IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs (Prelims + Mains Focus)- 7th May 2018

Archives

(PRELIMS+MAINS FOCUS)

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains Paper III – Environmental hazard and Disaster

In News:

• The Kilauea volcano, the most active in Hawaii, remained highly unstable.
• Highly toxic sulfur dioxide gas pouring from some fissures continued to contribute to “extremely dangerous” conditions.
• The high levels of sulfur dioxide are a threat to all who become exposed.

Important Value Additions:

• Kilauea is a currently active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, and the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the island of Hawaii.
• Kilauea is considered one of the world’s most frequently active volcanoes.

Do you know?

There are five active volcanoes in Hawaii. They are:

1. Loihi
2. Kilauea
3. Mauna Loa
4. Hualalai
5. Haleakala

Mauna Loa is an active volcano and is due for an eruption.

India’s only active volcanoes is located in Barren island of Andaman, which is also the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia.

Observe figure/map below and try to locate Kilauea

Article link: Hawaii Kilauea volcano erupts; county issues evacuation … – The Hindu

Universal household electrification

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains paper II – Government schemes and social issue

In news:

• Central government is pushing for total electrification, however survey and studies show many households continue to live in dark especially in rural.

Important Value additions:

You should be aware of following schemes with regard to Electrification –

1. Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya)
2. Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)
3. Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS)
4. Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY)

1. Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya)

• Launched in Sept 2017
• SAUBHAGYA (Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna) aims to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country in a time bound manner.
• Around 4 crore households in rural and urban areas by December 2018 are expected to get electricity connections under the scheme.
• The scheme funds the cost of last-mile connectivity to willing households to help achieve the goal of lighting every household by 31 December 2018.

2. Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)

• Launched in July 2015
• Scheme for rural areas
• Objective: To provide electrification to all villages (now to all households as opposed to only villages)

Do you know?

• A village is declared to be electrified if 10% of the households are given electricity along with public places such as schools, panchayat office, health centres, dispensaries and community centres.
• Unique feature of DDUGJY – With a large number of household still remaining without access to electricity, the scheme aims at ensuring the coverage of households as opposed to only villages.

Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS)

• IPDS Scheme aims to provide quality and reliable 24×7 power supply in the urban area.

Gram Swaraj Abhiyan

• Launched on April 14, 2017 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, to reach out to villages, most of which have a majority of Dalit and tribal homes.
• Partial success for Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (Observe fig below)

THINK!

• Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY)

Article link:

Eight lakh state households living in dark, reveals study

Partial success for Gram Swaraj Abhiyan

‘Tholu Bommalata’

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains Paper I – Indian Art and Culture (Puppetry)

In News:

• ‘Tholu Bommalata’ – shadow puppet theatre tradition of Andhra Pradesh.

Important Value additions:

There are 4 types of Puppetry practiced in India –

1. String Puppets
2. Shadow Puppets
3. Rod Puppets
4. Glove Puppets

About Shadow Puppetry:

• Shadow puppets are flat figures. They are cut out of leather, which has been treated to make it translucent.
• Shadow puppets are pressed against the screen with a strong source of light behind it.
• This tradition of shadow puppets survives in Orissa. Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

About ‘Tholu Bommalata’

• ‘Tholu Bommalata’ is a shadow puppetry practiced in Andhra Pradesh
• The puppets are large in size and have jointed waist, shoulders, elbows and knees.
• They are coloured on both sides. Hence, these puppets throw coloured shadows on the screen.
• Influenced by the classical music of the region and the theme of the puppet – Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas

Article Link: Puppetry hangs by a thread in Prakasam district – The Hindu

Green Gold: Bamboo

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains Paper III – Agriculture sector (Indian Economy)

In News:

• In Union Budget 2018, government had allocated a whopping Rs 1,290 crore to promote the bamboo sector — through restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM).
• Government also removed bamboo grown outside forest areas from the definition of trees.
• However there are some concerns whether all these efforts help to achieve $10 billion market potential of bamboo.

Concerns:

Failure of National Mission on Bamboo Application (NMBA), National Bamboo Mission (NMB) and North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR)

1. Department of Science and Technology (DST) had in 2004 launched the National Mission on Bamboo Application (NMBA) with an outlay of ₹200 crore. NMBA failed. NMBA neither developed any technology nor facilitated technology transfer.
2. ₹1,400-crore National Bamboo Mission (NMB) also failed from 2007-2014
3. Even related initiative called the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) has also failed. NECTAR is an autonomous society registered and headquartered in Shillong with a fund allocation of ₹292 crore.

