November 2024

Download PDF
Daily Current Capsules - 15th November 2019

Defence
Indo-Uzbekistan Joint Field Training exercise (FTX)-2019 Exercise Dustlik-2019

Relevance IN - Prelims ( DUSTLIK - 2019)
What's the NEWS
  • The inaugural Indo-Uzbekistan Joint Field Training Exercise (FTX)-2019, Exercise DUSTLIK-2019 culminated on 13 November 2019 after 10 days of joint training with Uzbekistan Army.
Know! more about the exercise
  • In the joint exercise which began on 04 November 2019 training was focused on counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations in urban scenario as well as sharing of expertise on skills at arms, both combat shooting and experiences in counter insurgency and counter terrorism.
  • The exercise also provided an opportunity to armies of all nations for greater cultural understanding, sharing experiences and strengthening mutual trust and cooperation.
  • After intense military training, the joint exercise concluded with both Armies exhibiting their combat power and dominance over the extremist groups.
Judicial Reforms
Office of Chief Justice of India comes under RTI Act

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about RTI and facts related to judicial reforms) + Mains ( GS II Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
What's the NEWS
  • The Supreme Court (SC) has held that the office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority and falls within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
  • A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, upheld the 2010 Delhi High Court verdict and dismissed three appeals filed by Secretary General and the Central Public Information officer of the SC.
  • Transparency and accountability should go hand-in-hand". Increased transparency under RTI was no threat to judicial independence

Know! more about the judgement (the genesis of it)
  • The move to bring the office of the CJI under the transparency law was initiated by RTI activist S C Agrawal.
  • The Delhi High Court on January 10, 2010, had held that the CJI office comes within the ambit of the RTI law, saying judicial independence was not a judge's privilege, but a responsibility cast upon him.
  • The HC judgment was seen as a setback to the then CJI, K G Balakrishnan, who has been opposed to disclosure of information relating to judges under the RTI Act. The HC had dismissed a plea of the SC that contended bringing the CJI's office within the RTI Act would "hamper" judicial independence.
  • Supreme Court has upheld the decision given by the Delhi High Court in 2010. This landmark judgment arrived on petitions challenging the Delhi High Court's decision.
  • The Constitutional Bench of five judges reserved the judgment on April 4 on the appeals filed by the central public information officers against the orders of the High Court and the Central Information Commission (CIC) in 2010.
  • A bench of five judges led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi comprised Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Deepak Gupta, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice NV Ramana, announced its verdict.
  • The Supreme Court has taken this decision under Article 124 of the Constitution.
  • The decision of the bench was penned by a 3:2 majority as Justice Ramana and Justice Chandrachud has given separate judgment.
Know! more about the Delhi High Court's Judgment in 2010
  • The Delhi High Court had said in a judgment on 10 January 2010 that the office of the Chief Justice comes under the purview of the RTI Act.
  • The Delhi High court said that judicial independence is not the privilege of the judge, but a responsibility on him.
  • The High Court rejected the appeal of the apex court that judicial independence would be 'obstructed' by bringing the CJI office under the purview of RTI.
  • The High Court rejected the plea of the apex court that judicial independence would be 'obstructed' by bringing the CJI office under the purview of RTI. The General Secretary of the Supreme Court filed a petition against the decision and now SC has announced its verdict.
  • Attorney General (AG) KK Venugopal, representing the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Supreme Court, had said that sharing of information related to the collegium under the CJI's office would embarrass the judges and the government and destroy judicial freedom.
Know! about RTI Act
  • Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 provides timely response to the citizens on their requests for government information.
  • The major objective of the RTI Act is to promote transparency, empower the citizens and accountability in the working condition of the Government.
  • An RTI can be written on a simple paper addressing Public Information Officer of the concerned department along with postal order of Rs. 20.
Environment Conservation
Roadside air purifiers have failed to combat pollution

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about WAYU and about NEERI) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)
What's the NEWS
  • The NEERI air purifiers on roadsides that were meant to suck polluted air have not worked
  • The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), a Nagpur-based laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), had developed WAYU to address air pollution at traffic intersections and dense traffic zones.
Know! about VAYU
  • It comprises a fan that sucks in air and sieves out dust and particulate matter using three filters of varying sizes.
  • The air then moves into another chamber where carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are oxidised into the less harmful carbon dioxide using activated carbon coated with titanium dioxide.
  • The purified air is then released back into the atmosphere.
  • Prototypes of the device had been installed at the ITO Junction and Mukarba Chowk in north Delhi.
  • WAYU was specifically made for traffic junctions
  • Along with WAYU Pariyayantra was also launched last year These were a fleet of 30 buses with air filter units mounted on the roof.
  • As the vehicle moves, air passes through the holes in front of the device. The filters inside the unit trap the pollutants.
The Sunderbans mangroves - Environmental experts point at constant degradation of forests

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about mangroves) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)
Know! the importance of mangroves
  • On November 9, 2019, when the very severe cyclone Bulbul made landfall at Sagar island in the Indian Sunderbans, number of people and tourists a took shelter in mangrove creeks, and escaped unhurt.
  • The mangroves had saved the Sunderbans from the gusty winds blowing at between 110 kmph to 135 kmph.
  • It would have been a disaster if the mangroves had not been there
Degradation of the mangrove forest
  • Scientists, wildlife experts and local NGOs have been highlighting the constant degradation of the mangrove forest in the Sunderbans, particularly in areas that are inhabited.
  • The Indian Sunderbans, considered to be an area south of the Dampier Hodges line, is spread over 9,630 sq. km., of which the mangrove forests are spread over 4,263 sq. km.
  • A satellite image from the Indian Space Research Organisation pointed to a loss of 3.71% mangrove and non-mangrove forest cover along with massive erosion of the archipelago's landmass.
  • The analysis, based on satellite data of February 2003 and February 2014, shows that while a 9,990-hectare landmass has been eroded, there has been an accretion of 216-hectare landmass in the Sunderbans during the period.
  • Mangroves have been cut not only for aquaculture, but also for building embankments and for human settlements
  • Due to dense foliage and the close proximity of trees, the mangrove roots hold soil and the vegetation becomes a shield to protect from cyclones.
Know! more about mangroves and its importance
  • Mangroves are trees, shrubs and ferns that grow in the intertidal coastal zone of tropics and subtropics.
  • Mangrove ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and provide a wide range of goods and services to human communities living in coastal areas including wood and non-wood forest products, fisheries, medicines, recreation, ecotourism, bio-filtration, nursery grounds, coastal protection, and carbon sequestration.
  • Mangrove forests are the most productive ecosystems known with high biomass accumulation especially below ground.
Health Sector
Climate change is harming health of children, says Lancet report

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the key findings of the report) + Mains (GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources. Issues relating to poverty and hunger
What's the NEWS
  • Climate change is already damaging the health of the world's children and is set to endanger the well-being of an entire generation, unless the world meets the target to limit warming to well below 2°C, according to a major new report published in The Lancet.
Know! about the findings of the Lancet report
  • ‘The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change' is a comprehensive yearly analysis tracking progress across 41 key indicators.
  • The project is a collaboration between 120 experts from 35 institutions, including the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, University College London, and the Tsinghua University in Beijing.
  • The report notes that as temperatures rise, infants will bear the greatest burden of malnutrition and rising food prices - average yield potential of maize and rice has declined almost 2% in India since the 1960s, with malnutrition already responsible for two-thirds of the deaths of children under five years.
  • Children will suffer most from the rise in infectious diseases - with climatic suitability for the Vibrio bacteria that cause cholera rising 3% a year in India since the early 1980s, the study warns.
  • Diarrhoeal infections, a major cause of child mortality, will spread into new areas, whilst deadly heat waves could soon become the norm.
  • The government of India has launched many initiatives and programmes to address a variety of diseases and risk factors. But this report shows that the public health gains achieved over the past 50 years could soon be reversed by the changing climate
State Specific
The ‘Sishu Suraksha' app
Assam gets app to combat child rights violations

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the app)
What's the NEWS
  • The ASCPCR is launching a mobile application, Sishu Suraksha, as a means to lodge complaints on child rights violation, and address them in timely and appropriate ways.
What's the need
  • No less than 125 complaints - including those concerning child marriage, child trafficking and child sexual abuse - have been reported to the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Right (ASCPCR) since the beginning of 2019. Yet, there are many that go unreported and slip through the cracks. In a bid to remedy this, ASCPCR is launching this mobile application
Know! more about the app
  • The app, available on iOs and Android platforms, can be used by anyone in the state to lodge complaints which will be then directly sent to the commission.
  • This is probably the first of its kind application in the Northeast - earlier one would have to write a formal letter to the ASCPCR head office in Guwahati to file a complaint.
  • The user needs to just open the app, and key in their complaint in the ‘How To Lodge a Complaint' section. and the concerned authority will take immediate action.
  • Lodging a complaint involves keying in details like particulars of the victim, the address, which police station they fall under and what kind of abuse it is.
  • The categories the app currently has are: child labour, child marriage, child sexual abuse, violation of rights and others.
  • According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Assam features among the top 10 states with maximum number of crimes against children, with a hundred percent jump between 2014 and 2016 (from 1,385 to 2,970).
  • Currently Childline, the pan-India 24-hour children's helpline is in function in 11 out of 33 districts of Assam.
  • With this app, anyone, in any district of Assam can use it - including the children themselves.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS