Connect to Current -Daily Current Capsules 11th March 2019

Judiciary
SC appoints 3-member panel to mediate in Ayodhya dispute
Committee will start work in Faizabad in a week, and file status report in 4 weeks

What's the NEWS
• A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court referred the Ayodhya dispute for mediation in a bid to heal minds and hearts.
Know! all about the judgement
• The five-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, appointed a panel of mediators, comprising former Supreme Court judge F.M.I. Kalifulla as chairman, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Sriram Panchu, a senior advocate with experience in alternative dispute resolution.

• The mediation would start in a week in Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh - of which the disputed area is a part - with the process conducted in-camera.
• A court-monitored mediation in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case to arrive at a permanent solution to the politically and religiously sensitive issue.

Know! all about the dispute
• The Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case is a property dispute over the land where the Babri Masjid, a 16thcentury mosque once stood.

• The mosque was razed by kar sevaks on 6 December 1992. The Hindu groups claim that the exact site of Lord Ram's birthplace is where the Babri Masjid was once located.
• They argue that the Mughals demolished a Hindu shrine that marked the spot of Lord Ram's birthplace and constructed a mosque in its place.

• Those oppose to this view argue that such arguments arose only in the 18th century, and that there is no evidence for the spot being the birthplace of Rama.

Factoids
India Bags First Prize at The International ‘Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2019'
Relevance IN - Prelims(about the award)

What's the NEWS
• The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has won the First Prize in the category of TV Cinema Spot at the prestigious international Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2019.

• Promotional films / television commercials produced by the Ministry as part of its Incredible India 2.0 Campaign received the awards

Know! more about the award
• The Golden City Gate Tourism Multi-media Awards are given annually in various categories related to the Tourism and Hospitality sectors.

• The ‘Golden City Gate' is a creative multi-media international competition for countries, cities, regions and hotels.

• The entries received for the awards are judged by an international jury comprising film and tourism experts. The annual award ceremony takes place at ITB Berlin, the world's leading tourism trade show.

Incredible India 2.0 Campaign
• The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Incredible India 2.0 Campaign in September 2017.

• The 2.0 Campaign marks a shift from generic promotions across the world to market specific promotional plans and content creation.
• Thematic creatives on different Niche tourism products have been produced and are being used in the Campaign, to cater to diverse consumer interests.

• These include the above Television Commercials on Yoga, Wellness, Wildlife, Luxury and Cuisine, which have been very well received the world over, registering about 155 million views on social media.

Economic developments
Only 3.32 lakh MSME jobs created in last four years, finds CII survey
Relevance IN Prelims ( about the findings of the survey and about CII)

What's the NEWS
• The number of net jobs created in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in the last four years stood at just 3,32,394, which is 13.9% higher than the base four years ago, according to a CII survey of more than one lakh companies.

• The findings for the four-year period - beginning 2015-16 - pale in comparison with that from the government's Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises for an earlier period, which shows 11,54,293 MSME jobs were created in the three years ended 2014-15.
• The survey shows just three States - Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Telangana - accounted for over 50% of the jobs created in this period (2015-16 to 2018-19).
• It also shows that 73% of the jobs were created by micro enterprises.

Know! about CII

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a business association in India.

• CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organization. Founded in 1895, it has over 9,000 members, from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 300,000 enterprises from around 265 national and regional sectoral industry bodies.

• CII works with the Government on policy issues. CII has been a catalyst of change in India's economic policy reforms

• CII played a very important role during economic liberalisation in 1991 which knocked down the high walls of protection between Indian industry and the rest of the world.

• With 65 offices, including 9 Centres of Excellence, in India, and 11 overseas offices CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community.

• The CII Theme for 2018-19 is ‘India RISE : Responsible. Inclusive. Sustainable. Entrepreneurial.

Government Schemes
The Seven Croreth LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PMUY) + Mains ( GS II social justice)

What's the NEWS
• The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan handed over the Seven Croreth LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
Know! all about PMUY
• The PMUY was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1st May 2016 with an initial target of five crore LPG connections, which was later revised upward to eight crores connections.

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) - Under this scheme, LPG connections will be provided to BPL families with a support of Rs.1600 per connection.
• The connection is provided in the name of the adult women of the family. Further, an option is provided to provide a loan at zero interest to bear the cost of the cooking stove and first refill which has to be paid by the beneficiary.
• 7 crore LPG connections have been distributed over a span of 34 months.

Environment
Explicitly demarcate trees grown in forests from those grown outside

Relevance IN - (Prelims - about the state forest report findings ) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)

What's the NEWS
• A high-power committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recommended that forest surveys - the biennial exercise by the government to estimate forest cover - explicitly demarcate trees grown in forests from those grown outside, that is, in plantations and private lands.

• Currently, the government counts both towards estimating the portion of India's geographical area covered by forest.

What's the need for this demarcation
• Independent critics have for long pointed out that including both isn't an ecologically sound principle but this is a first instance of government-constituted committee recommending so.

• India posted a marginal 0.21% rise in the area under forest between 2015 and 2017, according to the India State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017, which was made public in February 2018.
• The document says that India has about 7,08,273 sq. km. of forest, which is 21.53% of the geographic area of the country (32,87,569 sq. km.).

• Getting India to have at least 33% of its area under forest has been a long-standing goal of the government since 1988.
• Various editions of the SFR have over the years reported the area under forests as hovering around 21%.

• So the government also includes substantial patches of trees outside areas designated as forests, such as plantations or greenlands, in its assessment.
• The total tree cover, according to this assessment, was 93,815 sq. km. or a 2% rise from the approximately 92,500 sq. km. in 2015.


Prelims practise Question

Consider the following statements
1. According to the India State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017, which was made public in February 2018 the total forest cover as percentage of geographical area is 21.54%

2. India posted a marginal 0.21% rise in the area under forest between 2015 and 2017, according to the India State of Forest Report (SFR) 2017, which was made public in February 2018.
3. The PMUY was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1st May 2016 with an initial target of seven crore LPG connections, which was later revised upward to eight crores connections.

4. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) - Under this scheme, LPG connections will be provided to all rural families with a support of Rs.1600 per connection.

Find the correct statement from the option given below

a. 1 and 2
b. 1 2 and 4
c. 1 and 4
d. All

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