9.49 T-Jan 2018-23 minutes Flashcards
POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
- NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION BILL
• The National Medical Commission Bill, 2017 was recently introduced in Lok Sabha
FEATURES
• It replaces the Medical Council of India (MCI) with 25 member National Medical Commission
(NMC)
• The members of NMC are appointed by the central government, with 4 years tenure and no
further extension of tenure or reappointment
• It also establishes State Medical Councils (SMC), which will have a role similar to the NMC at state
level, within three years
• A Medical Advisory Council will be constituted by central government
• It also establishes four Autonomous Boards under supervision of NMC
o Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB) and the Post-Graduate Medical
Education Board (PGMEB)
o Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB)
o Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB)
• Uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to under-graduate medical
education
• National Licentiate Examination for the students graduating from medical institutions to obtain the
license for practice and admission into post-graduate courses
• It allows practitioners of homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine to prescribe allopathic
medicine upon completion of a course
• Medical colleges will need permission only once for establishment and recognition, with no need for
annual renewal
• Colleges can also increase the number of undergraduate seats and start postgraduate courses on
their own
- NATIONAL REGISTER OF CITIZEN (NRC)
• Recently, the first updated draft of NRC for Assam has been released.
• It has listed 19 million people out of the 32.9 million applicants as legal Indian citizens
BACKGROUND
• The failure of implementation of the Assam Accord led to another agreement in 2005 between the
Centre, the Assam government and the AASU
• According to it, a decision was taken to update the NRC, within 2 years, on the basis of NRC 1951
and electoral rolls up to 1971
• Consequently, violent protests erupted which halted the NRC updating process
• Later petitions filed in the Supreme Court demanding identification of Bangladeshi foreigners in the
State and deletion of their names from the voters’ list
• In 2013, the Supreme Court of India ordered to complete the exercise by December 31, 2017 leading
to the present updating of NRC
ABOUT NRC
• It is a list of Indian citizens which is meant to decide who is a bona fide Indian citizen and those
who fail to enlist in the register will be deemed illegal migrants
• The NRC will include names of person or their descendants whose name appear in NRC 1951 or any
of the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24th March 1971
• First list was made in 1951 across India, but for the first time it is being updated and that too only
in Assam.
• The year of 1971 is chosen as it was agreed in Assam accord 1985.
• However, in Assam the updating could not be carried on since 1951 due to various political tensions
such as Assam Movement of 1980s, the language movement and other ethnic movements.
ASSAM ACCORD
• It was signed in 1985 between Union Government, Assam Students Union (AASU) and the ‘All Assam
Gana Sangram Parishad’ (AAGSP)
• Provisions
o All those foreigners who had entered Assam between 1951 and 1961 were to be given full
citizenship including the right to vote.
o Migrants those who had done so after 1971 were to be deported.
o Those who entered between 1961 and 1971 were to be denied voting rights for ten years but
would enjoy all other rights of citizenship
CITIZENSHIP ACT, 1955 AND ASSAM ACCORD
• The section 6A in the Citizenship Act, 1955 contains the provisions with respect to citizenship of
persons covered by the Assam Accord (1985)
• This act fixes March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants in
Assam.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
3. ASEAN-INDIA COMMEMORATIVE SUMMIT
• It was recently held in New Delhi to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of sectoral
dialogue between two sides
• Theme: Shared Values, Common Destiny
• Delhi Declaration was issued after the plenary session of the summit
DELHI DECLARATION
• For the first time there was explicit mention of close cooperation to handle “cross-border movement
of terrorists”
• A swift conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
• Enhance physical and digital connectivity
• Cooperation in maritime transportation, aviation, outer space, preserving marine resources
ASEAN
• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a political and economic organisation of ten
Southeast Asian countries
• It was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and
Thailand
• Later the membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
• Objective: Economic, Political, Security, Educational and Socio-cultural integration amongst its
members and Asian states
• First summit: Bali, 1976
• 2017 summit: Pasay City, (Manila)
• 2018 summit: Singapore
• The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area agreement entered into force in 2015
• “ASEAN Plus Three” includes China, Japan, and South Korea
• The ASEAN is India’s 4th largest trading partner, and India is the 7th largest trading partner of the
bloc
- AUSTRALIA GROUP
• India has been admitted as 43rd member to Australia group
ABOUT THE GROUP
• It is multilateral export control regime (MECR) and informal group that works to reduce the
spread of chemical and biological weapons
• It was established in 1985, in response to use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984
• It has total 43 members
• Coordination among the members help them to fulfil their obligations under Chemical Weapons
Convention to the fullest extent possible
• China, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea are not its member
CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC)
• Its formal name is Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling
and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
• It is a multilateral treaty that bans chemical weapons and requires their destruction within a specified
period of time.
• It is a legally binding international Convention
• It was adopted in 1992 by UN Conference on Disarmament and came into force in 1997
• It is implemented by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
• Member states: 192
• Egypt, North Korea, Palestine and Sudan are the only countries that have not signed to the
convention.
• Israel has signed it but not ratified it.
• This convention has provisions for systematic evaluation of chemical and military plants and
investigations in matters related to chemical weapons.
• India is a signatory to CWC since 1993
• India enacted a Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000, which is applicable to citizens of India
outside India and the associates, branches or subsidiaries, outside India of companies or bodies
corporate, registered or incorporated in India.
ORGANISATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS (OPCW)
• It is an intergovernmental organisation headquartered in Hague, Netherlands.
• The organisation promotes, administers and verifies the adherence to the CWC
• This convention outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their
precursors.
• 190 member-states have signed and ratified this convention including India.
• Six states Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea and South Sudan are still outside the
CWC.
• It was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2013
BIOLOGICAL AND TOXIN WEAPONS CONVENTION (BWC)
• It is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production and stockpiling
of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction
• It was opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975.
• It is a legally binding treaty
• India signed the convention in 1973 and ratified it in 1974.
• It bans the development, stockpiling, acquisition, retention, and production of
o Biological agents and toxins “of types and in quantities that have no justification for
prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes;”
o Weapons, equipment, and delivery vehicles “designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile
purposes or in armed conflict.”
o The transfer of or assistance with acquiring the agents, toxins, weapons, equipment, and
delivery vehicles described above
OTHER EXPORT CONTROL REGIMES
NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP
• Also called London Club or London Group because of its first meeting in London
• It is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries to frame and implements rules for exporting nuclear
equipment, with a view to control the spread of nuclear weapons
• Formed by seven countries viz. Canada, West Germany, France, Japan, the USSR, the UK, and
the USA in response to the nuclear tests of India in 1974
• Objective: reduce nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may
be applicable to nuclear weapon development and by improving safeguards and protection on
existing materials
• Decisions of the group are made on the basis of consensus
• India, Pakistan are not members of this group while China is a member
MISSILE TECHNOLOGY CONTROL REGIME
• It is a voluntary and informal partnership among 35 countries
• Setup in 1987 by the G7 countries
• To prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of
carrying above 500 kg payload for more than 300 km
• It does not impose legally binding obligations over its member countries.
• Decisions of the group are made on the basis of consensus
• India is a member of this group but China, Pakistan are not its members
THE HAGUE CODE OF CONDUCT (HCOC)
• Also known as International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation
• It is a voluntary, legally non-binding international measure that seeks to prevent the proliferation
of ballistic missiles that are capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
• It was established in 2002
• The HCoC does not ban ballistic missiles, but it calls for restraining their production, testing, and
export
• Executive Secretariat: Austria
• As of now 138 nations are signatories to the HCoC.
• India is the latest signatory to the HCoC
• China, Pakistan are not signatories to HCoC
- FREE MOVEMENT REGIME (FMR)
• The Union Government approved agreement between India and Myanmar on Land Border
Crossing.
• It is an enabling arrangement for movement of people across border of both countries
• The FMR was a bilateral agreement between India and Myanmar that allows free movement of Indian
and Myanmar citizens within 16 km of the border without visa restrictions for 72 hours.
• Its purpose is to alleviate insecurity of tribal people living along India and Myanmar border
as they still continue to have trans-border linkages with their kith and kin.
• However, it has been misused by militants and criminals who are using it to smuggle weapons,
narcotics, contraband goods and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN)
• Earlier, Rina Mitra Committee has been constituted to study the Free Movement Regime along the
Myanmar border
• India’s border states with Myanmar: Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram
• India is the fifth largest trading partner of Myanmar
- POLAR SILK ROAD
• Recently, China has released its first official Arctic policy white paper, outlining its ambition for a
Polar Silk Road.
ARCTIC COUNCIL
• It was established in 1966, as an intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and
interaction among the Arctic States.
• 8 Member states: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and
the United States
• 13 Observer states: China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands,
Poland, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, Switzerland
- NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK (NKN)
• Recently, India has excluded Pakistan from the list of SAARC member countries with which it will be
connecting its National Knowledge Network (NKN)
• Sri Lanka to become first country to be connected to NKN through Gigabyte (GB) optical fibre
network
• This will connect NKN to Lanka education & research network (LEARN) through which universities
on both sides can share best practices and research ideas.
• National Informatics centre (NIC) has set up a model E-office system for Sri Lanka
ABOUT NKN
• It is a state-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-Indian resource sharing network aimed at digitally
connecting all national universities, colleges and research establishments
• This project was launched in 2010 for a period of 10 years.
• As of May 2016, NKN has connected over 1585 institutions under various categories throughout
India.
• National Informatics Centre (NIC) as the implementing agency
• It aims to interconnect all institutions of higher learning and research with a high speed data
communication network to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaborative research.
• NKN will facilitate advanced distance education in specialized fields like engineering, science,
medicine etc. as well as enable an ultra-high speed e-Governance backbone.
ICT AGREEMENT.
• India and Sri Lanka signed four agreements for collaboration in Information and communication
technology (ICT) sector between both countries.
• The agreements were signed for collaboration in ICT sector and setting up of e-office system and
connecting of National Knowledge network (NKN) for collaboration among universities and academics
- RAISINA DIALOGUE
• The third edition of the Raisina Dialogue was inaugurated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in New Delhi
• It was jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Observer Research
Foundation (ORF)
• Theme: Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms
ABOUT RAISINA DIALOGUE
• It is an annual conference held in New Delhi since 2016
• It is envisioned to be India’s flagship conference of geopolitics and geo-economics.
• It is organized on the lines of the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore.
• It is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectorial conclave, involving policy and decision makers
GOVT SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES
9. PRICE DEFICIENCY PAYMENT (PDP) SCHEME
• The NITI Aayog, has recently released a three-year action agenda for the Centre suggesting the
‘Price Deficiency Payment’ (PDP) system among other reforms.
ABOUT PDP SCHEME
• Under this, farmers will be compensated for the difference between the MSPs for select crops and
their actual market prices
• For crops such as rice and wheat where MSP is effective now, the same will continue.
• For other targeted crops, price deficiency payments system will be introduced.
• However, notably there may be a cap on the extent to which the Centre will bridge the gap between
MSP and market price.
• A farmer would have to register with the nearest APMC mandi and report the total area sown, to
avail this benefit.
• The subsidy would be paid via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) into the farmer’s Aadhaar linked bank
account.
PDP SCHEMES OF VARIOUS STATES
• Mukhya Mantri Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY) of Madhya Pradesh
o Its aim is to ensure that farmers receive minimum support prices (MSP) for pulses and oil
seeds.
• Bhavantar Bharpai of Haryana
o PDP scheme for 4 vegetables — potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cauliflower.
• Karnataka and Telangana are giving Rs.5 and Rs.4 per-litre, respectively, incentive to milk farmers
over and above the rate that dairies are paying.
- UDAN PHASE-II
• The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has awarded 325 air routes under the second phase of UDAN
(Ude Desh ka Aam naagrik) scheme.
• Around 40% or 129 of 325 air routes were awarded to newly created category of ‘priority areas’
• Priority Areas: Jammu and Kashmir, North-eastern and hill states, Andaman and Nicobar Islands
and Lakshadweep Islands
• Total 78 served airports, underserved airports and unserved airports will be connected.
• In addition, 31 helipads/ heliports will be connected through Helicopters in priority areas
• Viability Gap Funding (VGF) Outflow: These proposed routes will get VGF for fixed wing operations
and Helicopter operations in the Priority areas.
• The government provides VGF or subsidy for 50% of seats set aside for being offered at discounted
rates by airlines and all seats up to 13 passenger seats for helicopters.
ABOUT UDAN
• The scheme UDAN envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the
country through revival of existing air-strips and airports.
• It will be applicable on flights which cover between 200 km and 800 km with no lower limit set for hilly,
remote, island and security sensitive regions.
