National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 27th July 2019

Census data on Migrations

Topic: Social Issues

In News: Census 2011 data on migration has been released recently.

Highlights of the report: 

• Over 45.58 crore Indians were found to be “migrants” for various reasons during the enumeration exercises of Census 2011. The previous Census (2001) had recorded the number of migrants at 31.45 crore — more than 30% lower than the 2011 figure.
• Marriage and employment are the major reasons for migration.
• In that, ‘Women’ comprised two-thirds of the total migrant population.
• The bulk of the migration takes place within individual states, out of the total number of persons registered as “migrants” in the 2011 Census, only 11.91% (5.43 crore) had moved to one state from another, while nearly 39.57 crore had moved within their states.

State wise Comparison:

• P and Bihar have a disproportionately high number of out-migrants.
• Migrants constitute more than one-third of the population in metros like Delhi and Mumbai.
• P has the highest share of out-migrants while Maharashtra has the highest share of in-migrants
• The 4 states U.P, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh accounted for 50% of India’s total inter-state migrants.
• The most common migration path was P to Delhi.
• P to Maharashtra and Karnataka to Maharashtra are also among the top migration paths.
• Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are among the top destinations to which people migrate. Among southern States, Karnataka to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to Tamil Nadu are the most common migration patterns.
• Tamil Nadu had 16.5 lakh immigrants in Census 2011, the largest number in the south.
• The northeast States are among those with the lowest numbers of immigrants.The 8 northeast States together accounted for just 2% of the total immigrants.
• In Assam, illegal migrations from Bangladesh, where 64,117 peoples’ last place of residence was in Bangladesh.
• About 38% of the migration was from rural to urban areas, while urban to urban migration accounted for the second highest 32%.

Model Mains Question: Analyse the trends and patterns of migration in India.

Source: Indian Express

The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in Lok Sabha recently.

More on the Topic:

• The Bill amends the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. The Act provides for a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), State Human Rights Commissions (SHRC), as well as Human Rights Courts.

Amendments:

• Composition of NHRC: Under the Act, the chairperson of the NHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Bill amends this to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or a Judge of the Supreme Court will be the chairperson of the NHRC.
• The Act provides for two persons having knowledge of human rights to be appointed as members of the NHRC. The Bill amends this to allow three members to be appointed, of which at least one will be a woman.
• Under the Act, chairpersons of various commissions such as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, and National Commission for Women are members of the NHRC. The Bill provides for including the chairpersons of the National Commission for Backward Classes, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as members of the NHRC.
• Chairperson of SHRC: Under the Act, the chairperson of a SHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court. The Bill amends this to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court will be chairperson of a SHRC.
• Term of office: The Act states that the chairperson and members of the NHRC and SHRC will hold office for five years or till the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier. The Bill reduces the term of office to three years or till the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier.  Further, the Act allows for the reappointment of members of the NHRC and SHRCs for a period of five years.  The Bill removes the five-year limit for reappointment.   
• Powers of Secretary-General: The Act provides for a Secretary-General of the NHRC and a Secretary of a SHRC, who exercise powers as may be delegated to them. The Bill amends this and allows the Secretary-General and Secretary to exercise all administrative and financial powers (except judicial functions), subject to the respective chairperson’s control.
• Union Territories: The Bill provides that the central government may confer on a SHRC human rights functions being discharged by Union Territories. Functions relating to human rights in the case of Delhi will be dealt with by the NHRC.

Source: Hindu, PRS

National Data Quality Forum (NDQF)

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s National Institute for Medical Statistics (ICMR-NIMS), in partnership with Population Council, launched the National Data Quality Forum (NDQF).

More on the Topic:

• NDQF will integrate learnings from scientific and evidence-based initiatives and guide actions through periodic workshops and conferences.
• Its activities will help establish protocols and good practices of data collection, storage, use and dissemination that can be applied to health and demographic data, as well as replicated across industries and sectors.
• Data on health and demographics in India is plagued by incomplete information, overestimation, and under- and over-reporting that lead to hindrance in policy planning.
• National Data Quality Forum (NDQF) will help to redress these problems and aid in policy planning and better service delivery.

Source: Hindu

Dengue Infection

Topic: Health

In News: Dengue cases are rising in Mumbai region.

More on the Topic:

• Dengue is the fast emerging ‘mosquito-borne viral infection’.It flourishes in urban poor areas, suburbs mostly in tropical and subtropical countries.
• The dengue virus (DEN) comprises four distinct serotypes, which belong to the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae.
• The ‘Aedes aegypti’ mosquito is the main vector.
• ‘Aedes aegypti’ mosquito breeds in freshwater. (unlike Malaria mosquito (Anopheles) breeds in any water accumulating in open areas).The mosquito mainly acquires the virus while feeding on the blood of an infected person.
• It develops severe flu-like symptoms.In India it peaks from Monsoon every year.
• There is no specific treatment for dengueThe only current method of controlling dengue is to effectively combat the vector mosquitoes.
• Dengue cases have been recorded by the ‘National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme’ (NVBDCP).

Source:Hindu

Krishonnati Yojana

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The ‘Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana’ was approved coterminous with the period of the Fourteenth Finance Commission from 2017-18 to 2019-20. ‘Green Revolution– Krishonnati Yojana’ is an Umbrella Scheme comprising both Central Sector as well as Centrally Sponsored Schemes/Missions.

More on the Topic:

• The government of India introduced the green revolution Krishonnati Yojana in 2005 to boost the agriculture sector. It comprises of 11 schemes and mission under a single umbrella scheme:
• Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH): It aims to promote holistic growth of horticulture sector.
• National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP): National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) launched during 2014-15 envisages increasing production and productivity of oilseeds crops and oil palm through bringing in fallow areas under oilseed crops and diversification of area from low yielding cereals.
• National Food Security Mission (NFSM): It aims to increase production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops, through area expansion and productivity enhancement. It will work toward restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level and enhancing farm level economy.It further aims to augment the availability of vegetable oils and to reduce the import of edible oils.
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA): NMSA aims at promoting sustainable agriculture practices best suitable to the specific agro-ecology focusing on integrated farming, appropriate soil health management and synergizing resource conservation technology.
• Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE): SMAE aims at achieving food and nutritional security and socio-economic empowerment of farmers.
• Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP): SMSP aims to increase production of certified/quality seed.
• Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM): SMAM aims to increase the reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of farm power is low.It will promote ‘Custom Hiring Centers’ to offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small landholding and high cost of individual ownership.
• Sub-Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ): SMPPQ aims to minimize loss to quality and yield of agricultural crops from the ravages of insect pests, diseases, weeds, nematodes, rodents, etc.
• Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES): It seeks to improve agricultural statistics methodology and create a hierarchical information system on crop condition and crop production from sowing to harvest.
• Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC): It aims to provide financial assistance for improving the economic conditions of cooperatives, remove regional imbalances and to speed up cooperative development.The scheme will particularly help cotton growers fetch remunerative price for their produce through value addition besides ensuring supply of quality yarn at reasonable rates to the decentralized weavers.
• Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM): ISAM aims to develop agricultural marketing infrastructure;Provide infrastructure facilities for grading, standardization and quality certification of agricultural produce.It aims to establish a nationwide marketing information network and integrate markets through a common online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agricultural commodities, etc.
• National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A):It aims to bring farmer centricity & service orientation to the programs. Improving access of farmers to information & services throughout crop-cycle.

Source: PIB, Vikaspedia

Red Mud

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: In a step towards productive utilisation of bauxite residue, commonly known as the ‘Red Mud’, an interactive workshop called ‘Waste To Wealth’ was organized by Ministry of Mine.

More on the Topic:

• Red Mud is a solid waste generated during the aluminium production process. This is an environmental concern due to presence of impurities such as caustic soda and others minerals. Red mud generation in India is around 9 million tons per year.
• It is composed of a mixture of solid and metallic oxides. The red colour arises from iron oxides, which comprise up to 60% of the mass.
• The mud is highly basic with a pH ranging from 10 to 13. In addition to iron, the other dominant components include silica, unleached residual alumina, and titanium oxide.

Source: PIB

Muga Yarns

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: For the conservation of Muga in natural habitat, under Integrated Sericulture Development Project (ISDP) of North East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS), the Government of India has approved a project on conservation of Muga in natural habitat in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and Meghalaya.

More on the Topic:

• Muga silk is a variety of wild silk geographically tagged to Assam.
• It is extremely durable with a glossy, shimmering texture.It also has a natural yellowish-golden tint.
• Previously used only by royalty, Muga silk is now used in saris, mekhalas and chadors (traditional Assamese dress).

Source: PIB