MNREGS

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/muchneeded-cleansing-of-mnrega-system-under-way/article4978638.ece

Citizen's Charter

One of the basic responsibility/ function of the Government is to provide some basic services by virtue of exercising control over the natural resources.
It is the public services that constitute the basis of Citizen's Charters.

What is it then?

• It is a document (of commitment).
• The document contains 
• List of services provided
• Estimated timeframe for delivery
• Standard to be maintained etc.
• It is not a legal document. i.e. a person can not go to the courts for enforcement.
• For that, grievance redressal mechanism is provided
• It is a component of 'Good Governance'

Background

• Concept started in UK. 
• First implemented by British PM John Major in 1991. Tony Blair introduced major reforms/ changes in it  in 1998.
• John Major outlined 6 principles of the citizen's charter
• Quality of the service provided
• Citizen's should be given choice for availing the service
• Choice of time - 24X7 (no 9 to 5 availability kind of)
• Choice of place (Internet, mobile etc)
• Standard of the service is to be maintained
• Value of the service is to be maintained
• Accountability
• Transparency of rules, procedures etc.
• Later, more countries adopted.
• Principles as outlined by Blair in 1998
• Standards
• Transparency
• it should consult and involve citizens
• Accessibility and choice
• Equity
• Effective use of resources
• Engaging others
• Innovate and improve
• Correcting things if they go wrong

Indian Scenario

• 1996 : First discussed and recommended in Chief Secretaries Conference on Effective and Responsive Administration
• 1997 : Approved in Chief Minister's Conference
• After this, different Ministries, Departments, Agencies etc. came up with their charters
• Normally a Citizen Charter in India contains
• Vision and Mission statements of the Govt agency
• Details of business 
• Details of Clients 
• Details of services and commitments (with time, quality etc.)
• Details of grievance redressal mechanism and how to use it
• Expectations from clients
• Elements of a good citizen charter
• Focus on customer requirement
• Simple Language
• Service standards
• Effective Remedies
• Training 
• Delegation
• Feedback mechanism
• Close monitoring
• Periodic review

Subsequent Developments

• There existed no model for evaluating the performance of a CC
• So, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) asked a professional agency to develop a model and also to evaluate the implementation in certain govt. agencies in 2002
• Findings
• In most cases, CCs are not formulated in consultation
• Service providers are not familiar with the goal, philosophy and main features
• No funds are set aside for training staffs or for awareness generation
• Adequate publicity and focus is not given
• Another one - a study by IIPA in 2008 found out
• CC still to be implemented by all govt ministries/ deptts
• Service standards and commitments are not precise
• In some cases, these are one time affairs
• general lack of accountability and review mechanism
• poor publicity
• poor partcipative mechanism

Sevottam Model

• an objective, quantifiable model
• 3 components
• CC
• Service delivery capability
• Grievance redressal

GM Crops

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/accept-expert-panel-report-on-gm-crops-forum/article4949788.ece

Himalayan Tsunami

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/himalayan-tsunami-analysed/article4949922.ece

Health News

June
=====
Dengue fever, spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is common in Asia and Latin America. Symptoms include high fever, joint pains and nausea, but in severe cases, it can lead to internal bleeding, liver enlargement, circulatory shutdown and death.

Global Arms Race

2010 : Russia and US signed the new STRAT treaty which binds then to limit the deployed nuclear weapons to 1550.
2013 :
US Prez Barak Obama said in Berlin that they should cut it by one-third.
Russia rejected saying that the offer is misleading and not serious as US itself it building a global missile shield.

Russian side of argument

• US is building global missile shield
• Progress has happened in conventional precision weapons.

Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project

Kishenganga - A tributary of Jhelum river. In lower courses (in Pak), it is known as Neelum.

Source : Krishnasar lake near Sonamarg
Mouth : Jhelum river north of Muzaffarabad
Length : 245 kms (50 kms in India)

Project -
India is developing a 330 MW run-of-the-river HEP.

http://bestcurrentaffairs.com/w/2013/02/19/international-court-of-arbitration-upholds-indias-right-on-kishanganga-project/

International Organizations

IUCN - Gland - 1948

UNEP - Nairobi -1972
CITES - 70s - Geneva - Secy administered by UNEP
CBD - 1992 Rio Summit - Montreal- works under UNEP - 193 member nations (minus USA)
Cartagena Biosafety Protocol - 2000 -
Aichi Targets + Nagoya Protocol - CBD COP10 - 2010

IPCC - Geneva - by UNEP and WMO - 1988 - 195 member nations

UNFCCC - 1992 Rio Summit
Kyoto Protocol - 1997 COP3 - 2005 to 2012 - 195 member nations

Ostrich and Emu Rearing in India

Ostrich : tallest bird, Emu being the 2nd.
more than half of 13 ml. Emu population is in Andhra. Others being Raj. and Mah.
Ostrich and Emu rearing is popularly called Golden Farming.

