Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• The Supreme Court has directed the Rajasthan and Gujarat governments to file their status reports on converting overhead electric cables into underground power lines, wherever feasible, within a year to protect the endangered Great Indian Bustard from extinction.
• In April last year, the top court, in a bid to save the GIB, directed the Gujarat and Rajasthan governments to convert overhead electric cables into underground power cables, wherever feasible, within a year to prevent death of the birds due to collision and electrocution.

About GIB

• Great Indian Bustard (GIB) is one of the heaviest flying birds endemic to the Indian subcontinent.
• Protection Status: IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered; CITES: Appendix I; Wildlife Protection Act (1972): Schedule I.
• Historically, the great Indian bustard was distributed throughout Western India, spanning 11 states, as well as parts of Pakistan. Today, its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small populations occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• The National Commission for Women has launched an Anti-Human Trafficking Cell to improve effectiveness in tackling cases of human trafficking, raising awareness among women and girls, capacity building and training of Anti Trafficking Units and to increase responsiveness of law enforcement agencies.
• The Cell has been set up with an aim of increasing awareness among law enforcement officials and to facilitate their capacity building. 
• The Cell will conduct Gender Sensitization Trainings and Workshops in combating human trafficking for police officers and for prosecutors at regional, state and district level.
• The complaints related to human trafficking received by the Commission will be addressed by this cell.
• The Cell will also help survivors of trafficking in rebuilding their lives by providing them with need-based training and by organizing capacity building programs for them to prevent re-traumatization of victims.

About NCW

• The National Commission for Women (NCW) is a statutory body formed in 1992 under the National Commission Act 1990. It is the apex national level organisation of India with the mandate of protecting and promoting the interests of women.
• It provides the government with advice to make policies and laws that are more prone to protect and safeguard the rights of women. The commission also has the powers that are vested upon with a civil court.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Assam and Meghalaya signed a draft resolution on January 29, partially resolving a 50¬ year ¬old dispute along their 884.9 km boundary.
• An agreement in this regard, termed historic, was signed between Assam Chief Minister and Meghalaya Chief Minister in the presence of Home Minister.
• The agreement is expected to pave the way for resolving disputes in the remaining sectors of the Assam ­Meghalaya boundary and similar areas of difference between Assam and three other north-eastern States.

Existing Inter-State Boundary Disputes arising out of Demarcation of Boundaries:

• Andhra Pradesh-Odisha
• Haryana-Himachal Pradesh
• Union Territory of Ladakh-Himachal Pradesh
• Maharashtra-Karnataka
• Assam-Arunachal Pradesh
• Assam-Nagaland
• Assam-Meghalaya
• Assam-Mizoram

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has reviewed the SMILE scheme recently.

About the Scheme

• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has launched the Central Sector Scheme “SMILE- Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise”.
• The umbrella scheme is designed to provide welfare measures to the Transgender community and the people engaged in the act of begging.
• The Ministry has allocated 365 crore rupees for the scheme from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• It includes two sub-schemes – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation for Welfare of Transgender Persons’ and ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging.
• It aims to strengthen and expand the reach of the rights that give the targeted group the necessary legal protection and a promise to a secured life.
• The Sub-scheme – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation for Welfare of Transgender Persons’ includes the following components-
  • Scholarships for Transgender Students;
  • Skill development/vocational training will be provided to attain capacity, capability and desirability so that they can sustain and live a life of dignity by engaging in self-employment;
  • Composite Medical Health supporting Gender-Reaffirmation surgeries through selected hospitals;
  • Housing in the form of ‘GarimaGreh’ where food, clothing, recreational facilities, skill development opportunities, recreational activities, medical support etc. will be provided;
  • Setting up of Transgender Protection Cell in each state to monitor cases of offences and to ensure timely registration, investigation and prosecution of offences;

Context

• Recently, the Minister of External Affairs of India  participated in the 18th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting in Colombo.

• India emphasised the grouping’s commitment to intensify and expand areas of cooperation, especially connectivity, energy and maritime cooperation.
  • Cooperation on port facilities, ferry services, coastal shipping, grid connectivity and motor vehicles movement are key.

About BIMSTEC

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is aregional organisation that was established on 06 June 1997 with the signing of the Bangkok Declaration.
• Initially known as BIST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation), the organisation is now known as BIMSTEC and comprises seven Member States with the admission of Myanmar on 22 December 1997, and Bhutan and Nepal in February 2004.

• The grouping holds annual meetings hosted by member states based on alphabetical rotation. Sri Lanka is the host nation this time.

• Focused Sectors:
  • Being a sector-driven grouping, cooperation within BIMSTEC had initially focused on six sectors in 1997 (trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism, and fisheries) and expanded in 2008 to incorporate agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people-to-people contact, and climate change.
  • Subsequently, following steps to rationalise and reorganise sectors and sub-sectors, cooperation was reorganised in 2021 under the following sectors and sub-sectors led by the respective Member States:

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Union Minister for Law and Justice in response to a question in the Lok Sabha stated that the government was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for non-resident Indians (NRI).

Background

• In 2017, the government proposed to remove the restriction imposed by Section 20A of the Representation of the People Act, which required them to be physically present to vote in their constituencies.
• The Bill provided for overseas voters to be able to appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf, subject to conditions laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
• The Bill was later passed in 2018 but lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.
• The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 which is the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System or ETPBS.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context

• To create awareness among the tribal people about their rights under effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, several measures have been taken.
• Ministry of Tribal Affairs in collaboration with National Resource Center, at TRI Campus, Odisha and National Tribal Research Institute, Delhi has prepared various training modules viz. Forest Rights Act Training Manual for Government functionaries and members of Gram Sabha, Training Manual on Delineation and Mapping of Community Rights and Community Forest Resources and Interactive Self Learning Training Module for capacity building of the Gram Sabhas.
• The TRI Odisha and NTRI regularly conduct national and State level programs to augment the capacity of States for effective implementation of FRA and train master trainers.
• The course material is available to these trainers and trainees on Adiprashikshan Portal.

About the Act

• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is a people-centric law for forests, which recognises the rights of forest- dwelling communities to use and manage forest resources. 
• With more than 150 million forest dwellers, the scope of FRA is immense to protect their livelihoods, and engage them in sustainable forest management.

Objective

• To undo the historical injustice occurred to the forest dwelling communities;
• To ensure land tenure, livelihood and food security of the forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers;
• To strengthen the conservation regime of the forests by including the responsibilities and authority of Forest Rights holders for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological balance.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• The Ministry of Science and Technology has shortlisted applications for the Swarnajayanti Fellowships Scheme.

About the scheme

• The Government of India under the Ministry of Science and Technology had instituted “The Swarnajayanti Fellowships” to commemorate India’s fiftieth year of Independence in 1997.
• Under this scheme a selected number of young scientists, with proven track record, are provided special assistance and support to enable them to pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology. 
• Scientists selected for the award will be allowed to pursue unfettered research with freedom and flexibility in terms of expenditure as approved in the research plan.
• The project should contain innovative research ideas and it should have a potential of making an impact on R&D in the discipline.
• The fellowships are scientist specific and not institution specific, very selective and have close academic monitoring.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

Recently the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that it used the hypersonic missile for the first time in the conflict with Ukraine.

About hypersonic weapons

• They are manoeuvrable weapons that can fly at speeds of at least Mach 5, five times the speed of sound.
  • The speed of sound is Mach 1, and speeds above Mach I are supersonic and speeds above Mach 5 are hypersonic.
• They are different from Ballistic missiles which, even though are travel much faster, follow a fixed trajectory and travel outside the atmosphere to re-enter only near impact.  Once the ballistic missiles are launched they cannot alter their course.
• On the other hand, hypersonic weapons travel within the atmosphere and can maneuver midway which combined with their high speeds make their detection and interception extremely difficult. This means that radars and air defences cannot detect them till they are very close and have only little time to react.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context

• Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
• Asiatic cheetahs were once widespread across India but were eradicated in the country as they were hunted for sport.
• Historically, Asiatic cheetahs had a very wide distribution in India. There are authentic reports of their occurrence from as far north as Punjab to Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu, from Gujarat and Rajasthan in the west to Bengal in the east.
• The cheetah’s habitat was also diverse, favoring the more open habitats: scrub forests, dry grasslands, savannas and other arid and semi-arid open habitats.
• In 1952, Asiatic cheetah was declared extinct from India, after decades of human intervention, hunting and habitat degradation.
• In Iran, the last surviving population of wild Asiatic cheetahs are found in hilly terrain, foothills and rocky valleys within a desert ecosystem, spread across seven provinces of Yazd, Semnan, Esfahan, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi and Kerman.
• The current estimate of the population of wild Asiatic cheetahs is about 40 with 12 identified adult animals.
• It is recorded that the last cheetahs were shot in India in 1947, but there are credible reports of sightings of the cat till about 1967.
• Asiatic cheetahs are almost identical in appearance to their better known African cousins. However, there are subtle differences.
  • The Asiatic cheetah is slightly smaller and paler than its African cousin.

African Cheetah

• The African cheetah is spread out across Africa from Northwest Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa. With a bigger territory, the African cheetahs have higher populations compared to Asiatic cheetahs.
• They are categorized as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List.