• The scheme seeks to reserve a minimum number of UDAN seats i.e. seats at subsidized rates and
also cap the fare for short distance flights
• This would be achieved through a financial stimulus in the form of concessions from Central and
State governments or a VGF to the interested airlines
• A Regional Connectivity Fund would be created to meet the VGF requirements under the scheme.
• The RCF levy per departure will be applied to certain domestic flights along with 20% contribution
from states.
• The scheme would be in operation for a period of 10 years.
- JAL MARG VIKAS PROJECT (JMVP)
• Recently, Government has approved implementation of JMVP for capacity augmentation of navigation
on 1,380-km Haldia-Varanasi stretch of National Waterway-1
• The project will be implemented at a cost of over Rs.5370 crore
• It is expected to be completed by March, 2023.
ABOUT JMVP
• The project envisages the development of waterway (1620 km) between Allahabad and Haldia on
Ganga River
• The project covers Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
• It is funded by IBRD of World bank and Union Government
• The World Bank has also provided technical assistance to the project.
• Implemented by Inland Waterways Authority.
• Its objective is to achieve an appropriate depth and width to enable commercial navigation of vessels
• It will establish a multimodal terminal at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia for rail and road
connectivity
• The project adopted the first time in India a River Information System, an IT based system to
optimised the resource management of waterborne transport chain by enabling information exchange
between vessels, lock and bridges, terminals and ports, status of fairways, calamity abatement etc
- INDIA BPO PROMOTION SCHEME (IBPS
• IBPS was launched in 2014 with an outlay of 493 crore up to 31 March 2019
• The Software Technology Park of India (STPI) is the implementing agency of the scheme.
• The Scheme aims to incentivize the establishment of BPO firms and their extension to Tier 2
and Tier 3 cities with financial support in form of Viability Gap Funding.
• Financial support up to 50% of the expenditure towards Capital Expenditure and/or Operational
Expenditure subject to an upper limit of 1 Lakh per seat.
• Special incentives for employing women and persons with disability, generating employment beyond
target and wider dispersal within state.
• Encouragement of local entrepreneurs
• Special consideration for Hilly areas and rural areas.
NORTH-EAST BPO PROMOTION SCHEME
• It was launched to incentivise establishment of 5000 seats of BPO/ITES operations in North-East with
an outlay of 50 crore up to 31 March 2019.
• It is being implemented by STPI.
• The scheme provides special incentive for training employees and incentive for diversity and inclusion
in addition, employing women and people with disability etc.
BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING (BPO)
• It is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a
specific business process to a third-party service provider.
- HIMALAYAN RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS SCHEME (HRFS)
• The ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) has decided to start
Himalayan Research Fellowships scheme.
ABOUT HRFS
• It aims to create a young pool of trained environmental managers, ecologists and socio-economists.
• This pool will help generate information on physical, biological, managerial and human aspects of
Himalayan environment and development.
• The fellowship scheme will be executed through various universities and institutions working in the
Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) and preference will be given to the Institutions from north-eastern
states.
• The financial support will be provided under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS)
• The fellowships will be awarded for a maximum period of three years.
- STREE SWABHIMAN INITIATIVE
• Launched by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY)
• Its aims for providing adolescent girls and women an access to affordable sanitary products by
leveraging Common Service Centres (CSCs).
ABOUT
• Its purpose is to improve awareness on menstrual health and hygiene of women
• Under this initiative, CSC will provide access to affordable, reliable and modern (eco-friendly) sanitary
napkins to adolescent girls and women in rural areas.
• Also semi-automatic and manual sanitary napkin manufacturing units will be set up at CSC for
producing affordable and eco-friendly sanitary napkins.
• These micro manufacturing units will be operated by women entrepreneurs and generate employment
for 8-10 women.
- NARI AND E-SAMVAAD
• The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has launched online portal NARI for the
empowerment of women.
• It has been developed by the Ministry to provide easy access to information on government schemes
and initiatives for women.
ABOUT NARI
• It is a single window access to information and services.
• The portal summarise over 350 government schemes and other important information.
• The schemes are divided into 7 different categories — health, education, housing and shelter,
employment, addressing violence, decision making and social support.
• It elaborates how Government is focussed to economically empower women through schemes under
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
• It also provides link to Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering these schemes as
well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal.
E-SAMVAAD PORTAL
• It is a platform for NGOs and civil society to interact with the Ministry of Women and Child
Development (MWCD) by providing their feedback, suggestions, put up grievances, share best
practices etc.
• This will help in formulation of effective policies and measures for welfare of women and children.
ECONOMY
16. NPA IN AGRICULTURE
• According to RBI data, agriculture NPAs rose over 23 per cent from Rs.48,800 crore in 2016 to
Rs.60,200 crore in 2017
• Farm sector bad loans constitute 8.3 per cent of the total banking sector NPAs of March 2017.
• However, it is fairly less than compared to nonpriority sector with accounts for 76.7% of total NPAs
• Compared to non-priority sector credit where borrowers have defaulted 20.83 percent of the credit,
farmers have defaulted only 6 percent of their total credit.
- ASHOK DALWAI COMMITTEE
- It was constituted by the Union Government to suggest ways for doubling farmers’ income by 2022
- Recently, It submitted its report in which it proposed major reforms
- FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (FSSAI)
• Recently, FSSAI issued regulation on organic food in country
• It has also launched an online platform – FoSCoRIS - to bring in transparency in food safety
inspection and sampling.
• It has set guidelines for process to recall food products from markets if found unsafe.
• The CAG in performance audit report of FSSAI found major lapses in its functioning
REGULATIONS ON ORGANIC FOOD
• Defined - organic agriculture, organic farm, organic foods
• Organic foods will have to comply with the government’s provisions under,
o The National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) or
o The Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) run by the Agriculture Ministry or
o Voluntary logo from the FSSAI that marked its produce as ‘organic.
• Mandatory labelling of Organic food from July, 2018
• They exempted organic food marketed by the original producer or producer organisation through a
direct sale from verification compliance.
• There will be penalties on non-compliance of regulation
FOSCORIS
• The web-based ‘FoSCoRIS’ system will help verify compliance of food safety and hygiene standards
by food businesses as per the government norms
CAG REPORT
• Among the major finding of the CAG, 65 out of the 72 state food laboratories to which FSSAI and
state food safety authorities sent food samples for testing do not possess National Accreditation
Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation.
ABOUT NABL
• It is a Constituent Board of Quality Council of India.
• Objective: Providing Government, Industry Associations and Industry in general with a scheme of
Conformity Assessment Body’s accreditation which involves third party assessment of the
technical competence of testing.
ABOUT QUALITY COUNCIL OF INDIA (QCI)
• It was set up in 1997 by Union Government jointly with Indian Industry as an autonomous body.
• Its mandate is to establish and operate the National Accreditation Structure (NAS) for conformity
assessment bodies and providing accreditation in the field of health, education and quality
promotion.
• It also promotes the adoption of quality standards relating to Food Safety Management Systems,
Quality Management Systems and Product Certification and Inspection.
• It has been assigned task of monitoring and administering the National Quality Campaign and also
oversee function of National Information and Enquiry Services.
ABOUT FSSAI
• It was established under Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSAI), 2006 to formulate standards for
food and regulates their manufacture, storage, and distribution, among others.
• Nodal ministry: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW)
FSSA, 2006
• It consolidate multiple laws in the country relating to food safety.
• The FSSAI along with the State Food Safety Authorities is responsible for monitoring and verifying
the relevant requirements under the Act and its enforcement.
• The Act provides for the appointment of a Commissioner of Food Safety at state level and local
Food Safety Officers for efficient implementation of food safety
• It requires food firms to provide scientific evidence that their product is safe.
• The Act does not apply to any farmer, fisherman, farming operations, crops, livestock, aquaculture,
supplies used/produced in farming, products of crops produced by a farmer/fisherman at initial
production level
- NATIONAL YEAR OF MILLETS
• India has approved 2018 as National Year of Millets to boost production of the nutrient-rich millets
and encourage agro-industry involved in it.
• India had also forwarded a proposal to UN for declaring year 2018 as ‘International Year of Millets’
ABOUT MILLETS
• Millets are a group of small-seeded grasses, grow as cereal crops/ grains
• It mainly includes great millet (jowar), sorghum, finger millet (ragi), pearl millet (Bajra), small millet,
proso millet, foxtail millet (korra), barnyard millet, kodo millet (Arke) etc.
• These grows well on well-drained loamy soils, arid and semi-arid conditions
• They require low or no purchased inputs therefore best suited for dry land agriculture