Advantages of Emu and Ostrich-

1. Meat is called Future Meat
2. Less Cholesterol (98% fat free - less than that of chicken, pork, turkey and mutton)
3. one egg large enough to be sufficient for a family
4. one bird - 20 to 60 eggs
5. oil is penetrative - muscle pain, as ointment, cosmetics, lotions 
6. omnivorous, so can easily be maintained on a modified poultry feed
7. Similar climatic conditions in dries areas of India
8. 
   

Indian Art Forms

Gandhara Art

Painting

• Rajput Paintings
• Mughal Painting
• Kangra and Kullu school of Painting

Temple Architecture

• Nagara
• Dravida
• Vesara (Chiefly by Hoyasala and Western Chalukya kings in Northern Karnataka)
• Kalinga style
• Gadag style
• Maru-Gurjara style

Polity - Types of Majority

Absolute
Removal of Speaker, Dy Speaker, Chairman (i.e. V-P) and Dy Chairman

2/3rd majority of each house
Impeachment of President

Special Majority
RS resolution for empowering Parliament to legislate in the state field
RS resolution for empowering Parliament to create a new All-India service
To approve National Emergency
Resolution by a state to have a legislative council

Polity - Quick Facts

Bills which need President's prior recommendation/ permission

1. A bill under art 3
2. A bill involving expenditure from Consolidated Fund of India

President's discretion

1. Picking up PM when there is no clear majority
2. Ordinance making power is not
3. Pardoning power is not

Act of President that is not justiciable

1. Appointment of Governors
2. Pardoning power (only except in cases where presidential decission is arbitrary, irrational, malafide or discriminatory)
3. Decisions taken as per cabinet's recommendations
4. In case of disqualification of an MP
5. Nomination of RS members

Act of President that is justiciable

1. Promulgating ordinances is subject to judicial review (SC in Cooper case)
2. Promulgation of President's Rule

Motions in Parliament

No motion - No discussion/ debate on any matter

So, moving a motion is a prerequisite.

• Substantive Motion
• Substitute Motion
• Subsidiary Motion
• Ancillary
• Superseding
• Amendment

Privilege Motion

• moved by a member against a minister
• on the event of of breach of Parliamentary privilege by a minister
• purpose is to censure the minister

Calling Attention Motion

• It is to bring a matter of urgent public importance to the attention of the minister
• purpose is to seek authoritative statement from the minister
• Indian innovation since 1954.
• Mentioned in Rules of procedure.

Adjournment Motion

• this to bring attention of House on a definite matter of urgent public importance.
• needs 50 members at least to admit this motion
• as this interrupts normal business, so is of extraordinary nature
• As involves element of censure against the Govt., RS can no use this
• discussion should last for not less than 2.5 hrs
• Right to move this motion is subjected to some restrictions

No-confidence Motion

• Council of Minsters is collectively responsible to the LS (Art 75)
• So, LS uses this motion to express its confidence to the ministry
• needs support of 50 members to get admitted.

Censure Motion

• Can be moved against individual minister as well (in LS only)
• purpose it to censure w.r.t specific policy or action
• should state the reason for adoption

Motion of Thanks

• leads to defeat of the Govt., if this motion does not pass

No-Day-Yet-Named Motion

Point of Order

• A member can raise it when house proceedings do not follow the normal rukes of procedure
• extraordinary device as it suspends the proceedings of the house
• No debate is allowed on this

Half-an-hour Discussion

Short Duration Discussion

Biodiversity - All about it

Biodiversity(BD)

The variety(i.e. diversity) of living organisms around us

Significance for India

• One of the 12 mega-diversity countries (~8% of total species in the world found here)
• 10th in world and 4th in Asia w.r.t. plant diversity (~47000 plant species)
• around 89000 animal species

Why so much diversity

Diversity of Physical Environment

• Relief
• Land
• Soil
• Climate
• Temperature
• Precipitation
• Duration of Sunlight

Types of Vegetation

TBD (ncert class 9 ch. 5, savinder singh)

Wildlife

TBD (ncert class 9 ch. 5, savinder singh)
Endangered Species in India

Initiatives not to degrade the BD

At National Level

MoEF is the nodal agency.
Objectives :
1. Conservation of natural resources (out of scope here)
2. Prevention and abatement of pollution (out of scope here)
3. Welfare of animals

Constitutional Provisions

1. DPSP : To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forest and wildlife. (Art 48A added by 42nd am.)
2. F. Duty : To protect and improve natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.
3. Article 21
4. 7th Schedule
5. Both environment and wildlife were moved to concurrent list by 42nd amendment.

