National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 5th September 2019

by Mentors4ias · September 5, 2019

Ban on Single-Use Plastics

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Union government in a bid to free India of single-use plastics by 2022, has laid out a multi-ministerial plan to discourage the use of single-use plastics across the country.

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The nationwide ban on plastic bags, cups, plates, small bottles, straws and certain types of sachets is set to begin from October 2 to eliminate single-use plastics from cities and villages that rank among the world’s most polluted.
The ban will be comprehensive and will cover every sector from manufacturing to the usage and import of such items.
The Nodal Ministry for the scheme is the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) ensured with the task of: Enforcing the ban on single-use plastics, &Finalizing the pending policy for Extended Producer Responsibility (a policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility financially and/or physically for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products) for milk products.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will ensure that the plastic waste is collected and transported responsibly along National Highways. The collected plastic waste will be used for road construction.Roads constructed using water plastic are durable against extreme weather conditions and are also cost-effective.
The Department of Industrial Promotion (Ministry of Commerce & Industry) will ensure that all cement factories use plastic as fuel.
The Ministry of Railways will organize massive shramdaans (voluntary work) on October 2 for the collection of plastic waste at railway stations and along the rail tracks. It will also run advertising radio spots on all trains.
Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry has decided to put-forth a blanket ban on all types of single-use plastic that is used in the ministry & the PSUs including Food Corporation of India (FCI).
Ministry of Tourism is set to ensure & create awareness on single-use plastic at iconic tourist spots.
Ministry of Textiles has pushed for greater production of jute bags to replace plastic bags.

Menace of Single Use Plastics:

Petroleum-based plastic is not biodegradable and usually goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.
In the process of breaking down, it releases toxic chemicals (additives that were used to shape and harden the plastic) which make their way into our food and water supply.

Source: The Hindu

Global Liveability Index

Topic: Important Indices

In News: In India, New Delhi and Mumbai rank 118th and 119th out of 140 cities according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2019 released recently.

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The survey ranks countries across indicators including stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure, culture and environment.
Vienna in Austria, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia make the top three cities while Damascus in Syria, Lagos in Nigeria and Dhaka in Bangladesh rank in the bottom.
The index assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable.
The decline in Mumbai’s rank was mainly due to a downgrade in its culture score.
New Delhi has fallen in the index because of downgrades to its culture and environment score as well as fall in the stability score owing to rising crime rates.
Asian cities overall have scored slightly below the global average.
Among the BRICS countries, Suzhou from China was ranked highest at 75, while India’s capital New Delhi was ranked lowest at 118th.

Source: Live Mint

Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index

Topic: Important Indices

In News: India has moved up six places to rank 34th on the World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019, released by the World Economic Forum.

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India was ranked 40th in 2018.
Spain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States are the world’s most travel-ready nations.
Japan remains Asia’s most competitive travel and tourism economy, ranking 4th globally.
China is the largest travel and tourism economy in Asia-Pacific and 13th most competitive globally.
Published biennially, Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report and Index benchmarks the Travel & Tourism (T&T) competitiveness of 140 economies.
The 140 economies are ranked in four sub-indexes: Enabling environment,Travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions, Infrastructure, and Natural and cultural resources.

Source: Business Standard

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Topic: International Groupings/ Health

In News: India has announced a contribution of 22 million US Dollars to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFTAM) for the 6th replenishment cycle, an increase of 10% over the amount contributed by us in the 5th cycle.

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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (or simply the Global Fund) is an international financing organization.
It aims to “attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to support attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations.”
Founded in 2002, the Global Fund is a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by the diseases.
The organization maintains its secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.
In January 2009, the organization became an administratively autonomous organization, terminating its administrative services agreement with the World Health Organization.

Source: The Hindu

Poshan Maah (National Nutrition Month)

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The Government is celebrating the month of September as the National Nutrition Month under the Poshan Abhiyan.

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The primary objective is to take the messages of POSHAN/nutrition to the grass root level.
The programme- an initiative of WCD Ministry and NITI Aayog is supported by 18 line Ministries/Departments/Government Organizations.
It seeks to synergise all efforts by leveraging technology and intends to take nutrition awareness to the level of Jan Andolan or People’s Movement.
The programme focuses on 8 themes – Antenatal Care, Optimal Breastfeeding (Early & Exclusive), Complementary Feeding, Anemia, Growth Monitoring, Girls-education, diet, right age of Marriage, Hygiene & Sanitation, Food Fortification.

Source: PIB

Status of Policing in India Report 2019

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: The report on the Status of Policing in India, jointly developed by NGO Common Cause and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, was released recently.

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The report surveys on police adequacy and working conditions.
The report surveyed 12,000 police persons across 22 states together with their family members (around 11,000).
The report offers a potent explanation for the low credibility of the police in public perception.
In October 2018, the Delhi High Court in its judgment on the Hashimpura massacre case relied on the 2018 edition of the Status of Policing in India Report.
With the report’s findings, it established the institutional bias of the police force against Muslims to convict 16 policemen for killing 42 people in 1987.

Highlights of 2019 Report:

Infrastructure : 70 police stations did not have wireless devices, 214 police stations lacked telephone access, 24 police stations had neither of the above
Police stations, on average, have just 6 computers and states like Bihar and Assam less than one.
Nearly 240 stations did not even have vehicles.
1 in 5 women in the police said she lacked a separate toilet.
The police work, on average, 14 hours a day.
Police forces exhibit frightening prejudices against women, lower castes, and minorities.
One in four male personnel demonstrates high bias against their female colleagues.
About one in four police persons in several states does not receive any kind of gender sensitisation training.
Most of them see complaints of gender-based violence as false and motivated.
Nearly one-fourth of the women personnel surveyed reported of the absence of the Internal Committee mandated for dealing with sexual harassment at the workplace.
One in two police personnel surveyed feel that Muslims are likely to be “naturally prone” to committing crimes.
35% of police personnel interviewed think that it was natural for a mob to punish the “culprit” in cases of cow slaughter.
43% think it is natural for a mob to punish someone accused of rape.
37% of personnel interviewed feel that for minor offences, a small punishment should be handed out by the police rather than a legal trial.
72% of police personnel experience “political pressure” during the investigation of cases involving influential persons.
The frequent transfers of senior police persons who do not conform to a political leader’s demands have entered the realm of popular culture.

Concerns:

The report depicts the sorry state of policing in India.
There is high level prejudice and biases existing towards various issues among the personnel.
Political interventions which interrupt the normal functioning of the police institution is a grave concern.

Way Forward:

There is need to inculcate citizen friendly values In the police force.
Training aspect should change according to the progress of the society. The training given to officers, a 6-month crash course on civil and Criminal Procedure Codes, the Indian Penal Code and the Evidence Act may not be sufficient.
The copy-paste application of British Era techniques need a Re-engineering as the state now aspires for well fare of its citizen rather than oppressing them.
There is a need to reduce/eliminate political interventions which deter the quality functioning of policing.

Model Mains Question: Comment on the necessity to have urgent police reforms in India.

Source: Business Standard