Current Affairs – 30th Jan 2024
Articles Covered:
- Odisha Launches LABHA: A 100% State-funded MSP Scheme for Tribal Empowerment
- DIGI YATRA
- Lab-Grown Fish
- The pros and cons of simultaneous elections
- Government declares ‘Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)’ as an ‘Unlawful Association’ for a further period of five years under the UAPA
- RAJYA SABHA
- Perseverance rover:
- Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme, 2010:
- United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Odisha Launches LABHA: A 100% State-funded MSP Scheme for Tribal Empowerment:
Odisha launches the ‘LABHA’ scheme, a 100% state-funded Minimum Support Price initiative for Minor Forest Produce (MFP). This scheme empowers tribal primary collectors, integrates with Mission Shakti.
In a significant move towards the development and empowerment of approximately one crore tribals in Odisha, the state government, led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has approved the launch of the ‘LABHA’ scheme. LABHA, an acronym for Laghu Bana Jatya Drabya Kraya, is a 100% state-funded Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP).
LABHA scheme: Key Features:
- MSP Determination:The state government will annually determine the Minimum Support Price for the minor forest produce.
- Primary Collector Empowerment:Tribal primary collectors will sell minor forest produce at MSP through procurement centers managed by TDCCOL (Tribal Development Cooperative Corporation of Odisha Limited).
- Integration with Mission Shakti:LABHA Yojana will collaborate with Mission Shakti’s Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs), benefiting the majority of tribal women who constitute 99% of primary collectors.
- Digital Transactions:Amounts collected will be transferred through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the beneficiary’s account, with SHGs or designated agencies receiving a 2% commission.
- Procurement Automation System:Utilizing technology for transparency, this system will capture MFP collection details, ensuring fair benefits for tribal communities.
- Value Addition and Processing:TDCCOL will conduct e-tendering for further sale, exploring value addition and processing units to maximize returns.
- Tamarind Processing Plant:The state government plans to establish a 25-crore tamarind processing plant in Rayagada, utilizing MFP from LABHA Yojana for value addition.
- Elimination of Distress Sales:LABHA Yojana aims to eradicate distress sales by empowering tribals and reducing dependency on middlemen.
DIGI YATRA:
- The registration system for passengers will be Centralized for passengers and each of them will get a unique ID on booking tickets
- ID, Name, Email ID, Mobile Number and Aadhaar can be created by sharing details of any identity proof
- The airline will share the passenger data and ID with the airport from where the passenger is flying outside
- Adding airlines to Aadhaar for automatic check-in at the time of booking for fast airport entry and without the need for any paper-based intervention.
- A biometrics-based digital processing system will be present at passenger entry and related requirements at the airport.
- Voluntary for passengers to choose whether to opt for facial recognition biometric for air travel.
- Will be available at major airports in the country.
- Real-time notifications about flight congestion and delays
- Passengers will be notified when their luggage reaches the baggage claim belt
Objectives – Digi Yatra:
Every traveller, (Indian citizens and foreigners) welcomes a “Digi Yatri” and enjoys the privileges and benefits of the “Digi Yatra” program. The main objectives are as follows:
Enhance Passenger Experience And Provide A Simple And Easy Experience For All Air Travellers:
- Provide a seamless, paperless and hassle-free experience for all passengers at all processors / check-points at all Indian airports. (Including Tier-1, 2 and 3 airports).
- Improve passenger experience so that they can plan their trips efficiently.
- Get relevant information related to various facilities, protocols, airline times, queue waiting times at the airport.
- Walk-through security scanners lead to increasingly advanced biometric security solutions.
- Stay connected through airports, engage in customized digital offerings across experience areas, via airport Wi-Fi.
Lab-Grown Fish:
ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), headquartered in Kochi, collaborated with Neat Meatt Biotech,a private-sector start-up specializing in lab-grown meat technology. This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) marks the first initiative of its kind in India.
Understanding Lab-Grown Fish – Lab-Grown Fish Definition: Lab-grown fish, a type of cultivated or cultured meat, is seafood produced in a laboratorysetting without the need to raise and slaughter animals.
CMFRI and Neat Meatt: –
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Global Pioneers in Lab-Grown Fish:
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The pros and cons of simultaneous elections:
various benefits of holding Lok Sabha and State elections at the same time- How would simultaneous elections go against the federal character of the Constitution- international practices on the same in other Parliamentary democracies
Pros:
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Cons:
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Government declares ‘Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)’ as an ‘Unlawful Association’ for a further period of five years under the UAPA:
- A petition seeking quashing of the July 2019 ban on SIMI as an unlawful association under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 came up before a division bench of the Supreme Court on January 18, 2023.
- The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is mobilizing Muslim support to create a ‘Khilafat’, it wants to replace Indian nationalism with an “international Islamic order” and considers idol worship a “sin”, the Home Ministry earlier The Supreme Court has listed the purposes for organization ban.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967:
- UAPA was passed in 1967. It aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
- Unlawful activity refers to any action taken by an individual or association intended to disrupt the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
- The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
- It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.
- Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
- Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.
- The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act” to the list of offences to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned.
- Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.
- In August, Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds provided in the Act.
- The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
- The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.
RAJYA SABHA:
The Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of Parliament is modelled after the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
Composition of the house: Article 80 of the Constitution have provisions for members of the Rajya Sabha. Currently, it has 245 members, including 233 elected members and 12 nominated. As per the constitutional limit, the Upper House strength cannot exceed 250.
- The number of Rajya Sabha members a state can send depends on its population.Hence, the number of elected seat changes as states are merged, bifurcated or new ones are created.
- Nominated membersof the Rajya Sabha are nominated by the President of India in the field of art, literature, science and social service.
- The Vice-President is the ex-officio chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
The Deputy Chairman, who is elected from amongst the house’s members, takes care of the day-to-day matters of the house in the absence of the Chairman.
Tenure of members: Every Rajya Sabha MP has a tenure of six years and elections to one-third seats are held every two years:
According to Section 154 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, a member has chosen to fill a casual vacancy will serve for the remainder of his predecessor’s term of office.
- Permanent house:The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions, and unlike the Lok Sabha, is not subjected to dissolution. However, the Rajya Sabha, like the Lok Sabha can be prorogued by the President
- Process of election:Rajya Sabha members are elected indirectly by the people,that is, by the MLAs.
- Members of a state’s Legislative Assembly vote in the Rajya Sabha elections in proportional representationwith the single transferable vote (STV) system. Each MLA’s vote is counted only once.
- To win a Rajya Sabha seat, a candidate should get a required number of votes. That number is found out using the below formula. Required vote = Total number of votes / (Number of Rajya Sabha seats + 1) + 1.
Perseverance rover:
It is a robotic explorer to land on Mars as part of NASA’s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.
- Main Job:Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
- The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet’s surface to be returned to Earth at a future date.
- Launch:It was launched on July 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar’s Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
Features:
- It is about the size of a car, but weighs only about 1,025 kilograms with all instruments on board.
- Power source:Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG). Converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.
Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme, 2010:
- Under the scheme, a fixed rate of subsidy based on the weight (Rs per kg basis) is announced for nutrients namely Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P), Potash (K) and Sulphur (S) by the government on an annual basis.
- It aims at ensuring the balanced use of fertilizers, improving agricultural productivity, promoting the growth of the indigenous fertilizers industry and also reducing the burden of Subsidy.
- Urea is not coveredunder the scheme and due to delay in NBS subsidy payments, Fertilizer companies focus more on Urea than other fertilizers. Hence, the ideal ratio of NPK is disrupted
Examples of non-urea fertilisers: Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), Muriate of Potash (MOP). All Non-Urea based fertilisers are regulated under Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA):
It is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.
- It was established in 1949 when nearly three-quarters of a million Palestinians became refugees in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab- Israeli war.
- Mandate: To support Palestinian refugees and their patrilineal descendants who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Palestine War and 1967 Six-Day War.
- UNRWA was originally designed as a temporary agency, though its mandate has been continuously renewed every three years by the General Assembly.
- Services provided: It’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict.
- Fields of operations: It provides services in its five fields of operations: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East of Jerusalem.
- UNRWA is unique in that it delivers services directly to its beneficiaries.
- Funding: It is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States. It also receives some funding from the Regular Budget of the United Nations.
- It reports only to the UN General Assembly.
- Headquarters: It was originally headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, but was moved to Vienna, Austria, in 1978. In 1996 the General Assembly moved the agency to the Gaza Strip to demonstrate the Assembly’s commitment to the Arab-Israeli peace process.
- Its chief officer, the commissioner-general—the only leader of a UN agency to report directly to the General Assembly—is appointed by the UN secretary-general with the approval of an Advisory Commission.