A. GS1 Related

B. GS2 Related

Context

• Many toilets constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission have already become defunct and unusable, according to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development. It slammed the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation for not bothering to find out the scope of the problem, despite an earlier recommendation to conduct a survey.
• “Till the time the problem of toilets becoming dysfunctional is not tackled seriously by the Ministry, the objective of full household sanitation coverage in the entire rural areas of the country by October 2, 2019, would remain a distant dream,” said the committee in its report on the action taken by the government on earlier recommendations, which was presented to Parliament earlier this week.

Swacch Bharat Abhiyan

• Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a campaign which was launched on 2 October 2014, and aims to eradicate open defecation by 2019, and is a national campaign, covering 4,041 statutory cities and towns. Its predecessors were the “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan” and before that the “Total Sanitation Campaign”.
• It is reported that the idea was developed and initiated in March 2014 after a sanitation conference was organised by UNICEF India and the Indian Institute of Technology as part of the larger Total Sanitation Campaign, which the Indian government launched in 1999.
• The government is aiming to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 12 million toilets in rural India.
• India’s sanitation crisis has started to improve drastically ever since the launch of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ India can replicate Singapore’s success story for achieving benefits out of SBA

Singapore model

• The campaign is similar to the one launched in Singapore post-independence when open defecation was a common sight in the 1950s-60s
• Even sophisticated urban areas had primitive toilet systems where human waste was collected manually in buckets and disposed directly into nearby waterways
• Singapore did not have the time or resources to build an expensive curative health-care system
• It, therefore, invested in toilet hygiene and clean water as a preventive health strategy, which was much cheaper and far more effective
• By focussing on providing clean water and sanitation, Singapore created a healthy and productive workforce, ready for international business and commerce by the 2000s

Challenges in India

• The major challenges of sanitation in India arise from puritan religious beliefs
• Many people in India view toilets as impure and refrain from installing them within their household premises
• Most defecate in the open as it is something they have grown accustomed to since their childhood
• No matter how many toilets the government builds, the country will never be able to become open defecation free until people start using them
• Many toilets already constructed under SBM have become defunct and non-usable due to various reasons pertaining to the quality of construction and scarcity of water.

Context

• The Law Ministry on Thursday said there was no proposal as of now to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and of High Court judges from 62 to 65.
• The Ministry was responding to the recommendation of a Parliamentary Standing Committee that raising the retirement age of judges would help retain the existing judges, which in turn would help in reducing both vacancy and pendency of cases in short run.
• The committee, in its report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, raised concern over the large number of vacancies of judges in High Courts.

Background

• In August 2010, then Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily introduced the Constitution (114th Amendment) Bill, 2010 in the Lok Sabha.
• The Bill, which sought to increase the retirement age of High Court judges to 65, could not be taken up for consideration in Parliament and lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.

Reasons for Judicial Delays at a glance

• Large number of unfilled judicial vacancies
• A long drawn judicial process
• Often witnesses are not willing to come forward.
• The process concerning criminal cases – reports such as medical reports, forensic reports- also takes time
• Fast growing population
• An increasing number of states and central laws
• Mounting number of appeals

‘Quota for women judges not under consideration’

• The Law Ministry on Thursday said there was no proposal to introduce reservation for women in the appointment of judges in the higher judiciary.
• The Ministry’s response came on an observation of a Parliamentary Standing Committee that only six women judges have been appointed in the Supreme Court till date.
• In the report tabled in Parliament, the Committee recommended that the Ministry should make suitable measures to include more women judges in both higher and subordinate judiciary.
• The Committee reiterated its recommendation in its ‘Eighty-fourth Report on Demand for Grants’ that the strength of women judges should be around 50% of the total strength of judges.
• The Ministry said judges were appointed in the Supreme Court and High Courts as per Articles 125 and 217 of the Constitution, which did not provide for reservation for any caste, class or gender.
• The government has, however, been requesting the Chief Justices of the High Courts that while sending proposals for the appointment of judges, due consideration be given to suitable candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities and women.
• While such requests have been made to ensure a fair representation for different sections of society in the higher judiciary, the Ministry said: “There is no proposal for amendment to Articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution”.

