IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Five Sainik Schools throw open their doors to girls

News

• In a significant step, the Ministry of Defence has given permission to five Sainik Schools, including two in Karnataka, to provide admission to girls from the next academic year.

Admission to girls

• The two schools in Karnataka are in Vijayapura and Kodagu; while the other three are in Chandrapur in Maharashtra, Ghorakhal in Uttarakhand, and Kalikiri in Andra Pradesh.
• Though on a pilot bases, the Defence Ministry began admitting girls to Sainik School, Chhingchhip, Mizoram, last year itself. This year, it has included five more.
• The ministry, in its order, said that to start with, admission of girls would be limited to 10% of the total seats. It has directed the schools to make necessary arrangements, including dormitory facility.
• The number could go up later with availability of more infrastructure. Sainik Schools provide education from class 6 to 12.
• The government would soon consider admitting girls to the National Defence Academy as well. One of the objectives of the Sainik Schools is train students for admission to the NDA.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Bill for ownership rights in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies introduced in LS

News

• A bill which seeks to provide a legal framework to grant ownership rights to people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi was introduced in Lok Sabha .

National Capital Territory of Delhi Bill

• Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri introduced the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Bill, 2019.
• The proposal to grant ownership rights is applicable to 1,797 identified unauthorised colonies spread over 175 square-km of the national capital inhabited by people from lower income groups.
• The decision is politically significant as it will benefit millions of poor migrants who hold the key to the Assembly election due early next year and had backed the AAP in large numbers in the 2015 Delhi polls.
• The Union Cabinet had approved the Bill on November 20.
• According to the existing regulations of 2008, the process of regularisation was to be coordinated and supervised by the Delhi government.
• The proposed bill is aimed at recognising general power of attorney (GPA), will, agreement to sell, purchase and possession documents, which will be a one-time relaxation for this purpose for the residents of these colonies.
• The bill will also provide for registration charge and stamp duty on last transaction and also address the issue of income tax liability on account of less than circle rate charges.

Devendra Fadnavis’ three-day stint as Chief Minister one of the shortest

News

• Devendra Fadnavis’ second tenure as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has turned out to be one of the shortest in Indian history.
• He holds the distinction of being a ‘three-day CM’ along with his Karnataka counterpart B.S. Yediyurappa.

Shortest

• Fadnavis tendered his resignation , hours after the Supreme Court asked the BJP government to prove its majority in Maharashtra Assembly tomorrow.
• Fadnavis failed to reach the magic figure of 145 the number of MLAs required to support him to win the confidence motion.
• In May last year, Mr. Yediyurappa too met a similar fate. The 75-year-old BJP leader was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka on May 17. He resigned before facing a Supreme Court-mandated floor test on May 19.
• Incidentally, Mr. Yediyurappa had to resign as the Chief Minister of Karnataka after just eight days in 2007.
• The distinction of shortest tenure as a Chief Minister goes to Jagdambika Pal. In 1998, after the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh was dismissed, Pal was sworn in as the Chief Minister late at night on February 21, a decision that was reversed by the High Court the next morning, leading him to be dubbed as “the one-day CM”.

Parliament passes Bill to protect rights of transgenders

News

• The Rajya Sabha passed a Bill on protection of rights of transgenders after a motion to refer it to a Select Committee of the Upper House was defeated.

Protection of rights of transgenders

• The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on August 5 this year.
• The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, seeks to provide a mechanism for social, economic and educational empowerment of transgenders and was moved for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Cartosat-3, with ‘sharpest eye’ of civil remote sensing satellites, to be launched on November 27

News

• Advanced earth observation satellite Cartosat-3, which is due to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR at Sriharikota in coastal Andhra Pradesh will have the `sharpest eye’ of civil remote sensing satellites in the world.

Cartosat-3

• It will be carried by PSLV-C47. Thirteen small satellites of two U.S. customers will be the secondary payloads.
• One of Cartosat-3’s cameras offers a ground resolution of 25 cm – this means it can pick up an object of a minimum of that size from a height of around 500 km.
• Currently, WorldView-3, a satellite owned by US company Maxar, has the best ground resolution of 31 cm.
• So far, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has orbited eight Cartosats since May 2005. Data from most of them, especially the last four Carto-2 series ones, launched in relatively quick succession in the last three years, are exclusively used by the armed forces.
• An existing policy allows only government and government authorised agencies to access ISRO’s high-resolution imageries below a resolution of 1 metre.
• Cartosat-3 ushers in the third generation of high-resolution `optical imaging’ satellites that enable precise cartographic or mapping activities, apart from their unstated military use. 
• A key feature of the Cartosats is that they help to detect changes in natural geographical or man-made features. Their cameras can `look back and forth’ in an angle to generate continuous spot images.
• At 1,625 kg, Cartosat-3 is unusually heavy and more than double the mass of the previous eight in its class. Many new technologies have been built in, such as a highly agile or flexible camera; high-speed data transmission, advanced computer system and new power electronics, according to website Space Skyrocket.

Rajnath Singh approves extension of accommodation for battle casualties

News

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved a proposal to extend the period of retention of government accommodation by battle casualties from all the three Services to one year from the existing three months.

Extension

• In view of the requirements and demands of the armed forces, the Ministry of Defence reviewed the existing provisions and recommended the extension of the period to boost the morale of the Service personnel.
• At present, the family of an armed forces personnel killed in action against enemy forces or whilst enemy air attacks are permitted retention of government accommodation for three months and it has now been extended to one year.

Bill introduced in LS to merge Daman-Diu and Dadra-Nagar Haveli UTs

News

• The government introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to merge two Union Territories  Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli into one.
• The move comes three months after Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two UTs — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

World action to combat global warming inadequate, says UNEP

News

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has warned that countries’ action to combat global warming was inadequate.

Cut greenhouse gas

• On the whole, countries must cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least three-fold ideally five-fold to have a fighting chance at containing the severest effects of global warming.
• Every year, the UNEP assesses the gap between anticipated emissions in 2030 and levels consistent with the 1.5°C and 2°C targets of the Paris Agreement.
• The report finds that greenhouse gas emissions had risen 1.5% per year over the last decade and emissions in 2018, including from land-use changes such as deforestation, hit a new high of 55.3 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent.
• Global temperatures have already risen about 1°C since pre-industrial times and negotiations, such as those under way at the COP, are aimed at preventing temperatures from rising more than a half-or one degree. Current commitments by countries all voluntary will see temperatures rise by 3.2°C over pre-industrial levels.
• Fossil carbon-dioxide emissions from energy use and industry, which dominate total GHG emissions, grew 2.0% in 2018, reaching a record 37.5 GtCO2 per year.
• India is the third-largest emitter behind the United States and China respectively, though 28 developed countries of European Union, as a block, emit more than India.
• India’s per capita emissions, however, are significantly below the United States, China, Russia, Japan and many countries.
• India has committed to ensuring that its non-fossil fuels constitute 40% of the total electricity generation capacity, the emission intensity of the economy reduces by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 level, and increase forest and tree cover to create additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent.

Minimum 100 petrol pumps, 5% in remote areas: India’s new liberalised fuel retail policy

News

• India’s new liberalised petrol pump norms require licensees to set up a minimum of 100 outlets with at least 5% of them in remote areas.

Liberalised petrol pump norms

• • According to a Gazette notification detailing the norms for setting up petrol pumps, the licensee would also be required to “install facilities for marketing at least one new generation alternate fuels like compressed natural gas (CNG), bio-fuels, liquefied natural gas, electric vehicle charging points etc. at their proposed retail outlets within three years of operationalisation of the said outlet.
  • The government had last month relaxed norms for setting up petrol pumps, allowing non-oil companies to market fuel in the world’s fastest growing market.
  • Prior to this change, to obtain a fuel retailing licence in India, a company needed to invest ₹2,000 crore in either hydrocarbon exploration and production, refining, pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
  • The move will facilitate entry of global giants such as Total SA of France, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, BP Plc of UK and Trafigura’s downstream arm Puma Energy.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-04

72,045 PHCs in country don’t have toilet facilities for staff

News

• Seventy two thousand forty five (72,045) Primary Health Centres (PHC), Sub-Centres (SC), and Community Health Centres (CHC) in India are without toilet facilities for their staff, and 1,15,484 are without separate toilets for male and female patients, according to the reply given by the Union Health Ministry in the Lok Sabha, last week, with States including Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Maharashthra leading the list.

Best practices prescribed

• According to the best practices prescribed and accepted worldwide for a healthcare facility, there should be at least one toilet dedicated for staff, at least one sex-separated toilet with menstrual hygiene facilities, and at least one toilet accessible for people with limited mobility.
• Also, there should be functional hand hygiene facilities (with water and soap and/ or alcohol-based hand rub) are available at points of care, and within five metres of toilets.

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