DNA 29 july

Doval wants BRICS to step up ght against terrorism

• National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has called upon the Brazil-Russia-IndiaChina-South Africa (BRICS) grouping, to exercise international leadership in countering terrorism.
• As part of his remarks, he also advocated that the five emerging economies should work towards setting the agenda “on strategic issues of regional and global importance.”
• Mr. Doval’s call on Mr. Xi, acquired a sharp bilateral context, in view of the on-going military face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam
• President Xi said that having successfully completed its first 10 years, the BRICS in the coming decade can focus on three areas: security communication and coordination, financial cooperation as well as cultural exchanges

SC rejects abortion plea of 10-year-old 

• A 10-year-old rape victim has been left with no choice but to continue with her pregnancy after a medical panel informed the Supreme Court that an abortion will endanger both the girl and her 32-week-old foetus.
• Permanent boards:Supreme Court urged the Centre to consider setting up permanent medical boards across the States so that women, especially child rape victims, could receive expedient access to medical care 
• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 bars abortion if the foetus has crossed the 20-week mark. 
• An exception to the law is made if a registered medical practitioner certifies to a court that the continued pregnancy is life-threatening for either the mother or the baby.
• Presently, women are forced to undertake the cumbersome process of approaching different courts, from district courts to high courts and finally the Supreme Court, for permission to medically terminate their pregnancies which are over 20 weeks.
• An amended Bill of the 1971 law which extends the bar from 20 to 24 weeks has been in the cold storage for the past three years. This draft Bill allows women, whose pregnancies are within 24 weeks, reproductive rights in consultation with their medical practitioners. The draft Bill also allows abortion beyond 24 weeks in case the foetus suffers from substantial abnormalities

LS passes Bill for more autonomy to IIMs

• The Lok Sabha on Friday passed a Bill to grant Indian Institutes of Management the power to grant degrees instead of postgraduate diplomas. It also allows students to acquire Ph.D degrees from the IIMs.
• Human Resource Development Minister said, “It is because the fellowships of IIMs were not regarded by many as Ph.Ds that there were less students for Ph.Ds to become Fellows. They used to go after doing Diploma here. They used to go to foreign countries and do research. Now research will be (done) here.” 
• The Bill confers on the 20 IIMs the status of institutions of national importance and also grants them greater functional autonomy by restricting the role of the government in them
• At present, the Centre has a role in the functioning of the IIMs, including the appointment of the chairpersons to the Boards of the IIMs, their directors and fixing the pay of the directors. 
• As per the IIM Bill, 2017, a Board of Governors will appoint the director of each IIM. 
• A search-cum-selection-committee will recommend the names. And the director will be eligible for variable pay determined by the Board

CAG spots weaknesses in missile defence system 

• The strategic missile system, a medium range supersonic surface to air missile system to counter aerial threats were “deficient in quality”, according to a report tabled by the Comptroller and Auditor General in Parliament
• Over 70% of the under vehicle scanners (UVS) installed at Indian Air Force (IAF) bases were non-functional
• . It also said that the IL series of aircraft, which provides vital transport support to the IAF during contingencies, “has not been upgraded, and continue to fly with 1985 vintage avionics”. 
• The report comes amid increased threat perception to defence installations in the wake of terrorist attack at the Pathankot airbase in January 2016. 
• The IAF in February said that out of the 57 UVS systems, 52 had been installed and only five were yet to be installed
• However, 35 systems still remained in “unserviceable condition”.
•  Audit found that the system delivered by Bharat Electricals Limited was deficient in quality 

Centre seeks inputs on trade, industrial policies, services 

• Commerce Minister sought inputs from the academia on three topics — 

[i]Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) review
[ii]The proposed revamp of manufacturing and industrial policies and
[iii]India’s proposal at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on services sector liberalisation

• Centre working on a new manufacturing and industrial policy to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector in the country’s GDP to 25% by 2020 from the current level of about 16%
• India needs more research on this emerging area showing how Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and Internet of Things (IoT) will impact India’s manufacturing and services
• Since India is already a part of many ‘global value chains’, the two new policies will aim to make India a global manufacturing hub in items including textile, pharmaceuticals and electronics. 
• The Centre is working on these new policies to align the current manufacturing policy (of 2011) and the industrial policy (of 2009) with the Fourth Industrial Revolution that includes AI, robotics and IoT.
• India needs to generate good quality manpower in large numbers at all stages of the knowledge pyramid if it has to become globally competitive in the manufacturing sector
• Many Policy-level challenges have retarded growth in Manufacturing sector in India :

1. Difficult business environment 
2. Infrastructural constraints
3. Including peak power deficit
4. Labour market limitations 
5. Trade unionism 
6. Difficulty in availing commercial bank credit particularly for small firms

DNA 28TH JULY

Carbon dating confirms T.N. site is from Sangam era:

• For several years, experts had surmised that the archaeological site at Keezhadi in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu dates back to the Sangam era.
• Now, carbon dating has confirmed that two samples sent from the site are indeed nearly 2,200 years old.
• The Keezhadi dig that started in 2013 provides archaeological evidence of ancient Tamil life that has so far been known largely from texts like Sangam literature
• “Radio Carbon dating suggests that the samples go back to 2,160+30 years and 2,200+30 years,”
• Unlike many other archaeological sites excavated in Tamil Nadu, Keezhadi is a major habitation site.
• “The last time habitation sites were excavated in Tamil Nadu was at Arikamedu. We zeroed in on Keezhadi after studying both banks of Vaigai river through its entire stretch from Western Ghats till the point it reaches the Bay of Bengal
• A total of 72 potsherds with Tamil Brahmi script were found at Keezhadi which had several Tamil names.

