National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 11th January 2020

by Mentors4ias · January 11, 2020

Annual Crime in India Report 2018

Topic: Reports and Indices

In News: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) published the annual Crime in India Report 2018.

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Crime Against Women: According to the report, 3,78,277 cases of crime against women were reported in the country, up from 3,59,849 in 2017. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 59,445 cases, followed by Maharashtra (35,497) and West Bengal (30,394). The conviction rate in rape-related cases stood at 27.2% even though the rate of filing chargesheets was 85.3% in such cases.
Cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.9%) followed by assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (27.6%) constituted the major share of crimes against women.
Accidental Death and Suicides: The NCRB also released the Accidental Death and Suicides in India 2018 report, which said that 10,349 people working in the farm sector ended their lives in 2018, accounting for 7.7 % of the total number of suicides in the country. There were 5,763 farmers/cultivators and 4,586 agricultural labourers among those who ended their lives.
The total number of people who committed suicide in 2018 was 1,34,516, an increase of 3.6% from 2017 when 1,29,887 cases were reported. The highest number of suicide victims were daily wagers — 26,589, comprising 22.4% of such deaths.
West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides by farmers/cultivators as well as agricultural labourers.
Murder cases: A total of 29,017 cases of murder were registered in 2018, showing an increase of 1.3% over 2017 (28,653 cases).
Offences against public tranquillity: A total of 76,851 cases of offences against public tranquillity were registered in 2018, out of which rioting, 57,828 cases, accounted for 75.2% of total such cases.
Cyber crimes: As many as 27,248 cases of cyber crimes were registered in 2018, up from 21796 cases in 2017.
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes related Acts: The incidents registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes related Acts saw a decline from 6729 incidents reported in 2017 to 4816 in 2018.

Source: Indian Express

Australia wildfires

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Australia’s catastrophic fire season that began in August 2019 has caused large scale destruction, mainly in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland.

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Over 10 million hectares of land was engulfed by the fire. This lead to killing of at least 25 people and tens of millions of animals.
The catastrophe also forced the evacuation of entire communities at many parts of the continent.

The Policies Intensified the Fire:

The government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has downplayed the impact of changing climate and relationship with fossil fuels.
Warnings have been sounded by scientists that even with a global average temperature rise of 1°C, the raging fires have engulfed an area the size of Switzerland.
In a world set to warm at least half a degree more in coming decades, Australia’s encounters with devastating fires could become more frequent, perhaps even once in eight years, making large parts of the continent uninhabitable.
The coal industry has a sway over politics in Australia that is disproportionate to its share of economic production.
The official Climate Commission of the government was shut down by the government six years ago. Credentialled specialists at the country’s Climate Council have had to crowdsource funds to continue their work.

Need of the Hour:

The current fire season presents a cross-roads, and a wise choice would be to move to a greener future, one that strengthens an already diverse economy through innovation.
The country also witnessing lowest ever rainfall recorded in parts of NSW and Queensland, and high peak temperatures, producing vulnerable situation for catching fire at any time.
The situation is bound to worsen without policy change, as temperatures are predicted to soar to 50°C by the scientist communities.
Over the past half century, the number of hot days and very hot days each year have steadily increased. It would be tragic if this scientific insight is ignored.
Long-term prosperity for Australians and a future for its charismatic animals can be secured only through policies that foster environmental protection.

Source: Hindu

Green Credit Scheme

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Forest Advisory Committee, an apex body tasked with adjudicating requests by the industry to raze forest land for commercial ends, has approved green credit scheme that could allow “forests” to be traded as a commodity. If implemented, it allows the Forest Department to outsource one of its responsibilities of reforesting to non-government agencies.

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In the current system, industry needs to make good the loss of forest by finding appropriate non-forest land equal to that which would be razed.
It also must pay the State Forest Department the current economic equivalent called Net Present Value of the forest land. It’s then the Forest Department’s responsibility to grow appropriate vegetation that, over time, would grow into forests.
Industries have often complained that they find it hard to acquire appropriate non-forest land, which has to be contiguous to existing forest.
Nearly ₹50,000 crore had been collected by the Centre over decades, but the funds were lying unspent because States were not spending the money on regrowing forests.
The Supreme Court intervened, a new law came about with rules for how this fund was to be administered. About ₹47,000 crore had been disbursed to States until August, but it has barely led to any rejuvenation of forests.

Significance of the proposed scheme:

The proposed ‘Green Credit Scheme’, as it is called, allows agencies (they could be private companies, village forest communities) to identify land and begin growing plantations.
After three years, they would be eligible to be considered as compensatory forest land if they met the Forest Department’s criteria.
An industry needing forest land could then approach the agency and pay it for parcels of such forested land, and this would then be transferred to the Forest Department and be recorded as forest land.
The participating agency will be free to trade its asset, that is plantation, in parcels, with project proponents who need forest land.

Concerns:

It may create problems of privatising multi-use forest areas as monoculture plantation plots. The policy can even lead to Forests getting treated as a mere commodity without any social or ecological character.
These concerns should be addressed diligently.

Source: Hindu

Easing Mining Leases

Topic: Economy

In News: The Centre decided to liberalise norms for entry into coal mining and relax regulations on mining and selling coal in the country.

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Amendments to two Acts through the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 cleared by the Cabinet will free the sector from restrictions that were inhibiting its development.
This will open up the coal mining sector completely, enabling anyone with finances and expertise to bid for blocks and sell the coal freely to any buyer of their choice.
Until now there were restrictions on who could bid for coal mines. This effectively limited the potential bidders to a select circle of players and thus limited the value that the government could extract from the bidding.
End-use restrictions inhibited the development of a domestic market for coal.
The ordinance essentially democratises the coal industry and makes it attractive for merchant mining companies, including multinationals.
The move was overdue considering that the country spent a huge ₹1,71,000 crore in coal imports last year to buy 235 million tonnes; of that, 100 million tonnes was not substitutable, as the grade was not available in India, but the balance 135 million tonnes could have been substituted by domestic production had it been available.

Significance of the Decision:

Large investment in mining will create jobs and set off demand in critical sectors such as mining equipment and heavy commercial vehicles.
The country may also benefit from infusion of sophisticated mining technology, especially for underground mines, if multinationals decide to invest.
However, for that to happen, the government needs to do more such as whittling the time taken for approvals of mining leases and also easing the procedures for clearances.

Source: Hindu

Curative Petition

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: Curative petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by two convicts in the Nirbhaya case after their execution was scheduled.

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The concept of Curative petition was evolved by the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra and Anr. (2002) Judgement.
The question was whether an aggrieved person is entitled to any relief against the final judgement/order of the Supreme Court, after dismissal of a review petition.
The Supreme Court in the said case held that in order to prevent abuse of its process and to cure gross miscarriage of justice, it may reconsider its judgements in exercise of its inherent powers.
For this purpose, the court has devised what has been termed as a “curative” petition.
In the Curative petition, the petitioner is required to aver specifically that the grounds mentioned therein had been taken in the review petition filed earlier and that it was dismissed by circulation.
This has to be certified by a senior advocate. The Curative petition is then circulated to the three senior most judges and the judges who delivered the impugned judgement, if available.
No time limit is given for filing Curative petition. It is guaranteed under Article 137 of Constitution of Indiae. powers of the Supreme Court to review of its own judgements and orders.

· Article 137 of the Constitution provides that subject to provisions of any law and rule made under Article 145 the Supreme Court of India has the power to review any judgement pronounced (or order made) by it.

· Thus binding decision of the Supreme Court/High Court can be reviewed in Review Petition.

· The parties aggrieved on any order of the Supreme Court on any apparent error can file a review petition.

Source: Indian Express

Manilal Doctor

Topic: Personalities in News

In News: January 8 was the death anniversary of Manilal Doctor, the colonial-era barrister who fought for the rights of Indian-origin people in Mauritius and Fiji.

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An associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Doctor is known for his efforts towards helping abolish the indentured labour system that Indian immigrants in many parts of the British Empire were subjected to.
Born in 1881 in Vadodara, Doctor studied law in Bombay before travelling to Britain in 1905 for further studies. He became a member of the Indian Home Rule Society in London, and wrote in the monthly ‘Indian Sociologist’.
In 1906, Doctor met Gandhi, who at the time was in London to meet imperial authorities on behalf of South Africa’s Indian origin people.
During the meeting, Gandhi asked Doctor to move to Mauritius to assist the Indian community there in their struggle for equal rights.

· In 1833, the British Parliament banned slavery, and the practice became illegal throughout the Empire. However, to maintain the supply of labour in their territories, colonial authorities effectively replaced slavery with the indentured labour system.

· The ‘indenture’ (meaning contract) system required Indians to sign a legal agreement stating their consent to move abroad for a minimum of five years to work mainly on sugar estates.

· Many were lured to distant lands, such as the Caribbean, South Africa, Réunion, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji, where they ended up living in miserable conditions.

· In the mid 19th century, over 35 lakh Indians were transported to British, French, and Dutch colonies around the world. The system was officially banned in 1917.

Source: Hindu