Current Affairs 24/08/2015

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Contents

1. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373
2. Now, judicial officers too can be booked under PC Act
3. The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)
4. Kawal Tiger reserve [Telangana]
5. Digital amnesia
6. Death penalty for kidnapping for ransom not outrageous, says SC
7. Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative(SSI)
8. Electricity Through Cogeneration: A Promising Development
9. China’s devaluation of Yuan
10. Depreciation and Corporate profitability
11. Santhara

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373

GS 3: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
Political Science Paper 2: Contemporary global concerns: terrorism

• Came into existence in 2001 (Post Sep 11 attacks).
• Aim: Counter terrorism.
• Binding on all UN member states.

Goals

• To take every step to Hinder terrorist groups.
• Encourage countries to share their intelligence on terrorist groups.
• Co-operation and co-ordination in counter terror operations.

Mandatory steps

• All UN members states must adjust their national laws so that they can ratify all of the existing international conventions on terrorism. [At present UNSCR 1373 is the most important Resolution]
• Restricting immigration law. [no refugee status to asylum seekers that facilitated or participated in terrorist acts]

Criticism

• Only few terror organisations like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban were included on the sanctions list.
• Terrorism emanating from Pakistan is not dealt with effectiveness.

The Commonwealth Committee on Terrorism (CCT)

• CCT members commit to fully implementing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 and denounce any efforts to aid, support, instigate, finance, or harbor terrorists.
• India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are also members.

Now, judicial officers too can be booked under PC Act

GS 2: Transperancy and accountability.

• Karnataka HC declared that criminal cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 can be booked against judicial officers — such as district judges, Sessions judges, civil judges, munsiffs, and magistrates — serving in the State.
• For now this order applies to Karnataka only. But the same order can be used by other courts in India to bring corrupt judges to book.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

GS 3: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Awareness in the fields of Information Technology

• Autonomous organization of the Government of India.
• Comes under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Located in Hyderabad.

Duty

• ESSO- INCOIS is mandated to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community.

Infrastructure

• INCOIS has a network of 21 tide gauges (detects abnormal movement of sea water – both at surface and at the bottom) installed with funds from the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Project.
• INCOIS is gearing up to augment its network of tide gauges.

Services offered

• Identification of Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ).
• Tsunami Early Warning Centre (TEWS)
• Ocean State Forecast (OSF): There is a need for knowing the state of ocean in advance for carrying out various commercial activities.
• Ocean Observation Group (OOG): The main activity of this group in INCOIS is to measure and monitor the surface temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 meters of the ocean.

Benefits

Fisherman

• Fishermen will be equipped with precise information on the weather, the state of the sea, and potential fishing zones. The network generates real-time information on waves, tides, ocean currents, tsunami, and sea surface temperature, as well as movement of fish shoals.

Climate change studies

• Studies have revealed that the excess heat sequestered by the Pacific Ocean from greenhouse gas emissions is transported to the Indian Ocean through ocean currents. Scientists believe that this heat uptake has the potential to change atmospheric circulation, affecting the Asian monsoon.

Others

• The data can also be used for climate studies, coastal zone management, oil exploration, navigation, and rescue operations at sea.

Kawal Tiger reserve [Telangana]

GS 3: Conservation

• Kawal core currently has no tigers but one from Tadoba region in neighbouring Maharashtra is said to be a frequent visitor.
• Administration of the reserve will be in accordance with guidelines of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
• Tiger reserves in India are administered by field directors as mandated by NTCA that administers Project Tiger in India.

Digital amnesia

GS 3: Awareness in the fields of Information Technology

• With so much information available, people tend to transfer most of the memory functions to their smartphones, raising the spectre of digital amnesia
• Digital amnesia is a phenomenon in which technological knowledge becomes lost to humanity through constant technological advancement.
• When a digital source can no longer be read due to the unavailability of the reader required to read the media, hardware, software or physical media, or even if the media itself is damaged beyond repair, digital amnesia is said to have occurred.
• This is also known as digital obsolescence.
• As more versions and innovative ideas develop, old versions of programs created by a company will become obsolete because they cannot be used with the new system. For example, Microsoft Works versions that are below 4.5 cannot run on Windows 2000 or later.
• Making a new program backward-compatible with older file formats is one way of avoiding this problem.

Death penalty for kidnapping for ransom not outrageous, says SC

Eassy topic: Capital punishment

• The rising number of kidnappings for ransom not only by ordinary criminals but even by terrorists necessitates a stringent punishment, the Supreme Court has said while upholding the death sentence for the crime under Section 364A [kidnapping for ransom] of the Indian Penal Code.
• The death penalty was recommended by Law Commission.
• The court said that the punishment can not be described as barbaric or inhuman so as to infringe the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative(SSI)

GS 3: Cropping Patterns

Sugarcane crop

• Sugarcane, after cotton, forms the second major agro-industrial crop of India.
• Ranking second in the world after Brazil.
• Sugarcane cultivation is also increasingly seen as a source of electricity and Ethanol.
• Considering its economic and social advantages, sugarcane is considered as the future crop of India.

Problems

• Sugarcane cultivation is in crisis. With low yields, varietal degeneration, high input costs, incidence of diseases and pests, soil degradation, salinity, water logging and drought, the area under sugarcane is gradually shrinking.

SSI

• Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) was launched in 2009 by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
• SSI: more production with less water, seeds and optimum utilization of fertilizers.
• Major goal is to reduce pressure on water resources. [Much needed in south where rivers are non-perenial]
• Similar to System of Rice Intensification (SRI).

