PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 18-JANUARY-2018
Paper 1:
Topic:
Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Haj subsidy
Context: The government has
abolished the subsidy being given to Haj pilgrims every year. The government
said it will use the subsidy funds to empower the minorities.
Background:
The
policy to support Muslims in making the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia,
can be traced back to 1932, when the British enacted the Port Haj
Committees Act. In the ensuing decades, the Act has undergone numerous
changes. And in recent years it has called for significant criticism from
various parties. In 2012, a Supreme Court order directed the Haj subsidy to be
gradually phased out in the coming ten years. In 2017, a Central Haj Committee
meeting decided to do away with the subsidy by the following year.
What is the Haj subsidy?
The
Haj subsidy refers to discounted airfares given by the government-owned
airlines, Air India. It also includes assistance to Muslim pilgrims for
domestic travel to reach specially designed Haj departure airport terminals,
lodging, medical care and meal. Originally, the subsidy was given on air fares
of flights between Bombay and Jeddah. Later, additional flight legs were added
to the subsidy list. Since 1984, all the traffic for Haj from India to Saudi
Arabia has been shared between Air India and Saudi, both of which are the
government funded carriers of their respective countries.
After
the 2012 Supreme Court order to phase out the subsidy in the next ten years,
the government had been steadily declining the amount of subsidy offered to Haj
pilgrims each year.
What are the criticisms against the Haj subsidy?
The
Haj subsidy has come under heavy criticism, particularly because of the
monopoly formed by Air India in carrying out the pilgrimage. Allegedly, the
government subsidies have resulted in major profits for Air India, benefiting
the airlines far more than the pilgrims. According to several critics of the
subsidy, if booked months in advance, it is possible to buy cheaper air
tickets, thereby doing away with the need for subsidy. Some of the political
parties have also called the subsidy as minority appeasement.
What are the other religious pilgrimages that are offered
government subsidy in India?
The
Haj is not the only religious pilgrimage being funded by the State. A number of
other religious tours are supported by the government. For instance, the state
and central governments spend considerable amounts on the pilgrim facilities at
the four Kumbh melas in Haridwar, Ujjain, Nashik and Allahabad. The Kailash
Manasarovar yatra from North India to the mountains of Tibet is yet another
pilgrimage which is organised by the government with arrangements being made
for security and health facilities.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper 2:
Topic:
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
Context: The Defence Acquisition
Council (DAC) has simplified ‘Make II’ procedure, which prescribes guidelines
to be followed to develop and manufacture defence equipment through Indian
Industry.
Changes introduced:
Since
no government funding is involved in ‘Make II’ project, the DAC felt it
necessary to simplify the procedure to make it industry friendly, with minimal
government control. The salient aspects of the revised procedure will now allow
Ministry of Defence to accept suo-motu proposals from the industry and also
allows start-ups to develop equipment for Indian Armed Forces. The minimum
qualification criteria to participate in ‘Make II’ projects has also been
relaxed by removing conditions related to credit rating and reducing financial
net worth criteria.
As
per the earlier ‘Make II’ procedure, only two vendors were shortlisted to
develop prototype equipment. Now, all vendors meeting the relaxed eligibility
criteria will be allowed to participate in the prototype development process.
The vendor will not be required to submit Detailed Project Report. After accord
of approval of the ‘Make II’ project by the council, all clearances will be
accorded at Service HQ (SHQ) level.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
What
is it? To counter corruption and speed up decision- making in military
procurement, the government of India in 2001 decided to set up an integrated
DAC. It is headed by the Defence Minister.
Objective:
The objective of the DAC is to ensure expeditious procurement of the approved
requirements of the Armed Forces, in terms of capabilities sought, and time
frame prescribed, by optimally utilizing the allocated budgetary resources.
Functions:
The DAC is responsible to give policy guidelines to acquisitions, based on
long-term procurement plans. It also clears all acquisitions, which includes
both imported and those produced indigenously or under a foreign license.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services
relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Tourette Syndrome
Context: For patients with
Tourette syndrome, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is associated with symptomatic
improvement, according to a study. The procedure, called deep brain stimulation
(DBS), improved tic severity by nearly half in 171 patients with uncontrolled
Tourette symptoms at 31 hospitals in 10 countries.
With
DBS, brain surgeons run thin electric leads to specific regions of the basal
ganglia, a cluster of nerves in the brain related to motor control and
behaviour. Doctors then apply electricity to the brain circuits they’ve most
closely linked to Tourette, to try to control the patient’s tics. However, the
procedure still needs more work. More than a third of patients experienced
adverse events, most often slurred speech or a pins-and-needles sensation.
What is Tourette syndrome?
Tourette’s
syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder that causes people to make sudden
repetitive movements or sounds which aren’t controlled (known as tics). For
example, an individual with Tourette’s syndrome may blink rapidly, clear their
throat, shrug, turn heads and make controllable hand movements or blurt out
words they don’t intend to. Though these tics can be suppressed, it is often
physically exhausting to do so. One, in hundred children suffers from
Tourette’s, which is the same as the number of children with autism.
Causes:
Though the exact cause of the Tourette’s syndrome is unknown, it is believed to
be caused both by genetic and environmental factors. Studies suggest that it is
inherited most of the time, though the mode of inheritance and the carrier gene
is not yet identified. This syndrome has been linked to a dysfunction in an
area in the brain, which could be basal ganglia, thalamus and frontal cortex,
which controls the body movements. A disruption in the working of
neurotransmitters is also believed to cause tics.
Symptoms:
Tourette’s syndrome causes sudden repetitive movements called the tics. These
can be so mild as to go unnoticed and can be severe enough to seek medical
assistance as well. These tics can be of two types, motor tics and vocal tics.
Motor tics concentrate on the sudden, involuntary muscle movement in the body.
These include: Head jerking, Rapid blinking, Mouth, or face twitching,
Shrugging and Arms jerking. Vocal tics concentrate on the involuntary vocal
sounds made by an individual. For example: Throat clearing, Coughing, Repeating
what someone else says, Swearing, Shouting and Sniffing.
Sources:
et.
Topic:
Development processes and the development industry the role of NGOs, SHGs,
various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other
stakeholders.
Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) Program
Context: The First Global
Initiative on Academic Network GIAN course on Sustainable Urban planning using
remote sensing and Geographic Information System, GIS has been launched at
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur’s outreach center in NOIDA.
Key facts:
§ This
course is being conducted under the Global Initiative on Academic Network
(GIAN) Program of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and actively
supported by NITI Aayog and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
§ This
course aims to give participants state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS skills
which will allow them to rise to the challenge of managing the rapidly changing
urban environment of Indian cities.
§ Focus
will be on issues such as water resource management, water pollution and
strategic emplacements for water treatment facilities.
Significance of the course:
This
course is expected to contribute significantly to build trained manpower for
the Smart Cities Mission launched by the Government on 25th June 2015 with an
objective to promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core
infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and
sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.
About Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN):
Global
Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education was launched in
2015. GIAN aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs to
engage with the institutes of higher education in India to augment the
country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reforms,
and further strengthen India’s scientific and technological capabilities.
GIAN is envisaged to achieve the following objectives:
§ To
increase the footfalls of reputed international faculty in the Indian academic
institutes.
§ Provide
opportunity to our faculty to learn and share knowledge and teaching skills in
cutting edge areas.
§ To
provide opportunity to our students to seek knowledge and experience from
reputed International faculty.
§ To
create avenue for possible collaborative research with the international
faculty
§ To
increase participation and presence of international students in the academic
Institutes.
§ Opportunity
for the students of different Institutes/Universities to interact and learn
subjects in niche areas through collaborative learning process.
§ Provide
opportunity for the technical persons from Indian Industry to improve
understandings and update their knowledge in relevant areas.
§ Motivate
the best international experts in the world to work on problems related to
India.
§ Develop
high quality course material in niche areas, both through video and print that
can be used by a larger body of students and teachers.
§ To
document and develop new pedagogic methods in emerging topics of national and
international interest.
Sources:
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Topic:
Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or
affecting India’s interests.
Raisina Dialogue 2018
Context: The 2018 edition of
Raisina Dialogue is being held in New Delhi.
Theme: ‘Managing Disruptive
Transitions: Ideas, Institutions & Idioms’.
About the Raisina Dialogue:
This
is an annual geo-political event, organised by the Ministry of External Affairs
and Observer Research Foundation (ORF). It is designed to explore prospects and
opportunities for Asian integration as well as Asia’s integration with the
larger world. It is predicated on India’s vital role in the Indian Ocean Region
and how India along with its partners can build a stable regional and world
order.
Participants:
The conference is a multistakeholder, cross-sectoral meeting involving policy
and decision-makers, including but not limited to Foreign, Defence and Finance
Ministers of different countries, high-level government officials and policy
practitioners, leading personalities from business and industry, and members of
the strategic community, media and academia.
Significance
of the event: The Raisina Dialogue was born two years ago, in 2016, in the
belief that the Asian century that the world was talking about was not about
any exclusive geographical region. It was rather about the engagement of global
actors with Asia and of Asia with the world. So this dialogue took birth as a
platform, where the old and the new could work together, to discover their
connections, their inter-dependence. It has today become a crucible for
conversations and ideas that while located in India can be owned by the world.
Sources:
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Topic:
Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure,
mandate.
World Energy and Environment Conference
Context: The World Energy and
Environment Council is organising the 5th Series World Energy and Environment
Conference and Exhibition 2018 at Bahrain. The Conference raises and sets the
bar higher for global debate, dialogue, engagement and cooperation.
Theme: “Shifting to Clean,
Renewable Energy in Time of Transition”.
ABOUT WEEC:
WEEC
is a world platform that address serious issues about environment and the
challenges to turn to clean, renewable energy. The focus is into the
development of energy policy, sustainable strategies, sustainable resource
developments and sustainable economic development.
WEEC
aim for commitment from governments, its leaders, for lawmakers to do
intelligent thinking, get brilliant ideas in directing laws and
regulations. With the private sectors cooperation and participation,
creating a roadmap toward sustainability for the benefit of all.
Sources:
et.
Facts for Prelims:
World environment award 2018:
What
is it? The Energy Globe World Award is an international award in the field of
environment instituted by the Energy Globe Foundation annually to recognise
projects that make careful and economical use of resources and employ
alternative energy sources.
Who
won? Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) has won the 18th Energy Globe
World Award -2017 as the one and only organisation from India. KISS won the
award in ‘Fire’ Category for green initiatives undertaken by this institute
that reduces the ecological footprint for large scale cooking.
World’s largest air purifier:
China
has built the world’s largest air purifier in an attempt to curb the air
pollution. The 100 meters high tower is located in the city of Xian in Shaanxi
province of northern China. In the initial experiments, the tower was
successful in reducing the smog on severely polluted days to moderate levels.
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