EDITORIALS & ARTICLES

Dec 22, 2021

WITCH HUNTING: 83% OF ODISHA'S CASES IN SIX DISTRICTS, SAYS REPORT As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Odisha has the 2nd-highest number of deaths due to witch-hunting in India after Jharkhand. Highlights:
  • Most of the victims in Odisha were targeted for causing health issues or crop failure.
    • 27 per cent cases were triggered by health issues in children,
    • 43.5 per cent by health issues of an adult family member,
    • 24.5 per cent by misfortune or land grabbing.
    • 5 per cent due to crop failure.
  • The practice of witch hunting and witch branding is mostly prevalent in 12 states of India-Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Causes for prevalence of Witch Hunting in India:
  • Superstitious Beliefs-
    • Deeply rooted superstitions and systems built on misogyny and patriarchy.
  • Lack of Education-
    • People believe in old traditional Bej, Ojha or witch doctors due to lack of awareness and education.
    • Lack of awareness, literacy and the prevalence of caste system have exacerbated the violence.
  • Unequal socio-economic systems and gender inequality.
  • Lack of medical facilities and resources-
    • The village folks have a tradition of visiting witch doctor when they fall ill rather than seeking advice from qualified health practitioners, who in turn tell them that disease is an outcome of witchcraft.
Laws that are invoked for witch hunting punishment: National Level:
  • There is no specific and particular national level legislation that penalizes witch hunting.
  • Witch-hunting violates-
    • Articles 14, 15(3), 15(4), 21, 51, 51A of the Indian Constitution.
    • National legislations including Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes (prevention of atrocitiesAct1989
  • Hence the provisions under the Indian Penal Code 1860 are used as an alternative for the victim.
    • Sec.302- murder
    • Sec307- attempt for murder.
    • Sec 376- rape.
    • Sec. 354- outraging a woman’s modesty.
    • Sec 299- Culpable homicide.
State Level:
  • The Prevention of Witch Practices Act, 1999- 
  • The Prevention of Witch Practices Act, 2001- 
  • Chhattisgarh Tonahi Pratadna Nivaran Act, 2005.
  • The Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013.
  • The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori practices and black magic Act, 2013.
  • The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil practices and black magic Act, 2017.
  • The Rajasthan Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2015.
  • The Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection Act) 2015.
    • Aim-to eliminate the superstition by making it as offence which is non-bailable, cognizable and non-compoundable.
    • The guilty shall be punished with up to seven years imprisonment and also fine up to five lakh rupees.
Suggestions to prevent witch hunting:
  • The school curriculum needs to scale up scientific and rational attitude and may include reading material on health, superstition, and witch craft.
  • Children and adult audience should be also shown the films which exposes superstition and shows the scientific aspects of magic, occult, witch craft.
  • series of workshops could be held with Traditional leaders as they are widely respected in the tribal societies.
  • Improved access to health care services.
  • Women should be provided legal education on witch hunting.
  • National legislation criminalizing witch-hunting is the need of the hour.
  • Appropriate investigation must be done into a complaint by the police and other officials.
  • The victims must be provided with compensation and rehabilitation facilities.
IIT MADRAS RESEARCHERS DEVELOP MOTION PLANNING ALGORITHMS THAT CAN THINK LIKE HUMANS Recently, researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), madras have developed a class of fast and efficient motion planning algorithms.
  • The algorithms have been developed based on the Generalized shape expansion (GSE) that enables planning for a safe and dynamically feasible trajectory for autonomous vehicles.
  • It can think like human beings and enable autonomous aerial, ground or surface vehicles to navigate obstacle cluttered environments.
  • It will provide a crucial advance during time sensitive planning scenarios arising in applications like Self-driving cars, Disaster response, Aerial drone delivery and Planetary exploration.
  • It is based algorithms function by calculating a safe region consisting of large visible areas in the environment, customized to ensure navigability.
CENTRE TO CELEBRATE 'GOOD GOVERNANCE' WEEK Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, in collaboration with Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is celebrating Good Governance Week. Prashasan Gaon Ki Aur campaign:
  • It is a Nation-wide campaign for redressal of public grievances and improving service delivery will be held in all Districts, States, and Union Territories of India.
What is Governance?
  • Governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented.
  • It can be used in several contexts such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance.
Good Governance:
  • According to UN, Good governance has 8 major characteristics.
  • It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.
Principles of Good Governance:
  1. Participation
  • Participation by both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance.
  • It could be either direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives.
  1. Rule of Law
  • Good governance requires fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially.
  • Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and incorruptible police force.
  1. Transparency
  • Transparency means that decisions taken and their enforcement are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations.
  • It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their enforcement.
  1. Responsiveness
  • Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable time frame.
  1. Consensus Oriented
  • Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in society to focus on what is the interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved.
  • It also requires long-term perspective on what is needed for sustainable human development and how to achieve the goals of such development.
  1. Equity and Inclusiveness
  • A society’s well-being depends on ensuring all its members feel, they have a stake in it and do not exclude from the mainstream of society.
  • This requires all groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.
  1. Effectiveness and Efficiency
  • Good governance means that institutions produce results that meet the needs of society utilizing the best use of resources at their disposal.
  • The concept of efficiency covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.
  1. Accountability
  • Accountability is a key requirement of good governance.
  • The private sector and civil society organizations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders.
Challenges of Good Governance in India: Lack of Accountability
  • The reason behind inefficiency in governance is the inability within the system to hold the Civil Services accountable for their actions.
    • It is primarily because at most levels authority is divorced from accountability.
  • Another reason is the performance evaluation systems within the government, which have not been effectively structured.
Low Awareness of the Rights and Duties of Citizens
  • Low levels of compliance of rules by the citizens acts as an impediment to good governance.
  • When citizens are not aware of their duties, they infringe on the freedom and rights of other citizens.
Ineffective Implementation of Laws and Rules
  • Weak implementation can cause a great deal of hardship to citizens and erode their faith in government machinery.
Red Tapism
  • Bureaucracies over the world are expected to adhere to rules and procedures which are important for good governance.
  • However, at times, these rules and procedures are ill-conceived and cumbersome and therefore do not serve their purpose.
Government Initiatives towards Good Governance: Becoming more Digital and Interconnected.
  • Digital India Campaign is an attempt to provide government services to the citizens electronically.
Going Cashless
  • The vision of cashless economy will curb generation of black money.
Goods and Services Tax (GST)
  • GST is another step to bring uniformity in tax rates and structures of both the goods and services across the country.
Investment
  • Maintaining diplomatic relations with other countries would induce investment in the country, which would accelerate the pace of growth of Economy.
Mission Karmayogi
  • National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB), a new national architecture for civil services capacity building has been launched. 
  • It is a comprehensive reform of the capacity building apparatus at individual, institutional and process levels for efficient public service delivery.
E-Samiksha
  • A real time online system for monitoring and follow up action on the decisions taken by the Government at the Apex level in respect of implementation of Government programmes / projects.
E-Office
  • E-Office Mission Mode Project (MMP) has been strengthened for enabling Ministries/ Departments to switchover to paperless office and efficient decision making.
Self-Certification of Documents for Appointments
  • Recruiting agencies issue provisional appointment letters based on submission of self-certified documents by the candidates.
National Conference on E-Governance
  • It provides a platform for government to engage with experts, intellectuals from industry and academic institutions to exchange ideas relating to e-Governance initiatives.
National E-Governance Service Delivery Assessment
  • Aim: Assessing the States, UTs and Central Ministries on the efficiency of e-Governance service delivery.
Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)
  • The Government is undertaking CPGRAMS reforms in the top grievance receiving Ministries/ Departments by enabling questionnaire guided registration process and providing for automatic forwarding of grievances to field level functionaries thereby reducing the redress time.
GOA CM LAUNCHES 'PINK FORCE' TO TACKLE CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN, KIDS, TOURISTS Recently, Goa government launch pink force to tackle crimes against women, kids, tourists.
  • Aim: It is A squad of women Goa Police officials tasked with acting in cases of crimes against women, children, and tourists.
  • These forces will be available in the coastal belt, especially in places of tourist interest.
  • This force will be available 24x7 and round the clock to prevent crime.
  • Goa is the first state in the country to launch such a force.
WAREHOUSING POLICY ON CARDS TO REDUCE INDIA’S HIGH LOGISTICS COST The government is planning to introduce a warehousing policy to help ease transportation and logistics costs. Highlights:
  • The policy will set the roadmap for development of exclusive warehousing zones in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
  • The modern warehouses will house cold-storage chains and will be able to store all kinds of cargo—wet and dry.
  • National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will frame the policy and will also be the implementing agency of the policy.
Objectives:
  • To improve logistics throughout the country.
  • To minimize pollution and traffic congestion in major cities.
Significance:
  • The carrying capacity of trucks will be increased as large goods vehicles will no longer be needed to ply on city roads.
    • It will help ease major traffic congestions.
