IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

IASTODAY CAPSULES are available free -date wise => CLICK HERE

Explained: Tibet passes law to make ‘ethnic unity’ mandatory. What does it mean?

News

• The People’s Congress of Tibet passed a law that makes ethnic unity in the region mandatory, reflecting the significant role that the autonomous Himalayan region plays in its economic and social development.
• These regulations will come into effect from May 1 and are meant to “strengthen ethnic unity”.

Strengthen ethnic unity

• The law makes it clear that Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times and that it is the common responsibility of the people of all ethnic groups to safeguard national reunification and take a clear stand against separatism.
• There are more than 40 ethnic minorities in the region, which account for 95 per cent of Tibet’s population of over three million.

No documents will be asked or biometric taken for NPR: Home Ministry

News

• Amid concerns expressed by opposition parties and states like West Bengal on the National Population Register (NPR), the Home Ministry said no documents will be asked or biometric taken while updating the register.

National Population Register

• The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars,” it said.
• Meanwhile, West Bengal and Kerala have put works related to the updating NPR “on hold” for the time being amid furore over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
• The ministry officials said most of the states have notified provisions related to the NPR.
• The NPR is a register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (village/sub-town), subdistrict, district, state and national levels under provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
• The rules have a provision for fine of up to Rs 1,000 on those violating it.
• The data for NPR was last collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase of the Census 2011. Updating of this data was done during 2015 by conducting door to door survey.
• While updating the register in 2015, the government has asked details like Aadhaar and their mobile number.
• For the purposes of the NPR, a usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more, or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months. The law compulsorily seeks to register every citizen of India and issue a national identity card.
• The NPR exercise will be carried out between April and September 2020 in all states and UTs, except Assam, along with the house listing phase of the census exercise.
• Assam has been excluded because the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise has already been conducted in the state.
• The demographic details of every individual are required for every usual resident: name, relationship to head of household, father’s name, mother’s name, spouse’s name (if married), sex, date of birth, marital status, place of birth, nationality (as declared), present address of usual residence, duration of stay at present address, permanent residential address, occupation, educational qualification.
• The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 3,941.35 crore for the NPR exercise.

Sikhs to be counted as separate ethnic group in US census for first time

News

• In a first, Sikhs in the US would be counted as a separate ethnic group in the upcoming 2020 census, the US Census Bureau has said.
• This comes after several Sikh organisations in the US held meetings with the Census Bureau.

Separate ethnic group

• As per an organisation United Sikhs, at least 10 lakh Sikhs live in the US. The community hailed the decision, calling it a “milestone”.
• Sikhs have been demanding separate coding for the last two decades so that action could be taken to address major issues such as bullying, intimidation and hate crimes against the community.
• Meanwhile, the Sikh Coalition has partnered with the Census Bureau for the 2020 census.

Centre eases CRZ rules of beaches aspiring for Blue Flag tag: What is this certification?

News

• The Centre issued an Extraordinary Gazette Notification declaring a list of activities and facilities that would be permissible in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas of certain beaches, which have been identified for obtaining the ‘Blue Flag’ certification.
• In July 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had identified 13 beaches across the country for the Blue Flag certification, and announced a list of activities that would be permissible in their respective CRZ zones for that purpose.
• The new notification issued contains a bigger list, and supersedes the previous notification.

 ‘Blue Flag’ certification

• The ‘Blue Flag’ is a certification that can be obtained by a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator, and serves as an eco-label.
• The certification is awarded by the Denmark-based non-profit Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which sets stringent environmental, educational, safety-related and access-related criteria that applicants must meet and maintain.
• It is awarded annually to beaches and marinas in FEE member countries.
• The world-renowned certification is known as an indication of high environmental and quality standards. Forty-seven countries currently participate in the program, and 4,573 beaches, marinas, and boats have this certification.

Activities the new notification permits

• According to the latest notification, the following activities and facilities would be permitted in the CRZ of the beaches, including Islands, subject to maintaining a minimum distance of 10 meters from the High Tide Line (HTL):

(a) Portable toilet blocks, change rooms and shower panels;
(b) Grey water treatment plant;
(c) Solid waste management plant;
(d) Solar power plant;
(e) Purified drinking water facility;
(f) Beach access pathways;
(g) Landscaping lighting;
(h) Seating benches and sit-out umbrellas;
(i) Outdoor play / fitness equipment;
(j) CCTV surveillance and control room;
(k) First aid station;
(l) Cloak room facility;
(m) Safety watch towers and beach safety equipment;
(n) Beach layout, environment information boards and other signages;
(o) Fencing, preferably vegetative;
(p) Parking facilities;
(q) Entry gate, tourist facilitation centre; and
(r) Other associated facilities or infrastructure, as per requirements of Blue Flag Certification.

• The notification also said that these activities and facilities would be exempt from prior clearance under the provisions of CRZ Notification, Island Protection Zone Notification and Island Coastal Regulation Zone Notifications respectively.

China makes fresh attempt to raise Kashmir issue in UNSC

News

• China has made a renewed attempt to raise the Kashmir issue in a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in New York, reported PTI.
• The closed-door meeting of the UNSC has been called to discuss an issue relating to an African country.

Kashmir issue

• China made a request to deliberate on the Kashmir issue under the agenda of “Any Other Business Points”.
• China’s bid to get the Kashmir issue on the agenda was thwarted by other members of the UNSC led by the US and France in December last year. Members, including the US and France have maintained that the Kashmir issue has to be discussed bilaterally.
• The country had earlier managed to hold informal closed-door consultations on Kashmir in the UNSC on August 16, 11 days after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 on August 5, but there were no statements or outcomes.
• Barring China, no other UNSC member commented on the meeting after it ended given that it was an informal consultation.
• China, known to be an all-weathered ally of Pakistan, has been critical of India’s reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir and has called the official bifurcation of the former state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh as “unlawful” and “void”.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

 ‘Must run’ status, no power curtailment for renewable energy plants: Expert panel

News

• An expert group reviewing the Indian Electricity Grid Code (IEGC) has asserted that renewable energy power plants shall be treated as “must run” and electricity from these plants shall not be curtailed for any commercial reasons.

Renewable energy

• Part of the latest draft IEGC prepared by the group, the provision comes at a time when a number of states have repeatedly resorted to not scheduling power from renewable sources, citing high costs.
• A ‘must run’ status means that the concerned power plant has to supply electricity to the grid under all conditions.
• The group has added new codes in the latest IEGC draft the Protection and Commissioning code, which entails a centralised database containing details of relay setting for grid elements, and the Cyber Security code, which provides for identification of critical information infrastructure.
• Renewable players have raised concerns in recent months about rising instances of state power distribution companies unplugging their generating capacity from the grid and delaying payments.
• The unplugging, also called backing-down, stems from the poor financial status of discoms, because of which a number of them have started going back on their PPA commitments with solar and wind power producers.
• The renewable sector was previously accorded a ‘must run’ status in the 2010 IEGC, despite which states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have curtailed electricity from such sources. The Andhra Pradesh government, which has received flak over the last year for renegotiating and revising renewable power purchase agreements, had curtailed electricity supply from such sources, reportedly without citing any valid reasons.

Private plantation scheme shot down by SC panel back on Govt table

News

• A proposal to allow private plantations on government land has been revived by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, five years after the Environment Minister told Rajya Sabha that the scheme would require approval of the Supreme Court.
• In fact, the apex court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had refused to even entertain the proposal.

Green Credit Scheme

• Floated by the Gujarat government, the Green Credit Scheme proposed that private players be allowed to identify land near reserve forests and raise plantations to subsequently sell to developers looking to meet obligations of compensatory afforestation in lieu of forestland diverted for their projects.
• As an incentive, the proposal stated, the Ministry would give priority to project developers opting for the scheme.
• On December 19, 2019, the Ministry placed the revived proposal before its Forest Advisory Committee (FAC). Appreciating the idea, the FAC recommended that the Ministry may issue “specific guidelines” for the scheme.
• Under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, whenever forestland is to be diverted for non-forestry purposes, equivalent non-forest land has to be identified and funds for raising compensatory afforestation are to be imposed on the project developer.
• At present, developers identify land for compensatory afforestation and pay for afforestation undertaken by the forest department. In some states, the forest departments created a pool of civil land for the purpose.
• All land under compensatory afforestation are notified as reserve forest. In the absence of available civil land, afforestation is also undertaken on severely degraded forestland.
• Under the proposed Green Credit Scheme, interested private agencies would identify land near reserve forests and submit a plan for raising plantations for the forest department’s approval.
• When and if a plantation meets the desired standards, the agency concerned will be allowed to sell it, at a mutually negotiated price, to a project developer looking to meet compensatory afforestation obligations. The land then will be notified as reserve forest by the state government concerned.
• If a private agency does not want to sell its plantation for some reason, the proposal says, it can “continue to retain the title of the plantation and finally take benefit in harvesting and reforesting the said piece of land”.

Project Aapda Mitra: NDMA to train 200 volunteers in Moga

News

• With district Moga in Punjab getting approval as one of the thirty pilot districts by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for launching a project Aapda Mitra to train community volunteers in flood rescue and rehabilitation, a team from NDMA reviewed arrangements to execute the training in the district.

Aapda Mitra

• Aapda Mitra is a centrally-sponsored scheme by the NDMA aiming to impart training to the 200 community volunteers in disaster response in the 30 most flood-prone districts identified across the country on the basis of past floods.

Jalandhar: Wheat farmers warned against Yellow Rust attack

News

• The Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department has issued an advisory for the wheat farmers against Yellow Rust disease in the crop and also exhorted farmers to avoid unnecessary use of the urea.

Yellow Rust disease

• • Yellow rust is a disease that causes loss in crop yield and the disease appears as yellow coloured, powdery linear stripes on the leaves.
  • The farmers must visit and monitor their wheat fields daily and in case they find symptoms of yellowing on wheat leaves, they must spray their wheat crop with 200 ml per acre Propiconazole.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS