SOCIAL ISSUES                                                                                   

1. Ayodhya Verdict                                                                               

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                             

1. NCRB Data On Accidental Death and Suicide report for 2016            

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                      

1. What to read in ozone hole size                                                        

2. What is New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Law                                          

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY                                                       

1. NASA's Voyager 2 becomes second spacecraft to reach interstellar space                                                                                           

SECURITY                                                                                          

1. MILAN 2020                                                                                 

SOCIAL ISSUES

Ayodhya Verdict

GS PAPER - 01 SOCIAL ISSUES - Effects of globalization on Indian society Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.

Context :

• The Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment in the Ayodhya land dispute case

• The five-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi read out a unanimous judgment and ruled in favour of the Ram Janmabhoomi and said there will be Ram Mandir at the disputed site and Muslims will be given an alternate 5 acre land for their mosque.

Timeline of Ayodhya Case:

Key Highlights of the Verdict  :

•  The Supreme Court said the Allahabad High Court’s remedy of a three-way bifurcation of the disputed premises among the Ayodhya deity, Sri Bhagwan Ram Virajman, Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Central Waqf Board “defied logic”. It did not “secure a lasting sense of peace and tranquillity”.

• The court said that the faith of the Hindus that Lord Ram was born at the disputed site where the Babri Masjid once stood cannot be disputed.

  • The court held there was both oral and documentary evidence to support the Hindus’ faith that the Janma Asthan was located where the Babri Masjid was constructed.

  • The court said there was proof of extensive worship offered by the Hindus, especially in the outer courtyard where the Ram Chabutra and Sita Rasoi are located, even before the annexation of the Oudh by the British in 1857.

  • What tipped the scales in favour of the Hindu parties seems to be the prevalence of worship by Hindu pilgrims from a much earlier era, whereas, the offering of namaaz has been established only from around 1856-57.

• The Supreme Court also said that the 1992 demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid Mosque was a violation of law.

  • But while reading out its judgment, the Supreme Court said that the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board had failed to establish its case in Ayodhya dispute case and Hindus have established their case that they were in possession of outer courtyard of the disputed site.

  • The five-judge Constitution Bench that delivered the judgment in the Ayodhya case said that while Muslims never lost possession of the disputed land, they could not assert the right of adverse possession.

  • The Muslim side had claimed that the mosque was built 400 years ago by Babar – and that even if it is assumed that it was built on the land where a temple earlier existed, Muslims, by virtue of their long exclusive and continuous possession – beginning from the time the mosque was built, and up to the time the mosque was desecrated – they had perfected their title by adverse possession.

  • This argument has now been rejected by the Supreme Court

  • In fact, a similar view was taken by the two judges of the Allahabad High Court.

  • Justice D V Sharma had said that Muslims cannot claim adverse possession against the said property because it was an open place and everybody was visiting including Muslims.

• Hence the Supreme Court has granted the entire 2.77 acre of disputed land in Ayodhya to deity Ram Lalla. As compensation of sorts for the destruction of the mosque in 1992, the Muslim parties are set to get a five-acre plot elsewhere.

• The Supreme Court, implicitly referring to the demolition of the Babri Masjid at the disputed site, said that it was invoking Article 142 “to ensure that a wrong committed must be remedied”.

  • The provision that vests sweeping powers in the Supreme Court for the end of ensuring “complete justice” has been used generally in cases that involve human rights and environmental protection.

  • This was the first time that the court invoked this power in a case involving a civil dispute over an immovable property, involving private parties.

  • It said that while the court’s power under Article 142 “is not limitless”, it “embodies both the notion of justice, equity and good conscience as well as a supplementary power to the court to effect complete justice”.

• In fact, it wasn’t just for the Muslim parties that the SC invoked Article 142. The same article was invoked in the case of the Nirmohi Akhara, who were party to the case.

• The court dismissed the Akhara’s petition as time-barred and rejected its suit claiming shebaiti (managerial rights) over the property.

• However, the court invoked its extraordinary powers to ask the government to give Nirmohi Akhara, considering the sect’s historical presence at the disputed site, to provide it with an “appropriate role in the management” of the property.

 S.C Direction to center and State :

• Supreme Court has directed the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government to allot an alternative 5 acre land to the Muslims at a prominent place to build a mosque.

• Supreme Court has directed the Union government to set up a trust in 3 months for the construction of the Ram mandir at the disputed site where Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992.

• The court has asked Centre to consider granting some kind of representation to Nirmohi Akhara in setting up of trust.

  • Nirmohi Akhara was the third party in the Ayodhya dispute.

  • The Supreme Court dismissed the plea of Nirmohi Akhara, which was seeking control of the entire disputed land, saying they are the custodian of the land.

Important observations by SC :

• The judges declared that the demolition of the 16th century Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was “an egregious violation of the rule of law” and “a calculated act of destroying a place of public worship”.

• The Muslims have been wrongly deprived of a mosque which had been constructed well over 450 years ago, the Bench said.

• The Court referred to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991, which prohibits the conversion of the status any place of worship, to say that all religions are equal.

• After giving the disputed land to Hindus and a separate five acres for construction of a mosque in Ayodhya, the SC shut the door for fresh litigation to alter status quo of sites such as those in Kashi and Mathura, which have also seen discord over worship.

  • “The Constitution does not make a distinction between the faith and belief of one religion and another. All forms of belief, worship and prayer are equal,”

  • The Bench said the Act “speaks to the future by mandating that the character of a place of public worship shall not be altered”.

  • “Places of Worship Act is an affirmation of the solemn duty which was cast upon the State to preserve and protect the equality of all faiths as an essential constitutional value, a norm which has the status of being a basic feature of the Constitution,” the Supreme Court addressed the government.

Conclusion :

• Ayodhya in the past was the centre stage for communal politics and a tool for polarization before elections. The high-pitched events not only disrupted daily life and business, but also endangered communal harmony in the region.

• Lack of jobs and investment, poor infrastructure and an underdeveloped tourism economy have kept Ayodhya far behind other important Hindu religious centres like Mathura and Varanasi.

• In the future with the acrimony between communities settled by the intervention of the Supreme court and the Democratic institutions supporting this landmark judgment, a new era of Economic progress in the region, exploration of tourism and giving wings to business development should be the priority of the Govt and all the stakeholders in the region.

• Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said “Law must stand apart over political considerations, religion and beliefs”

• The judgment will be remembered for the victory of faith over the rule of law as the Supreme Court considered religious beliefs even in deciding a property dispute, and despite conceding that faith cannot confer title, it still went ahead to give property to worshippers on the basis of faith.           

                                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

NCRB Data On Accidental Death and Suicide report for 2016

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The National Crime Records Bureau has released the Accidental Death and Suicide report for 2016.

Sucide deaths In India :

• In 2016, a decline was observed in the all-India rate of suicide (per lakh of population) from 10.6 in 2015 to 10.3 in 2016.

• The suicide rate in cities in 2016 was 13.0 as compared to the all-India suicide rate of 10.3 (per lakh of population).

• Major causes of suicides were family problems (not related to marriage) (29.2%) and illness (17.1%), marriage related issues (5.3%) and drug-abuse and alcoholic addiction (4.0%).

Farmers Sucide in India :

• The number of farmer suicides in the country has plunged to 11,379 in 2016 from 12,360 in 2014 and 12,602 in 2015. This translates into 948 suicides every month, or 31 suicides every day in 2016

• Maharashtra witnessed a 20% dip from the previous year, however, it continued to be the top state with 2,550 of the 6,270 farmers’ suicides documented nationwide. Karnataka saw the second highest number of farmer suicides in 2016 at 2,079.

• While farmer suicides have dipped by about 21%, those by farm labourers have risen by 10%.

• A majority of the farmers who died by suicide in India were men while women accounted for only 8.6% of farmer suicides in the country.

Accidental deaths in India :

• A total of 8,684 deaths in the country occurred due to causes attributable to forces of nature during the year 2016. 38.2% deaths due to ‘Lightning’, 15.4% deaths due to ‘Heat and Sun Stroke’ and 8.9 % deaths due to ‘flood’ were reported during the year 2016.

• A total of 4, 09,537 persons died in accidental deaths due to ‘other causes’ (not attributable to nature) during 2016.

• The major causes of accidental deaths were traffic accidents (43.4%), sudden deaths (10.2%), drowning (7.3%), poisoning (5.6%), falls (4.2%) and accidental fire (4.1%).

                                                                                                              Source :- Indian Express

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

What to read in ozone hole size

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND TECHNOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• NASA and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists have reported that the annual ozone hole over the Antarctic has been found to be at its smallest since the 1980s

Ozone Layer:

• Ozone layer, also called ozonosphere is a layer in the stratosphere lying between roughly 15 and 35 km above Earth’s surface, containing relatively high concentrations of ozone molecules (O3).

• By absorbing the harmful ultraviolet radiations from the sun, the ozone molecules protect earth from harmful UV rays which can cause skin cancer and other diseases and deformities, in plants and animals

Ozone hole:

• It is a region in the stratosphere, directly above Antarctica, where the concentration of ozone has been measured to become extremely low in certain months.

• During experiments in Antarctica in the early 1980s, scientists noticed that during September-November, the concentration of ozone fell considerably lower to what was recorded in the 1950s.

• Studies and satellite measurements confirmed the depletion, and by mid-1980s scientists held a class of industrial chemicals like chloroflurocarbons, or CFCs responsible for depletion of ozone.

• NASA recently reported that this ozone hole, which usually grows to about 20 million sq km in September, was less than half that size this year, the smallest it has ever been during this time after being discovered.

Montreal Protocol :

• A 1989 global agreement, called Montreal Protocol, organised international consensus on phased elimination of these chemicals.

• On September 16, 1987, the United Nations and 45 other countries had signed the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone layer.

• The purpose of the Montreal Protocol is to protect the Ozone layer by reducing the production of substances that are supposed to be responsible for Ozone layer depletion.

• The protocol was further strengthened with the ratification of the legally binding Kigali Agreement at the 28th Meeting of the Parties in 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda.

• It seeks to phase out the production of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are potent greenhouse gases by the late 2040s.

• Two years ago, an amendment to the Montreal Protocol cleared the way for a faster elimination of another set of similar compounds, called hydroflurocarbons, or HFCs, which were being used as temporary replacements for CFCs.

What does it mean for climate protection efforts overall?

• Montreal Protocol is often cited as a model for the problem of climate change.

• The chemicals that were dealt with by the Montreal Protocol were used in only some specific sectors and their replacements were readily available, even if at a higher cost differential at that time.

• The economic impact of banning these chemicals, and the disruption it caused, was limited to these sectors. Over the years, these industrial sectors have managed a relatively smooth transition.

• Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, is a much more complex, and all-pervasive, problem. The emission of carbon dioxide happens from the most basic of all activity — production and consumption of energy.

                                                                                                                                             Source :- Indian Express

What is New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Law

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• Recently, New Zealand’s Parliament passed The Zero-Carbon Act.

New Zealand’s Zero Carbon Act :

• The Zero Carbon law aims to tackle climate change by setting a net-zero target for almost all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

• The reduction target will have two separate plans.

  • One for biogenic methane, or that which is produced by living organisms, and another for all other greenhouse gases.

  • It also establishes an independent Climate Change Commission to advise the government on how to achieve its targets and to produce “carbon budgets” every five years informing how many emissions will be allowed in that period.

• Methane from animals will carry more lax requirements. However, it still aims to cut 10% of biological methane by 2030, and up to 47% by 2050.

• The law is a part of New Zealand’s efforts to meet its Paris climate accord commitments.

The key aims of the Act include:

• Reduce all greenhouse gases (except methane) to net zero by 2050, reduce emissions of biogenic methane (produced from biological sources) up to 24-47 percent below 2017 levels by 2050 and to 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2030, establish an independent Climate Change Commission and establish a system of emissions budget.           

                                                                                                                                                Source :- Indian Express

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NASA's Voyager 2 becomes second spacecraft to reach interstellar space

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in field of Space.

Context :

• According to the researchers at the University of Iowa in the US, Voyager 2 has entered the interstellar medium (ISM), the region of space outside the bubble-shaped boundary produced by wind streaming outward from the Sun

Voyager 2 :

• Voyager 2 was launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer planets. Voyager 2 targeted Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

• Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to study all four of the solar system’s giant planets at close range.

• Voyager 2 discovered a 14th moon at Jupiter.

• Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly past Uranus.

• At Uranus, Voyager 2 discovered 10 new moons and two new rings.

• Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly by Neptune.

• At Neptune, Voyager 2 discovered five moons, four rings, and a “Great Dark Spot.- a huge spinning storm in the southern atmosphere of Neptune which was about the size of the entire Earth.

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

SECURITY

MILAN 2020

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

Context :

• The Mid Planning Conference (MPC) for the MILAN exercise concluded at Visakhapatnam

  • It was a three-day conference

Background :

• MILAN features a series of biennial and multilateral naval exercise which commenced in 1995.

• It was conducted in Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) until 2018.

MILAN 2020 :

• MILAN 2020 enhanced professional interaction between friendly foreign navies.

• It helps navies to learn from each other’s strengths and best practices in the maritime domain.

• The event would also provide an excellent opportunity for Operational Commanders of friendly foreign navies to interact with each other.

                                                                                                                                  Source :- PIB

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