experts, who are entrusted a mandate by the Government. The Commission is established for a fixed tenure and works as an advisory body to the Ministry of Law and Justice.
In the eighth year of Independence, the Government of India decided to revive the British legacy of appointing law commissions to study, research and report on legal matters specified in their terms of reference.
The first commission was set up in 1955.
Reports of the commission are generally written individually by members including the chairman and placed before the full commission for discussion and adoption.

Concerns:

Unlike its sister organisations, established much later, it has no fixed composition, no defined eligibility criteria for its chair and members, and no set functions everything rests on the government’s will.
The terms of reference are specified afresh each time it is reconstituted as if it were an ad hoc body.
Three of the other national commissions those for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, are now regulated by the Constitution and there is a parliamentary charter for each of the national commissions for human rights, minorities, women, children and safai karmcharis.
Though the commission’s job requires research-oriented juristic learning, which cannot essentially be the outcome of judicial experience, the commission has been a haven for retired judges.
Members of the commission are also generally drawn from the judiciary, and the member-secretary is always from the bureaucracy.

Way forward:

If the commission has to work without regard for extra-legal and political considerations it must have a governing statute defining its powers and responsibilities, and limitations.
Before constituting the 22nd Law Commission the institution should be placed under a proper parliamentary charter.
The government should determine by legislation, the composition, tenure, functions and work procedure of the Law Commission. It should be a predominantly jurists’ commission, not a retired judges’ collective with a sprinkling of legal scholarship and jurisprudential expertise.

Model Mains Question: Comment on Law Commission of India.

Source: The Hindu

A 3.8m-year-Old Skull was Discovered in Northern Ethiopia

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Recently, a remarkably complete adult male skull called for short, was found in Ethiopia.

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It is being dubbed as the face of the oldest species (ever known yet) that is part of the human evolutionary tree.
It is the oldest-known member of the Australopithecus group. Australopithecine, a pivotal group of early human ancestors, lived between 1.5 and 4 million years ago.
It dates back to a time when our ancestors were emerging from the trees to walk on two legs but still had distinctly ape-like protruding faces, powerful jaws and small brains.
MRD’s species, which was bipedal but may also have been able to move around in trees, was much smaller than modern humans.
This species is considered the direct ancestor of Australopithecus afarensis, the species are best known from the famous partial skeleton nicknamed Lucy unearthed in 1974.
Our species, Homo sapiens, appeared roughly 300,000 years ago in Africa.