Oriental white ibis nesting in Ganjam 

•  A group of Oriental white ibis birds have nested at Beguniapada in Ganjam district of Odisha
• This indicates that these birds feel secure at Beguniapada and that the environment was conducive for breeding.
• Usually Oriental white ibis are seen in large number in the Chilika lake during winter months
• These birds had started building nests on a few coconut trees.

Chilika Lake :Asia's largest brackish water lagoon

Some of the prominent islands are Nalabana, Kalijal, Somolo, Honeymoon, Break-fast, Birds and Rajahansa

Chilika was designated as a Ramsar site in 1981 to afford better protection. 

Oriental white ibis

• It is a species of wading bird of the ibis family which breeds in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia from northern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka east up to Japan.
• It builds a stick nest in a tree and lays 2-4 eggs.
• It occurs in marshy wetlands inland and on the coast, where it feeds on various fish, frogs and other water creatures, as well as on insects.
• It walks on marshy land probing with its bill into soft mud and often feeds in shallow water with its head momentarily submerged.
• Like storks and spoonbills, it lacks a true voice-producing mechanism and is silent except for peculiar ventriloquial grunts uttered when nesting.
• Adults are typically 75 cm long and white-plumaged, with some greyer areas on the wings.
• The bald head, the neck and legs are black.

SC for panels to examine dowry cases

 The Supreme Court ordered the setting up of ‘family welfare committees’ in all districts under the aegis of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). 

No suspect shall be arrested in a dowry case immediately after a complaint is registered. Police and the courts will have to wait for the committee’s inquiry report

A Bench of Justices said Section 498A (dowry harassment) of the IPC had come under much abuse. Dowry complaints were being filed in the heat of the moment over trivial issues

The three-member family welfare committees will be set up by the district legal services authorities. Members can be appointed from para legal volunteers, social workers, retired persons, “wives of working officers” and other citizens.

 National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

• It was formed in 1995 under the authority of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987.
• Its purpose is to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of the society, and to organize Lok Adalats for speedy resolution of cases.
• The Chief Justice of India is patron-in-chief of NALSA while second seniormost judge of Supreme Court of India is the Executive-Chairman.
• There is a provision for similar mechanism at state and district level also headed by Chief Justice of High Courts and Chief Judges of District courts respectively.
• The prime objective of NALSA is speedy disposal of cases and reducing the burden of judiciary.

Privacy built into Aadhaar Act, says UIDAI

• “Privacy is non-negotiable, confidentiality is non-negotiable under the Aadhaar Act,” the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the nodal agency implementing the Aadhaar scheme, has said in the Supreme Court
• Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UIDAI, made this emphatic claim on Thursday when apprehensions were raised by a nine-judge Bench that personal data collected during Aadhaar enrolment might make its way into the hands of private players, for whom such details would transform into “vital commercial information”.
• The court was, in turn, responding to a submission by Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, that citizens could not claim informational privacy when the state asks for data for a legitimate purpose such as Aadhaar. 
• “There is no denying that Aadhaar is a social welfare scheme, but the government must first concede that the state is obliged to put a robust personal data protection mechanism in place,” Justice said

Fundamental right

• Section 28 of the statute dealing with “security and confidentiality of information”. It was in the State’s legitimate interest to keep personal data secure as this would make Aadhaar acceptable to one and all
•  does this mean Government do recognise privacy as a fundamental right?
• Here, Justice Rohinton F. Nariman observed that the government had dedicated an entire chapter in the 2016 Act to the protection of privacy and security. “So is this not a statutory recognition of privacy as a fundamental right ” 
• 
  

 

DNA 27th JULY

Privacy is a fundamental but wholly qualified right: Centre

• The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that privacy was indeed a fundamental right, but a “wholly qualified” one
• This led a nine-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar on Wednesday to sum up Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal’s submission thus: “You are saying that right to privacy is a fundamental right. But not every aspect of it [privacy] is a fundamental right. It depends on a case-to-case basis.

 

• The Attorney General explained to the Bench that the government did not consider privacy to be a single, homogeneous right but rather a “sub-species of the fundamental right to personal liberty and consists of diverse aspects. Not every aspect of privacy is a fundamental right.” Some aspects of privacy were expressly defined in the Constitution, while some were not
• Mr. Venugopal argued that privacy was submissive to the fundamental right to life under Article 21. Aadhaar was a measure by the state to ensure the teeming millions of poor in the country were not reduced to lead an “animal existence.”

Ruckus over MP filming House 

The Congress demanded that the act of filming the live proceedings of the Lok Sabha by Anurag Thakur, BJP MP, be referred to the Privileges Committee.

Dual yardstick Alleging a dual yardstick, the party recalled that Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann had been suspended for an entire session for a similar offence, but Mr. Thakur had been let off with a “simple warning” 

Committee of Privileges[Lok Sabha]

• This committee consist of 15 members nominated by the speaker.
• Its function is to examine every question involving the breach of privilege of the House or of the members of any committee thereof referred to it by the house or by the speaker .It determines with reference to the facts of each case whether a breach of privilege is involved and makes suitable recommendations n its report.
• With the coming into force w.e.f 18.03.1986 of the members of Lok sabha (Disqualification on ground of Defection)Rules 1985 ,made by the speaker under 10^th Schedule to the Constitution ,an additional function has been assigned to the  committee .The Speaker may refer to the committee any petition regarding disqualification of a member on ground of defection for making a preliminary enquiry and submitting a report to him.

Policy boosts care for blood disorders

• People living with Thalassaemia, sickle cell anaemia and other variant haemoglobins can now look forward to better screening and treatment.
• The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry’s new policy on the Prevention and Control of haemoglobinopathies in India.
• Supported by the National Health Mission, Blood Cell and the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, the guidelines provide for screening of pregnant women during antenatal check-up, pre-marital counselling at college level and one-time screening for variant anaemia in children.
• Thalassaemia and sickle cell anaemia are the most frequently encountered ‘rare blood disorders’ in the country and impose a significant economic burden on families.
• The policy aims at creating treatment protocol benchmarks, to improve the quality of life of patients.
• It is also a guide on prevention and control, which includes antenatal and prenatal testing to reduce the incidence of live haemoglobin disorder births (currently pegged at 10,000-15,000 live births a year).
• The guidelines include the creation of a national registry to plan future patient services. The registry will also collect useful data, such as the location of patients to identify areas of high concentration, ethnicity or other characteristics, age distribution, records of deaths and their cause.
• Testing cannot be made compulsory and people should opt for it.  

 ‘India-Israel ties can affect Al Aqsa conflict’

• India’s friendly ties with Israel could ‘interfere’ with the ongoing Israel-Palestinians conflict over the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem
•  The Palestinian Ambassador, termed Israel’s latest security measures in Al Aqsa compound a ‘religious war’ and said Palestine expected a “positive attitude” from the Indian government
• The Al Aqsa mosque is an Islamic place of worship. 
• Jerusalem is a city of three religions and we respect all religions

CAC adopts Codex norms for three spices

• In a significant move, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) adopted three Codex standards for black, white and green pepper, cumin and thyme paving the way for an universal agreement on identifying quality spices in various countries
• The CAC cleared these standards at its session held in Geneva recently. 
• It will help evolve a common standardisation process for their global trade and availability.
•  Codex standard will bring harmony to the global spice trade and ensure availability of high quality, clean and safe spices to the world
• small beginning considering the number of commodities waiting in the ranks for the standardisation process. But what is really heartening is that spices have made a definitive entry into the league of commodities having Codex standards, and India played a key role in achieving this objective.
• The Codex Alimentarius or “Food Code” is a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
• The Commission, also known as CAC, is the central part of the joint FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations)/WHO (World Health Organisation) Food Standards Programme.
• It was established by FAO and WHO to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade.

‘India must free procurement’:RCEPTalks

• Pressure is mounting on India to open up its more than $300 billion-worth public procurement market under the proposed mega Free Trade Agreement (FTA) called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
• Government procurement broadly refers to the process by which government (at the Central, State and local levels), its agencies/ departments and State owned enterprises procure goods and/or services only for their own use, and not for sale/resale commercially.
• Insistence on binding commitments :An increasing number of countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand as well as a few from the 10-member ASEAN bloc including Singapore and Malaysia, were pushing for binding commitments to mutually liberalise government procurement markets in the 16 Asia Pacific nations, including themselves and India involved in the mega-FTA talks  
• The 16 countries agreed to constitute a Working Group on government procurement to take forward negotiations on the topic and include it as a separate chapter in the final agreement
• India would not give in to the demands from these countries for “market access and national treatment (equal treatment of foreign and local firms)” pertaining to government procurement in the RCEP agreement 
• India's firm stand :Even in India’s separate FTAs with Japan, South Korea and Singapore (that are already in force), “market access and national treatment” have been kept out of the government procurement chapter
•  The maximum extent that India could go to, is to agree to ensure transparency and cooperation in government procurement matters (including information exchange and sharing of knowledge) as part of the RCEP agreement
• ‘Language barrier’: Countries like China, Japan and South Korea, may outwardly have an open procurement market, but make it difficult for foreign firms to participate by phrasing requirements in local language
• India is not a signatory to the Government Procurement Agreement within the WTO framework because it wants to retain its policy space to meet its development needs through public procurement process.
•  In May 2017, the Indian government had brought out a policy providing preference in government procurement to local goods and services suppliers. 
• This was to push the ‘Make In India’ initiative, ensure greater flow of capital and technology into domestic services and manufacturing, and in turn, boost job creation locally as well as promote small enterprises.
• Then in June, it came up with an order restricting or excluding from public procurement tenders in India, the firms from those nations where Indian suppliers are not allowed to participate and/or compete in government procurement process.

Boost for India on easy visa norms 

• A few ASEAN countries are also understood to be supporting India’s proposal for an RCEP Travel Card to facilitate visa-free multiple short-term entry across the RCEP region for business and tourism purposes.
• India, which has a vast pool of services professionals, including from IT/ ITeS, sector, had been leading the talks on easing restrictions on temporary movement of professionals.

