Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Shakti, the new weapon in police arsenal!

News

• ‘Shakti’ seems to be the new weapon in the Andhra Pradesh policedepartment’s arsenal, which will be wielded effectively to protect women from harassment and victimisation.

Beyond News

• With ‘women protection’ getting due importance from the government and it being also considered by various quarters of society as a priority area of policing, the policy makers got down to developing novel initiatives on this front.
• Going a step ahead, the police department is looking beyond protection to focus on prevention of such crimes.
• The task used to be called earlier by different names like ‘SHE’ and ‘Mahila Rakshak’ teams involving different players.
• The previous models were supported by male members as four-wheeler drivers, but Shakti teams will be provided with four-wheelers with female drivers. Hence, the new Shakti team will be a homogeneous structure across the State, governed by the women and for the women.
• The prime task of the teams is to identify eve-teasers and stalkers, provide counselling to errant boys and take the matter to the notice of their parents.
• Equipped with four mobile phones and 16 vehicles, each of the four teams will roam on a trouble-shooting mission in Tirupati East, Tirupati West, Renigunta and Srikalahasti sub-divisions to conduct awareness meetings in public places like the railway station, bus stand, village shandies and colleges.
• Against the rugged khaki that generally keeps the public away, these ‘women in blue’ are given a trendy uniform that will endear them to school girls and rural women.
• Tracking anti-social elements and rowdy-sheeters also forms part of their job.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

SC/ST govt staff promotion: apex court upholds validity of Karnataka law

News

• The Supreme Court upheld the validity of a new Karnataka law, granting reservation in promotion to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) employees.

Beyond News

• The Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act, 2017 received the President’s assent last year. It was published in the gazette on June 23, 2018.
• On March 6, a Bench of Justices reserved its judgement on a series of petitions.
• This judgment is significant as Karnataka becomes the first State to gain from a Constitution (five-judge) Bench order of September 2018 that modified a 2006 order requiring the States to show quantifiable data to prove the “backwardness” of a SC/ST community in order to provide quota in promotion in public employment.

Drought-hit taluks in Karnataka to get ₹2 crore each

News

• As 2,575 villages across the Karnataka State are facing severe drinking water crisis, the Cabinet took several administrative measures, including release of ₹2 crore to each drought-hit taluk.

Beyond News

• The government has also relaxed guidelines for utilising tankers supplying drinking water, and powers have now been delegated from Deputy Commissioners to tahsildars.
• For avoiding delay, tahsildars have been empowered to take decisions on utilising the tankers. If required, they can take decisions on utilising more tankers to supply drinking water.
• The Cabinet meeting, has taken several measures for mitigating drinking water shortage, providing jobs under the MNREGA, and supplying adequate fodder to cattle.
• Further, the government has released an additional ₹201 crore to hire private borewells and supply water through tankers. A sum of ₹2,800 crore had been spent on drinking water purpose in 2018-19 and the amount was expected to touch ₹3,600 crore in 2019-20.
• ₹1.5 crore had been released in three phases to each task force headed by legislators for tackling drinking water crisis in Assembly constituencies that have been declared drought-it during monsoon.

A sum of ₹75 lakh had been released to constituencies, which were declared drought-hit during the north-east monsoon. Non-drought hit constituencies had been given ₹35 lakh each.

India facing critical shortage of healthcare providers: WHO

News

• Despite the health sector employing five million workers in India it continues to have low density of health professionals with figures for the country being lower than those of Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, United Kingdom and Brazil, according to a World Health Organisation database.

Findings

• This workforce statistic has put the country into the “critical shortage of healthcare providers” category. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are the worst hit while Delhi, Kerala, Punjab and Gujarat compare favourably.
• Southeast Asia needs a 50% increase in healthcare manpower to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.
• India faces the problem of acute shortages and inequitable distributions of skilled health workers as have many other low- and middle-income countries.
• Government statistics for 2008, based on vacancies in sanctioned posts showed 18% of primary health centres were without a doctor, about 38% were without a laboratory technician and 16% were without a pharmacist.
• The health workforce in India comprises broadly eight categories, namely: doctors (allopathic, alternative medicine); nursing and midwifery professionals; public health professionals (medical, non-medical); pharmacists; dentists; paramedical workers (allied health professionals); grass-root workers (frontline workers); and support staff.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Air space violation: Delhi-bound Georgian aircraft that took off from Karachi intercepted over Gujarat

News

• A Georgian An-12 transport aircraft that took off from Karachi bound for New Delhi, was intercepted by Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters after it deviated from its flight path.

Beyond News

• The plane was forced to land at Saganer International Airport in Jaipur for investigations after it entered Indian air space from an unscheduled point over North 
• The aircraft neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception. However, when challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non-scheduled An-12 aircraft that had got airborne from Tbilisi in Georgia for Delhi via Karachi.
• Jaipur Police joined the investigation along with the IAF, airport authorities and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF. The aircraft was parked near the State hangar, for several hours.
• The aircraft entered Indian air space in North Gujarat sector at 3:15 p.m. with its IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe) on but did not follow the authorized Air Traffic Services (ATS) route.
• Since ATS routes in the area were closed due to the “current geopolitical situation,” and the aircraft entered Indian air space from an unscheduled point, IAF said the air defence interceptors on operational readiness were scrambled towards the unknown aircraft for investigation.
• An IAF source said on condition of anonymity that the Georgian plane was a commercial aircraft operated by Motor Sich airlines registered in Ukraine.

Chandrayaan-2 will carry 14 Indian payloads

News

• Chandrayaan-2, the lunar lander mission planned to be launched during July 9-16, will have 14 Indian payloads or study devices, a mission update of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said.

Beyond News

• The 3,800-kg spacecraft includes an orbiter which will circle the moon at 100 km; a five-legged lander called Vikram that will descend on the moon on or around September 6; and a robotic rover, Pragyan, that will probe the lunar terrain around it.
• ISRO said all three modules will carry payloads but did not specify them or their objective. The orbiter alone will have eight payloads or instruments. The lander will carry four while the rover will be equipped with two instruments.
• ISRO has chosen a landing area at the hitherto unexplored lunar south pole, making it the first agency to touch down at the south pole if it succeeds in its first landing attempt. Chandrayaan-2 will be India’s second outing to the moon. ISRO will send the mission on its heavy lift booster, the MkIII, from Sriharikota.
• In October 2008, the space organisation had launched its orbiter mission Chandrayaan-1 on its PSLV booster. The spacecraft had 11 payloads. One of the U.S. payloads shares credit with Chandrayaan-1 for confirming the presence of water ice on the moon. Before that, the Moon Impacter Probe carrying the Indian tricolour image was made to hard-land on the lunar south pole.

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