11^thFEBRUARY 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

Expedite implementation of Forest Rights Act

GS PAPER - 02 Governance - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context:

★ The Odisha State Food Commission has asked the State government to expedite implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, that would help ensure food and nutritional security to the vulnerable section of society.

Forest Rights Act - 2006:

★ The act was passed in December 2006.

★ It deals with the rights of forest-dwelling communities over land and other resources.

★ The Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities, partially correcting the injustice caused by the forest laws.

Rights under the Act:

★ right to hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers

★ community rights such as nistar, by whatever name called, including those used in erstwhile Princely States, Zamindari or such intermediary regimes

★ right of ownership, access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries.

★ other community rights of uses or entitlements such as fish and other products of water bodies, grazing (both settled or transhumant) and traditional seasonal resource access of nomadic or pastoralist communities

★ rights, including community tenures of habitat and habitation for primitive tribal groups and pre- agricultural communities

★ Right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity and cultural diversity.

★ Rights of displaced communities

★ Rights over developmental activities

Significance:

★ The Act is significant as it provides scope and historic opportunity of integrating conservation and livelihood rights of the people.

★ This Act can act as a potential tool to

★ Empower and strengthen the local self-governance

★ Address the livelihood security of the people, leading to poverty alleviation and pro-poor growth.

★ Address the issues of Conservation and management of the Natural Resources and conservation governance of India.

Source:- The Hindu

Only 4 UDAN routes in northeast operational

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Context:

★ According to Airport Authority of India’s records, only 4 UDAN routes in North-East India is currently operational.

★ He routes that have been connected are Guwahati-Pakyong-Guwahati (SpiceJet), Jorhat-Kolkata-Jorhat (IndiGo), Lilabari-Kolkata-Lilabari (SpiceJet) and Pakyong-Delhi-Pakyong (SpiceJet).

UDAN Scheme:

★ Launched in 2017, The UdeDeshkaAamNaagrik (UDAN) scheme aims to promote affordable regional air connectivity.

★ It seeks to connect under-served and un-served airports in India through revival of existing air-strips and airports.

★ The scheme is being implemented by Airport Authority of India.

★ Under the scheme, airlines have to cap airfares for 50% of the total seats at Rs. 2,500 per hour of flight.

★ The losses for the price cap is compensated by a mechanism called Viability Gap Funding- A government grant provided to the airlines to bridge the gap between the cost of operations and expected revenue.

★ The scheme is a component of the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP). NCAP aims at making flying affordable to the masses and strengthening the regional air connectivity.

Source:- The Hindu

Courts can’t reduce minimum sentence, says SC

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure

Context:

★ The Supreme Court held that the courts cannot impose less than the minimum sentence prescribed by lawmakers for an offence.

More about the news:

★ The Supreme Court ruling came on an appeal by the Madhya Pradesh government against the 2012 decision of the High Court, which cut short the six-month prison sentence awarded to a person who was found guilty under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

★ According to the Bench, the court cannot impose less than the minimum sentence, where the minimum sentence is provided for.

★ It is also held that provisions of Article 142 of the Constitution cannot be resorted to impose a sentence less than the minimum sentence.

Source:- The Hindu

Don’t use Nirbhaya fund for other purposes: panel

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections

Context:

★ A parliamentary panel headed by Congress leader P. Chidambaram has taken strong exception to the utilisation of the Nirbhaya Fund in the construction of buildings, saying such allocations defeat the very purpose of the project — that of safety for women.

★ The committee is also of the firm view that funds for the construction of buildings should come from other sources and not from the Nirbhaya Fund.

Nirbhaya Fund:

★ Nirbhaya Fund is an rupee 10 billion corpus announced by Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget.

★ This fund is expected to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India.

★ Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim to hide her actual identity.

★ The non-lapsable corpus fund was instituted following gang-grape of a girl in Delhi in 2012 which triggered a nation-wide outrage and protests.

★ The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.

★ Rs 200 crore funds has been sanctioned as one-time grant for Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) Scheme for compensating women victims of acid attacks, rape, trafficking, etc.

Issues:

★ The government has been accused of keeping Nirbhaya Fund unutilised.

★ With rise in cases of sexual harassment and crimes against women there is a crying need for implementation of such funds.

Source:- The Hindu

Taliban says no agreement reached on ending hostilities

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context:

★ Taliban-the Islamist insurgent group in Afghanistan- has said that the recent peace negotiations with USA and regional powers have been inconclusive.

More about the news:

★ Recently, USA and Taliban has held a series of peace talks in Doha and Moscow. However, the Afghanistan government remained absent from both the talks.

★ The negotiations culminated in a basic framework of a possible peace deal in which the U.S.-led military coalition would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and Taliban would pledge to prevent terrorist activities in the country.

Source:- The Hindu

Third round of OALP offers 23 oil, gas, coal-bed methane blocks

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

Context:

★ The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has launched the third bidding round under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), offering 23 hydrocarbon blocks covering over 31,000 sq km for exploration.

3rd Round of OALP Bidding:

★ With the launch of the third bidding round, more than 1,20,000 sq km has now been made available for exploration in last one year under the OALP.

★ The 23 blocks offered now are spread across states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripura, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Some blocks are also in eastern and western offshore.

★ The OALP, a critical part of the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, provides uniform licences for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons, enabling contractors to explore conventional as well as unconventional oil and gas resources.

★ Fields are offered under a revenue-sharing model and throw up marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced.

Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) :

★ OALP was introduced vide a Cabinet decision of the Government dated 10.03.2016, as part of the new fiscal regime in exploration sector called HELP or Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, so as to enable a faster survey and coverage of the available geographical area which has potential for oil and gas discovery.

★ Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) gives an option to a company looking for exploring hydrocarbons to select the exploration blocks on its own, without waiting for the formal bid round from the Government.

★ Under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), a bidder intending to explore hydrocarbons like oil and gas, coal bed methane, gas hydrate etc., may apply to the Government seeking exploration of any new block (not already covered by exploration)

★ Fields are offered under a revenue-sharing model and throw up marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced.

★ Under the OALP, once an explorer selects areas after evaluating the National Data Repository (NDR) and submits the EoI, it is to be put up for competitive bidding and the entity offering the maximum share of oil and gas to the government is awarded the block.

★ NDR has been created to provide explorers’ data on the country’s repositories, allowing them to choose fields according to their capabilities.

★ Data received through the National Seismic Programme, an in-depth study of 26 sedimentary basins, are continuously being added to the NDR.

Source:- Economic Times; PIB

Visakhapatnam Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc

Context:

★ In a boost to energy security of the country, PM dedicated 1.33 MMT Visakhapatnam Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL).along with that he also dedicated, ONGC’s S1 Vasishta development project located in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Offshore Basin in Andhra Pradesh.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) :

★ The construction of the Strategic Crude Oil Storage facilities is being managed by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL), a Special Purpose Vehicle, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. Engineers India Limited (EIL) is taken as the Project Management Consultant for all three projects.

★ To ensure energy security, the Government of India had decided to set up 5 million metric tons (MMT) of strategic crude oil storages at three locations namely, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur (near Udupi).

★ These strategic storages would be in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and would serve as a cushion during any external supply disruptions.

Source:- PIB

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11th FEBRUARY 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

Expedite implementation of Forest Rights Act

GS PAPER - 02 Governance - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context:

★ The Odisha State Food Commission has asked the State government to expedite implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, that would help ensure food and nutritional security to the vulnerable section of society.

Forest Rights Act - 2006:

★ The act was passed in December 2006.

★ It deals with the rights of forest-dwelling communities over land and other resources.

★ The Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities, partially correcting the injustice caused by the forest laws.

Rights under the Act:

★ right to hold and live in the forest land under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dwellers

★ community rights such as nistar, by whatever name called, including those used in erstwhile Princely States, Zamindari or such intermediary regimes

★ right of ownership, access to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries.

★ other community rights of uses or entitlements such as fish and other products of water bodies, grazing (both settled or transhumant) and traditional seasonal resource access of nomadic or pastoralist communities

★ rights, including community tenures of habitat and habitation for primitive tribal groups and pre- agricultural communities

★ Right to intellectual property and traditional knowledge related to biodiversity and cultural diversity.

★ Rights of displaced communities

★ Rights over developmental activities

Significance:

★ The Act is significant as it provides scope and historic opportunity of integrating conservation and livelihood rights of the people.

★ This Act can act as a potential tool to

★ Empower and strengthen the local self-governance

★ Address the livelihood security of the people, leading to poverty alleviation and pro-poor growth.

★ Address the issues of Conservation and management of the Natural Resources and conservation governance of India.

Source:- The Hindu

★ He routes that have been connected are Guwahati-Pakyong-Guwahati (SpiceJet), Jorhat-Kolkata-Jorhat (IndiGo), Lilabari-Kolkata-Lilabari (SpiceJet) and Pakyong-Delhi-Pakyong (SpiceJet).

