UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis Dec05

A. GS1 Related

Context

• In a classic example of how misconceptions about HIV/AIDS remain deep-rooted, a tank is being drained out in Morab village in Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district (Karnataka) because of an HIV scare.

Details of the issue

• Trouble began in the village after the body of a woman infected with the AIDS virus was found floating in the tank last week.
• Rumour mills went into overdrive and lack of awareness only added to the fear among residents that the disease could spread to the whole village. The residents stopped using water from the tank and elders decided that pumping out the water was the only remedy.
• It’s been a couple of days now since 20 pumpsets have been installed on the tank bund to drain water into nearby fields and canals.
• The village has no other source of drinking water and residents, mainly women, have to trek 2 km to tap other sources.
• Efforts by officials, including the tahsildar and Assistant Commissioner, to convince the residents that there is no danger have proved futile.
• On Tuesday, work on draining out the water body, spread over 32 acres, was still on. The elderly, among them Amrutgouda Patil of the village, are of the belief that the woman’s body had poisoned the tank. Some of the villagers told reporters that they would bring pressure on the authorities to get water from the Malaprabha canal to fill up the tank again.

Some Basics about AIDS

• The word AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. This means deficiency of immune system, acquired during the lifetime of an individual indicating that it is not a congenital disease [disease or abnormality present from birth]. ‘Syndrome’ means a group of symptoms.
• AIDS was first reported in 1981 and in the last twenty-five years or so, it has spread all over the world.
• AIDS is caused by the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV), a member of a group of viruses called Retrovirus, which have an envelope enclosing the RNA genome.
• Transmission of HIV-infection generally occurs by sexual contact with infected person, by transfusion of contaminated blood and blood products, by sharing infected needles as in the case of intravenous drug abusers and from infected mother to her child through placenta.
• So, people who are at high risk of getting this infection include individuals who have multiple sexual partners, drug addicts who take drugs intravenously, individuals who require repeated blood transfusions and children born to an HIV infected mother.
• It is important to note that HIV/AIDS is not spread by mere touch or physical contact; it spreads only through body fluids. It is, hence, imperative, for the physical and psychological well-being, that the HIV/AIDS infected persons are not isolated from family and society.
• There is always a time-lag between the infection and appearance of AIDS symptoms. This period may vary from a few months to many years (usually 5-10 years).

B. GS2 Related

Context

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to initiate necessary steps for passing the Bill for reservation of one-third seats in Parliament and State Legislatures for women.
• Pointing out that the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Constitution, Mr. Patnaik said: “The country will move forward with much greater momentum only if the other half of our population, our mothers, sisters and daughters have a role in the highest decision-making bodies”.
• “Mahatma Gandhi always spoke of gender equality and empowerment of women in society. Taking a historic decision to empower women in our country would be the finest tribute to the Father of the Nation on his 150th birth anniversary,” Mr. Patnaik wrote.
• He informed Mr. Modi that the Odisha Assembly had adopted a resolution to provide reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament as well as State Legislatures.

Analysis of the issue

• B.R. Ambedkar once said that “political power is the key to all social progress”. What, then, to make of the fact that India—a country where women suffer substantially greater socio-economic disadvantages than Western democracies like Spain—has a cabinet that is only 22% female and a Lok Sabha that has a meagre 12% female representation?
• “Our dream of New India is an India where women are empowered, strengthened, where they become equal partners in the all-round development of the country.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Mann Ki Baat.
• Political parties in India tend not to follow provisions in their constitutions reserving seats for women in different committees The second barrier is the lack of education and leadership training.
• Since women are not integrated in many local political processes initially, and, unlike men, are not part of the relevant social and power networks, women leaders are prone to inefficiencies.
• The Economic survey for 2017-18 tabled in Parliament said factors such as domestic responsibilities, prevailing cultural attitudes regarding roles of women in society and lack of support from family were among main reasons that prevented them from entering politics.

Context

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has proposed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) come up with regulations to oversee collection, usage and sharing of data by payment service providers, even as the government is expediting discussions on the draft Personal Data Protection Bill.

Details of the issue

• This follows concerns raised by the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) over collection and storage of “sensitive personal data” by payment service providers via applications such as Google Tez, WhatsApp and Paytm.
• The NCSC recommended that there was a need to scrutinise all aspects of a relation – legal, technical and financial, between all the stakeholders in the payments ecosystem. “Payments service providers must comply with legal framework as well as regulations prescribed by the regulator,” the NCSC recommended.
• “The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) supports NCSC’s recommendation and has suggested that RBI should lay down regulations, that would bind the collection, usage and sharing of data, by participants in the payments arena,” the official said.
• In April, this year, the RBI directed all payments service providers to ensure that the data relating to payment systems operated by them were stored only in India. This came into effect in October 2018.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018

• Up until now, privacy laws in India offer little protection against misuse of your personal information. The transfer of personal data is currently governed by the SPD Rules (Sensitive Personal Data and information, 2011), which has increasingly proved to be inadequate.
• The proposed Data Protection Bill 2018 essentially makes individual consent central to data sharing. The report notes that the right to privacy is a fundamental right. Unless you have given your explicit consent, your personal data cannot be shared or processed. Of course, this also means that the onus lies on you to make an informed choice.
• Next, the draft bill also states that any person processing your personal data is obligated to do so in a fair and reasonable manner. In other words, your data should be processed only for the purposes it was intended for in the first place.
• Failing to meet these provisions can cost companies dear, with the bill laying down penalties that can go up to ₹15 crore or 4 per cent of a company’s total worldwide turnover.

Context

• More than 40 organisations of southern Assam’s Barak Valley have demanded an extension of the ongoing claims submission phase of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in view of the panchayat elections.
• Less than 20% of the 40.70 lakh people excluded from the complete draft NRC have filed claims since the window opened on September 25.

National Register of Citizens

• It is a register containing the list of bona fide (genuine/real) Indian citizens. Those failing to enlist their names in the register would be deemed, illegal migrants.
• The first list was made in 1951, covering the whole of India, as per the census of that year.
• Currently, the list has been updated for the first time, and only in Assam
• Officially, the NRC process will address the issue of illegal migrants, specifically from Bangladesh.
• The National Register of Citizens was first published in 1951 to record citizens, their houses and holdings. Updating the NRC to root out foreigners was a demand during the Assam Agitation (1979-1985).
• There have been several waves of migration to Assam from Bangladesh, but the biggest was in March 1971 when the Pakistan army crackdown forced many to flee to India. The Assam Accord of 1985 that ended the six-year anti-foreigners’ agitation decided upon the midnight of March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date.

Context

• A study conducted by the Disability Rights India Foundation (DRIF) on the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act, across 24 States, has revealed that more than half have not notified the State rules, despite a significant lapse of time.

Details of the Study

• Ten States, including Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Telengana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, have notified the State rules, the survey said.
• The study, conducted in collaboration with the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and National Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (NCRPD), said the Act, passed in December 2016, should have been notified by all States within six months.
• The study, which concentrated on the States’ administrative machinery with respect to the Act, found that nearly 80% of the States had not constituted the funds for implementation of the RPWD Act.
• Among the five States to have constituted the funds, Tamil Nadu has allocated ₹10 crore, while Himachal Pradesh has allocated ₹5 crore. “Only Tamil Nadu has taken some action with regard to providing an increased quantum of assistance for people with disabilities in social security schemes,” the report said.
• Though 62% of the States have appointed Commissioners for Persons with Disabilities, “the progress has not been substantial. Only three States have constituted Advisory Committees, comprising of experts, to assist the State Commissioners” the study noted.

Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016

• It replaced the 1995 Act. It brought the Indian law in line with the United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), to which India is a signatory.
• The types of disabilities have been increased from existing 7 to 21 and the Central Government will have the power to add more types of disabilities.
• Speech and Language Disability and Specific Learning Disability have been added for the first time. Acid Attack Victims have been included. Dwarfism, muscular dystrophy has been indicated as separate class of specified disability.
• The New categories of disabilities also included three blood disorders, Thalassemia, Haemophilia and Sickle Cell disease. In addition, the Government has been authorized to notify any other category of specified disability.
• Responsibility has been cast upon the appropriate governments to take effective measures to ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy their rights equally with others.
• Additional benefits such as reservation in higher education, government jobs, reservation in allocation of land, poverty alleviation schemes etc. have been provided for persons with benchmark disabilities and those with high support needs.
• Every child with benchmark disability between the age group of 6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.
• Government funded educational institutions as well as the government recognized institutions will have to provide inclusive education to the children with disabilities.
• It provides for penalties for offences committed against persons with disabilities and also violation of the provisions of the new law.

C. GS3 Related

Context

• Rating agency Fitch maintained a negative outlook for Indian banks due to weak capital and said public sector lenders would need more capital than what the Centre had planned to infuse.
• Fitch estimated that banks would need $38 billion by FY19 to sufficiently meet minimum Basel III capital standards, and achieve 65% cover for non-performing assets, and to leave some surplus capital for growth.

Basel reforms

• Basel series of norms are broad supervisory standards formulated by Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses.
• Basel III is a global, voluntary regulatory framework. It deals with – Bank capital adequacy, Market liquidity risk and Stress testing.
• It was agreed by BCBS members in 2010–11.
• It focuses primarily on the risk of a run on the bank, requiring differing levels of reserves for different forms of bank deposits and other borrowings.
• It does not, supersedes the guidelines known as Basel I and Basel II for the most part, rather works alongside them.
• In March 2014, RBI had extended Basel III deadline up to March 31, 2019, instead of as on March 31, 2018.

Context

• Cell phone connectivity has become a bone of contention between security forces and the banned CPI (Maoist) in the Visakhapatnam Agency.
• While security forces want a strong network as it will give them an edge in vulnerable areas, the Maoists have been targeting the towers, especially during the PLGA Week being observed from December 2 to 8 since 2000.

Details of the issue

• Ever since the BSNL made inroads into tribal areas, there has been a significant drop in recruitment, especially at the militia level.
• According to a senior police officer, militia members are usually chosen from the villages and they provide logistic support and act as key recruitment agents, information providers and crowd mobilisers for meetings.
• But after the advent of mobile phones in the Agency, awareness on various issues, including government schemes, has increased. Today, almost all tribal youth, especially in habitations close to main roads, have smartphones.
• Chatting, browsing, and even surfing porn sites consumed a lot of their time, said a police inspector attached to a station in a Maoist-affected area.
• They no longer have the time to attend Maoist meetings and there has been a major drop in recruitment.
• The Maoists feel that while the cellphone network facilitates easy communication, it may also give away their location.

Who are the Naxals?

• The parent term, Naxal entered Indian lexicons in the decade of 1960 and has acquired a certain meaning over the years. The term Naxal comes from a village called Naxalbari in Siliguri district of West Bengal. Naxalism is understood at two levels – as a socio-economic issue and a law and order problem.
• The people who launched Naxal operations were frustrated with growing inequality among the various classes of society and government’s apathy to address the routine grievances of the poor.
• They launched armed rebellion against the system and the government dealt with it as a law and order problem. In 2008, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Naxalism is the greatest threat to our internal security.”
• The first NaxaI group sprang off as an offshoot of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). A small group of the party decided to break away to launch an armed struggle against big landowners and establishment.
• Their objective was to capture additional lands of big zamindars and distribute the same among the tilling farmers and landless labourers. The leadership was provided by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal. They became the first Naxals or the original Naxals.

Government Approach towards Naxalism

• Focusing on infrastructure creation through Additional Central Assistance scheme & Road Requirement Plan scheme.
• Universal Service Obligation Fund supported Scheme of Mobile Services to increase mobile connectivity.
• Schemes like Roshni for skill development of rural poor youth.
• Facilities of residential schools to children.
• To improve public perception of state’s commitment towards their welfare, states have been asked to effectively implement provisions of PESA, 1996 on priority, which – categorically assigns rights over minor forest produce to Gram Sabhas; funds are provided to security forces under Civil action program for conducting welfare activities in their deployment areas.
• Surrender-Cum Rehabilitation policy for Naxalites in affected areas.

Context

• The Finance Ministry has issued a ‘discussion paper’ that has criticised the accounting methods used by developed countries to report how much money they have given, so far, to developing countries to address climate change.

Details of the issue

• Accounting procedures, regarding the flow of climate finance, is one of the most controversial issues being debated at Katowice, Poland where countries have gathered to agree upon a ‘Rule Book’ to implement the Paris Agreement of 2015, that commits countries to ensure the earth doesn’t warm 2C beyond pre-industrial levels.
• In 2019, developed countries are expected to make available $100 billion annually to developing countries, according to a 2010 agreement in Cancun.
• It argues that the definition of climate finance in the UNFCCC has remained “imprecise and incomplete.” There was no clarity on whether the developed countries’ commitment to ‘provide funds’ meant funds committed or those that made it to their intended recipients.
• The total pledges to the Green Climate Fund, the largest multilateral fund, was a “meagre” $10.3 billion. Further, most of the total climate finance has flowed into mitigation (a reference to preventing carbon dioxide from being emitted).

Green Climate Fund

• The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was adopted as a financial mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the end of 2011 in CoP 16.
• The GCF is intended to support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country for combating climate change.
• The GCF finances activities to both enable and support adaptation, mitigation (including REDD+), technology development and transfer (including CCS), capacity-building and the preparation of national reports.
• The important distinction of GCF is that it has an independent legal status and personality and nationally designated authorities have a paramount role to play. This has been achieved after many rounds of different negotiations.
• The GCF follows a ‘country-driven approach’, which envisages effective involvement of various stakeholders at all levels and also enables the developing countries to evolve their climate policy keeping in consideration their immediate development priorities like poverty reduction and improving standards of living for a large proportion of their population.
• The effectiveness with which a country is able to tap the resources from the GCF and use them effectively is dependent on how well the country’s government and its various institutions have prepared themselves to access the Fund.
• It is based in South Korea and governed by a Board of 24 members and initially supported by a Secretariat.
• The World Bank serves as the interim trustee of the GCF, and the Fund functions under the guidance of and remains accountable to the UNFCCC Conference of Parties.

What is Paris Agreement?

• Paris Agreement is an international agreement to combat climate change.
• In 2015, the governments of 195 nations gathered in Paris, France, and discussed a possible new global agreement on climate change, aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and thus reduce the threat of dangerous climate change.
• The 32-page Paris agreement with 29 articles is widely recognized as a historic deal to stop global warming.
• As countries around the world recognized that climate change is a reality, they came together to sign a historic deal to combat climate change – Paris Agreement.

The aims of Paris Agreement

• Keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level.
• Pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• Strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Nothing here for today!!!

Category: ENVIRONMENT

1. Shift to low carbon

Question 1. Consider the following pairs:

Question 2. “Momentum for Change: Climate Neutral Now” is an initiative launched by

Question 3. The term “Two state Solution” is sometimes mentioned in the new in the context of 
the affairs of