TABLE OF CONTENT
A. GS1 Related B. GS2 Related Polity 1. Tribunal prohibits dumping of waste near Ganga banks 2. From this year, Kannada is compulsory in all schools 3. President’s nod for Bill against social boycott Health Issues 1. US panel endorses new gene-altering cancer treatment C. GS3 Related Economics 1. PM’s task force recommends scrapping 5-yearly job survey Internal Security And Defense 1. Incentivising financial sector cybersecurity ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 1. Four ways to shrink your carbon footprint D. GS4 Related E. Concepts-in-News: Related Concepts to Revise/Learn 1. National Green Tribunal 2. Carbon Footprint F. Bills/Acts/Schemes/Orgs in News G. Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam
UPSC Current Affairs 2017: News Analysis
Nothing here for Today!!!
1. Tribunal prohibits dumping of waste near Ganga banks
In news:
National Green Tribunal (NGT)
- Area of 100 metres from the edge of the Ganga between Haridwar and Unnao has been declared a ‘No Development Zone’.
- Prohibited dumping of waste within 500 metres of the river.
- An environment compensation of Rs. 50,000 will be imposed on anyone dumping waste in the river.
- Directed the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments to formulate guidelines for religious activities on the ghats of the Ganga and its tributaries.
Other orders by NGT
- The authorities concerned should complete projects, including a sewage treatment plant and cleaning of drains, within two years.
- The Uttar Pradesh government is duty-bound to shift tanneries, within six weeks, from Jajmau in Kanpur to leather parks in Unnao or any other place it considers appropriate
- All industrial units in the catchment areas of the Ganga should be stopped from indiscriminate groundwater extraction.
- No in-stream mechanical mining is permitted and even the mining on the floodplain should be semi-mechanical and preferably more manual.
Supervisory panel
- The court also appointed a supervisory committee, headed by the Secretary of the Water Resources Ministry and comprising IIT professors and officials of the Uttar Pradesh government, to oversee implementation of the directions passed in its verdict.
- The committee is to submit reports at regular intervals.
2. From this year, Kannada is compulsory in all schools
In news:
- Karnataka: Students will be taught Kannada in all schools in the State, including private, linguistic minority and Central board schools.
- Coverage: from Class one.
- Stringent action, including withdrawal of the no-objection certificate issued by the Education Department, would be initiated in case of non-compliance.
- Singing Nada Geethe likely to be made mandatory in all schools
3. President’s nod for Bill against social boycott
In News
- Maharashtra has become the first State in the country to enact a law against social boycott from caste panchayats
- President has given his nod to implement the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill in the State
Motive behind the enactment of this law
- There are growing instances of boycotts of individuals or families by caste panchayats
- Maharashtra Government was considering to enact a special law for such kind of cases from 2010(Congress at that time)
Provisions of Punishment under the new law
- The bill makes provision for punishment of up to three years in jail and/or a fine up to Rs. 1 lakh
- The case has to be fast tracked within six months from the date of filing the charge sheet
- The fine charged from accused will be partially or fully handed over to the victim
1. US panel endorses new gene-altering cancer treatment
In news:
- A US Food and Drug Administration panel opened a new era in medicine on, unanimously recommending that the agency approve the first-ever treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own cells to fight cancer, transforming them into what scientists call “a living drug” that powerfully bolsters the immune system to shut down the disease.
- Severe possible side effects — raging fever, crashing blood pressure, lung congestion.
1. PM’s task force recommends scrapping 5-yearly job survey
In News:
- The Prime Minister-appointed task force headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya, in the report has recommended that traditional Employment-Unemployment Surveys carried out by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) every five years be scrapped.
Other measures recommended:
- A new periodic labour force survey to provide estimates of labour force, employment, unemployment, nature of employment and industry.
- To get more frequent employment trends data, an urban module of this survey will be updated every quarter.
- A time use survey should also be conducted at three year intervals to provide data on time spent in various occupations and non-market activities. This survey will collect information on how individuals allocate their time over a specified time period, usually a day or a week.
- The survey will help track how time spent by households has been changing and measure women’s participation in unpaid work.
- Centre can tap the GST Network database as a sample frame for a new annual survey of enterprises.
Category: INTERNAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE
1. Incentivising financial sector cybersecurity
Context:
- Government made public a report by the working group to set up the Computer Emergency Response Team in the Financial Sector (Cert-Fin)
- RBI released guidelines on customer liability in case of unauthorized electronic banking transactions.
Significance:
- They represent different aspects of the cybersecurity problem—the technical and the economic framework
- Push for a less-cash economy is increasing the digital density of India’s financial services space.
- The cyberattacks getting audacious
Current issues:
- New Delhi’s response thus far has focused only on the technical aspects of the problem
- There is a risk that Cert-Fin will become deadwood given that sectoral regulators RBI, SEBI and IRDA are already working on cybersecurity issues.
- So proper coordination across the sector is necessary.
- Companies and institutions will rarely expend the resources necessary for the collective security needed to protect the sector, until the right economic incentives are found.
No cybersecurity architecture can be foolproof .Why?
- In case of a complex system, attackers will always have the edge over defenders. The number of potential bugs and vulnerable points in any system mean that the mathematical odds favour the attackers.
- No code can be perfect enough to compensate for human error.
- Example:A bank might have robust cybersecurity architecture, but it will still be vulnerable if the systems of other networks that carry pertinent information are not secure.
- In software industry, the more people use a particular software, the more valuable it becomes- has led to a “release first, patch later” approach
Guideline on Burden of proof. What it is?
- In case of ATM frauds, in US, burden of proof lay with the banks, fared much better than Britain, Norway and the Netherlands, where burden of proof lay with the customer.
- The RBI’s guidelines on customer liability are welcome in this context.
Way forward
- Data breach disclosure norms, with penalties for failing to do so, are important;
- Incentivise financial institutions to swiftly report cyberattacks instead of keeping mum to avoid reputation loss, regulatory intervention and liability. Many countries have such norms, but India does not.
- Address the issues such as regulatory burden and the negative effects of heavy-handed liability laws.
Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Four ways to shrink your carbon footprint
Context: Researchers in Sweden have identified the top four things people can do to reduce their carbon footprint, but warned these steps are rarely promoted in the public sphere.
Four Actions
Four actions that could result in substantial decreases in an individual’s carbon footprint are: eating a plant-based diet, avoiding air travel, living car-free, and having smaller families.
- A plant-based diet -While eating plant-based diet saves 0.8 tons of CO2 equivalent a year.
- No airplanes-Avoiding airplane travel saves about 1.6 tons of CO2 equivalent per trip.
- Living car-free -Saves about 2.4 tons of CO2 equivalent per year.
- Smaller families-One less child saves an average of 58.6 tons of CO2-equivalent emission reductions per year, the report said.
- Commonly promoted government strategies included changing light bulbs and comprehensive recycling but researchers said these steps are respectively eight and four times less effective than a plant-based diet.
Nothing here for Today!!!
- National Green Tribunal
- Carbon Footprint
Nothing here for Today!!!
G. Practice Questions for UPSC Prelims Exam
Question 1: Consider the following statements:
- Deputy Speaker and Speaker may resign by writing to each other
- Attorney General and Solicitor General may resign by writing to each other
Which among the above statements is / are correct?
- Only 1
- Only 2
- Both 1 & 2
- Neither 1 nor 2
Question 2: Sargasso Sea is characterized by ________.
- Very cold water
- Very warm water
- Highly saline water
- Typical marine vegetation
Question 3: Which among the following depicts the correct meaning of the term Jins-i-kamil
concerning crops in Mughal India?
- Paddy Crop
- Cash Crop
- Coarse Crop
- Crop grown in Arid region
Question 4: Arsenic present in groundwater can be partially removed ________.
- Along with removal of iron by precipitation/ coagulation method if iron is also present in the water
- On boiling even if iron is absent in the water
- On UV-treatment
- On filtration even if iron is absent in the water
Question 5: Akbar’s Ibadat Khana was the place where _______.
- Military strategy was decided
- Inter-faith debates and discussion were held
- Akbar preached his principles of Sulh-i-kul
- Fine arts were practiced
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