PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 1-MARCH-2018
Paper
1:
Topic: Role of women and women’s
organization.
Trafficking
of Persons Bill, 2018
Context: The Union Cabinet has
approved the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation)
Bill, 2018 for introduction in the Parliament.
Highlights
of the Bill:
Forms
of trafficking: The Bill identifies various forms of trafficking, including
for the purposes of bonded labour and begging. Listing out the ‘aggravated
forms of trafficking’, the bill also speaks of offences such as intimidation,
inducement, promise of payment of money, deception or coercion. It mentions
trafficking after administering any drug or alcohol or for the purpose of
marriage or under the pretext of marriage.
Punishment: Whoever commits the
offence of aggravated form of trafficking of a person shall be punished with
rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 10 years, but
which may extend to life imprisonment and shall be liable to fine that shall
not be less than Rs 1 lakh. For repeat offenders, it suggests imprisonment for
life “which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s natural
life”, apart from a fine that will not be less than Rs 2 lakh.
Anti-
trafficking bureau: The bill proposes the establishment of a national
anti-trafficking bureau, which shall be entrusted with the gamut of issues
aimed at controlling and tackling the menace under various forms. Functions
include coordination, monitoring and surveillance of illegal movement of
persons and prevention. The bureau will also be entrusted with increasing
cooperation with authorities in foreign countries for boosting operational and
long-term intelligence for investigation of trafficking cases, and driving in
mutual legal assistance.
State
level measures: The bill also aims at having state-level anti-trafficking
officers who shall also provide relief and rehabilitation services through
district units and other civil-society organisations.
Relief
and rehabilitation: The bill also spells out measures towards relief and
rehabilitation for the victims of trafficking, and seeks the formation of a
committee for this purpose. The committee is proposed to be headed by the women
& child development secretary and would have members from the ministries of
home; external affairs; labour and employment; social justice and empowerment;
panchayati raj; and heath and family welfare.
Background:
As per data released by the
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), human trafficking numbers rose by almost
20% in 2016 against the previous year. NCRB said there were 8,132 human
trafficking cases last year against 6,877 in 2015, with the highest number of cases
reported in West Bengal (44% of cases), followed by Rajasthan (17%). Of the
15,379 victims who were caught in trafficking, 10,150 were female and 5,229
males.
Currently, there is no single
law dealing with human trafficking and the crime is covered under different
acts administered by at least half-a-dozen ministries, including WCD, home,
labour, health, Indian overseas affairs and external affairs. More often than
not, this results in lax enforcement.
Significance
of the Bill:
Trafficking in human beings is
the third largest organized crime violating basic human rights. However, there
is no specific law so far to deal with this crime. The new Bill addresses one
of the most pervasive yet invisible crimes affecting the most vulnerable
persons especially women and children. The new law will make India a leader
among South Asian countries to combat trafficking. Trafficking is a global
concern also affecting a number of South Asian nations.
What’s
important?
§ For Prelims: Highlights of
Anti- trafficking bill.
§ For Mains: Anti- trafficking-
issues, challenges and prevention.
Sources: pib.
Paper
2:
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and
various quasi-judicial bodies.
Income
Tax Appellate Tribunal
Context: A recent decision of the
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’s Pune bench allowing pharmaceutical companies to
account for their spending on doctors as a deductible expenditure has sparked
off a fresh debate on ethics.
What’s
the concern now?
Since the companies are out of
the purview of the Medical Council of India (MCI), money spent on promotions,
which in some cases could be gifts, travel, hospitality and so on for doctors,
besides medical conferences and samples, can be claimed as deductible
expenditure. Doctors accepting such promotions may be violating the code of
ethics of the MCI.
About
ITAI:
ITAT is a quasi judicial
institution set up in January, 1941 and specializes in dealing with appeals
under the Direct Taxes Acts.
§ It was set up by virtue of
section 5A of the Income Tax Act, 1922.
§ The orders passed by the ITAT
are final, an appeal lies to the High Court only if a substantial question of
law arises for determination.
§ It functions under the
Department of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Law and Justice.
How
can ITAT’s performance be enhanced?
§ Commonly suggested remedies
include increasing the number of judges or the number of benches to deal with
increased caseload.
§ Additionally, solutions to
delays in ITAT lie in prioritizing and scheduling the workload properly.
Although ITAT is a specialized court, there are variations in the complexity
and urgency of the cases that come before it. Therefore, it may be useful to
frame rules on how different types of cases would be prioritized.
§ Qualitative aspects of rulings,
factors influencing them and most frequently litigated subject-matters will
also be useful in deciding the policy strategy for improving India’s tax
environment.
Way
ahead:
Indian tax administration and
adjudication needs urgent reforms. For this, a comprehensive performance
analysis of ITAI is necessary. Also, more studies should be conducted to
identify the exact institutional weaknesses in tax administration, improving
which could help improve India’s abysmally low ranking on the “Paying Taxes”
parameter in the Ease of Doing Business Index, and ensuring that citizens have
access to an independent and impartial appeals mechanism.
What’s
important?
§ For Prelims: ITAI- functions
and composition.
§ For Mains: Need for reforms.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Issues relating to
development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health,
Education, Human Resources.
Rare
Disease Day
Theme: In 2018 the theme is
Research. Research is key. It brings hope to the millions of people living with
a rare disease across the world and their families.
What
is Rare Disease Day?
Rare Disease Day takes place on
the last day of February each year. The main objective of Rare Disease Day is
to raise awareness amongst the general public and decision-makers about rare
diseases and their impact on patients’ lives.
The campaign targets primarily
the general public and also seeks to raise awareness amongst policy makers,
public authorities, industry representatives, researchers, health professionals
and anyone who has a genuine interest in rare diseases.
What
is a rare disease?
A rare disease, also referred
to as an orphan disease, is any disease that affects a small percentage of the
population.
Most rare diseases are genetic,
and are present throughout a person’s entire life, even if symptoms do not
immediately appear. In Europe a disease or disorder is defined as rare when it
affects less than 1 in 2000 citizens.
Rare diseases are characterised
by a wide diversity of symptoms and signs that vary not only from disease to
disease but also from patient to patient suffering from the same disease.
Relatively common symptoms can hide underlying rare diseases, leading to
misdiagnosis.
Need
for awareness:
Building awareness of rare
diseases is so important because 1 in 20 people will live with a rare disease
at some point in their life. Despite this, there is no cure for the majority of
rare diseases and many go undiagnosed. Rare Disease Day improves knowledge
amongst the general public of rare diseases while encouraging researchers and
decision makers to address the needs of those living with rare diseases.
What’s
important?
§ For Prelims: What are rare
diseases?
§ For Mains: Need for awareness,
international cooperation in this regard.
Sources: pib.
Paper
3:
Topic: employment.
PMEGP
Context: The government has
approved the continuation of Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme
(PMEGP) beyond the 12th Plan period for three years to 2019-20 with a total
outlay of Rs 5,500 crore. The scheme will create sustainable estimated
employment opportunities for 15 lakh persons in three financial years.
About
PMEGP:
What
is it? PMEGP is a major credit-linked subsidy programme being
implemented by the Ministry of MSME since 2008-09. The Scheme is aimed at
generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of
micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and
unemployed youth in rural as well as urban areas.
Implementation: The Khadi and Village
Industries Commission (KVIC) is the nodal implementation agency for the PMEGP
at the national level. At the state/district level, state offices of KVIC,
Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs) and District Industry Centres (DIC)
are the implementing agencies.
Targets: The scheme’s targets are
fixed taking into account the extent of backwardness of state; extent of
unemployment; extent of fulfilment of previous year targets; population of
state/union territory; and availability of traditional skills and raw material.
What’s
important?
§ For Prelims: PMEGP, KVIC.
§ For Mains: Employment
generation- challenges and solutions.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: employment.
Action
Plan for Champion Sectors in Services
Context: The Union Cabinet has
approved the proposal of the Department of Commerce to give focused attention
to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors for promoting their development, and
realizing their potential. The Cabinet has also directed the Ministries/Departments
concerned with these sectors to utilize the available draft sectoral plans to
finalize and implement the Action Plans for the identified Champion Services
Sectors.
A dedicated fund of Rs. 5000
crores has been proposed to be established to support initiatives for sectoral
Action Plans of the Champion Sectors.
Champion
service sectors:
Champion service sectors
include Information Technology & Information Technology enabled Services
(IT & ITeS), Tourism and Hospitality Services, Medical Value Travel,
Transport and Logistics Services, Accounting and Finance Services, Audio Visual
Services, Legal Services, Communication Services, Construction and Related
Engineering Services, Environmental Services, Financial Services and Education
Services.
Impact:
This initiative will enhance
the competitiveness of India’s service sectors through the implementation of
focused and monitored Action Plans, thereby promoting GDP growth, creating more
jobs and promoting exports to global markets.
Employment
Generation Potential:
Services sector in India has
immense employment potential. The proposal will enhance the competitiveness of
India’s service sectors through the implementation of focused and monitored
Action Plans, thereby creating more jobs in India, contributing to a higher GDP
and exports of services to global markets.
Benefits:
As the Services sector
contributes significantly to India’s GDP, exports and job creation, increased
productivity and competitiveness of the Champion Services Sectors will further
boost exports of various services from India. Embedded services are substantial
part of ‘Goods’ as well. Thus, competitive services sector will add to the
competitiveness of the manufacturing sector as well.
What’s
important?
§ For Prelims: Champion service sectors.
§ For Mains: Champion service
sectors- impact, benefits and challenges.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Food security.
1st
Mega Food Park in Maharashtra at Satara
Context: The first Mega Food
Park in the state of Maharashtra M/s Satara Mega Food Park Pvt. Ltd. has been
inaugurated at Village Degaon, District Satara. This is the 10th Mega Food Park
being operationalized in the country and the 8th operationalized
during the tenure of present government.
Facts
for Prelims: India’s first mega food park ‘Srini Mega Food Park’,
sprawling 147-acre space, was opened in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh in 2012.
About
Mega Food Park Scheme:
To give a major boost to the
food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage
of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food
Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.
§ Mega Food Parks create modern
infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm
to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based
approach.
§ Common facilities and enabling
infrastructure is created at Central Processing Centre and facilities for primary
processing and storage is created near the farm in the form of Primary
Processing Centers (PPCs) and Collection Centers (CCs).
§ The Mega Food Park project is
implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a Body Corporate
registered under the Companies Act. However, State Government, State Government
entities and Cooperatives are not required to form a separate SPV for
implementation of Mega Food Park project.
§ Under the Scheme, Government of
India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park
project.
Benefits
of the scheme:
The expected outcome is
creation of high quality processing infrastructure, reduction in wastage,
capacity building of producers and processors and creation of an efficient
supply chain along with significant direct and indirect employment generation.
Challenges
in the implementation:
Despite its huge potential,
MFPS has failed to gain momentum due to several reasons. One, promoters have
faced difficulties in selling the new concept to banks and, as a result, have
failed to secure loans to build the parks. Two, acquiring the 50 acres of land,
which is mandatory under MFPS, has been another challenge that most developers
have failed to address. Three, convincing small enterprises to set up shop at
these facilities has not been easy. And four, the overall economic slowdown,
globally, and in India, did not help either.
Sources: pib.
Facts
for Prelims:
INDIAsize:
What is it? It is a National
Sizing Survey to develop a comprehensive size chart for ready-to-wear industry
based on the body measurements of the Indian population. It is a scientific exercise
where anthropometric data will be collected from a sample population in the age
group 15 to 65 years to create a database of measurements that will result in a
standardized size chart which is representative of the Indian population and
can be adopted by the apparel industry.
How? The surveys entail
measuring statistically relevant sample size pan country using human safe
technology of 3D whole body scanner, a non-contact method of taking body
measurements and analyzing the collected data to create size charts.
Need: A large percentage of
shoppers face difficulty in finding clothes that fit perfectly according to
their body measurements. The reason is differences in anthropometric built of
people in different geographical regions across the country.
Who is conducting the survey?
The survey will be conducted by the National Institute of Fashion
Technology(NIFT), New Delhi, under the Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India.
Facts: Till date 14 countries
have successfully completed national sizing surveys including USA, Canada,
Mexico, UK, France, Spain, Germany, Korea, China and Australia.
Dr
Harsh Vardhan App:
Context: Dr Harsh Vardhan App
has been launched. It is named after the Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
Details: The App is intended,
among other things, to promote the theme of ‘green good deeds’ and engage with
the public at large.
“Green Good Deeds” campaign:
The campaign has been launched by the Environment Ministry to sensitise the
people and students, in particular, about climate change and global warming.
The objective of the campaign is to restore and return the clean and green
environment to the next generation.
Anti
Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) NAG:
Context: Successful Flight Test
of ATGM NAG was recently carried out.
Key facts:
§ The third-generation Fire and
Forget ATGM Nag is equipped with many advanced technologies including IIR
Seeker with integrated avionics, a capability possessed by few nations in the
world.
§ The missile is developed to
support both mechanised infantry and airborne forces of the Indian Army.
§ The missile incorporates an
advanced passive homing guidance system and possesses high single-shot kill
probability.
§ It is designed to destroy
modern main battle tanks and other heavily armoured targets.
“Lamitye”
2018:
What is it? It is the joint
military exercise between the Indian Army and Seychelles People’s Defence
Forces. This exercise is the eighth in the series of bilateral exercises being
conducted in the beautiful island nation.
About Lamitye: The exercise is
named “Lamitye” which in the local dialect ‘Creole’, means friendship. India
and Seychelles have been conducting this joint exercise since 2001 with the aim
of enhancing military cooperation and interoperability between the armies of
the two countries.
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