UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 10th December 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-II

Context

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare informs Lok Sabha about the progress of Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan.

Key Highlights about progress of the scheme:

• Government of India launched “Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan” (PMSMA) with an aim to provide fixed-day, free of cost, assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care on the 9th day of every month universally to all pregnant women in their 2nd / 3rd trimesters of pregnancy.
• Since inception, more than 3.6 crore pregnant women have received comprehensive ANC under this programme across all States and UTs. The State/UT-wise fund approvals have been given towards Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) activities during the last three years.
• As per the report of National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the percentage of mothers who had at least 4 antenatal care visits has increased from 51.2 % in NFHS-4 (2015-16) to 58.1% in NFHS-5 (2019-21) and the percentage of pregnant women with institutional births in public facility has increased from 52.1 % in NFHS-4 (2015-16) to 61.9% in NFHS-5 (2019-21).
• One of the key focus areas during Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) is to generate demand through Information Education & Communication (IEC), Inter-personal Communication (IPC) and Behavior Change Communication (BCC) activities.
• Extensive use of audio-visual and print media in raising mass awareness is an integral part of IEC/BCC campaign.
• Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM), Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and Anganwadi Worker (AWW) play a pivotal role in mobilization of the community and potential beneficiaries in both rural and urban areas for availing of services during the PMSMA.

Source: PIB

Context

Recently, the National Judicial Commission Bill, 2022 was introduced after the majority of voice votes were in its favour.

What are the Highlights of the Bill?

• Regulates the Procedure of Appointment:
  • The bill aims to regulate the procedure to be followed by the National Judicial Commission for recommending people for appointment as the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices and other judges of High Courts.
• Regulate the Transfers:
  • It also aims to regulate their transfers and to lay down judicial standards and provide for accountability of judges, and establish credible and expedient mechanism for investigating into individual complaints for misbehaviour or incapacity of a judge of the apex court or of a high court and to regulate the procedure for such investigation.
• Removal of a Judges:
  • It also proposes for the presentation of an address by parliament to the president in relation to proceeding for removal of a judge and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

What was the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)?

• About:
  • In August 2014, Parliament passed the Constitution (99^th Amendment) Act, 2014 along with the NJAC Act, 2014, providing for the creation of an independent commission to appoint judges to the Supreme Court and high courts to replace the collegium system.
  • In 2015, the Supreme Court declared both the 99^th Constitutional Amendment, 2014 and the NJAC Act, 2014 as unconstitutional and null and void.
• Composition of NJAC:
  • The Chief Justice of India as the ex officio Chairperson
  • Two senior-most Supreme Court Judges as ex officio members
  • The Union Minister of Law and Justice as ex officio member
  • Two eminent persons from civil society (to be nominated by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; one of the eminent persons to be nominated from SC/ST/OBC/minorities or women)
• Difference between Collegium System and NJAC (Appointment):
  • NJAC:
    • The Chief Justice of India and Chief Justices of the high courts were to be recommended by the NJAC based on seniority while SC and HC judges were to be recommended on the basis of ability, merit, and “other criteria specified in the regulations”.
    • The Act empowered any two members of the NJAC to veto a recommendation if they did not agree with it.
  • Collegium System
    • In the collegium system, a group of the senior-most judges makes appointments to the higher judiciary and this system has been operational for nearly three decades.

Why was the NJAC Challenged in Court?

• In early 2015, the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) filed a plea challenging the provisions of what were now laws.
• SCAORA contended that both the Acts were “unconstitutional” and “invalid”.
  • It argued that the 99^th Amendment which provided for the creation of the NJAC took away the “primacy of the collective opinion of the Chief Justice of India and the two senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court of India” as their collective recommendation could be vetoed or “suspended by majority of three non-Judge members”.
  • It stated that the Amendment “severely” damaged the basic structure of the Constitution, of which the independence of the judiciary in appointing judges of the higher judiciary was an integral part.
• It also contended that the NJAC Act was itself “void” and “ultra vires” the Constitution as it was passed in both Houses of the parliament when Articles 124(2) and 217(1) as originally enacted were in force, and the 99th Amendment had not received Presidential assent.

Way Forward

• Balance Between Independence and Accountability: The real issue is not who (judiciary or executive) appoints the judges, but the manner in which they are appointed.
  • For that, whatever may be the composition of the Judicial Appointment Commission (JAC), it is important to strike a balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability.
  • The Executive should have a say in appointments but the composition of the JAC should be such that it does not result in compromising judicial independence.
• Justice Inside Judiciary: Care must be taken to ensure that the institutional imperative of the Court for dispensing justice is maintained inside the judiciary with equality of opportunity and fixed criteria for selection of judges.
• Reconsidering the Establishment of NJAC: NJAC's Act may be amended to include safeguards that would make it constitutionally valid, as well as reorganised to ensure that majority control remains with the judiciary.

Source: Indian Express

Context

Recently the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has developed web based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications like PARIVESH, e-Green Watch and Van Agni Geo-portal.

About e-Green Watch portal:

• e-Green Watch portal is an advanced technology based platform designed to facilitate automation, streamlining and effective management of processes related to plantations and other forestry works taken up under CAMPA fund.
• Forest Survey of India(FSI) carries out analysis of geo-spatial data (polygons) of various plantations uploaded by the State Forest Departments on e-Green Watch portal for accuracy of location, area and year of plantation.

About Van Agni Geo-portal:

• Forest Survey of India has also developed Van Agni Geo-portal to provide user-friendly interactive viewing of the forest fire related data for continuous monitoring and tracking of large forest fires in near real-time basis.
• Van Agni Geo-portal serves as a single point source for the information related to forest fires in India.

About Parivesh portal:

• PARIVESH portal (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub) is a single-window integrated environmental management system for online submission and monitoring of the proposals submitted by the proponents for seeking Environment, Forest, Wildlife and Coastal Regulation Zone clearances from Central Government.
• It is a GIS based system and analytics platform that provides information to various stakeholders using Decision Support System functionality.

Source: PIB

Context

 Recently the Government of India has extended the PM Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme beyond March, 2022.

About PM SVANIDHI:

• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launched a scheme PM Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) to empower Street Vendors by not only extending loans to them, but also for their holistic development and economic upliftment.
• The scheme intends to facilitate collateral free working capital loans of up to INR10,000/- of one-year tenure, to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to help resume their businesses in the urban areas, including surrounding peri-urban/rural areas.

The PM SVANidhi scheme offers incentives in the form of:

• interest subsidy @ 7% per annum on regular repayment of loan
• cashback upto INR1200/- per annum on undertaking prescribed digital transactions
• eligibility for enhanced next tranche of loans
• Close to 2 million applications have been received under this scheme, of which 752191 have been sanctioned, and 218751 loans have already been disbursed.

Eligibility Criteria: The PM SVANidhi scheme is available to all street vendors who are engaged in vending in urban areas as on or before March 24, 2020. The eligible vendors are identified as per following criteria:

• Street vendors in possession of Certificate of Vending/Identity Card issued by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
• The vendors, who have been identified in the survey but have not been issued Certificate of Vending/Identity Card; Provisional Certificate of Vending would be generated for such vendors through an IT based Platform.
  • ULBs are encouraged to issue such vendors the permanent Certificate of Vending and Identification Card immediately and positively within a period of one month
• Street Vendors, left out of the ULB led identification survey or who have started vending after completion of the survey and have been issued Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB/Town Vending Committee (TVC).
• The vendors of surrounding development/peri-urban/rural areas vending in the geographical limits of the ULBs and have been issued Letter of Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB/TVC.

About New Extension:

• Extension of lending period till December 2024;
• Introduction of 3rd loan of upto ₹50,000 in addition to 1st & 2nd loans of ₹10,000 and ₹20,000 respectively.
• To extend ‘SVANidhi Se Samriddhi’ component for all beneficiaries of PM SVANidhi scheme across the country.

Source: PIB

GS-III

Context

 Recently Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj convened a consultation meeting on ‘Cactus Plantation and its Economic Usage’.

• Various options for taking up Cactus plantation on degraded land should be explored for realising the benefits of its usage for bio-fuel, food and bio-fertiliser were discussed in the meeting.
• India has approximately 30% of its geographical area under the category of degraded land.

About Cactus:

• A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae.
• Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought.
• Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth.
  • Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water.
  • For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water.
  • Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place.
• Most species of cacti have only spines, which are highly modified leaves.
• Spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade.
• In the absence of true leaves, cacti’s enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis.

Conservation:

• All cacti are included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• Control is exercised by making international trade in most specimens of cacti illegal unless permits have been issued, at least for exports.
• Some cacti, such as all Ariocarpus and Discocactus species, are included in the more restrictive Appendix I.

Uses:

• Cactuses are known for their nutrients as well as their medicinal value.
• Both cactus pads and cactus fruit can help fight infections and ease the symptoms of anything from hangovers to high cholesterol.
• Both the cactus pad and the cactus fruit are high in fiber, which can lower cholesterol levels in the blood.
• used as ornamental plants
• used for fodder or forage,
• Cactus fruits in particular are an excellent source of vitamin C, which is one of the best immune boosters.
  • Regular doses of vitamin C increase the production of white blood cells, which can make us less likely to catch an illness — and help your body fight off viruses if infected.
• Nutrition: Cactus fruits and pads offer a dose of vitamins and nutrients that have anti-inflammatory properties and can help reduce the risk of serious health conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Source:   PIB

Context

Delegates from 196 countries — Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) — are meeting in Montreal, Canada from December 7-21 with the aim to hammer out a new global agreement on halting environmental loss.

Context

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) successfully conducted the hot test of scramjet engine.