The entire team that made NMBA a failure was rehabilitated in NECTAR without any responsibilities being fixed. NECTAR functioned under DST and no proper functioning.

Key pointers:

• Northeast part of India grows 67% of India’s bamboo.
• India has the world’s largest fields of bamboo. It grows on nearly 13% of the country’s forest land.
• The eight North-eastern States – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura – grow 67% of India’s bamboo and have 45% of global bamboo reserves.
• Nearly 35 species of superior quality bamboos are found in the region.

Important Value additions:

About restructured NBM

The Mission is expected to establish about 4000 treatment/ product development units and bring more than 100000 ha area under plantation during the period 2018-19 & 2019-20.

The restructured NBM strives to –

1. To increase the area under bamboo plantation in non forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change.
2. To improve post-harvest management through establishment of innovative primary processing units, treatment and seasoning plants, primary treatment and seasoning plants, preservation technologies and market infrastructure.
3. To promote product development at micro, small and medium levels and feed bigger industry.
4. To rejuvenate the under developed bamboo industry in India.
5. To promote skill development, capacity building, awareness generation for development of bamboo sector.

Do you know?

• Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Bamboo Mission (NBM) is now under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
• Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC) under Ministry of Agriculture is implementing a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme called Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) in which National Bamboo Mission (NBM) is being implemented as a sub scheme.

Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains Paper II – Welfare and social issue

In News:

• The Justice Rajesh Bindal Committee was set up last year to suggest a model legislation to safeguard the interest of the child as well those of the parents when an NRI (Non Resident Indian) marriage goes sour and one of the parents flees from one country to another with the child. (issue of inter-country parental child abduction)
• Based on the recommendations of Rajesh Bindal Committee, Central government is expected to take a decision on whether it should accede to the Hague Convention.

Do you know?

• In 2016, the government had decided not to be a signatory to the treaty on the ground that it can be detrimental to the interest of the women fleeing an abusive marriage.

• The Committee has suggested a model legislation to safeguard interests of the parents and the children.

About Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

• It is a multi-national treaty that seeks to protect children wrongfully removed by one of the parents from the custody of the other parent.

African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA)

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains Paper II – International Affairs

About African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA)

• The pact — is signed by 44 of the 55-member African Union (AU)
• It seeks to create a single market in goods and services, free movement of persons and investment, and eventually a customs union with a common external tariff.

Do you know?

• ACFTA is the biggest free trade agreement since the establishment of the WTO.
• By creating a single continental market for goods and services, the member states of the African Union hope to boost trade between African countries.

(MAINS FOCUS)

NATIONAL

TOPIC:

General Studies 1:

• Social Issues

General Studies 2:

• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Protecting the girl child in India

Introduction:

We need to ask how the Katha rape crisis may be transformed into a new beginning of honest critique and wide-ranging social change.

Respect for children, and women, must be the recurrent theme; especially honouring those who are tribal, Dalit, minority, and/or poor. The margins must move centrestage, reorienting all our priorities.

How patriarchal society in India contributes to sexual violence?

Sexual violence is part of the entire structure of power.

Patriarchal families — embedded within intricate webs of caste, class, communal, ethnic, sexual identity and other hierarchies — are inherently undemocratic.

Unquestioning obedience is expected from youngsters, silent submission from women, unwarranted space and privilege is usurped by men. Girl children are routinely scolded, punished, humiliated and bullied. Individual rights, the core of democracy, are flouted daily. Sexual abuse and rape are just the next logical step.

A girl child is required to eat less, study less, talk less, work more from the earliest age onward, thereby making them vulnerable and her self-esteem low.

Child Sexual Abuse: A common problem in India

Rape and child sexual abuse (CSA), far from being the “rarest of rare” crimes, are possibly the commonest of common.

Indian courts heard 64,138 child rape cases during 2016 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO).

A study across socio-economic groups found that 42 per cent children had been subjected to CSA, 15 per cent severely abused.

A nation-wide Study on Child Abuse (Ministry of Women and Child Development, 2007) indicates that some 53 per cent children have faced CSA.

Justice delayed and denied:

Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) expressed shock at finding that 1,12,628 cases under POCSO are pending before trial courts across the country.

It had earlier noted that “implementation of POCSO is in shambles.

Despite the sheer volume as well as routine brutality of rape and CSA cases, justice remains elusive. Perpetrators enjoy impunity.

Data from the NFHS-2015-16 (National Family Health Survey) indicates that 99 per cent sexual violence cases are not reported by women survivors. Among reasons for not reporting are low conviction rates, and lack of trust in the police.

Policy changes:

The Delhi 2012 gangrape and murder sparked off spontaneous protests across the country.
The Verma Committee, set up thereafter, recommended-

• Police reforms
• Statutory procedures for managing sexual offence cases, including Rape Crisis Cells
• Criminalisation of marital rape
• Disqualification of politicians with criminal records
• Repeal of laws like AFSPA
• Educational reforms including education of adults
• Gender-free socialisation, and sexuality education

The SC (responding to a PIL pursuing justice for CSA victims, particularly an eight-month-old raped by her 28-year old cousin Delhi, January 2018) has issued directives that-

• Police chiefs should constitute Special Task Forces to investigate POCSO cases.
• High courts must ensure fast-track trials by designated Special Courts and ensure a “child-friendly atmosphere”.

POCSO requires that police, doctors, judges, lawyers and prosecutors be educated to understand, and deliver justice to, child survivors. Survivors require justice and rehabilitation. Trauma may last forever.

Recent step taken by government:

Ordinance providing for death penalty for those convicted of raping 12-year odds has been recently approved by Union cabinet.

It is though misconceived. It fails to understand the social foundations of rape and undermines human rights and women’s movement struggles for a violence-free world.

Conclusion:

Children and women ought to come first, in every decision, plan and policy, in families, boardrooms, and development paradigms. The last child has to become our first concern. Entrenched hierarchies must be overturned.

We need to intervene to ensure respect for girl child’s basic rights, fulfilment of basic needs, socialisation and education that builds self-confidence and skills for self-assertion. She should have an inalienable right to safety, requiring systematic inputs by schools, communities, health services, police, and law.

Connecting the dots:

• The patriarchal society in India contributes to sexual violence. Discuss how? The need is to ensure respect for girl child’s basic rights, fulfilment of basic needs, socialisation and education that builds self-confidence and skills for self-assertion. Comment.

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(TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE)

Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section)

Q.1) Loihi, Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Haleakala is related to –

1. Nomadic tribes in Sahara desert
2. Names of Neptune moons
3. Active volcanoes in Hawaii
4. Breeds of cattle and buffalo varieties of India

Q.2) Consider the following statements:

1. It aims to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country in a time bound manner.
2. Around 4 crore households in rural and urban areas by December 2018 are expected to get electricity connections under the scheme.
3. The scheme funds the cost of last-mile connectivity to willing households.

Identify from below, which scheme has above provisions under it?

1. Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya)
2. Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)
3. Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS)
4. Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY)

Q.3) A village is declared to be electrified if –

1. 90% of the households are given electricity along with public places
2. 10% of the households are given electricity along with public places
3. 100% of the households are given electricity along with public places
4. 60% of the households are given electricity along with public places

Q.4) Consider the below statements:

1. It is a shadow puppetry practiced in Andhra Pradesh
2. Puppets are pressed against the screen with a strong source of light behind it
3. These puppets are cut out of leather, which has been treated to make it translucent
4. Theme of this puppetry form includes Ramayana, Mahabharata or Puranas

Identify from below the correct puppetry form which has above features –

1. Kathputli
2. Gombeyatta
3. Bommalattam
4. Tholu Bommalata

Q.5) In Union Budget 2018, government had allocated a whopping Rs 1,290 crore to promote the bamboo sector. The fund will be spent mainly through which among the below scheme –

1. National Mission on Bamboo Application (NMBA)
2. Green Gold Mission (GGM)
3. Restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM)
4. North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR)

Q.6) Consider the below statements with respect to National Bamboo Mission:

1. It is under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
2. It is under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
3. The Mission is expected to bring more than 100000 ha area under plantation during the period 2018-19 & 2019-20.

Which of the statements above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.7) Recently, Centre had constituted a Committee to suggest a model legislation to safeguard the interest of the child as well as to deal with issue of inter-country parental child abduction. The committee is headed by –

1. Rajesh Bindal Committee
2. Geetam Singh Committee
3. Preetham Singh Committee
4. Mahendra Lama Committee