 

DNA 26th July

In a first, Nifty breaches the 10,000-mark

What is the Nifty and the Sensex ?

• Both the Nifty and the Sensex are the Indices.
• They represent a group of top companies averaged out in a single number.If the sensex is up,you can say that on average ,most stocks are gaining and vice-versa.
• There are two main exchanges in India-The NSE & the BSE
• The Nifty is an index from the NSE ,it has 50 stocks in the Index.
• The Sensex(or sensitivity Index ) is from the BSE and comprises of 30 stocks.
• Nifty is weighted average of 50 stocks from 24 sectors .

Centre gives 35 names for High Court judges

• The Law Ministry has forwarded the names of 35 candidates to the SC collegium for appointment as judges in five High Courts, as recommended by the HC collegiums of Madras, Kerala, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Gujarat. 
• The government has forwarded the names following a background check by the Intelligence Bureau. 
• It is learnt that most candidates are from the subordinate judiciary. The five HCs had a vacancy of 97 judges as on July 1

 BACKGROUND:Memorandum of Procedure 

earlier Clauses in the MoP ,like the Executive's prerogative to reject Judicial Candidates recommended by the collegium on the ground of "national security" are no longer a roadblock.

supreme court collegium,initially,wanted the Government to specify the reason for rejecting a name forwarded to it by the top court.

The MoP is the procedure evolved in 1998 under which the transfer/appointment of Judges are done with mutually acceptable norms between the collegium comprising the five senior most SC Judges led by the CJI and the Government.     

Govt. may not split Air India for stake sale

• The central government may not sell Air India's domestic and international operations separately, senior government officials have said.
• "We are not willing to go back to the days of Air India and [erstwhile] Indian Airlines as the disinvestment process of the national carrier may become unattractive," a senior Aviation Ministry official, requesting anonymity, said.
• India's largest low-cost carrier IndiGo expressed formal interest in buying Air India's foreign operations and its low-cost international airline Air India Express.
• Since its inception days, Air India's operations were split into two companies - Air India for international routes and Indian Airlines for the domestic market.
• In 2007, the government merged the two airline operations into a single entity - National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) which was later renamed as Air India Limited in 2010

Sri Lanka clears revised deal for Hambantota port

• Sri Lanka’s Cabinet cleared a revised deal for the Chinese-built port in Hambantota.
•  The modified agreement, the government added, was more profitable to Sri Lanka and also addressed security concerns raised by other countries

Contours of Revised deals:

1.To sell 70% stake in the southern port to the state-run China Merchants Port Holdings for $1.12           billion

2.As per the revised agreement Sri Lanka will manage the port security

3.While the Chinese would manage port operations, no naval ship, including Chinese ones, can call at    Hambantota without our permission

Wary of the Chinese:

• India’s apprehensions about the apparently growing Chinese presence in the island nation are well known, given the two countries’ competing strategic interests here. 
• The Hambantota port is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. 
• Beijing’s stake in the port and its plan to acquire 15,000 acres of adjoining land to help Colombo set up an industrial zone have strengthened the fears of those wary of China’s growth in the region. 

For China’s global ambitions, ‘Iran is at the centre of everything’

• For millennia, Iran has prospered as a trading hub linking East and West. Now, that role is set to expand in coming years as China unspools its ‘One Belt, One Road’ project, which promises more than $1 trillion in infrastructure investment — bridges, rails, ports and energy — in over 60 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa. 
• Iran, historically a crossroads, is strategically at the centre of those plans. 
• Like pieces of a sprawling geopolitical puzzle, components of China’s infrastructure network are being put in place. In eastern Iran, Chinese workers are busily modernising one of the country’s major rail routes, standardising gauge sizes, improving the track bed and rebuilding bridges, with the ultimate goal of connecting Tehran to Turkmenistan and Afghanistan
• Much the same is happening in western Iran, where railroad crews are working to link the capital to Turkey and, eventually, to Europe. Other rail projects will connect Tehran and Mashhad with deepwater ports in the country’s south
• Once dependent on Beijing during the years of international isolation imposed by the West for its nuclear program, Iran is now critical to China’s ability to realise its grandiose ambitions. Other routes to Western markets are longer and lead through Russia, potentially a competitor of China.

•                                
• A 575-mile electrified rail line linking Tehran and Mashhad, financed with a $1.6 billion loan from China. 
• When completed and attached to the wider network, the new line will enable China to export his goods as far as northern Europe, Poland and Russia, at much less cost than today
• When finished, the proposed rail link will stretch nearly 2,000 miles, from Urumqi, the capital of China’s western region of Xinjiang, to Tehran. 
• If all goes according to plan, it will connect Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan

‘India’s concerns slowing RCEP talks’

India’s reservations regarding the potential adverse impact of eliminating duties on its local manufacturing and job creation is understood to be slowing down the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations

What is RCEP ?

• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and the six states with which include India, China, Australia, Japan, South Korea and New zealand.
• In total, the grouping of 16 nations includes more than 3 billion people, has a combined GDP of about $17 trillion, and accounts for about 40 percent of world trade.
• If negotiated successfully, RCEP would create the world’s largest trading bloc and have major implications for Asian countries and the world economy.