Laws 

• Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972)
• 2006 amendment : NTCA, WCCB to monitor and control illegal trade in wildlife
• Biodiversity Act (2002) : 
• NBA at Chennai, SSBs at state level and BD Mgmt Committees at each local body level
• Following CBD, India enacted this
• Aims to conserve BD and associated knowledge and equitable sharing of benefit.
• National Biodiversity Fund
• NBA will have the power of a civil court
• provision of notifying Natural Heritage Site
• Indian Forest Act, 1927 and State Forest Acts
• Defined state ownership of forests. Categorized into
• Reservers Forest
• Protected Forest
• Village Forest
• Forest Conservation Act, 1980

Policies

National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016) :

• Emphasizes people participation and support for wildlife conservation

National Forest Policy (1998)

Organizations 

Botanical Survey of India

• Research org for 
• taxonomic and floristic studies
• studies on fragile ecosystems and PAs
• Inventorying endemic and threatened plant species
• evolving conservation strategies
• multiplication and maintenance
• documentation of traditional knowledge
• National database

Zoological Survey of India

Forest Survey of India

• org for assessing 
• forest and tree cover
• Estimation of growing stock of wood

Genetic Engg Approval Committee

• Year 1989 : MoEF notified a set of rules
• Objective of these rules : To ensure that R & D of products from LMOs are conducted in a scientific manner
• Genetic Engineering Approval committee was set up. It approves
• activities
• GM crops
• Release of GM foods had been approved but is on hold till Ministry of Health and Family Welfare --> Food Safety and Standard Authority is operational. 

National Board for Wildlife

• Chaired by Minister, MoEF
• Gives approval for projects related to wildlife conservation

Environment - All about it

Environment 

Our surroundings. Consists of

1. Natural 
1. Biotic
2. Abiotic
2. Man-made

Now we are surrounded by both living and non-living things.
Living things - Biotic component (Plants, Animals and microorganisms)
Non-living things - Abiotic component (Land, water, air and energy)

Abiotic Components

1. Land (Lithosphere)
2. Water (Hydrosphere)
3. Air (Atmosphere)

Biotic Components

1. Plants (Natural Vegetation)
2. Animals  (Wildlife)
3. Microorganisms

More in Biotic components here

Initiatives not to degrade the environment

At National Level

MoEF is the nodal agency.
Objectives :
1. Conservation of natural resources
2. Prevention and abatement of pollution
3. Welfare of animals (out of scope here)

Constitutional Provisions

1. DPSP : To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forest and wildlife. (Art 48A added by 42nd am.)
2. F. Duty : To protect and improve natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.

Laws 

1. Environment Protection Act (1986)
2. Water Act
3. Air Act
4. 
   

Wildlife Conservation

Upstream 

Env --> Biotic Component --> Animals --> Wildlife
Responsibility of MoEF
Concurrent List Subject
Union Govt - Policy and Planning
State Govt - Implementation

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau 

Under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
Objective/ Functions -

Forest Conservation

Upstream 

Env --> Biotic Component --> Plants --> Forest
Responsibility of MoEF
mandate By Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 - This act is regulatory in nature - grants clearance for use of forest lands towards non-forestry purposes
Integrated Forest Protection Scheme during 10th and 11th Five Year Plans

National Pension System

Background : Govt. has been looking after the Pension of its employees and because of this, its financial burden was increasing by leaps and bounds.

So, GoI launched this retirement scheme on 1st Jan, 2004
This scheme moves from a defined benefit pension to defined contribution based benefit pension system.


Regulator : Pension Fund regulatory and development Authority (PFRDA) set up in 2003 by an executive order. Constitutional amendment bill to give PFRDA statutory status was passed in 2013.

Salient Features of the bill : 

• Statutory status
• Name change of New Pension System to National Pension System
• mandatory for all central govt employees joined after jan 2004
• each subscriber will have a pension account and a fund manager to choose from. Both are portable.
• extended to other citizens after May 2009
• allowed FDI limit is 26%

More -
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pension_Scheme
2. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-29/news/30568962_1_nps-trust-fund-managers-national-pension-system
3. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-08-25/news/29927190_1_nps-subscribers-fund-managers-returns
5. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/parliament-passes-key-pension-bill-after-10year-delay/article5100899.ece
6. http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-pension-fund-regulatory-and-development-authority-bill-2011-1600/
7. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131028/jsp/business/story_17502380.jsp#.U0osP62SzGx

National Investment Fund (NIF)

Set up in 2005

http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/national-investment-fund-gets-nod-to-buy-psu-shares/article4316745.ece

Sugar Industry : Issues and Recommendation

2nd largest agro-based Industry in India after Cotton industry

Produced from

1. Sugarcane (India - 2nd largest producer after Brazil)
2. Sugar-beet
3. any other crop having sugar content

India - 2nd largest producer (~17%) after Brazil

Production (1/3rd) --> Sugar Mills --> Sugar, Bagasse, Molasses 

Production (2/3rd) --> Gur and Khandsari

Problems for the Industry

1. Low Yield
2. Short crushing season
3. Small and uneconomic size of mills
4. Old & obsolete machinery
5. Faulty Govt. Policies

Rangarajan Committee

More on this 

Mrunal's Blog and news reports

Rangarajan Committee

PM appointed


Key Recommendations -

• Domestically produced Natural Gas should be priced at an average of Intl. hub prices and cost of imported LNG

Currently, Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) provide for gas being sold at an arms-length price discovered through market bids invited from potential users.

More -
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-business/another-round-of-gas-price-hike-in-offing/article4338225.ece

World Economic Forum

The annual meeting for 2013 is being held at Davos, Switzerland

Golden Triangle Collaboration between Governments, Companies & Civil Societies.

Verma Committee & Criminal Law Amendment Bill

Union Home Ministry constituted this 3 member committee in the wake of the brutal gang-rape of a Delhi medical student,  under the chairmanship of Retd. justice J.S. Verma to look into the amendments proposed in criminal law bill in general and crimes against women in particular.

Committee --> Recommendations

• On Rape 
• Redefine rape in IPC sec 375
• No to Death Penalty in case of rape charges
• Minimum sentence for a rapist should be increased from 7 to 10
• Maximum imprisonment to stay at "Life Imprisonment" which will always mean till one's death
• "Two Finger Test" should not be conducted on rape victims. Medical examination should be done by a board of 3 doctors to ensure consensus under the supervision of a senior female gynecologist. Deliberations of the board must be recorded in audio to help the court
• DNA and other samples should be sent to forensic lab within two days
• Medico-Legal Reports should be sent electronically by PDFs, digital signatures etc.
• Judges should be 'sensitized' and CJ should choose those who will try these cases, carefully.
• Juvenile Crime - 
• Age of juveniles should not be lowered from 18 to 16 (coz Juvenile Justice Act has failed - But why?)
• A new constitutional authority like CAG to deal with education and non-discrimination of women and children
• AFSPA - 
• Continuance of AFSPA should be reviewed in the context of providing legal services to women in conflict areas
• The Committee has criticised lack of reformatory and rehabilitation policies in jails and juvenile homes.
• Khap Panchayats - condemned and termed as 'extra constitutional'
• Electoral Reforms - 
• Representation of People Act, 1951 has to amended
• Tougher measures for MPs and MLAs convicted for crime
• Election commission has sent a proposal to the Parliament
• Insulate law making agencies from political or other influences
• Appoint retd. judges on ad-hoc basis to clear backlog from time to time
• On Sexual Harassment Bill - 
• A separate tribunal outside
• No compromise
• Till the case is disposed of, both should not be made to work together
• The Bill allows the employer to penalize false or malicious complaints

More -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/juvenile-justice-act-has-failed-miserably/article4337040.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-youth-have-shown-the-way-says-justice-verma/article4337052.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dont-allow-armymen-to-take-cover-under-afspa-says-verma/article4337125.ece
http://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/?p=2527

Usha Mehra Commission

set up to 

• inquire into various aspects of the shocking attack in Delhi
• suggest measure for safety and security of women, particularly in Delhi and NCR. 

Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012

• Introduced in LS by HM and is currently being examined by select committee on 
• Bill seeks to amend 
• IPC, 1860 - 3 new offences
• CrPC, 1973
• Evidence Act, 1872

More -

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/stalking-eveteasing-to-be-part-of-new-law-against-sex-offenders/1060384/

http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-criminal-law-amendment-act-2012-2552/

Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2012

Prez issues on Feb 3, 2013. 

Issuing Ordinance is not a discretionary power of the Prez

It has effected some provisions of the proposed Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013.

