Test: Current Affairs Polity October 2020 - UPSC MCQ

This unique identification number that is currently being developed will track the population of livestock. The Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH) is being developed by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

Like Aadhaar cards, INAPH will assign a unique identification number to each animal, alongside a host of other related data that will help manage the country's vast livestock resources. The INAPH is being touted as the world's largest existing database of animals.

The first phase of the project would involve taking stock of India's 94 million "in milk" female cow and buffalo population.

Every animal will be provided with an ear tag that would contain its own 12-digit UID during the process. The INAPH will contain data on the bovines' species, breed, pedigree, and information related to calving, milk production, vaccination, and the like.

Size of the fund is 15000 crore.

This Fund will incentivize infrastructure investments in dairy, meat processing and animal feed plants.

Who is eligible? Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), MSMEs, Section 8 Companies, Private Companies, and individual entrepreneurs have only a 10% margin money contribution. The balance 90% would be the loan component to be made available by scheduled banks.

The Centre is incentivizing dairy cooperative investment under Dairy Processing Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF).

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was set up in March 2007 under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005, an Act of Parliament (December 2005). National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development's administrative control, Government of India. The Commission's Mandate ensures that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms align with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18 years age group.

One of the Core Mandates of the Commission is to inquire into complaints of violations of child rights. The commission is also required to take suo moto cognizance of serious cases of violation of child rights and examine factors that inhibit children's enjoyment of rights.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) emphasizes the universality and inviolability of child rights. It recognizes the tone of urgency in all the child related policies of the country.

It examines all factors that inhibit children's enjoyment of rights affected by terrorism, communal violence, riots, natural disaster, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, trafficking, maltreatment, torture and exploitation, pornography and prostitution and recommend appropriate remedial measures.

• Present to be central government, annually and at such other intervals, as the commission may deem fit, reports upon working of those safeguards;

• Study treaties and other international instruments and undertake periodic review of existing policies, programmes, and other activities on child rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation in children's best interest.

• Undertake and promote research in the field of child rights.

• Spread child rights literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available to protect these rights through publications, media, seminars and other available means.

• Inspect or cause to be inspected any juvenile custodial home or any other place of residence or institution meant for children, under the control of the Central Government or any State Government or any other authority including any institution run by a social organization, where children are detained or lodged for treatment, reformation or protection and take up with these authorities for remedial action if found necessary.

It said the action had been taken as per the guidelines of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

What is GRAP?

• Approved by the Supreme Court in 2016.

• EPCA prepared the plan.

• It works only as an emergency measure.

The plan does not include action by various state governments to be taken throughout the year to tackle industrial, vehicular and combustion emissions.

When the air quality shifts from poor to very poor, the measures listed have to be followed since the plan is incremental in nature.

As per the Section 27(1) of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act), Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) are to be constituted by State Government for every district, for exercising the powers and 

To discharge the duties conferred on such Committees in relation to children in need of care and protection under the JJ Act, 2015.

Composition of the committees:

• The Committee shall consist of a Chairperson, and four other members as the State Government may think fit to appoint, of whom at least one shall be a woman and another, an expert on the matters concerning children.

The Committee shall have the authority to dispose of cases for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of the children in need of care and protection and provide for their basic needs and protection.

A Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent.

The term of every patent granted is 20 years from the date of filing of the application.

The patent system in India is governed by the Patents Act, 1970 (No.39 of 1970) as amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 and the Patents Rules, 2003. The Patent Rules are regularly amended in consonance with the changing environment, most recent being in 2016.

Patent protection is a territorial right, and therefore it is effective only within the territory of India. There is no concept of the global patent.

The logo represents three goals that Labour Bureau aims to achieve in producing quality data -- accuracy, validity and reliability.

The foundations of Labour Bureau can be traced to the Royal Commission on Labour in 1931, which underlined the need for systematic collection of labour statistics relating to industrial labour's living, working, and socio-economic conditions.

A major component of the project is the establishment of PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) as a National Assessment Centre. Included in the National Education Policy 2020, this autonomous institution under the Union Education Ministry will set norms for student assessment and evaluation for all school boards across the country, most of which currently follow State governments' norms. It will also guide standardized testing to monitor learning outcomes at the State and national levels.

Recently the Election Commission (EC) approached the Law Ministry to permit NRIs to cast their votes overseas through postal ballots.

What is the current process of voting for Indian citizens living abroad?

An NRI can vote in the constituency in which her residence place, as mentioned in the passport, is located. She can only vote in person and produce her passport in original at the polling station to establish identity. Voting rights for NRIs were introduced only in 2011, through an amendment to the Representation of the People Act 1950.

In the case of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, and in the case of High Courts, the Advocate General, may bring in a motion before the court for initiating a case of criminal contempt.

However, if any other person brings the motion, the consent in writing of the Attorney General or the Advocate General is required.

The AG's consent is mandatory when a private citizen wants to initiate a case of contempt of court against a person.

However, when the court itself initiates a contempt of court case, as it did in the case of Prashant Bhushan recently, the AG's consent is not required.

Article 129 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to initiate contempt cases on its own, independent of the motion brought before it by the AG or with the consent of the AG.

• It is one of the fundamental rights listed in the Constitution that each citizen is entitled. Article 32 deals with the 'Right to Constitutional Remedies', or affirms the right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings to enforce the rights conferred in Part III of the Constitution.

• It states that the Supreme Court "shall have the power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part". The right guaranteed by this Article "shall not be suspended except as otherwise provided for by this Constitution".

• During the 1975 Emergency, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, in the ADM Jabalpur vs Shivakant Shukla case, had ruled that the right to constitutional remedies under Article 32 would remain suspended during a national emergency.

• The 44th Amendment also stated that according to Article 359, the president could issue orders suspending the right to move any court for the enforcement of fundamental rights, under Article 32, during a national emergency, with the exception of Article 20 ( deals with the protection of certain rights in case of conviction for offences) and Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty).

In civil or criminal matters, the first remedy available to an aggrieved person is trial courts, followed by an appeal in the High Court and then the Supreme Court. When it comes to the violation of fundamental rights, an individual can approach the High Court under Article 226 or the Supreme Court directly under Article 32. Article 226, however, is not a fundamental right like Article 32.

The summoning of Parliament is specified in Article 85 of the Constitution. Like many other articles, it is based on the Government of India Act, 1935. This provision specified that the central legislature had to be summoned to meet at least once a year and that not more than 12 months could elapse between two sessions.

The EC recently pushed only for postal voting rights for NRIs, not proxy voting. To extend the postal voting facility to overseas voters, the government only needs to amend the Conduct of Election Rules 1961. It doesn't require Parliament's nod.

Which foreign countries have the largest numbers of NRIs registered as voters in India?

The EC does not have data on NRI voters broken down country-wise. Rather, the Commission keeps the data for every state in India.

Out of 1.18 lakh NRI voters, the largest number — about 89,000 — are registered to vote in Kerala. The second-largest cohort (roughly 7,500) are registered in Andhra Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra (5,500 approx), Karnataka (4,500 approx), Tamil Nadu (3,200), and Telangana (2,500).

Although it is the Governor's prerogative to summon the House, according to Article 163, the Governor is required to act on the "aid and advice" of the Cabinet. So when the Governor summons the House under Article 174, this is not of his or her own will but on the aid and advice of the Cabinet.

There are a few instances where the Governor can summon the House despite the Chief Minister's refusal who heads the Cabinet. When the Chief Minister appears to have lost the majority and the House's legislative members propose a no-confidence motion against the Chief Minister, then the Governor can decide on his or her own on summoning the House.

But the actions of the Governor, when using his discretionary powers can be challenged in court.