UDAN Scheme:

★ Launched in 2017, The UdeDeshkaAamNaagrik (UDAN) scheme aims to promote affordable regional air connectivity.

★ It seeks to connect under-served and un-served airports in India through revival of existing air-strips and airports.

★ The scheme is being implemented by Airport Authority of India.

★ Under the scheme, airlines have to cap airfares for 50% of the total seats at Rs. 2,500 per hour of flight.

★ The losses for the price cap is compensated by a mechanism called Viability Gap Funding- A government grant provided to the airlines to bridge the gap between the cost of operations and expected revenue.

★ The scheme is a component of the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP). NCAP aims at making flying affordable to the masses and strengthening the regional air connectivity.

Source:- The Hindu

★ The Supreme Court held that the courts cannot impose less than the minimum sentence prescribed by lawmakers for an offence.

More about the news:

★ The Supreme Court ruling came on an appeal by the Madhya Pradesh government against the 2012 decision of the High Court, which cut short the six-month prison sentence awarded to a person who was found guilty under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

★ According to the Bench, the court cannot impose less than the minimum sentence, where the minimum sentence is provided for.

★ It is also held that provisions of Article 142 of the Constitution cannot be resorted to impose a sentence less than the minimum sentence.

Source:- The Hindu

Don’t use Nirbhaya fund for other purposes: panel

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections

Context:

★ A parliamentary panel headed by Congress leader P. Chidambaram has taken strong exception to the utilisation of the Nirbhaya Fund in the construction of buildings, saying such allocations defeat the very purpose of the project — that of safety for women.

★ The committee is also of the firm view that funds for the construction of buildings should come from other sources and not from the Nirbhaya Fund.

Nirbhaya Fund:

★ Nirbhaya Fund is an rupee 10 billion corpus announced by Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget.

★ This fund is expected to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India.

★ Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim to hide her actual identity.

★ The non-lapsable corpus fund was instituted following gang-grape of a girl in Delhi in 2012 which triggered a nation-wide outrage and protests.

★ The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.

★ Rs 200 crore funds has been sanctioned as one-time grant for Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) Scheme for compensating women victims of acid attacks, rape, trafficking, etc.

Issues:

★ The government has been accused of keeping Nirbhaya Fund unutilised.

★ With rise in cases of sexual harassment and crimes against women there is a crying need for implementation of such funds.

Source:- The Hindu

★ Taliban-the Islamist insurgent group in Afghanistan- has said that the recent peace negotiations with USA and regional powers have been inconclusive.

More about the news:

★ Recently, USA and Taliban has held a series of peace talks in Doha and Moscow. However, the Afghanistan government remained absent from both the talks.

★ The negotiations culminated in a basic framework of a possible peace deal in which the U.S.-led military coalition would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and Taliban would pledge to prevent terrorist activities in the country.

Source:- The Hindu

★ The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has launched the third bidding round under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), offering 23 hydrocarbon blocks covering over 31,000 sq km for exploration.

3rd Round of OALP Bidding:

★ With the launch of the third bidding round, more than 1,20,000 sq km has now been made available for exploration in last one year under the OALP.

★ The 23 blocks offered now are spread across states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripura, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Some blocks are also in eastern and western offshore.

★ The OALP, a critical part of the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, provides uniform licences for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons, enabling contractors to explore conventional as well as unconventional oil and gas resources.

★ Fields are offered under a revenue-sharing model and throw up marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced.

Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) :

★ Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) gives an option to a company looking for exploring hydrocarbons to select the exploration blocks on its own, without waiting for the formal bid round from the Government.

★ Under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), a bidder intending to explore hydrocarbons like oil and gas, coal bed methane, gas hydrate etc., may apply to the Government seeking exploration of any new block (not already covered by exploration)

★ Fields are offered under a revenue-sharing model and throw up marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas produced.

★ Under the OALP, once an explorer selects areas after evaluating the National Data Repository (NDR) and submits the EoI, it is to be put up for competitive bidding and the entity offering the maximum share of oil and gas to the government is awarded the block.

★ NDR has been created to provide explorers’ data on the country’s repositories, allowing them to choose fields according to their capabilities.

★ Data received through the National Seismic Programme, an in-depth study of 26 sedimentary basins, are continuously being added to the NDR.

Source:- Economic Times; PIB

Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) :

★ To ensure energy security, the Government of India had decided to set up 5 million metric tons (MMT) of strategic crude oil storages at three locations namely, Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur (near Udupi).

★ These strategic storages would be in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and would serve as a cushion during any external supply disruptions.

Source:- PIB

​

11^thFEBRUARY 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS