IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Inner Line Permit areas of Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram exempted from Citizenship Bill

News

• Taking into consideration the concerns of Northeastern states, the inner line permit areas of Arunachal, Nagaland and Mizoram and regions under the Sixth Schedule in the North East have been exempted from the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

Inner Line Permit system

• Simply put, an Inner Line Permit is a document that allows an Indian citizen to visit or stay in a state that is protected under the ILP system.
• The system is in force today in three Northeastern states Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram and no Indian citizen can visit any of these states unless he or she belongs to that state, nor can he or she overstay beyond the period specified in the ILP. The concept comes from the colonial area.
• Under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, the British framed regulations restricting the entry and regulating the stay of outsiders in designated areas.

Exempted 

• This means that beneficiaries under CAB will become Indian citizens but will not be able to settle in Arunachal, Nagaland and Mizoram. As a matter of fact, the same restriction applies to existing Indian citizens.
• At the same time, a large part of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura will be out of the purview of the contentious bill due to them being under Sixth Schedule areas.
• The Citizenship Bill seeks to amend The Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship of India.
• The existing Act allows an immigrant to apply for citizenship if s/he has lived in India for 12 months immediately before the application, and for 11 of the last 14 years. The amendment relaxes the second requirement from 11 years to 6 years as a specific condition for applicants belonging to these six religions, and the aforementioned three countries.
• Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland are not among those drastically affected by migration from Bangladesh. Mizoram shares a border with Bangladesh. The three states that have seen the highest migration, however, are Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya, none of which has an ILP system.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Gujarat makes helmet use voluntary within urban limits

News

• In a significant move, Gujarat government decided to make use of helmet voluntary within limits of municipal corporations and municipalities.

Helmet use voluntary

• The decision was taken in the meeting of the state cabinet and was made public by Transport Minister.
• However, helmets will be compulsory on state highways, national highways and panchayat roads outside the limits of municipalities and municipal corporations.
• Notably, Gujarat was among the first states in the country to reduce the fines of traffic violations stipulated by the new Motor Vehicles Act in September this year.

Amit Shah: To curb lynchings, panel set up to suggest amendments in IPC, CrPC

News

• Amid a spurt in mob lynching cases in recent years, Union Home Minister informed the Rajya Sabha that the government had set up a committee to suggest necessary amendments in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to deal with the issue.

Curb lynching

• Union Home Minister had written to all state chief ministers and
  governors to send recommendations on making changes to IPC and CrPC after consulting with experienced investigating officers and public prosecutors.
• Under the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), a committee has been set up to make changes in the IPC and CrPC.
• The SC had in a July 17 judgment asked Parliament to consider enacting a new law to effectively deal with incidents of mob lynching, saying “horrendous acts of mobocracy” cannot be allowed to become a new norm.
• Rajasthan and West Bengal have already passed bills to check incidents of mob assaults and lynching and criminalised such actions.
• Lynching incidents can be dealt with under Section 300 and 302 of IPC. Section 302 provides that whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. The offence of murder is a cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable offence.

Union Cabinet approves extension of SC/ST reservation in Lok Sabha, state assemblies for 10 years

News

• The Union Cabinet approved a proposal to extend reservation for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for 10 years, but is learnt to have done away with a similar quota for the Anglo-Indian community.

Extend reservation

• The reservation for these categories in the Lok Sabha and assemblies was to expire on January 25, 2020. The government will bring a Bill to extend the reservation till January 25, 2030 in the ongoing winter session.
• There are 84 members from the Scheduled Caste and 47 from the Scheduled Tribe communities in Parliament.
• In state assemblies across India, there are 614 SC members and 554 ST members.
• As on today, there is a provision to nominate two members of the Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha but they have not yet been nominated, according to Lok Sabha website.

RS passes bill to regularise unauthorized colonies in Delhi

News

• The National Capital Territory of Delhi Bill, 2019 will be taken up in Rajya Sabha.

National Capital Territory of Delhi Bill

• The bill will help grant ownership rights to 100 residents who have properties in unauthorized colonies in Delhi.
• A bill to grant ownership rights to residents living in Delhi’s 1,731 unauthorised colonies was tabled in Rajya Sabha.
• The bill was passed in Lok Sabha on November 28.
• The ownership rights will be given to residents of the identified colonies based on five documents, adding that maps of the all the 1,731 colonies will be uploaded on the website of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) “within days”.

14,500 NGOs banned by govt from receiving foreign funds: Mos informs RS

• Around 14,500 NGOs, registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), were banned in the last five years from receiving funds from abroad, Union minister of state for home informed Rajya Sabha.
• Registration certificates of approximately 14,500 associations have been cancelled during the last five years.
• So far this year, the ministry has cancelled FCRA registration of 1,808 NGOs recently for non-submission of mandatory annual returns for 2017-18.
• The FCRA and rules made there-under provide that all FCRA NGOs and associations have to file annual returns on time. The non-compliant NGOs are issued notices and reminders through the online mechanism.

Cabinet clears Citizenship Bill, likely to be taken up in Parliament next week

News

• The Citizenship (Amendment) Billthat seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan was cleared by the Union Cabinet.

Citizenship Bill 

• The Bill, which had lapsed in the previous term of the Modi government due to massive protests in Rajya Sabha, is expected to be taken up in Parliament next week.
• Union Ministers  announced that the Cabinet also approved the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019. It also approved the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 and the Central Sanskrit Universities Bill, which will be introduced in Parliament in the next few days.
• The Bill has been mired in controversy for leaving out only Muslims. Defending the Bill, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a meeting said the countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan  are predominantly Islamic nations and India wants to offer citizenship to those who face religious persecution there.
• Earlier this year, the Lok Sabha had passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016. While the Bill was awaiting passage by the Upper House, it lapsed after the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.

Gujarat: More inter-caste couples avail of aid under Ambedkar scheme

News

• Rs 50,000 under the Gujarat government’s ‘Dr Savitaben Ambedkar Inter-Caste Marriage Encouragement Scheme’ that supports couples where one spouse is from the Scheduled Caste (SC).

Inter-Caste Marriage Encouragement Scheme

• The amount has equal contributions from the Centre and the state. The Gujarat government raised the amount to Rs 1 lakh in 2018, which saw the number of couples availing of it going up from 502 in 2017-18 to 711 in 2018-19.
• Thus the amount spent by the Gujarat government also went up from Rs 31.7 crore to Rs 46.48 crore.
• Part of an initiative to “eradicate untouchability and encourage inter-caste marriage between savarna Hindus and Scheduled Castes” as per the Gujarat Government Resolution (GR), the money is handed as cheque in part and the rest Rs 50,000 as postal savings bonds.
• From April this year, in six months, as many as 314 beneficiaries have registered and availed benefits worth Rs 2.71 crore disbursed by the state government’s Social Justice and Empowerment Department.
• In February 2019, the Gujarat government expanded the scope of the scheme earlier limited to marriages between “savarna Hindu” and SC, where one of the spouse has to be a Hindu “except SC caste”.
• Gujarat reported over 38,000 cases under the Prevention of Atrocity Act since it was effected in 1989, as per records from the DGP’s office. Over 1,500 were reported each in 2017 and 2018.
• Encouraged by the rise in the popularity of the scheme, the Gujarat government also raised its target from 500 couples a year set in 2015-16 to 1,000 in 2016-17, and 1,250 in 2017-18.
• Ahmedabad district reported the highest number of couples having availed of this scheme, at 960 of the total 2,854 from Gujarat.

About the scheme

• Was run by the Education and Labour department since October 28, 1974, to support marriages between savarna Hindus and Harijans, with a purpose “to eradicate untouchability and encouage inter-caste marriage”
• In 1981, it became compulsory for one of the spouses to be from Gujarat. Migrants had to prove that they had been living in Gujarat for at least five years. Even widows and widowers till the age of 35 years who did not have children were covered.
• In 1987, it was amended to exclude those who were non-SC but married to an SC from other schemes for SC but their children remained eligible.
• Till November 1995, the financial assistance was Rs 10,000 (Rs 7,000 as small savings and Rs 3,000 as household expenses). This was raised to Rs 15,000 (Rs 10,000 as small savings bond). In December 1998 it was raised to Rs 30,000 (Rs 20,000 as small savings bond).
• In April 2000, it was renamed as Dr Savitaben Ambedkar Intercaste Marriage Encouragement Scheme and the assistance was raised to Rs 50,000 (Rs 25,000 each for small savings bond and household expenses). The state government’s GR also added more conditions that the marriage should be registered, claim made within two years of wedding, one of the couple must be a resident of Gujarat.
• In February 2017, marriage to Jains/Jain Baniya and Buddhists was covered. This was after Jain community was declared minority in 2014 by the Centre.
• In April 2018, the amount was increased to Rs 1 lakh (Rs 50,000 each in small saving bond and cheque for household expenses).
• February 2019, “Savarna Hindu” replaced by “except SC caste under Hindu religion”.

Delhi to get free public WiFi from December 16: CM Arvind Kejriwal

News

• The first batch of 100 public WiFi hotspots, where people will be able to access internet for free, will be activated in Delhi on December 16, Chief Minister said, announcing that the entire city will be covered with 11,000 hotspots within the next six months.

Public WiFi hotspots

• Under the approved project, 11,000 hotspots will be put up across public places in Delhi, including 4,000 in bus shelters.
• Each hotspot will cover a radius of 100 metres and up to 200 people will be able to simultaneously access the internet at such points.
• In Delhi there will be one hotspot every 500 metres. The speed will be around 200 MBPS in high-density areas and 80 MBPS in low density areas. The data cap on every individual will be 1.5 GB per day and 15 GB per month.
• For people, accessing the free WiFi would involve two taps on their smartphones. Upon selecting the network name and entering the mobile number, one will receive an OTP (One Time Password), which will be the gateway to free internet usage.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Data of 20 out of 121 WhatsApp users targeted using Pegasus may have been accessed: Prasad

News

• The government said personal data of 20 WhatsApp users out of the 121 users targeted using Pegasus spyware may have been accessed by the attacker.

Cyber security

• Facebook-owned Whatsapp had said that Indian journalists and human rights activists were among those globally spied upon by unnamed entities using Pegasus spyware.
• On May 20, WhatsApp reported an incident to country’s cyber security watchdog Cert-In, stating that it had identified and promptly fixed a vulnerability that could enable an attacker to insert and execute code on mobile devices.
• WhatsApp also told CERT-In that the vulnerability could no longer be exploited to carry out attacks.

Eye on future, Punjab explores Hyperloop transport system

News

• The Punjab government is exploring the feasibility of connecting major towns in the state with National Capital Region through Hyperloop, a futuristic transport system in which passenger pods zip through vacuum tubes at high speeds.

Hyperloop

• • As per Virgin Hyperloop One’s initial estimates, a hyperloop transportation project along the Amritsar-Ludhiana-Chandigarh Corridor could reduce travel time from five hours by road to less than 30 minutes.
  • Virgin Hyperloop One is supported by Dubai-based DP World, its largest investor.
  • The MoU was signed by Principal Secretary (Transport), Punjab, and Harj Dhaliwal, Managing Director (Middle East & India), Virgin Hyperloop One, in the presence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and DP World Subcontinent CEO and MD, Rizwan Soomar.
  • Virgin Hyperloop One is also in discussions with the Haryana government for a separate MoU to evaluate the feasibility of a Hyperloop system that could potentially extend the route from Punjab to the National Capital Region (NCR.

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