National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 28th December 2018
Triple talaq Bill
Topic: Polity and Governance
IN NEWS: The Lok Sabha passed The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018, after a heated debate.
More on the Topic:
- Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void, and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband. The fresh bill is proposed to supersede an earlier bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.
- The new bill declares talaq, including in written or electronic form, to be void (i.e. not enforceable in law) and illegal.
- It defines talaq as talaq-e-biddat or any other similar form of talaq pronounced by a Muslim man resulting in instant and irrevocable divorce.
- Talaq-e-biddat refers to the practice under Muslim personal laws where pronouncement of the word ‘talaq’ thrice in one sitting by a Muslim man to his wife results in an instant and irrevocable divorce.
- A husband declaring talaq can be imprisoned for up to three years along with a fine. In terms of allowance, a Muslim woman against whom talaq has been declared, is entitled to seek subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and for her dependent children.
- The amount of the allowance will be decided by a First Class Magistrate. A Muslim woman against whom such talaq has been declared, is entitled to seek custody of her minor children. The determination of custody will be made by the Magistrate.
- There is a provision for bail only after the magistrate hearing the wife.
Source: The Hindu
River Dolphins go missing in Sunderbans
Topic: Environment and Ecology
IN NEWS: Rise in salinity in the water system that makes the Indian Sunderbans has resulted in a decrease in population of the Ganges River Dolphins in the region.
More on the Topic:
- A recent study covering 100 km of rivers and channels around the Sunderbans has revealed that the national aquatic animal is no longer sighted in the central and eastern parts of the archipelago. Only in the western part of Sunderbans, where the salinity is lower, could researchers find some evidence of the species.
Cause for the changes:
- The study is indicative of how natural changes, including the phenomenon of climate change, and human interventions in the Indian Sunderbans are having an adverse impact on the habitat of the species due to the increase in salinity.
- Because of its unique body shape, it becomes difficult for the dolphin to remain submerged in waters with high salinity.
- Freshwater flow to the Sunderbans is crucial for the subsistence of these species. The hyper-saline zone in the central part of the Sunderbans, which includes areas such as Raidighi and Patharpratima, has lost connectivity with the upstream freshwater flow. Though there is some fresh water connectivity and flow in the eastern part, salinity levels were still high.
- The rise in sea level, triggered by climate change, is one of the reasons for the increase in salinity of waters of rivers and channels. “Hydrological modifications like water diversion and commission of large barrages upstream have had a great impact on the salinity profile of the rivers downstream in the Sunderbans.
About Gangetic Dolphins:
- Classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List, the species was once found in tributaries of the Ganga in West Bengal. Researchers and experts said the sighting of the dolphin has dipped over the years in the 534-km stretch from Farakka Barrage to Sunderbans.
Source:The Hindu
‘Delta’ ranking of Aspirational District Programme
Topic: Government policies
In news: The government think tank NITI Ayog released the second ‘delta’ ranking of 111 underdeveloped districts that measures the incremental progress made by them across areas such as health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development, and basic infrastructure.
More on the Topic:
- Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar showed the most improvement, between June and October, among the country’s 111 most underdeveloped districts, while Jharkhand’s Pakur reflected the least improvement.
About Aspirational District Programme:
- ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform selected underdeveloped districts.
- The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a mass Movement.
- With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
Source: The Hindu
Incredible India Mobile App
Topic: e-Governance
In news: Ministry of Tourism launched Incredible India Mobile App(Mentioned in year end review of Ministry of Tourism)
More on the Topic:
- Incredible India App is to assist the international and domestic tourist to showcase India as a holistic destination, revolving around major experiences such as spirituality, heritage, adventure, culture, yoga , wellness and more.
- The mobile app has been designed keeping in mind the preferences of the modern traveller. The app follows the trends and technologies of international standards and has been equipped with features to assist the traveller in each phase of their journey to India.
Source: The Hindu
Year End review: Department of Space
Topic: Science and Technology
Announcement of Manned mission:
- The Prime Minster, Shri Narendra Modi announced that India has resolved to send manned spacecraft to the space by 2022 and India will be the fourth country to do this. So far, only the USA, Russia and China have launched human spaceflight missions.
- ISRO has developed some critical technologies like re-entry mission capability, crew escape system, crew module configuration, thermal protection system, deceleration and floatation system, sub-systems of life support system required for this programme.
Discovery of a sub-Saturn or super-neputune size planet
- The planet will be known as EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b. With this discovery, India has joined a handful of countries, which have discovered planets around stars beyond our solar system. Further, PARAS is the first of its kind spectrograph in Asia, which can measure the mass of a planet going around a star. Very few spectrographs exist around the world that can do such precise measurements.
Other Achievements:
- The ISRO carried out Pad Abort Test successfully to qualify Crew Escape System required for Human Spaceflight.
- One of the major Centres of ISRO, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), offered to transfer the in-house developed Li-ion cell technology to competent Indian Industries on non-exclusive basis to establish Li-ion cell production facilities in the country.
- ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its forty second flight, PSLV-C40 successfully launched the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Remote Sensing Satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites
- India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08) successfully launched GSAT-6A Satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)
- HysIS is an earth observation satellite built around ISRO’s Mini Satellite2 (IMS-2) bus weighing about 380kg. The mission life of the satellite is five years. The primary goal of HysIS is to study the earth’s surface in both the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- ISRO’s heaviest and most-advanced high throughput communication satellite GSAT-11 was successfully launched from the Spaceport in French Guiana
Source:PIB
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)
Topic: Government Schemes
In news: Funds under the scheme was releases to the state governments.
More on the Topic:
- The major objective of PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop), enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system.
- PMKSY has been conceived amalgamating ongoing schemes Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and the On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC).
- The scheme will be implemented by Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development.
- Ministry of Rural Development is to mainly undertake rain water conservation, construction of farm pond, water harvesting structures, small check dams and contour bunding etc. MoWR, RD &GR, is to undertake various measures for creation of assured irrigation source, construction of diversion canals, field channels, water diversion/lift irrigation, including development of water distribution systems.
- Ministry of Agriculture will promote efficient water conveyance and precision water application devices like drips, sprinklers, pivots, rain-guns in the farm “(Jal Sinchan)”, construction of micro-irrigation structures to supplement source creation activities, extension activities for promotion of scientific moisture conservation and agronomic measures.
- Programme architecture of PMKSY will be to adopt a ‘decentralized State level planning and projectised execution’ structure that will allow States to draw up their own irrigation development plans based on District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and State Irrigation Plan (SIP).
- It will be operative as convergence platform for all water sector activities including drinking water & sanitation, MGNREGA, application of science & technology etc. through comprehensive plan. State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) chaired by the Chief Secretary of the State will be vested with the authority to oversee its implementation and sanction projects.
Source: PIB
Dwijing Festival of Assam
Topic: Art and Culture
In news: The 3rd Dwijing Festival starts on the banks of Aye river at Chirang district of Assam. River Aye (“Mother”) originates from the Himalayan Mountains of Bhutan and flows through the Chirang and Bongaigaon districts of Assam before joining the river Brahmaputra.
More on the Topic:
- This festival was started in the year 2016 with an aim to promote the local tourism and culture . The government plans to make it one of the biggest ever and establish it as an annual calendar event at the national and international level.
- The festival provides livelihood opportunities for the local people and focuses on business activities for better economic generation through rural tourism. The Dwijing Festival this year also showcases various activities such as display of ethnic food and culture, adventure activities and ethnic games.
Source: The Hindu