Widening trade gap

• “India’s trade deficit [annual] with RCEP nations is about $100 billion, and half of this is with China alone even without an FTA with China.” 
• “Post India’s FTA with ASEAN, Japan and Korea [who are all RCEP members], our trade deficit with them have increased, and the government needs to take this into account during RCEP negotiation

DNA 25th jULY

Speaker suspends six Cong. MPs for 5 days 

• Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended six Congress MPs for five days for "unruly behaviour" and disrupting the proceedings of the House.
• The Lok Sabha got off to a stormy start with leader of the Congress' Legislative Party Mallikarjuna Kharge demanding a discussion on widespread incidents of mob violence and murder.
• The party had moved an adjournment motion for the discussion but it was denied by the Speaker.
• This is not the first time Ms Mahajan has suspended opposition MPs; in July 2015 she had suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days for causing disruption.

Related Terms:

Question Hour:The first Hour of every sitting of the Parliament is generally reserved for asking and answering of Questions.

Zero Hour:The time immediately following the Question Hour  has come to be known as Zero Hour.It starts at around 12 noon (hence the name) and members can,with prior notice to the speaker,raise issues of importance during this time.Typically,discussions on important Bills,the Budget and other issues of national importance takes place from 2 PM onwards .  

Gangotri glacier retreated 0.15 sq km in 9 years: govt

The Gangotri glacier has retreated 0.15 sq km between 2007 and 2016, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday. 

The melting of Gangotri glacier has been studied by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by taking Survey of India maps of 1962 as the base 

Study over 40 years: The ISRO study during last four decades has revealed that loss in area of Gangotri glacier during the years: (i) 1962 and 2005 was 3.19 sq km; (ii) 1990 and 2007 was 0.13 sq km and (iii) 2007 and 2016 was 0.15 sq km

Major initiatives taken under the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) include establishment of a Centre for Himalayan Glaciology at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun and setting up of six thematic task forces

Climate changes: They include natural and geological wealth, water, ice, snow including glaciers, micro flora and fauna and wildlife and animal population, Himalayan agriculture, traditional knowledge system and forest resources and plant diversity. 

He said climate change centres have been set up in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and West Bengal.

He added that as per the fifth assessment report (AR5) of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2014, globally land and ocean surface temperature has risen by 0.85 degrees Celsius (0.65 to 1.06 degrees) over the period of 1880 to 2012

Soul of India is in tolerance: Pranab

In his last address to the nation as the Head of State, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday stressed the need for pluralism and tolerance, saying that the soul of India resides in these values. 

He also made a strong pitch for freeing public discourse from violence, both “physical as well as verbal”

“Multiplicity in culture, faith and language is what makes India special. We derive our strength from tolerance ” 

Plurality had become an essential part of the country after centuries of assimilation of ideas. The soul of India resided in pluralism and tolerance

 Compassion and Empathy were the “true foundation” of India’s civilisation

He contended that only a non-violent society could ensure the participation of all sections of the people, particularly the marginalised and the dispossessed, in the democratic process

 “India is not just a geographical entity. It carries a history of ideas, philosophy, intellect, industrial genius, craft innovation and experience ”

“We may argue, we may agree or we may not agree. But we cannot deny the essential prevalence of multiplicity of opinion. Otherwise, a fundamental character of our thought process will wither away,” he asserted. 

He reminded people of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and said that the creation of an inclusive society had to be an article of faith. The President also stressed the need for financial inclusion for an equitable society, and said that the poorest needed to be empowered.

Opposition seeks scrutiny of Banking Regulation Bill

• Union Finance Minister introduced the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2017, in the Lok Sabha on Monday. 
• The Bill seeks to authorise the RBI to resolve the problem of stressed assets, even as the Opposition demanded that it be sent to a standing committee for scrutiny.  
• The Bill seeks to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and replace the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated in May. 
• It allows the RBI to open an insolvency resolution process in respect of specific stressed assets. 
• The RBI will also be empowered to issue directives for resolution and appoint authorities or committees to advise the banking companies on stressed asset resolution.

IMF retains India 2017 GDP growth forecast at 7.2% 

• The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) July World Economic Outlook Update retained India's projected GDP growth rate for 2017-18 at 7.2%, and at 7.7% for 2018-19.
•   “Growth in India is forecast to pick up further in 2017 and 2018, in line with the April 2017 forecast,” the IMF said
• The IMF added that while activity slowed following demonetisation, growth for 2016-17 was higher than anticipated on the back of government spending and stronger momentum in the first part of that year, as revealed by data revisions.
• On the other hand, the growth outlook was revised upwards for Japan, the euro area, and China.
• "Inflation in advanced economies remains subdued and generally below targets; it has also been declining in several emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, and Russia," the IMF said.

DNA 24th JULY

Finally, compensation for women in Odisha's ‘village of widows'

• A labour court in Odisha's Keonjhar district has awarded a compensation of Rs. 46 lakh to the families of those whose bread-winning male members died of silicosis, a preventable occupational lung disease.
• As many as 16 families, mostly represented by widows of diseased employees of a defunct pyrophyllite grinding unit in Madarangajodi, will share the compensation amount among themselves.
• A Jharkhand-based mining company had held the pyrophyllite mining rights over 53.8 hectares at Madarangajodi village, about 25 km from the district headquarter town of Keonjhar. The mining lease was executed in 1982.
• Most male members from Madarangajodi village had started working in the mining unit where pyrophyllite was ground to powder. During the 25 years of operation, most of the workers were exposed to silica.
• Subsequently, they developed breathing problems as a result of years of inhalation of crystalline silica. Villagers, who were unaware of the danger of silicosis, died one after another.
• An Angul-based non-government organisation had moved the National Human Rights Commission, which directed the Keonjhar district administration to carry out an investigation.
• The administration had found merit in the complaint. Although there were allegations of 50 Madarangajodi males dying of silicosis, subsequent investigation by the State labour department had found 29 death cases.
• The deaths could have been easily prevented had the operators adopted occupational safety measures.
• After a social activist came forward to help the innocent villagers and mobilise legal assistance, the labour department sped up the process.

Ordinances should be last resort: Pranab 

• Ordinance route should not be taken on matters which are being considered or have been introduced in the House or a committee of the house.
• If a matter is deemed urgent,the concerned committee should be make aware of the situation and should be mandated to present its report within a stipulated time.
• with the heightened complexity of administration,legislation must be preceded by the scrutiny and adequate discussion .
• scrutiny in committee is no substitute to open discussion on the floor of the house.when the Parliament fails to discharge its law making roles or enacts laws without discussion,it breaches the trust reposed in it by the people.  . 
• Article 123 and Article 213-statement of object and reasons
•   The Bihar State government had approached the Supreme Court after the High Court of Patna declared that repeated re-promulgation of the ordinances was unconstitutional after relying on the D.C. Wadhwa judgment on the dos and don’ts of promulgation of ordinances by another Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in 1986

Suprem Court on state of Bihar vs D C Wahwa case

• In a blow to Ordinance Raj, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court widened the boundaries of judicial review to the extent that it can now examine whether the President or the Governor was spurred by an “oblique motive” to bypass the Legislature and promulgate an ordinance.
• In case the apex court concludes that the President or the Governor was influenced by ulterior motives to promulgate the ordinance, such an act by the two constitutional authorities would amount to a fraud on their powers, the apex court
• “The satisfaction of the President under Article 123 and of the Governor under Article 213 is not immune from judicial review ,”Justice wrote in a common judgement.
• Justice  observed that the apex court would scrutinise whether the satisfaction of the President or the Governor to promulgate an ordinance was based on relevant material or whether it amounted to a “fraud on power or was actuated by an oblique motive.”
• The seminal question that came up in reference before the seven-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur dealt with the constitutionality of seven successive re-promulgations of The Bihar Non-Government Sanskrit Schools (Taking Over of Management and Control) Ordinance of 1989

Forum concerned at ‘secret’ RCEP talks 

• Technical-level talks of the proposed FTA, officially known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), are being held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre from July 18 to 28.
• Liberalised norms:The RCEP, among other things, aims to liberalise investment norms as well as boost trade by eliminating/ drastically reducing import duties on goods and bringing down ‘barriers’ in the services sector
•  After a daylong meeting, the People’s Resistance Forum against FTAs and RCEP, an umbrella body representing farmers, industrial workers and service sector employees, street vendors, HIV-positive persons, tribal people, environmental activists and women’s organisations, among others, said in a statement that the RCEP would have wide-ranging impact on agriculture, services, access to medicines, investment and e-commerce

Russia keen on selling MiG-35 jets to India

• Russia is keen on selling its new fighter jet MiG-35 to India with the MiG corporation’s chief saying the country has evinced interest in the aircraft and talks were on to understand its requirements.
• It is said to be better than Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation combat aircraft F-35.  
• He claimed that the MiG-35 would beat the American jet in air-to-air combat.
• The MiG-35 is Russia’s most advanced 4++ generation multipurpose fighter jet developed on the basis of the serial-produced MiG-29K/ KUB and MiG-29M/M2 combat aircraft 

MPC members to get ₹1.5 lakh per meet, must disclose assets 

The government appointees on the powerful Monetary Policy Committee will be paid ₹1.5 lakh per meeting along with air travel and other reimbursements, but will need to observe a “silent period” seven days before and after the rate decision for “utmost confidentiality”.

The silent period and confidentiality requirements will also apply to the three RBI members, including the Governor, on the panel that has been deciding on policy rates since October last year, the central bank has said. 

‘Conflict of interest’
Other Regulations:

• The six-member MPC, constituted in September 2016, has three persons appointed by the central government while the rest, including the Governor, are from the RBI.
• The panel is required to meet at least four times in a year and the RBI has been convening a bi-monthly meeting of this committee
• They are also required to be mindful of, and weigh carefully, any scope for conflict between personal interest and public interest While interacting with profit-making organisations or making personal financial decisions.
•  The regulations further said the schedule of the MPC meetings for the entire fiscal year needs to be announced in advance. 
• At least 15 days of notice is required for convening a meeting ordinarily, but an emergency meeting can be called with 24 hours notice for each member and technology-enabled arrangements need to be made for even shorter notice period meetings.  
• “Members shall observe a silent or blackout period starting seven days before the voting/decision ray and ending seven days after the day policy is announced. During this period, they will avoid public comment on issues related to monetary policy other than through the MPC’s communication framework

DNA 23rd JULY

EC failed to curb ‘invisible money’ in polls, says Jaitley

Union Minister for Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley on Saturday blamed the Election Commission for failing to check the use of ‘invisible money’ in elections

 He also took on political parties for preferring the status quo instead of suggesting improvements to the electoral bonds scheme proposed in the Budget

He said the government was already seeing the first signs of improvement in direct and indirect tax compliance due to reforms such as demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax, both of which will make it difficult to generate cash in the future.

                                               ELECTORAL BONDS-explained 

A Sunderbans denizen staves of extinction

A critically endangered resident of the Sunderbans is set to get a new home, beginning a slow journey to recovery from a disastrous decline in the wild. It is more threatened than the Bengal tiger, but far less known

Northern river terrapin (Batagur baska), whose presence in the wild in West Bengal and Odisha had declined to undetectable levels a decade ago.

Batagur baska, the 60- cm-long turtle that is presumed extinct in several Southeast Asian countries, is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN) in its Red List of threatened species

For the past ten years, officials of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve with support from experts at Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), have coordinated a recovery program for what is described as the world’s second most endangered turtle, through captive conservation breeding.

 FLUOROSIS

• The Hogenakkal water supply & Fluorosis Mitigation Project ,funded by the Japan Bank for International Co-operation ,seeks to provide potable water to Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri Districts of Tamilnadu ,which are Drought-prone and have recorded Fluoride content above the permissible level in the Ground water  
• Fluoride is an important mineral for all children. Our mouths contain bacteria that combine with sugars in the foods we eat and the beverages we drink. The acid that is produced harms tooth enamel and damages teeth. Fluoride protects the teeth and can even help reverse early signs of decay. But the increased availability of fluoride today has resulted in more of something called dental fluorosis.
• 
  

What is Fluorosis ?

• Dental fluorosis is a change in the appearance of the tooth's enamel surface. The most common types do not affect the function of the tooth and don't cause pain.
• It is a defect in the tooth enamel caused by the excessive exposure to the high concentration of fluoride .Brown,grey and black teeth patches and pits are common among the people living in this area(Tamilnadu)
• Dental Fluorosis is not treatable and the stains are permanent.Excessive consumption of fluoride-contaminated water over time can lead to skeletal Fluorosis 
• The main source of fluoride in the underground water is the rocks that are rich in it.
• The most seriously affected states are Andhra Pradesh,Odisha,Haryana,Punjab,Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan ,Gujarat and Tamilnadu.     

Govt. delineates 23,000 hectares for petrochemical complex

• Activists say the project will worsen the situation in Cuddalore, Nagapattinam
• Food security issue: The activist felt that the PCPIR would only turn a bad situation worse. The coastal areas in Cuddalore, including the endangered mangrove forests in Pichavaram, are already under threat due to the petrochemical industries. 

In KG basin, is the sea rising or land sinking?

• Fertile agricultural lands in the Krishna Godavari basin are turning saline, raising questions on what is primarily responsible for the phenomenon.
•  land subsidence could be a greater threat to the eastern coast with its fertile river deltas than sea-level rise of a few millimetres per year expected due to climate change.
• The resulting increase in soil salinity affected farms. Increased coastal erosion had also damaged structures.

Naval safety wing remains a pipe dream

• The Union government is yet to give formal sanction to a dedicated organisation for dealing with naval accidents despite a series of accidents involving submarines and ships and loss of several lives.
• An audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General also says a series of missteps led to the deadly 2013 accident in a submarine off Mumbai in which 18 people were killed.
• "The Indian Navy, since inception, has no institutionalised framework to deal with safety issues. A dedicated organisation for dealing with safety issues was set up by the Indian Navy only in 2014; however, it awaits government's sanction," the CAG report tabled in Parliament said.
• The explosion aboard INS Sindhurakshakand its sinking off Mumbai in August 2013 resulted from a series of missteps, the audit says.
• The audit found that many recommendations of the inquiries into naval accidents had not been implemented. This included installation of smoke and fire detectors in all compartments of submarines and procurement of extended line breathing apparatus (ELBA) sets, carbon composite submarine breathing apparatus (SBA), light weight breathing sets for submarines etc.
• The idea of creating an Indian Navy Safety Organisation was mooted first in 2006 and ultimately promulgated in October 2012, the audit says. "It was set up in February 2014, though it is yet to be sanctioned by Government," the audit said.
• From 2007-08 to 2015-16, a total number of 38 accidents occurred, which led to a loss of 33 lives of service officers and sailors.
• The Navy lost two ships (INS VindhyagiriandTRV A-72) and one submarine (INS Sindhurakshak) in these accidents.
• The audit points out that out of 38 accidents, 15 (39%) occurred due to fire/explosion/flooding, six (16%) of vessels touching the bottom, another six (16%) were caused by collision of vessels and remaining 11 (29%) were of miscellaneous nature which included accidental stranding and suspended movements, venting of poisonous gas, damages to sonar while docking and damage to aircraft hangar onboard the vessel.

Nilekani moots new data protection law

• Former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani has proposed a new data protection and empowerment law to ensure that individuals have control over their data and can ask service providers to return the data stored with them.
• Terming data the most important resource in the current century, Mr. Nilekani said India must have a strategic policy position on data related issues. Mr Nilekani also backed China's approach of compelling companies to host Chinese users' data within the country, instead of overseas.
• Companies or governments must return user data on demand' under law, says ex-UIDAI chief
• He backed China's approach of compelling companies to host Chinese users' data within the country, instead of overseas.
• "This way, you address the issue of privacy, data colonisation and competition. This is what can be called a data democracy. The time is now because India is now adopting digital at an unprecedented pace," Mr. Nilekani asserted.

What is minimum support price for crops?

• Amid farmers' unrest in many parts of the country, the demand for an increase in minimum support price (MSP) has been voiced regularly.
• A part of the agricultural price policy, MSP is the price at which the government offers to procure farmers' produce during the season.
• While farmers are free to sell their produce to government agencies or in the open market, it is when market prices fall below the MSP that government agencies step in to buy the crop to protect the growers.
• Also, the aim is to safeguard the interest of the consumer by ensuring supplies at a reasonable price.
• The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs announces the MSP at the start of each sowing season, taking into account the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• The key considerations, while recommending the MSP for crops, are :

(1)  demand and supply,

(2)  production cost,

(3)  price trends in the domestic and international market and the

(4)  likely implications of the price on consumers.

• The CACP's recommendations are in the form of price policy reports every year, separately for five groups of commodities:

(1)  kharif crops,

(2)  rabi crops,

(3)  sugarcane,

(4)  raw jute and

(5)  copra.

• At present, agricultural commodities for which MSP is given include paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, barley, ragi, gram, tur, moong, urad, lentil, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, sesamum, sunflower, safflower, nigerseed, copra, sugarcane, cotton and raw jute.

History

• Recognising the need to evolve a balanced and integrated price structure to serve the interests of both producers (farmers) and consumers, the Union government set up a committee on August 1, 1964 to advise the Agriculture Ministry to determine the prices of rice and wheat.
• The domain of coverage was expanded to coarse cereals.
• Later, the government decided to set up a permanent body, called the Agricultural Prices Commission, in 1965.
• This was renamed as the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices in 1985.
• To ensure remunerative price to farmers, the government procured 38.65 million tonnes of rice, 22.93 million tonnes of wheat and 1.3 million tonnes of pulses during 2016-17 in various States.

Concerns:

• Agricultural experts point out that there is hardly any dependable mechanism of government procurement for crops on the MSP in most parts of the country.
• Problems like delay in the setting up of procurement centres by government, exploitation by commission agents (Arthiyas), who most of the time buy the produce from farmers below MSP on one pretext or the other, defeat its purpose.

Way ahead:

• Farming for a majority of small and marginal farmers has not been remunerative.
• Taking advantage of the complexities in the supply chain, middlemen appear to be causing disparities in the price.
• There's a gap between the price of the produce got from the farmer and the price it is sold to the consumer.
• Even though the long-term answer to farmers' indebtedness and distress is a rise in their income, the government till then should either purchase all major crops at the MSP, as is done in the case of wheat and rice in Punjab and Haryana, or subsidise the input costs.
• The concern that a rise in MSP would push up the prices seems unfounded.

Tiger reserves: Economic and environmental win-win

• Tigers are what conservationists call "umbrella" species. By saving them, we save everything beneath their ecological umbrella - everything connected to them - including the world's last great forests, whose carbon storage mitigates climate change.

• What all does a tiger reserve offer?

(1)       employment generation,

(2)       agriculture (incidentally the famous IR-8 rice was discovered from the wild rice plants found in one such reserve),

(3)       fishing,

(4)       fuel wood,

(5)       fodder and grazing,

(6)       timber,

(7)       pollination of plants,

(8)       kendu leaves,

(9)       carbon storage and sequestration (vital for climate protection against global warming), (10) water and its purification by filtering organic wastes,

(10)    soil conservation,

(11)    nutrient cycling, and

(12)    moderation of extreme events such as cyclone storms, flash floods.

(13)    tourism,

(14)    education, research and development, and

(15)    spiritual ones (like visiting temples within some of them)

Heard of this deafness test?

• Inspiration gripped engineer-cum-industrial designer Nitin Sisodia has made a diagnostic device SOHUM to check if babies as young as three months may have a hearing problem.
• The device, comprising a headset connected to an iPad-like monitor, can be used as preliminary tool to check for early signs of deafness.
• Globally, 8,00,000 hearing-impaired babies are born annually, nearly 1,00,000 in India.
• The so-called auditory brainstem response (ABR) test involves placing electrodes on a baby's forehead and ears and sending an electronic "click".
• The brain's response, in the form of electrical waves, provides information on the time it takes for structures of the auditory pathway to respond and thus can be used to identify an underlying hearing problem.
• However, a drawback of using an ABR is that it needs to be done in an extremely quiet room.
• Mr. Sisodia's system, which he developed as part of a fellowship at the Stanford Biodesign programme, claims to eliminate the latter requirement. "We have made a novel algorithm that can extract the relevant signal even in noisy surroundings," he says.
• Results from the test are available immediately as a PASS or REFER.
• The latter means that the child needs to go in for further tests with audiologists to confirm the diagnosis and begin remedial measures such as a cochlear implant or appropriate hearing aids.