Daily important updates for civil services

Model Answer : Approach: Why in news? Introduction Factors causing uranium contamination Its ill effects Way Forward Conclusion Why in news? A new Duke University-led study has found widespread uranium contamination in groundwater from aquifers in 16 Indian states, much above the WHO provisional standard for the country. The findings published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters are the first to demonstrate the predominant prevalence of uranium in India’s groundwater. Introduction The WHO has set a provisional safe drinking water standard of 30 micrograms of uranium per litre for India, a level that is consistent with US Environmental Protection Agency standards. Despite this, uranium is not yet included in the list of contaminants monitored under the Bureau of Indian Standards’ Drinking Water Specifications. These findings highlight a major gap in India’s water-quality monitoring. As the Bureau of Indian Standards does not spec...

Model Answer : Approach: Why in news? Introduction Why it’s needed? Conclusion Why in news? Reserve Bank of India said it would set up a  public credit registry , an information repository that collates all loan information of individuals and corporate borrowers. This move is based on the recommendations of a committee headed by  Y.M. Deosthalee . Intoduction: It will be a registry of all credit contracts, duly verified by reporting institutions, for all lending in India and any lending by an Indian financial institution to an Indian natural or legal person. Credit repository: Why it’s needed? It will address the twin balance sheet problem of the banking sector and the corporate sector. It will help banks distinguish between a bad and a good borrower. It will help to offer attractive interest rates to good borrowers and higher interest rates to bad borrowers. Address Information asymmetry : It will help improve access to credit and strengthen the...

Introduction: Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage , adopted by UNESCO in 1972. UNESCO’s World Heritage mission is to Encourage countries to sign the World Heritage Convention and to ensure the protection of their natural and cultural heritage; Encourage States Parties to the Convention to nominate sites within their national territory for inclusion on the World Heritage List; Encourage States Parties to establish management plans and set up r...

How Zero Budget Natural Farming could be the model for the future Sujatha Byravan is a scientist who studies science, technology and development policy. In early June, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the State would fully embrace Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), a chemical-free method that would cover all farmers by 2024. Earlier in the year, he had revealed these plans at the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Even though this revolution has been in the works for several years, this is still a momentous occasion and highlights the way to improve the welfare of farmers, reduce the cost of farm inputs, cut toxins in food, and improve soils. With successful pilot programmes that were initiated in 2015 and partners who brought experience in different aspects needed to carry out such a transformation, Andhra Pradesh has become the first State to implement a ZBNF policy. According to Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, the agency that is implementi...

National Health Protection Mission will ensure that medical emergencies do not result in people falling into poverty J.P. Nadda, (The writer is Union minister for health and family welfare) The government has carried out several reforms in healthcare. It assigns the highest priority to people’s health and is also alive to the country’s obligation under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A series of steps have been taken under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reform the country’s healthcare. These include the formulation of the National Health Policy, 2017, enforcing a ceiling on the prices of cardiac stents and knee implants, financial aid to expecting mothers and a renewed focus on nutrition. The Ayushman Bharat (AB) Scheme is the most significant of these programmes. Under the aegis of AB, the National Health Protection Mission (NHPM) is envisaged as a game-changer for India’s healthcare system. It will add weight to the government’s healthcare reforms a...

ET Editorials The police is running riot in Tamil Nadu. Close on the heels of police killings in Thoothukudi, this week, the state police arrested three environment activists and detained over two dozen farmers (near Tiruvannamalai) for opposing the Salem-Chennai green expressway corridor. This is reprehensible. The detentions only show that the police can arrest people with such seeming ease and without proper investigation. Those opposing the project have accused the state of imposing an “undeclared emergency”. This is unacceptable. The 274-km, Salem-Chennai green expressway corridor, estimated to cost Rs 10,000 crore, is expected to cut travel time by half and decongest two other national highways. Reportedly, Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has claimed that the project will not cause any harm to the environment and that land sellers would be compensated. Land acquisition for projects, which are meant to foster development and enrich lives, must take place as ...

Model Answer : Approach: Why in news? Introduction Disempowerment and depoliticisation of urban local government Conclusion Why in news? The 74th Amendment came into effect on June 1, 1993.  So June 1, 2018 marks the  25th anniversary  of the promised revolution in local governance. Moreover, as the Central Government’s Smart Cities mission completes three years this month, it’s the right time to examine India’s tryst with municipal governance. Introduction It is important to examine concerns in the underlying constitutional design of urban local governments and the politics impeding this Amendment’s operation. The “implementation failure” narrative tends to focus on how local governments are financially constrained and do not have the administrative capacity to carry out its functions. It is also important to explore how urban local governments are actively disempowered and depoliticised as an institution. Disempowerment and depoliticisation of urban...

The standoff in Delhi has placed everyone in a bad light Editorial One crisis, many causes. The immediate provocation for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sitting on a dharna at the residence of the Lt. Governor might have been a run-in with the bureaucracy, but the crisis is rooted in the understanding (or misunderstanding) of the constitutional limits of the powers of the elected government in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party government has a history of confrontation with the Centre on the question of who is the administrative head of a region that is less than a State and more than a Union Territory. Since the party came to power in 2015, the demand for Delhi to be given the status of a full-fledged State, allowing it among other things powers over the police, has become strident. Differences extend to the LG’s discretionary powers to appoint the Chief Secretary, with the AAP nursing a grouse that the bureaucratic cadre came directly under the Centre....

For POCSO Act to effectively protect children, it should go beyond death penalty Editorial In April, India made world news with the introduction of the death penalty for child rapists. It is unfortunate how it takes tragic incidents such as the rape of minors to remind us that the laws of the country need serious reconsideration. The last time a major overhaul in the rape law was thought of was as a consequence of the Delhi 2012 rape and murder case. Before that, the Vishaka incident was a catalyst for the law on sexual harassment. The ineffectiveness of reactionary lawmaking can be seen in the recently proposed amendments in the Criminal Law and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, that were a result of the Unnao and the Kathua cases which shook the country’s conscience. The new reforms that have been proposed to the Indian Penal Code, which shall further apply to the POCSO are: One, if a person rapes a minor girl below the age of 12 years then the ...

BJP and PDP part ways with eye on 2019 but state can’t afford leadership vacuum In a major political development, BJP has decided to end its alliance with PDP in Jammu & Kashmir, bringing the curtains down on the Mehbooba Mufti government. The alliance, which lasted for three years, was marked by contradictions right from the beginning. Nonetheless, the coming together of parties seen as hardline Hindu nationalist and soft on separatists, respectively, was touted as both a practical recognition of ground realities and a bid to provide stable government after assembly polls threw up a fractured mandate. But that optimism faded fast after Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s death, and polarisation only deepened. While BJP favoured a muscular security approach towards militancy and shunned the separatists, PDP wanted a different political approach but was constrained by compulsions of the alliance. Kashmir Valley drifted further from Jammu. Fissures really widened with militant Burhan Wani...

V Ranganathan, (The writer is former professor, IIM-Bangalore) Recently, the Department of Personnel and Training advertised for 10 joint secretary-level positions in different departments of GoI on a lateral entry basis. Opening up the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and other class one services to competition from experts from the market is, indeed, welcome. GoI is also mulling the idea of ranking and determining inter-se seniority and cadre allotment based not just on the written Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination, but also on the performance in the common three-month training at Mussoorie and the subsequent longer training at the academies. This has stirred up a hornets’ nest due to a perceived anomaly of superior students being evaluated by inferior teachers, and a fear that this is the first step towards making a ‘committed bureaucracy’. The opposite argument would be that it is not enough to be very good in the subject of your choice, but you also need ...

THE NEWS India and Italy have agreed to boost cooperation in counter-terrorism and cybersecurity during the meeting of External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj with the top Italian leadership. KEY-HIGHLIGHTS OF THE VISIT On the first leg of her tour, she met with Italian counterpart Enzo MoaveroMilanesi. They exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. Both the sides agreed to mutually identify new areas of cooperation to boost trade and investment linkages. Both the leaders shared concerns relating to counter-terrorism and cybersecurity and agreed to continue cooperation in this area. Indian EAM called on Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who assumed charge early this month, and their discussion focused on forging bilateral cooperation across sectors and steps to revitalize the bilateral relationship. She also conveyed the need for India and Italy to continue to work together and coordinate positions in multilateral forums. OTHER IMPORTAN...

12th June is celebrated as the  World Day against Child Labour Child labour refers to involvement/employment of children below a certain age. This leads to deprivation of child rights and exploitation of the children as well as missing out on school education. Reasons for high prevalence of child labour in India includes- Poverty -  as many families live below poverty line, there is a tendency to employ their children into labour market to augment income of the family Illiteracy -  many families fail to realize the value of education and indulge in child labour to get short term gain of child's income. School reach at upper primary level is also less than adequate. Lax implementation of Child labour prohibition law -  by the authorities Society does not reject Child labour -  Therefore, many small shops freely employ children below 14years in their shops, Organized Crime -  leads to trafficking of children and using them in criminal ac...