30 lakh reapply for inclusion in NRC

GS PAPER - 01 SOCIETY - Population and associated Issue

Context:

          ★ About 30 lakh of the 40.07 lakh people left out of the final draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) published five months ago have applied again for inclusion during the claims and objections round that ended on December 31 2018.

 

More about the news:

          ★ The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being updated under the direct monitoring of Supreme Court.

          ★ The first draft was published during the intervening nights of December 31, 2017 and January 1, 2018 containing 1.9 crore names.

          ★ The second and complete draft of NRC was released on July 30, 2018 that included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total applications of 3.29 crore.

          ★ The window for 40.07 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants excluded from the complete draft was opened on September 25.

          ★ The Supreme Court had pushed the date to December 31, 2018 after the Assam government sought extension of the last date following demands for it by various local organisations.

         

National Register of Citizens (NRC): ★ The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the register containing names of Indian CITIZENS. ★ National Register of Citizens (NRC) was prepared first in 1951 after the conduct of the Census of 1951 ★ The NRC will be now updated to include the names of those persons (or their descendants) who appear in the NRC, 1951, or in any of the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24th March, 1971 or in any one of the other admissible documents issued up to midnight of 24th March, 1971, which would prove their presence in Assam or in any part of India on or before 24th March, 1971. ★ All the names appearing in the NRC, 1951, or any of the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24th March 1971 together are called Legacy Data. Thus, there will be two requirements for inclusion in updated NRC – 1.) existence of a person’s name in the pre-1971 period & 2.) providing linkage with that person. ★ The provisions governing NRC update in Assam areThe Citizenship Act, 1955, and The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity cards) Rules,2003. ★ The demands to update the NRC of 1951 were first raised by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and Assam Gana Parishad more than three decades ago. ☆ The organisations had submitted a memorandum to the Centre on January 18, 1980, two months after launching the anti-illegal foreigners Assam Movement. ☆ On November 17, 1999, at an official-level tripartite meeting to review the implementation of the Assam Accord, a decision was taken that the NRC would be updated and the Centre sanctioned Rs 20 lakh for the purpose and released Rs 5 lakh of it to start the exercise. ☆ Later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led government took the final decision to update NRC on May 5, 2005. ☆ Thereafter, the government created a directorate for updating the NRC and the process of computerisation of the voters’ list up to 1971 and the NRC of 1951 began.

                                                                                                                                   Source:- The Hindu

An app to cure your mobile addiction

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

 

Context:

        ★ Doctors at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) have come up with a mobile app that helps people reduce their mobile usage.

        ★ The Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) clinic has developed a Digital Detox app

 

Digital Detox by SHUT Clinic:

      ★ The app has been found to be effective in bringing about behavioural changes among users.

      ★ It tracks user pattern of mobile usage every week and offers self-help strategies.

      ★ The app asks users to specify their addiction-related symptoms, such as sleep disturbance, eye strain, loneliness, boredom, or excess Facebook usage.

      ★ It asks users if their mobile usage affects their academics, work or interpersonal relationships, and has a feature where you also have the option of sharing your progress with friends.

 

Pilot Test:

      ★ A pilot test of the app was done between September 2017 and September 2018 among 240 college students aged 18-25.

      ★ The study found that 75.6% of the app’s users changed their mobile use pattern and showed significant reduction in the time spent on technology.

                                                                                                                                   Source:- The Hindu

Centre extends AFSPA in Nagaland

GS PAPER - 03 INTERNAL SECURITY  - Challenges to internal security

Context:

       ★ The Centre on Sunday extended the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland for a period of six months, declaring the northeastern state a 'disturbed area.'

More about the news:

       ★ Union Ministry of Home Affair (MHA), in a notification, said that the area comprising the whole state of Nagaland is in such a "disturbed and dangerous" condition that the use of armed forces in aid of civil power is necessary.

       ★ The declaration of Nagaland as “disturbed area” has been taken as killings, loot and extortion have been going on in various parts of the state which necessitated the action for the convenience of the security forces operating there.

       ★ The AFSPA has been in force in Nagaland for several decades

       ☆ It has not been withdrawn even after a framework agreement was signed on August 3, 2015, by the Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and government interlocutor R.N. Ravi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

         

Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA):              ★ The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act-(AFSPA) was passed on September 11, 1958 to help the army in tackling the disturbed areas of the Northeast India. AFSPA was implemented in the Kashmir amid increase in the insurgency in 1990.              ★ AFSPA is a law which gives immense powers to armed forces to maintain the rule of law in the“disturbed areas”.              ★ Under this law the armed forces have the authority to prohibit gathering of five or more persons in an area.              ★ In some cases the forces can open fire on the disturbing factors after giving due warning if found any suspicious person.              ★ The ASPA was first applied to the Seven Sister States of North East India, including Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, on 1 September, 1958, to stop the North Eastern States seceding from the Indian Union.   Feature of AFSPA:            ★ When differences in the communities arise on the basis of race, religion, language, region and caste and anarchic situation arises then the state or central government is entitled to declare that area as "Disturbed Area Act".            ★ AFSPA is levied only in those areas which have been declared as disturbed areas. Army and armed forces are sent in the area only after the implementation of this law.            ★ As per the Section (3) of the AFSPA, it is mandatory to seek the opinion of the state government that whether a area is disturbed or not. if a area is declared as the disturbed area ,it will be under the control of special forces for at least 3 months.

                                                                                                                                     Source:- The Hindu

ASI declared 6 monuments of national importance in 2018

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

 

Context:

        ★ Archeological survey of India has declared 6 monuments has protected and national importance.

 

6 monuments of National Importance:

       ★ The ancient Neemrana Baori in Rajasthan's Alwar district;

       ★ The Group of Temples at Ranipur Jharail in Odisha's Bolangir district;

       ★ The Vishnu Temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh district, Uttarkhand,

       ★ The 125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur, Maharashtra

       ★ And two Mughal-era monuments in Agra — Haveli of Agha Khan and Hathi Khana

 

More about the news:

      ★ In 2016 and 2017, no new monument was included in the list of sites of national importance.

      ★ The last monument to be included in the list, in 2015, was the Vishnu Temple in Nadavayal in Kerala's Wayanad district.

      ★ There were 3,686 centrally protected monuments/sites under the ASI in the country;

           ☆ The number has now increased to 3,693. Uttar Pradesh (745 monuments/sites), Karnataka (506) and Tamil Nadu (413) have the highest number of ASI-maintained sites.

         

How monuments are listed for National Importance?

     ★ According to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, an “Ancient Monument means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years."

                                                                                                                                   Source:- The Hindu

LS passes medical council Bill

GS PAPER- 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

 

Context:

        ★ The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 31 december 2018.

        ★ The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.

        ★ The Bill seeks to replace an ordinance issued in September 2018.

 

Key features of the Bill:

        ★ The 1956 Act provides for supersession of the MCI and its reconstitution within a period of three years. The Bill amends this provision to provide for the supersession of the MCI for a period of one year.

        ★ In the interim period, the central government will constitute a Board of Governors, which will exercise the powers of the MCI.

        ★ The Bill amends this provision to allow for eminent administrators to be selected in the Board.

        ★ Further, the Bill provides for the Board of Governors to be assisted by a Secretary-General appointed by the central government.

 

Background:

        ★ The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was introduced in Lok Sabha by Mr. Jagat Prakash Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare on December 14, 2018.

         

Additional Information:

        ★ A separate Bill-  National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill 2017 That seeks  to replace the MCI with the National Medical Commission  is pending in Parliament.

        ★ The government has been pushing the NMC Bill amid resistance from Indian Medical Association (IMA) and other sections.

                                                                                                                                   Source:- The Hindu

Fourfold jump in bank frauds: RBI

GS PAPER - 03 INTERNAL SECURITY - money-laundering and its prevention.

 

Context:

       ★ There has been a four-fold increase in the quantum of money swindled by fraudsters from banks in the last four years, the Reserve Bank said Monday.

 

Financial Stability Report:

      ★ In the financial stability report, the RBI said 5,917 frauds involving an amount of Rs 41,167 crore were reported by the banks in fiscal year 2017-18, as against 4,306 frauds entailing an amount of Rs 10,170 crore in FY14.

      ★ The graph of both the frauds as well as the amount involved has been on the rise steadily through the four years till FY18

      ★ The only exception was in fiscal year 2015-16, which saw a dip in the total amount involved as compared to the previous fiscal, even as the number of frauds rose marginally

      ★ 93% of the fraud cases worth over Rs 1 lakh were reported by PSU banks, while private banks accounted for just 6% of the total cases.

 

Cyber Fraud:

      ★ In the last financial year, a total of 5,917 cases of bank fraud were registered as against 5,076 cases in the previous financial year.

      ★ Frauds related to foreign exchange transactions, deposit accounts, off-balance sheet operations and cyber-activity took centre stage.

      ★ However, cyber frauds are on rise as the banks lost Rs 109.6 during the financial year 2017-18 in 2,059 cases from Rs 42.3 crore with 1,372 cases in the year-ago period.

 

Way forward:

      ★ FSR recommended a ringside assessment of efficacy of audit framework (both internal and external), the internal governance framework, with regard to accountability and credit screening/oversight for the state-run lenders.

         

Financial Stability Report:         ★ RBI release financial stability report biannually.         ★ The FSR reflects the overall assessment on the stability of India’s financial system and its resilience to risks emanating from global and domestic factors.         ★ The Report also discusses issues relating to development and regulation of the financial sector.

                                                                                                                      Source:- Business Standard

Spaceship zooms towards distant mysterious world

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of Space

 

Context:

       ★ On January 1, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft became the first explorer to fly past the mysterious object- Ultima Thule, located some 4 billion miles from Earth.

       ★ This is a historic flyby of the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever explored by humankind.

 

Aim of the research:

        ★ Ultima Thule will, therefore, be the most primitive planetary object yet explored, and will reveal to us what conditions were like in this distant part of the Solar System.

        ★ Ultima's nearly circular orbit indicates it originated at its current distance from the Sun. That means Ultima is an ancient sample of this distant portion of the solar system

 

Ultima Thule:

           ★ Ultima Thule is located in the Kuiper belt in the outermost regions of the Solar System, beyond the orbit of Neptune.

           ★ Ultima Thule means "beyond the known world".

           ★ It is also called "cold classicals", which have nearly circular orbits with low inclinations to the solar plane, and which have not been perturbed since their formation perhaps 4.6 billion years ago.

           ★ Ultima Thule is the most distant object of almost 6.5 billion kilometres from the Sun

           ★ It is condensed from solar nebula.

           ★ In 2016, researchers determined it had a red colour

           ★ Ultima Thule measures approximately 30 km in diameter

           ★ It is irregularly shaped

         

New Horizon:         ★ New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006         ★ The primary mission is to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system.         ★ The secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs).         ★ Significance: It will help us answer basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies.   Kuiper Belt:         ★ Kuiper belt is a region of the solar system beyond the planets, extending from the orbit of Neptune. It consist mainly small bodies or remnants from the solar system’s formation.         ★ It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger 20 times as wide and 200 times as massive.         ★ The Kuiper belt objects (KBO) are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed ‘ices’), such as methane, ammonia and water.         ★ Kuiper belt is home to at least three dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea and Makemake.        ★ Pluto, discovered in 1930, is considered its largest member.

                                                                                                                                    Source:- The Hindu

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