TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Alluri Sitarama Raju 2. 25th meeting of the Western Zonal Council 3. World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference
Syllabus: GS Paper 1- Indian Modern History- The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
Alluri Sitarama Raju
Prelims: Alluri Sitarama Raju; Rampa Rebellion
Context:
- Union Minister of Culture, Shri G Kishan Reddy would be visiting Andhra Pradesh to review the preparations being made for commemoration of the yearlong 125th birth anniversary celebrations of the revolutionary freedom fighter, Sri Alluri Sitarama Raju.
- He was born on 4th July 1897.
- Along with the 125th birth anniversary, the Government of India will also be commemorating the 100th year of the popular Rampa freedom struggle
Details:
- Sri Alluri Sitarama Raju is an Indian revolutionary actively involved in the Indian Freedom Struggle. He is also referred to as “Manyam Veerudu” or the “Hero of Jungle”.
- Alluri Sitaram Raju led the Rampa Rebellion in 1922 opposing the British Raj for enacting the 1882 Madras Forest Act, which heavily limited the tribal group’s freedom of movement within their own woodlands.
- Between August 1922 and May 1924, for close to 2 years, Sitarama Raju led one of the most intense uprisings against the British.
For more related information on Alluri Sitarama Raju refer to the following article:
https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/this-day-in-history-may07/
Syllabus: GS Paper 2- Polity and Governance- Structure, Organization and Functioning of the Executive
25th meeting of the Western Zonal Council
Prelims: Zonal Councils
Mains: Increasing centre-state and state to state level coordination and collaboration
Context:
- Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah recently presided over the 25th meeting of Western Zonal Council in Diu.
Background:
- The Zonal Councils were established under the States Reorganisation Act in 1956 and hence are statutory bodies.
- The present composition of each of the Zonal Councils is as under:
- The Northern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Union Territory of Chandigarh;
- The Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh;
- The Eastern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim and West Bengal;
- The Western Zonal Council, comprising the States of Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli; and
- The Southern Zonal Council, comprising the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
- The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya and (vii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.
- The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
- The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
- The Zonal Councils provide the platform to foster collaboration through a structured mechanism for dialogue and discussion on a continuous basis on the issues affecting one or more States or between the Centre and the States.
- The Zonal Councils are advisory in character.
Syllabus: GS Paper 2- International Relations- Important International Institutions, agencies and fora – their Structure, Mandate.
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference
Prelims: WTO Ministerial conference; Bali peace clause.
Mains: Main issues for India at the WTO
Context:
- Twelfth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference all set to begin in Geneva, Switzerland after a gap of almost five years.
Details:
- India is set to take part in the conference and the Indian delegation would be led by Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal.
- India is a founding member of the WTO since 1 January 1995 and a member of GATT since 8 July 1948.
- The key areas of discussions and negotiations this year’s conference include Agriculture issues including Public Stockholding for Food security, Fisheries subsidies negotiations, and WTO Reforms.
- An important issue relates to protection of India’s food grain procurement programme at Minimum Support Prices (MSP). WTO rules limit the subsidy that can be provided to agricultural products. Improvements are being sought by developing countries over the Bali peace clause, under which members would exercise due restraint (commonly termed as ‘peace clause’) in raising disputes in respect of public stockholding programmes for food security purposes, even if countries exceeded their permissible limits.
- India is keen to finalize the fisheries agreement in the upcoming conference. India needs Special and Differential Treatment to protect the livelihoods of poor fishers and address food security concerns of a nation, have the necessary policy space for developing the fisheries sector, and sufficient time for to put in place systems to implement the disciplines under Over Capacity and Over Fishing, Illegal, Unreported Unregulated and Over Fished.
- India believes that WTO reforms discussions must focus on strengthening its fundamental principles, preserving Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) including consensus-based decision making and non-discrimination.
For more related information on this topic refer to the following article:
https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/world-trade-organization-wto/
For more related information on this topic refer to the following article:
https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/world-trade-organization-wto/
Read previous PIB here.
June 11th, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here
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