Provisions - 

Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) & High Speed Rail Corridors (HSR)

Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

A project by Ministry of Railways by setting up a SPV (DFCIL)
Japan is funding it (technically and financially).

2 corridors -

1. Eastern (Ludhiana to Dankuni) ~ 1800 kms
2. Western (Dadri to JNPT)  ~ 1500 kms (under DMIC project)

DMIC components

1. Western DFC
2. intersection free six-lane expressway 
3. 3 ports
4. 6 airports
5. 8 NIMZs
6. 1 4000MW power plant

Why DFCs ?

1. Our emerging economy needs infrastructure to support it - fast movement of coal for power plants - fast movement of raw materials and finished products
2. decrease the load on the routes making passenger transport fast and safe
3. It will foster setting up of industrial corridors and logistics parks along its alignment.
4. It will help IR to serve market needs in a better way.

High Speed Rail Corridors (HSR)

Proposed in 6 routes in Rail Budget 2010.

1. Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar
2. Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna
3. Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad
4. Kolkata-Haldia
5. Hyd-Vijaywada-Chennai
6. Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam

Why HSRs ?

1. Fast mode of transport- will compete with Low cost flights in terms of cost factor
2. fuel effective - Energy requirement is 5 times less than that of flights and one third of that of cars
3. 30% less land requirement than that of an expressway
4. Environment friendly mode

It also proposed to set up a National High Speed rail Authority (NHSRA) on the lines of NHAI in road sector, to coordinate, plan and construction etc.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/laying-high-speed-train-corridor-to-cost-rs-80000-crore/article6999196.ece

Treaty to Reduce Mercury Emissions

Why Emission of mercury is detrimental for our environment?

Mercury is used in chemical industries and small scale mining.

The treaty -
The first legally binding international treaty

(14th) Finance Commission

Finance Commission

Art 280

• has provided for constitution of a Finance Commission by President every 5 year or earlier if necessary.
• has empowered Parliament to determine (Hence Finance Commission Act)
• Composition etc.

A quasi-judicial body.

Constitution lists 4 tasks for FC (4th one by 73rd amendment). President can assign anything else, if feels necessary.

FC vs. PC debate

14th Finance Commission

Jan 2013 : Govt. constituted the 14th Finance Commission under former RBI Governor Y.V. Reddy.
This five-member panel has to submit its report by 31st July, 2014.

It will recommend on -

1. Sharing of net proceeds from taxes between the states and the center.
2. Steps for pricing public utilities such as electricity, water, public transport and irrigation in an independent manner to guard these against policy fluctuations. 
3. Other issues like disinvestment, subsidies, GST compensation, sale of non-priority PSU 

The commission will also look into the state of finances, deficit and debt levels of the centre and the states, keeping in view, in particular, the fiscal consolidation roadmap recommended by the 13th Finance Commission.

It will suggest measures for maintaining a stable and sustainable fiscal environment consistent with equitable growth.

Mar 2015 : report released

Recommendations

1. State's share in tax proceeds to be raised to 42% from current 32%. - towards cooperative federalism.
2. Panchayats and Urban local bodies will directly be getting fund - states can have greater flexibility in deciding their own schemes and programs

Post-mortem

• Higher allocation in tax proceeds will be nullified by reduction in Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS)

References

1. Laxmikant

Deallocation of Coal Blocks

Economy :

• An expert committee under former cabinet secretary BK Chaturbedi is set us for restructuring of HAL board
• Am Inter-ministerial panel (IMG) on coal blocks has recommended de-allocation of 8 coal block, that were allotted to PSUs, because of non-utilization. earlier, it had recommendation same in case of 13 coal blocks allotted to private companies
• The blocks are being deallocated because these were not developed within the stipulated timeframe and no satisfactory explanation was given either.

Prelude : 

• Govt. allocates coal blocks among industrial houses.
• Aug 17, 2012 : CAG released a performance audit report on 'Allocation of Coal Blocks and Augmentation of Coal Production'.
• Some key findings of the audit report are - 
• Govt. did not allocate the coal blocks through competitive bidding process. This resulted in benefit of 1.86 lakh crores (approx.) for the private companies.

The IMG on coal was constituted for periodical review of the allocated coal blocks.

How the whole thing works.

CIL, under the jurisdiction of Coal ministry, produces over 80% of India's coal. It enters into a FSA or  Fuel Supply Agreement with the coal consumers. It, then, issues a Letter of Assurance (LoA) stating the commitment to provide a fixed quantity of coal, a promise which CIL has failed on number of occasions.