PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 10-APRIL-2018
Topic: The Freedom Struggle – its various stages
and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country.
“Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign
Context: To commemorate the launch of Champaran
Satyagraha over a century ago on 10th April, 1917, Ministry of Drinking Water and
Sanitation, in coordination with the Government of Bihar, is working to spread
the message of Swachhata across
the country by initiating the “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign.
Under the campaign, Swachhagrahis from
different parts of the country were invited to Bihar, where they worked with
10,000 Swachhagrahis from Bihar to “trigger” behaviour change throughout the 38
districts of the State and build momentum of the jan andolan further.
Significance of the campaign:
Mahatma Gandhi launched the Champaran
Satyagraha over a century ago, on 10th April, 1917, to give the country freedom
from foreign rule. April 10th, 2018 marks the end of the centenary year
celebrations of the Champaran Satyagraha, and is going to be celebrated through
the “Satyagraha se Swachhagraha” campaign, which is aimed at achieving freedom
from filth.
About SBM- Gramin:
§ Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Gramin, launched
on October 2, 2014 is the largest behaviour change campaign ever attempted in
the field of sanitation in the world.
§ It aims to build an ODF (Open Defecation
Free) and Swachh Bharat by October 2, 2019 as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on
his 150th birth anniversary.
§ SBM-Gramin mainly focuses on ensuring the use
of toilets, besides their construction. The States and their implementing
agencies will be given incentives for meeting performance standards: reducing
open defecation, sustaining their open defecation-free status and improving
solid and liquid waste management in rural areas.
Significance of the scheme:
In Rural India, this would mean improving the
levels of cleanliness through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and
making villages Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised.
About the Champaran Satyagraha:
§ It was undertaken in the erstwhile undivided
Champaran district in northern Bihar. Mahatma Gandhi went there in April, 1917
on learning about the abuses suffered by the cultivators of the district,
forced into growing indigo by British planters/estate owners.
§ Even Gandhi was reluctant to commit himself
to task in the beginning. But he was so thoroughly persuaded by Rajkumar
Shukla, an indigo cultivator from Champaran that he decided to investigate into
the matter.
§ Gandhi’s method of inquiry at Champaran was
based on surveys by the volunteers. The respondents who willingly gave
statements should sign the papers or give thumb impressions.
§ For those unwilling to participate, the
reasons must be recorded by the volunteers. The principal volunteers in this
survey were mostly lawyers like Babu Rajendra Prasad, Dharnidhar Prasad, Gorakh
Prasad, Ramnawami Prasad, Sambhusaran and Anugraha Narain Sinha.
Outcomes:
In June 1917, the British administration
declared the formation of a formal inquiry committee with Gandhi aboard. The
Government accepted almost all its recommendations. The principal
recommendation accepted was complete abolition of Tinkathia system. It was a
major blow to the British planters who became resentful. But they could not
prevent the passage of Champaran Agrarian Act in Bihar & Orissa Legislative
Council on March 4, 1918.
What’s important?
For Prelims and Mains: Satyagraha se
Swachhagraha, SBM- Gramin and Champaran Satyagraha.
Sources: pib.
Paper 2:
Topic: Indian Constitution- historical
underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and
basic structure.
Right to convert is part of fundamental
right of choice
Context: The Supreme Court has held that a
person’s right to choose a religion and marry is an intrinsic part of her
meaningful existence. Neither the State nor “patriarchal supremacy” can
interfere in her decision.
Background:
The observations are part of the 61-page
reasoned judgment published by the Supreme Court in the case of Hadiya, a
26-year-old Homeopathy student who converted to Islam and married a Muslim man.
The case first gained attention as a case of forced conversion.
Important observations made by the
court (Key points for mains):
§ Freedom of faith is essential to his/her
autonomy; Choosing a faith is the substratum of individuality and sans it, the
right of choice becomes a shadow.
§ Matters of belief and faith, including
whether to believe, are at the core of constitutional liberty. The Constitution
exists for believers as well as for agnostics.
§ Constitution protects the ability of each
individual to pursue a way of life or faith to which she or he seeks to adhere.
Matters of dress and of food, of ideas and ideologies, of love and partnership
are within the central aspects of identity. Society has no role to play in
determining choice of partners.
§ The absolute right of an individual to choose
a life partner is not in the least affected by matters of faith. The
Constitution guarantees to each individual the right freely to practise,
profess and propagate religion. Choices of faith and belief as indeed choices
in matters of marriage lie within an area where individual autonomy is supreme.
Article 25 and forced conversions:
Article 25 states that subject to public
order, morality and health, and to the other fundamental rights guaranteed in
the Constitution, all persons are equally entitled to “freedom of conscience
and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.”
The word “propagate” mean “to transmit or
spread one’s religion by an exposition of its tenets,” but does not include the
right to convert another person to one’s own religion. It has to be remembered
that Article 25(1) guarantees ‘freedom of conscience’ to every citizen, and not
merely to the followers of one particular religion and that, in turn,
postulates that there is no fundamental right to convert another person to
one’s own religion because if a person purposely undertakes the conversion of
another person to his religion, as distinguished from his effort to transmit or
spread the tenets of his religion, that would impinge on the ‘freedom of
conscience’ guaranteed to all the citizens of the country alike.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and various
quasi-judicial bodies.
Drugs Technical Advisory Board
Context: The Union Health Ministry has banned
over-the-counter sale of around 14 creams containing steroids and antibiotics
under the Schedule H
category by
making amendments to certain Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
The decision was made following consultation
with the Drugs
Technical Advisory Board which
recommended a ban on the sale of such creams without prescription and had also
submitted their recommendations to the Central Drugs Standards Control
Organisation.
What necessitated this move?
The move comes in the wake of dermatologists’
complaints that pharmaceutical companies were selling steroid-based creams and
ointments without medical guidance.
About CDSCO:
§ The Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation(CDSCO) under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of
Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the National Regulatory
Authority (NRA) of India.
§ Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is
responsible for approval of New Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down
the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the
country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations
by providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the
enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
§ Further CDSCO along with state regulators, is
jointly responsible for grant of licenses of certain specialized categories of
critical Drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and
Sera.
About DTAB:
§ Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) is the
highest decision-making body under the Union health ministry on technical
matters.
§ Director General of Health Services (DGHS) is
the ex-officio chairman of this statutory body which is constituted by the
ministry under section 5 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
What are Schedule H drugs?
Schedule H is a class of prescription drugs
listed under Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 which governs manufacture and sale
of all drugs in India. These drugs cannot be purchased over counter without the
prescription of a doctor.
What’s important?
For Prelims: DTAB, CDSCO and Schedule H
drugs.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies
constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
NITI Forum for Northeast
Context: The first meeting of Newly constituted
NITI Forum for North East was recently held in Agartala, Tripura. The meeting
was chaired by the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog.
Strategies for improving Road, Rail and Air
Connectivity in the North East Region, improvements in agriculture and allied
sectors, water management were some of the key focus area during the meeting.
About NITI Forum for Northeast:
§ The Union Government set up the ‘Niti Forum
for North-East’ in February 2018.
§ The forum will be co-chaired by the Vice-Chairman of
NITI Aayog and Minister of State (I/C), Ministry
of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER).
§ The forum will have its Secretariat in the
Ministry of DoNER.
§ The NITI Forum for Northeast is tasked to
identify various constraints on the way of accelerated, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth in the North East Region of the country and to
recommend suitable interventions for addressing identified constraints. It will
also review the development status in the NER.
§ The Forum includes representation from all NE
States, their Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of relevant Central
Ministries/Departments, Directors of reputed institutions (IIT, IIM etc),
experts and journalists have been included as members.
What’s important?
§ For Prelims: NITI Forum for North East.
§ For Mains: Significance of North East region
and need for special attention.
Sources: pib.
Paper 3:
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to
planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Prompt Corrective Action (PCA)
framework
Context: Eleven public sector banks have been
brought under the central bank’s Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework with
an aim to check NPAs. This comes months after the central government had
allocated capital of Rs 52,311 crore to 11 “weak banks” to maintain their
minimum capital requirement.
What is PCA?
PCA norms allow the regulator to place
certain restrictions such as halting branch expansion and stopping dividend
payment. It can even cap a bank’s lending limit to one entity or sector. Other
corrective action that can be imposed on banks include special audit,
restructuring operations and activation of recovery plan. Banks’ promoters can
be asked to bring in new management, too. The RBI can also supersede the bank’s
board, under PCA.
When is PCA invoked?
The PCA is invoked when certain risk
thresholds are breached. There are three risk thresholds which are based on
certain levels of asset quality, profitability, capital and the like. The third
such threshold, which is maximum tolerance limit, sets net NPA at over 12% and
negative return on assets for four consecutive years.
What are the types of sanctions?
There are two type of restrictions, mandatory
and discretionary. Restrictions on dividend, branch expansion, directors
compensation, are mandatory while discretionary restrictions could include
curbs on lending and deposit. In the cases of two banks where PCA was invoked
after the revised guidelines were issued — IDBI Bank and UCO Bank — only
mandatory restrictions were imposed. Both the banks breached risk threshold 2.
What will a bank do if PCA is
triggered?
Banks are not allowed to re new or access
costly deposits or take steps to increase their fee-based income. Banks will
also have to launch a special drive to reduce the stock of NPAs and contain
generation of fresh NPAs. They will also not be allowed to enter into new lines
of business. RBI will also impose restrictions on the bank on borrowings from
interbank market.
Impact:
Small and medium enterprises will have to
bear the brunt due to this move by RBI. Since the PCA framework restricts the
amount of loans banks can extend, this will definitely put pressure on credit
being made available to companies especially the MSMEs. Large companies have
access to the corporate bond market so they may not be impacted immediately. It
has been predicted that if more state-owned banks are brought under PCA, it
will impact the credit availability for the MSME segment.
What’s important?
§ For Prelims: PCA.
§ For Mains: PCA- need, significance, sanctions
and challenges.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and
degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Kaleswaram project
Context: Central Water Commission (CWC) recently
appreciated the Telangana government for the speedy execution of work on the
Kaleshwaram irrigation project aimed at creation of over 18 lakh acres of new
irrigation potential and stabilising another 18 lakh acres of the existing
command area.
What’s the project?
The Kaleshwaram project is an off-shoot of
the original Pranahitha-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme taken up by the
Congress government in 2007 when Andhra Pradesh was not divided. After the
formation of Telangana in 2014, the TRS government redesigned the project on
the ground that the original plan had too many environmental obstacles and had
very low water storage provision — only about 16.5 tmc ft.
After conducting a highly advanced Light
Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey for a couple of months, the government
separated the original component serving the Adilabad area as the Pranahitha
project and renamed the rest as Kaleshwaram by redesigning the head works,
storage capacity and the canal system based on the data of availability of
water at different locations along the course of the Godavari and its
tributaries.
Impact:
The Kaleshwaram project has provision for the
storage of about 148 tmc ft with plans of utilising 180 tmc ft by lifting at
least 2 tmc ft water every day for 90 flood days. The project is designed to
irrigate 7,38,851 hectares (over 18.47 lakh acres) uplands in the erstwhile
districts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal, Medak, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy.
What’s unique?
According to engineers, KLIP has many unique
features, including the longest tunnel to carry water in Asia, running up to 81
km, between the Yellampally barrage and the Mallannasagar reservoir. The
project would also utilise the highest capacity pumps, up to 139 MW, in the
country to lift water.
Sources: the hindu.
Facts for Prelims:
World’s first microfactory to help
tackle e-waste hazard:
Context: An Indian-origin scientist in
Australia has launched the world’s first microfactory that can transform the
components from electronic waste items such as smartphones and laptops into
valuable materials for re-use.
What is a microfactory? A microfactory is one
or a series of small machines and devices that uses patented technology to
perform one or more functions in the reforming of waste products into new and
usable resources. The e-waste microfactory that reforms discarded computers,
mobile phones and printers has a number of small modules for this process and
fits into a small site.
Significance: The e-waste microfactory has
the potential to reduce the rapidly growing problem of vast amounts of
electronic waste causing environmental harm and going into landfill. It can
also turn many types of consumer waste such as glass, plastic and timber into
commercial materials and products.
Delhi’s IGI airport among the top 20
busiest airports:
Context: As per ACI’s World Airport Traffic
Forecasts, the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, operated by the Delhi
International Airport Ltd, has emerged as one of the busiest airports in the
world and is in fact among the top 20.
About ACI: Founded in 1991 with the objective
of fostering cooperation among its member airports and other partners in world
aviation, ACI is the trade association of the world’s airports, currently
serving 641 members operating from 1,953 airports across 176 countries.
Key facts:
§ As per the latest statistics of Airports
Council International, IGI Airport jumped six notches to be in the top 20
busiest airports in the world for 2017 in terms of traffic volume. It jumped
from 22nd rank in 2016 to 16th.
§ Delhi has also been ranked first in airport
service quality for airports above 40 million passengers per annum along with
the Mumbai airport.
§ Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport (ATL) was ranked the busiest airport in the world.
Equatorial Guinea:
Context: President of India is visiting
Equatorial Guinea. This is the first time ever that a head of state from India
is visiting Equatorial Guinea.
About Equatorial Guinea:
§ Equatorial Guinea is a small country on the
west coast of Africa.
§ Equatorial Guinea is the only sovereign
African state in which Spanish is an official language.
§ It is made up of a mainland territory called
Rio Muni, and five islands including Bioko, where the capital Malabo is
located.
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