The major principles that govern SSI

Raising nursery using scientific methods.

• Transplanting at appropriate age.
• Maintaining wide spacing.
• Providing sufficient moisture and avoiding inundation of water.
• Encouraging organic methods of nutrient management and plant protection.
• Practicing intercropping, mulching and other soil conservation techniques.

Titbit: Sugarcane consumes about 2500L of water per kg of sugarcane produced. (Comapre this with Rice, wheat etc..)

Electricity Through Cogeneration: A Promising Development

GS 3: Technology missions

• Bagasse, a residue of crushed sugarcane used in sugar mills is the principal fuel used to raise steam in sugar mills.
• The process employed here to generate power is called cogeneration which essentially implies the production of two forms of energy, electricity and heat.
• There are several other industries such as paper and pulp, textile, fertilizer, petroleum, petrochemicals and food processing which require electrical as well as thermal energy for their operations and therefore can use cogeneration as a process.

Govt initiatives

• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is promoting cogeneration through various incentive based schemes.
• Biomass Cogeneration programme in India is currently divided into two components (i) Bagasse based (ii) Non-Bagasse based. While bagasse cogeneration is essentially sugar mills oriented non-bagasse biomass cogeneration can be used in biomass industry.

Power Cogeneration in Industries (Non-Bagasse) Programme

• Majority of industries in India require both electrical and thermal energy.
• Industries generate power largely through diesel generators and meet their thermal energy requirements through captive means mostly utilizing fossil fuels such as coal, oil or natural gas.
• As fossil fuels are limited, and have adverse environmental impact, it would be appropriate to use non-conventional energy sources including biomass resources such
• biomass resources such as crop residues and agro-industrial wastes for generation of energy in the industries mainly through biomass gasification technology.

China’s devaluation of Yuan

GS 3: Economy: India and the global economy (Ramesh Singh) or Globalization of Indian Economy.

• China changed the way it calculated the reference rate of yuan recently, which led to more than four per cent fall in Chinese currency against the dollar
• This fall in yuan, prompted other countries to resort to competitive devaluation of their currencies to support their exports.
• The yuan devaluation reflected the market concerns regarding a slowdown of Chinese economic growth and flagging exports
• In India, the sectors expected to be directly impacted by yuan devaluation include, steel, tyre and auto component (Our export competitiveness becomes weak due to cheaper Chinese exports. So rupee weakens due to loss of revenue from exports).
• Power and telecom sector would also be impacted indirectly by devaluation of rupee against the dollar, due to a combination of increase in input costs and foreign currency borrowings.

Depreciation and Corporate profitability

• Exchange rate becomes the critical factor to determine corporate profitability.
• According to RBI, “Rupee’s exchange rate against the dollar is the most important risk component for Indian corporate profitability”.
• Since 2009, the domestic economy became more integrated with the global economy and also more sensitive to external shocks.
• The RBI study says that the importance of macro economic factors such as exchange rate, interest rate and the wholesale price index (WPI) inflation rate to determine corporate profitability is amplified.

Santhara

GS 1: Culture

Interview: Should the laws be common irrespective of religion. [Polygamy is legal according to muslim personal law while it is illegal in Hindus]; Religion vs Logic; Religious freedom and reasoning don’t go hand in hand.

• Samadhi-marana or Sanyasana-marana or Sallekhana.
• Jain practice of facing death voluntarily at the end of one's life.
• In Jainism, the body is seen as a temporary residence for the soul which is reborn.
• Sallekhana is made up from two words sal (meaning 'properly') and lekhana, which means to thin out.
• Sallekhana is allowed only when a person is suffering from incurable disease or great disability or when a person is nearing his end.
• According to Jain Agamas, sallekhanā leads to ahimsā (non-injury).
• There is a similar Hindu practice known as Prayopavesa or sanjeevan samadhi.
• Chandragupta Maurya (founder of the Maurya Empire) died by observing the vow of Sallekhana at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa in Karnataka
• Sallekhana is often compared with suicide.

Legal controversy

GS 2: Significant provisions

• In India, suicide remains a crime.
• Public Interest Litigation was filed with the Rajasthan High Court claiming that the practice was no different from suicide.
• The petitioner also claimed that the practice is misued to get rid of the old ones.
• They argued that Article 21 of the Indian constitution only guarantees the right to life, but not to death
• In response, the Jain community argued that it is a violation of the Indian Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom
• Finnaly Rajasthan High Court cited that the practice is not essential tenet of Jainism and banned the practice making it punishable under section 306 and 309 IPC (Abetment of Suicide)

Interpreting religious practices

• Article 25 protects only those exercises that are considered “essential religious practices.”

Opinion (It is important that one forms an opinion with proper reasoning)

• Some people compared this to Sati.
• But Sati is forced where as santha is voluntary.
• Sati is illogical and stupid but there is lot of spiritual meaning behind santhara.
• Santhara is similar to mercy killing. [The Jaina practitioners contend that Santhara is not an exercise in trying to achieve an unnatural death, but is rather a practice intrinsic to a person’s ethical choice to live with dignity until death.]
• Court should recommend legislature to frame laws to prevent the misuse of santhara instead of declaring the practice illegal.
• Article 25 guarantees a person’s right to religious freedom and conscience. [here it’s a conflict between Article 21 (right to life) and Article 25].
• Being a multi-religious country, it is important that we respect each other religious practices which are reasonable (lot of conflicts here).

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