Context

• Several Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) are pushing for more enforcement power, similar to what is enjoyed by consumer forums, including the authority to issue arrest warrants.
• At the first meeting of a new RERA implementation committee held on Thursday, there was broad consensus that the RERA Act needed to be amended to further empower them. The details would, however, only be worked out by January 22, according to those who attended the meeting.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016

• Real estate, widely considered to be a major asset class, has been traditionally plagued with opaque practices, information asymmetry, and a muddled regulatory framework in India.
• One of the frequently cited reasons for the current slowdown in residential sector is the trust deficit between customers and developers. For the past many years, developers have not been able to deliver on their commitments, seriously denting the confidence of potential buyers.
• The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, aimed at bringing in transparency and redefining the engagement between various stakeholders, can be a potential game-changing event. The Act’s preamble details the legislative intention which is to primarily protect the interests of consumers and bring in efficiency and transparency in the sale/purchase of real estate.
• The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, allows consumer forums to assume the powers of a first class judicial magistrate for the trial of offences under the Act. RERAs are asking that the RERA Act be amended to give them similar powers.

Key provisions

• Now there is a requirement for developers to register projects with RERA prior to any advertisement and sale. Developers are also expected to have all sanction plans approved and regulatory clearances in place prior to commencement of sale. Subsequent changes have to be approved by a majority of buyers and the regulator.
• The Act ambitiously stipulates an electronic system, maintained on the website of RERA, where developers are expected to update on a quarterly basis the status of their projects, and submit regular audits and architectural reports. Notably, non-registration of projects is a serious matter. If there is non-compliance, RERA has the power to order up to three years imprisonment of the promoters of a project.
• It requires developers to maintain separate escrow accounts in relation to each project and deposit 70% of the collections in such an account to ensure that funds collected are utilised only for the specific project. The Act also requires real estate brokers and agents to register themselves with the regulator.
• The Act also attempts to establish an adjudicatory mechanism for the speedy redress of disputes.
• RERA and the Appellate Tribunal are expected to decide on complaints within an ambitious period of 60 days. But no legislation can protect the interest of only one class. As one of the largest job creators, the real estate sector contributes almost 6% towards the GDP. Mindful of this, the Act seeks to assist developers by giving the regulator powers to make recommendations to State governments to create a single window clearance for approvals in a time-bound manner.

C. GS3 Related

Highlights of the study

• A large number of start-ups, small and medium enterprises view corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies, securing loans as well as funding as major challenges in 2019, according to a report by citizens’ engagement forum LocalCircles.
• The report, based on responses from over 15,000 start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs, found 45% respondents saying that corruption or bureaucratic inefficiencies as the top challenge, followed by securing loans and funding (37%), and business growth (18%).
• Angel tax is one area that falls under corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies as it takes the focus of entrepreneurs away from building a product or service to responding to tax notices and filing appeals, something that start-ups can clearly do without.
• Several start-ups and angel investors have raised concerns over notices received from the authorities related to taxation of angel funds. The Centre has set up a panel to look into the taxation issues faced by start-ups and angel investors. The study noted that 38% of the respondents said they had received at least one notice.

Angel Tax

• Angel Tax is a 30% tax that is levied on the funding received by startups from an external investor. However, this 30% tax is levied when startups receive angel funding at a valuation higher than its ‘fair market value’. It is counted as income to the company and is taxed.
• The tax, under section 56(2)(viib), was introduced by in 2012 to fight money laundering. The stated rationale was that bribes and commissions could be disguised as angel investments to escape taxes. But given the possibility of this section being used to harass genuine startups, it was rarely invoked.
• There is no definitive or objective way to measure the ‘fair market value’ of a startup. Investors pay a premium for the idea and the business potential at the angel funding stage. However, tax officials seem to be assessing the value of the startups based on their net asset value at one point. Several startups say that they find it difficult to justify the higher valuation to tax officials.
• In a notification dated May 24, 2018, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had exempted angel investors from the Angel Tax clause subject to fulfilment of certain terms and conditions, as specified by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). However, despite the exemption notification, there are a host of challenges that startups are still faced with, in order to get this exemption.

Context

• A Chinese space probe touched down on the far side of the moon on Thursday, China’s space agency said, hailing the event as a historic first and a major achievement for the country’s space programme.
• The Chang’e-4 lunar probe, launched in December, made the “soft landing” at 02.26 GMT and transmitted the first-ever “close range” image of the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration said.

Chang’e-4 lunar probe

• According to experts, landing on the far side of the moon is undoubtedly one of the most challenging missions ever launched by any of the world’s superpowers.
• China’s Chang’e-4 – a first probe ever to explore the dark side of the Moon, marking another milestone in its ambitious space programme
• The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate that it orbits our planet, so the far side is never visible from Earth. The probe, the Chang’e-4, has made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the Moon. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side of the Moon, but none has landed on it.
• The far side of the moon known as ‘South Pole-Aitken Basin’ still remains a mystery among space scientists and by sending a probe there, China will outdo the historical achievements of the US and USSR.
• Chang’e 4 is the fourth mission in the country’s lunar mission series which is being named after the Chinese moon goddess.
• The tasks of the Chang’e-4 probe include low-frequency radio astronomical observation, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the environment on the far side of the moon.

Context

• NASA shares detailed images taken by New Horizons of the distant celestial body called Ultima Thule
• New Horizons was launched on 19 January 2006, and has been travelling through space for the past nine years. New Horizon’s core science mission is to map the surfaces of Pluto and Charon, to study Pluto’s atmosphere and to take temperature readings.
• On January 1, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft became the first explorer to fly past the mysterious object- Ultima Thule, located some 4 billion miles from Earth.

Ultima Thule

• Ultima Thule, an icy celestial body, is aptly shaped like a giant snowman, NASA scientists have announced.
• This is a historic flyby of the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever explored by humankind.
• Ultima Thule is located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost regions of the Solar System, beyond the orbit of Neptune.
• It measures approximately 30 km in diameter, and is irregularly shaped.
• Ultima Thule has a reddish color, probably caused by exposure of hydrocarbons to sunlight over billions of years.
• Ultima Thule belongs to a class of Kuiper belt objects called the “cold classicals”, which have nearly circular orbits with low inclinations to the solar plane.

D. GS4 Related

E. Editorials

Editorial Analysis:

• Recently, China joined a select group of countries with successful missions to the moon, when its spacecraft, Chang’e-4, successfully made a landing at ‘10.26 on January 3’, 2019 according to the China National Space Administration.
• The Chang’e-4 spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess.
• The spacecraft, Chang’e-4 landed at a spot on the moon’s far side, the Von Kármán crater, which is untouched by earlier missions from earth.
• After landing, the Chang’e-4 spacecraft relayed a close-up image of the ‘far’ side of the moon through the communication relay satellite Queqiao.
• The Queqiao satellite was launched in May 2018 by China for the very purpose of helping the Chang’e-4 communicate with earth, as a direct communication with it is not possible from the moon’s far side, which never faces earth.

What is the Chang’e-4 carrying?

• The Chang’e-4 mission carries payloads, of which two are in collaboration with Germany and Sweden, respectively.
• The instruments include cameras, low-frequency radio spectrum analyser, lunar neutron and radiation dose detectors, and many more.
• Experts believe that among other things, the mission could pave the way to setting up a radio telescope on the far side of the moon.

Understanding the Moon:

• Considering that the earth is right next door to the moon, we know precious little about it.
• Its formation and early evolution present mysteries which, if understood, could guide us in planetary studies, and help in understanding exoplanets.
• The near side of the moon, which faces earth, has dark patterns; the far side, turned away, is marked with circular spots that are craters formed by meteorite collisions.
• Further, the moon’s near side is believed to have a thinner shell, so that when meteorites bombarded it they cracked its shell, releasing lava which gushed out and covered traces of the impact and left dark patches.
• Being thicker, the far side did not face such an erasure and bears the marks of the crater impacts.
• Experts believe that this mission could verify these theories and discover the reason behind these dichotomies.
• Also, it is important to note that the moon’s far side also differs from the near side in that it is shielded from all the radio waves emanating from earth.
• Communication devices and satellites have made it too noisy for radio astronomers to easily and accurately interpret signals.
• The near side of the moon also suffers from this problem of noise.
• On the other hand, the far side is a quiet place and a haven for earthly aspirations to set up a radio telescope that could reveal astronomical mysteries, such as the structure of the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
• China has now joined the U.S. and the former USSR as the only countries to have made a “soft landing” on the moon.
• Experts believe that beyond underlining China’s technological advances, Chang’e-4 could herald a new chapter in lunar exploration.

Category: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. A case of unprincipled criminalisation (Triple Talaq Bill)

Question 1. With reference to “Kadaknath chicken”, recently in news, which of the following 
statement(s) is/are correct?

Question 2. Ujh River was seen in news, is a tributary of the river:

Question 3. Consider the following statements: