Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Meghalaya tribal lineage bill turns heat on children of mixed marriages

News

• The Meghalaya State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) has asked the State police’s cybercrime cell to take action against people who target children of mixed marriages in the wake of a lineage bill that seeks to prevent Khasi tribal women from marrying men of non-Khasi communities.

Beyond News

• MSCPCR chairperson has written to the cell’s special superintendent of police pointing out that certain individuals and or groups have resorted to defaming minors of mixed marriages.
• The commission has taken exception to hate messages and trolling of such children, MSCPCR chairperson told from State capital Shillong.
• The commission, which had taken cognisance of such cases, asked the police to ensure punitive steps taken act as a deterrent for others.
• The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) had approved a social custom bill, which if approved by the State Governor, will strip a Khasi-woman of her Scheduled Tribe status and associated privileges if she marries a non-Khasi man. The bill also seeks to mark the children of such women as non-Khasis and thus ineligible for land and other rights.
• The three principal tribes of Meghalaya Khasi, Garo and Jaintia are matrilineal. But local governance follows a patriarchal system, and men calling the shots politically have often objected to women marrying outside the tribe, specifically non-tribal people, allegedly letting them gain control of land and other resources by default.
• The amendment bill would also apply to a Khasi woman who marries a man from any other tribe besides non-tribal communities.
• The KHADC, however, said it could also bring Khasi men within the ambit of the bill to prevent them from marrying non-Khasi women.

Benami Act: Centre yet to form special courts

News

• The prosecution of accused persons in almost 100 confirmed cases instituted under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act has scuttled as the Special Courts meant for the purpose have not yet been set up across the country.

Beyond News

• Assets worth more than ₹5,000 crore have been attached by the Income-Tax Department under the law.
• The Act provides that the Central government, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the respective High Courts, will establish Special Courts through notification.
• Such courts are to be constituted to ensure that the trials are conducted “as expeditiously as possible”.
• Every endeavour shall be made by the Special Court to conclude the trial within six months from the date of filing of the complaint, says the Act.
• An official said, the required Special Courts have not been set up yet. Therefore, despite the fact that investigations in almost 100 cases have been completed by the I-T Department in different States, including confirmation of attachment of properties by the Adjudicating Authority, the prosecution of accused persons has not started.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Flood situation worsens in Assam, death toll rises to 41

News

• Three people drowned in as many districts on as the flood situation in Assam worsened affecting eight of the State’s 33 districts.

Beyond News

• The death toll since May when the first wave of floods hit Assam  has risen to 41 with landslides caused by heavy rainfall having claimed the lives of three people.
• Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said a person each drowned in Dhemaji, Udalguri and Golaghat districts. These and five other districts have been affected by flash floods and the rising waters of the Brahmaputra and four of its tributaries.
• About 1 lakh people have been affected by the second wave of floods.
• Eastern Assam’s Golaghat is the worst-affected district with 54,135 people displaced followed by Sivasagar (17,905) and Lakhimpur (14,052).
• Golaghat and Sivasagar district authorities have set up 99 relief camps that are currently housing 20,869 people.
• The officials said crops on 5,056.35 hectares has been destroyed across the eight districts.
• Apart from inundation, erosion has been a major problem. At least 68 houses have been destroyed by rivers such as Jia Bharali and Panchnoi in Sonitpur, Udalguri and Barpeta districts.

Everyday plastics emit greenhouse gases: study

News

• Plastic used in everyday objects from bottles to packaging emit greenhouse gaseswhen exposed to sunlight, according to a study, as global concern about its impact on the world’s oceans grows.

Findings

• Plastic pollution has come under increased scrutiny from environmentalists as the scale of the problem has become clear this year it emerged that a giant island made up of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean was far larger than thought.
• Now scientists have discovered that commonly used plastics also generate the potent greenhouse gas methane as well as ethylene as they age, adding to the global tally of planet-warming emissions.
• Methane emissions, mainly caused by burning fossil fuels, are a major driver of global warming, putting them in the crosshairs of the global fight against climate change.
• More than nine billion tons of plastic has been produced since 1950 with most of it discarded in landfills or the environment, previous research has found. Scientists have repeatedly linked exposure to some plastic chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA), to health risks.
• The so-called garbage patch of plastic floating in the Pacific holds as much as 16 times more debris than was previously thought, posing a significant threat to the food chain .

95% of lemur population facing extinction: conservationists

News

• Ninety-five percent of the world’s lemur population is “on the brink of extinction,” making them the most endangered primates on Earth, a leading conservation group said.

Beyond News

• The arboreal primates with pointed snouts and typically long tails are found only in Madagascar, where rainforest destruction, unregulated agriculture, logging and mining have been ruinous for lemurs, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said.
• “This is, without a doubt, the highest percentage of threat for any large group of mammals and for any large group of vertebrates.
• Out of a total of 111 lemur species and subspecies, 105 are under threat, as it released its first update on the lemur population since 2012.
• Among the most concerning trends is an “increase in the level of hunting of lemurs taking place, including larger-scale commercial hunting.”
• One of the species identified as “critically endangered” is the northern sportive lemur, of which there are thought to be only 50 individuals left, IUCN said.
• Lemurs are to Madagascar what giant pandas are to China they are the goose that laid the golden egg, attracting tourists and nature 
• Madagascar is one of the most biodiverse nations in the world. IUCN said it was launching “a major action plan for lemur conservation,” to help preserve the endangered primates.

TRAI’s nod for sale of 5G spectrum

News

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)recommended the auction of spectrum for offering 5G services for the first time in the country at a pan-India reserve price of about Rs. 492 crore per MHz.

Beyond News

• In its recommendations, released, the regulator has also called for over 43% reduction in the reserve prices of 700 MHz band spectrum sought-after for high speed services.
• It had no takers in the 2016 auctions due to high pricing. The recommended pan-India reserve price for 700 Mhz now is Rs. 6,538 crore per MHz as opposed to Rs. 11,500 crore last time.
• Recommending that the entire available spectrum be put to auction in the forthcoming sale, the regulator suggested that “it may not be prudent to either delay the auction or hold back the spectrum.” Based on these recommendations submitted to the government, the base prices and timing for the next round of auctions will be finalised. The last auction for spectrum was held in October 2016, wherein around 60% spectrum remained unsold, with the government garnering over Rs. 65,000 crore.
• Since then, the industry has witnessed strong consolidation, with only three main players – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio, left in the field.

Population of endangered blackbuck rises

News:

• Population of the endangered blackbuck in Odisha’s Ganjam district has increased by 276 in the last three years, a Forest department official.

Beyond News

• The population of the rare species, locally called Krushnasara murga or bali harina, is 4,082 as against 3,806 in 2015. In 2011 the number of blackbucks in the district was 2,194, the official said.
• Blackbucks, which were sighted in Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary in Puri district till 2012-13, have vanished from that area. This time, not a single blackbuck was sighted there during the census, the official said.
• Improvement of habitats and protection given by local people and forest staff are the reasons for the increase in population.
• The blackbucks of Balipadara-Bhetanai area in the district have been protected religiously by the local people for several generations.
• The people of the area believe that the sighting of the blackbucks in paddy fields is the harbinger of bumper harvest, said president of Blackbuck Protection Committee (Ganjam).
• The villagers do not kill the animals even if they stray into fields and eat their crops.

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