  • It will help reduce overall logistics costs that remains at a high level of 14-16% of gross domestic product (GDP).
  • The warehousing zones will help Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) firms, steel and cement makers stock inventory near major hubs.
GLOBAL WARMING TO IMPOSE HEAVY LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LOSSES ON INDIA, A STUDY POINTS OUT, SUGGESTING GREATER CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION MEASURES A new report has been released by the International Labour Organization based on a study led by Duke University researchers. Key Findings: Loss in productivity losses
  • An increase in heat stress will lead to global productivity losses equivalent to 80 million full-time jobs ($1.6 trillion) 2030.
  • India, China, Pakistan and Indonesia will experience the biggest losses overall.
  • India showed the largest heat exposure impacts on heavy labour among South Asian countries.
  • Critical jobs, such as agricultural and construction work will be the most affected.
Adverse impact of heat stress
  • Global warming will make heat stress and extreme weather events more common.
    • Heat stress refers to heat received in excess of that which the body can tolerate without suffering physiological impairment.
      • Heat is an occupational safety and health hazard.
      • It increases workers’ occupational risks and vulnerability leading to heat stroke or even death.
    • Heat stress is projected to reduce total working hours worldwide by 2.2 % and global GDP by US$2,400 billion in 2030.
      • The countries that are most affected by heat stress will have higher rates of working poverty, informal employment and subsistence agriculture.
    • Heat stress exacerbates inequality and contributes to the displacement of people
    • Heat stress could widen gender gaps in the world of work.
      • It makes the working conditions worse for the many women employed in subsistence agriculture.
    • Heat stress may also result in the displacement of large number of agricultural people.
Uneven impact of heat stress The impact of heat stress is unevenly distributed geographically.
  • Southwest Asia, South Asia and Africa experience greater per-capita labour losses.
  • The European subregions are expected to experience a smaller impact.
  • Tropical and subtropical regions are at higher risk of heat stress.
Suggestions
  • Appropriate policies, technological investments and behavioral changes are required.
    • Efforts to improve the capacity of workplaces to adapt to rising temperatures are necessary.
    • Enforcement of occupational safety and health standards are necessary to improve early warning systems for heat events.
  • A sectoral response to heat stress in agriculture and construction should include technological improvements, skills development and awareness raising.
    • Smart urban planning could help mitigate heat stress on construction sites in large cities.
  • Promote social dialogue tools, such as collective agreements to design and implement policies for dealing with heat stress.
78% DRINKING WATER UNITS DID NOT HAVE NOC FROM GROUND WATER BOARD The Comptroller and Auditor General has found that 2,475 of 3,189 packaged drinking water units that were granted licenses by the Bureau of Indian Standards were operating without no-objection certificates from the Central Ground Water Board. Keys:
  • There is no provision in the Rules and Regulations of BIS for imposing the condition of obtaining NOC from CGWA before grant of license to Packaged Drinking Water units.
  • There is lack of facilities to monitor the ground water level in the country.
  • There was shortage of human resources in Scientific and Engineering categories in CGWB and its regional and divisional offices.
  • The percentage of utilisation of ground water with respect to recharge, known as the ‘stage of extraction’, was 63 % in the country.
    • A ‘stage of extraction’ above 100 % indicates that extraction has surpassed recharge.
Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)
  • It is subordinate office of the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India.
  •  It was constituted under sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
  • Aim: To provide scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of ground water resources of the country.
It has four wings:
  • Sustainable Management & Liaison (SML),
  • Survey, Assessment & Monitoring (SAM),
  • Exploratory Drilling & Materials Management (ED&MM),
  • Water Quality & Training and Technology Transfer (WQ&TT).
Function
  • To conduct micro level ground water management studies, exploratory drilling programme.
  • To monitoring of ground water levels and water quality through a network of ground water observation wells.
  • To carried out periodic assessment of replenishable ground water resources of the country.
  • To take up special studies on various aspects of ground water sector such as ground water depletion, sea water ingress, ground water contamination, conjunctive use of surface and ground water etc.
  • To organizes various capacity building activities for personnel of its own as well as Central and state government organizations.
  • To advise states and other user agencies on planning and management of ground water resources.
55 TN FISHERMEN HELD; 8 BOATS SEIZED BY SL NAVY; CM URGES CENTRE TO ACT Recently, Sri Lankan Navy seized boats and arrested fisherman from Tamil Nadu off the Katchatheevu island. Conflict between Lankan navy and Indian fishermen: Genesis Before 1970:
  • Prior to 1970s, the coastal fishermen from both sides had an unregulated term with no governing law.
During 1970s:
  • During the mid-1970s, the area was demarcated by the signing of Maritime Boundary agreements of 1974 and 1976 between India and Sri Lanka.
  • This demarcation of ‘Fisheries Line’ vis-à-vis the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) made it illegal for fishermen from either side to cross over into each other’s waters to fish.
After 1970s:
  • By the end of the 1970s, the Indian fishermen saw the need for new grounds to fish and began to encroach upon Sri Lankan waters despite the water-border agreement.
  • On the other side, Sri Lanka descended into its internal ethnic conflicts and the resulting civil war of the early 1980s.
    • As a result of the civil war, Sri Lanka’s northern province and maritime boundaries nearby were not tightly guarded.
  • As a result, Indian trawlers routinely entered Lankan waters for fishing.
  • Absence of poor Tamil fishermen of Sri Lanka due to the war also favoured fishing by Indian trawlers.
  • In 2009, with the end of Sri Lankan civil wararrests and attacks increased on Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.
  • As Sri Lankan fishermen returned to their side of the bay, they faced the consequences posed by decade-long Indian trawling in the area.
  • Due to their smaller boats, Sri Lankan fishermen could never compete with the high speeding motorboats, which was the major issue which initiated the conflict.
Katchatheevu Island:
  • Katchatheevu is an uninhabited island administered by Sri Lanka.
Location:
  • It is located, in the Palk Strait, between Neduntheevu, Sri Lanka and Rameswaram, India and has been traditionally used by both Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian fishermen.
History:
  • it was owned by the Ramnad Kingdom of Ramanathapuram Rameshwaram which later came under the Madras Presidency during British rule of India.
  • In 1974, the island was ceded to Sri Lanka after an agreement was signed between the two countries without consulting the Tamil Nadu government.
  • The agreement allows Indian fishermen access to Katchatheevu for rest, for drying of nests and for the annual St Anthony’s festival but it did not ensure the traditional fishing rights.
ISLAMIC COUNTRIES ARE PLEDGING TO LAUNCH A HUMANITARIAN TRUST FUND FOR AFGHANISTAN    Organization of Islamic Cooperation  
  • It is the second-largest organization after the United Nations.
  • Founded in: 1969
  • Member: 57 member states
  • Headquarters: Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • The organization is the collective voice of the Muslim world.
  • Aim:  To safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.
  • The OIC system consists of:
Islamic Summit:
  • The largest meeting, attended by the kings and the heads of state and government of the member states, convenes every three years.
  • It takes policy decisions and guides on all issues about the realization of the objectives as provided for in the Charter.
Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers:
  • They meet once a year to examine a progress report on the implementation of its decisions taken within the framework of the defined policy
Secretary-General:
  • The Secretary-General is elected by the Council of Foreign Ministers for five years.
  • Secretary-General is elected from among nationals of the Member States under the principles of:
    • Equitable geographical distribution.
    • Rotation and equal opportunity for all Member States.
    • Consideration to competence, integrity, and experience.
Permanent Secretariat:
  • The Permanent Secretariat is the executive organ of the Organisation, entrusted with the implementation of the decisions of the two preceding bodies.
  • It is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Responsibilities of OIC:
  • To ensure Islamic solidarity among the Member States.
  • Cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural, and struggle of all Muslim people to safeguard their dignity, independence, and national rights.
  • It shall Safeguard the Holy Places like Mecca and Medina.
  • Support the struggle of the Palestinian people and assist them in recovering their rights and liberating their occupied territories.
  • Eliminate racial discrimination and all forms of colonialism.
AIM, NITI AAYOG & UNCDF ANNOUNCE FIRST AGRITECH COHORT UNDER SOUTH-SOUTH INNOVATION PLATFORM Recently, Atal Innovation Mission along with NITI Aayog and United Nations Capital Development Fund announces the first AgriTech cohort under the South-South Innovation platform.
  • Aim: to help smallholder farmers across Asia and Africa to address their challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic.
South-South Network for Public Service Innovation (SSN4PSI)
  • It is a global collaborative platform where governments, private sector organizations, experts, academicians, and distinguished individuals harness innovations in public service delivery.
Aim:
  • To help smallholder farmers across Asia and Africa to address their challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic.
  • To enable the cross-border exchange of innovations, insights, and investments.
  • To exchange knowledge, experiences, and expertise to inculcate innovations in public service delivery.






POSTED ON 22-12-2021 BY ADMIN
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