Weekly Current Affairs (15th to 21st October 2022) - 1 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

International Day of Rural Women

Context: Every year, International Day of Rural Women is celebrated on 15th October.

Why do we Celebrate the International Day of Rural Women?

Background:

• The idea of honouring rural women with a special day was put forward by international NGOs at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
• The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15th October 2008. This new international day was established by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 in 2007.

About:

• The day aims to create awareness about the fact that the engagement of rural women diversifies family livelihood, yet their efforts largely go unappreciated.
• It recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

Theme for 2022:

• "Rural Women, key for a world free from hunger and poverty."

What are the Challenges Faced by Rural Women Workers in India?

Incomplete Presentation of Data:

• The rural economy suffers when women stop looking for work because they believe there is no work available, often incorrectly described as "dropping out" or "Leaving the market".

Absence of Pay Parity:

• In the field of manual labour work, women are being paid less than men in terms of piece rate due to physical constraints in lifting heavy weights.

Lack of Education:

• Majority of women construction workers are not registered as “Construction Workers” and therefore ineligible for any benefit accruing to them from the Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
• The paid formal jobs go to men and women with higher educational qualifications, leaving women with education till secondary level for non-agricultural, construction, house care and other roles.

Limitation of MGNREGA:

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a labour demand-driven programme, is limited to providing only 100 days of paid labour on public works projects per year.
• For the rest of the period, women workers have to continuously look for alternative sources of income to meet expenses.

Financial Constraints:

• What the women earn from multiple tasks, for which there are no fixed rates is in no way equal to the amount of labour they do.
• Due to non-availability of sufficient funds and lack of knowledge, they’re most vulnerable to land in debt traps.

What Initiatives Taken for the Upliftment for Rural Women Workers?

e-Shram Portal:

• e-Shram Portal was launched to register 38 crore unorganised workers such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors, and domestic workers, among others.
• The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP):
• Launched in 2011, it is aimed at imparting skill development and capacity building programmes for rural women.
• This scheme was introduced as a sub component of DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana — National Rural Livelihoods Mission) and implemented through State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) across India.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):

• Launched in 2015, it aims to train over 40 crore people in India in different skills by 2022. It aims at vocational training and certification of Indian youth for a better livelihood and respect in the society.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

• PMJDY has boosted confidence and prospects of rural women participation in economic activities. The Jan Dhan campaign has ensured access to financial services, viz, banking/ savings and deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner to rural women.

Other Initiatives

• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana
• Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization Scheme
• PM-KISAN Scheme

Way Forward

Survey Conduction:

• Timely village surveys should be conducted which could reveal the real image of ground reality, as with the deep penetration of capitalist processes in rural India, there is a crisis of livelihood options for rural workers.
• Widespread surveys of poor rural women and how they spend their time are an urgent necessity.

Adult Education and Training:

• Women lack access to quality adult education and training, which is one of the greatest barriers to their sustainable development.
• Women should receive life skills, and social skills training as part of capacity building and adult training.

MGNREGA Standards:

• The performance standards set under MGNREGA should be established gender-wise and the work sites made more worker friendly.
• The ‘compulsory’ woman worker must be recognised and protected by laws and policies that address her issues.

Namdapha National Park

Context: The Changlang district administration has declared cultivation of large cardamom in the Namdapha National Park (NP) illegal.

What are the Key Points About Namdapha National Park?

About:

• Namdapha is in fact the name of a river originating in the park and it meets Noa-Dehing river.
• The Noa-Dehing river, is a tributary of the Brahmaputra and flows in a North-South direction in the middle of the National Park.

Climate:

• Enjoys the sub-tropical climate. The mountainous part has a mountain type of climate while the low-lying plains and valleys experience tropical climate.

Location:

• It is located in the State of Arunachal Pradesh and it covers 1,985 sq km.
• It lies in close proximity to Indo-Myanmar-China trijunction.
• The park is located between the Dapha bum range of the Mishmi Hills and the Patkai range.
• It the fourth largest national park in India.
• The first three are Hemis National Park in Ladakh, Desert National Park in Rajasthan, and Gangotri National Park in Uttarakhand.

Legal Status:

• It was established as a national park in 1983, and it was declared as a Tiger Reserve in the same year of 1983 in the same year.
• It is also on the Tentative Lists of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India.

Biodiversity:

• This protected area has more than 1000 floral species and more than 1400 faunal species.
• It is also a part of biodiversity hotspot.
• It is only park in the World to have the four Feline species of big cat namely the Tiger (Panthera Tigris), Leopard (Panthera Pardus), Snow Leopard (Panthera Uncia) and Clouded Leopard (Neofelis Nebulosa).
• It is also famous for Critically Endangered species like the Namdapha flying squirrel, species that was last spotted in 1981.
• Hoolock Gibbons, the only ‘ape’ species found in India is found in this National Park.
• Vegetation: The vegetation is characteristic of tropical evergreen forests (Tropical Rain Forests)

What are the Other Protected Areas in Arunachal Pradesh?

• Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Mouling National Park
• Kamlang Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Eagle Nest Wildlife Sanctuary.

Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Context: Recently, the Prime Minister paid tribute to the former President APJ Abdul Kalam on his 90th birth anniversary.

Who was Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam?

About:

• Born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
• His birth anniversary is celebrated as the National Innovation Day and World Students' Day.
• He graduated in Science from St Joseph's College, Trichy in 1954 and specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1957.
• He is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from 48 Universities and institutions from India and abroad.
• He was sworn in as India’s 11th President in 2002 and completed the full term in 2007.
• He planned programmes to produce a number of successful missiles, which helped earn him the nickname “Missile Man of India”.

Awards Received:

• He was awarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990) and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (1997).

Literary Works:

• "Wings of Fire", "India 2020 - A Vision for the New Millennium", "My journey" and "Ignited Minds - Unleashing the power within India", "Indomitable Spirit", "Guiding Souls", "Envisioning an Empowered Nation", "Inspiring Thoughts" etc.

Death:

• 27th July 2015 at Shillong, Meghalaya.

What has been the Contribution of Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam?

His Contribution:

• Pioneer in Fiberglass Technology: He was a pioneer in fiberglass technology and led a young team to initiate this effort in ISRO from design, development leading to the production of composites rocket motor cases.
• Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3): He made a significant contribution as Project Director to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite into Near-Earth Orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO's launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration.
• Indigenous Guided Missiles: After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, he took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at the DRDO. He was the Chief Executive of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). He led to the weaponization of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in collaboration with the Department of Atomic Energy, which made India a nuclear weapon State.
• Technology Vision 2020: In 1998, he put forward a countrywide plan called Technology Vision 2020, which he described as a road map for transforming India from a less-developed to a developed society in 20 years. The plan called for, among other measures, increasing agricultural productivity, emphasising technology as a vehicle for economic growth, and widening access to health care and education
• Medical and Healthcare: APJ Abdul Kalam in collaboratation with cardiologist B. Soma Raju designed a cost-effective coronary stent known as ‘Kalam-Raju-Stent’ for coronary heart disease which made healthcare accessible to all. The device led to reduction of prices of imported coronary stents in India by more than 50%.
• Light Combat Aircraft project: He was deeply involved in the country’s Light Combat Aircraft project. He had been associated with avionics. He also became the first Indian Head of State to fly a fighter plane. His first aeronautical project led him to designing India’s first indigenous hovercraft ‘Nandi”. A hovercraft is a vehicle that can travel over land, water, mud and ice by lifting itself off the ground with large blowers that create an air cushion beneath the craft.
• Others: He was passionate about bringing rural prosperity through PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas), in which science and technology has to play a key role. Based on his diverse experience he propagated the concept of World Knowledge Platform through which the core competencies of organizations and nations can be synergized to innovate and create solutions and products for the challenges of the 21st century.

Mangalyaan Mission Over

Context: The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) confirmed that the Mars Orbiter craft has lost communication and is non-recoverable and the Mangalyaan mission has attained end-of-life.

• Despite being designed for a life-span of six months as a technology demonstrator, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has lived for about eight years in the Martian orbit.

What caused the End of MOM?

• Because of propellant (fuel) exhaustion the desired altitude pointing could not be achieved for sustained power generation and it lost communication from the ground station.
• Recently there were back-to-back eclipses including one that lasted seven-and-half hours because that satellite has consumed all the propellant on board.
  • As the satellite battery is designed to handle eclipse duration of only about one hour and 40 minutes, a longer eclipse would drain the battery beyond the safe limit.

What is MOM?

About:

• The Rs 450 crore Mars Orbiter Mission was launched onboard PSLV-C25 on 5th November, 2013, and the MOM spacecraft was successfully inserted into the Martian orbit in September, 2014 in its first attempt.
• Mangalyaan was India's first interplanetary mission.
• The mission made India the first Asian country, and the fourth in the world after Roscosmos, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and the European Space Agency, to get to the planet.
• China referred to India's successful Mangalyaan as the "Pride of Asia".

Description:

• It carried 850 kg of fuel and 5 science payloads including a Mars Color Camera (MCC) which it was using to study the Martian surface and atmosphere since entering orbit successfully.
• The highly elliptical orbit geometry of MOM enabled MCC to take snapshots of the 'Full disc' of Mars at its farthest point and finer details from the closest point.
• The MCC has produced more than 1000 images and published a Mars Atlas.
• Other instruments are: Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA) and Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP).

Objectives:

• It was aimed at studying the Martian atmosphere.
• To explore Martian surface features, mineralogy, morphology and atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.
• A crucial objective of MOM was to develop technologies required in planning, designing, management and operations of an interplanetary mission.

What is the Future Indian Mars Mission?

• ISRO came out with an 'Announcement of Opportunity' (AO) for future Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM-2) in 2016 but 'Gaganyaan', 'Chandrayaan-3' and 'Aditya - L1' projects are in the current priority list.
• Mangalyaan-2 will only be an orbiter mission.

75 New Digital Banking Units in India

Context: Recently, the Prime Minister of India has dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units (DBU) across 75 districts to the nation.

• As part of the Union budget speech for 2022-23, the Finance Minister announced setting up the 75 DBUs in 75 districts to commemorate our country's 75 years of independence.

What are Digital Banking Units?

About:

• A Digital Banking Unit is a specialised fixed point business unit or hub, set up by scheduled commercial banks, housing certain minimum digital infrastructure for delivering digital banking products and services as well as servicing existing financial products and services digitally in self-service mode at any time.
• The DBUs are being set up with the objective to ensure the benefits of digital banking reach every nook and corner of the country and will cover all the States and Union territories.

Benefits:

• The DBUs will enable those who do not have Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure to access banking services digitally.
• They will also assist those who are not tech savvy to adopt digital banking.

DBU Services:

• Services being offered through DBU include banking facilities like opening of savings account, balance-check, print passbook, transfer of funds, investment in fixed deposits, loan applications, stop-payment instructions for cheques issued, application for credit / debit cards, view statement of account, pay taxes, pay bills, make nominations, etc.
• The DBUs will also facilitate onboarding to Government credit link schemes through the Jan Samarth portal and end-to-end digital processing of small ticket MSME/retail loans.

Difference between DBU & Traditional Banks:

• DBU will provide banking services including cash deposit & withdrawal 24 x 7.
• Services of DBU shall be provided digitally.
• People not having connectivity or computing devices can do banking transactions from DBU in a paperless mode.
• Bank staff will be available to help and guide users for banking transactions in assisted mode.
• DBU will help in providing digital financial literacy and create awareness for adopting digital banking.

Difference between the Digital Banks and DBUs:

Balance Sheet/Legal Personality:

• DBUs do not have legal personality and are not licensed under Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
• Legally, they are equivalent to “banking outlets” i.e., branches.
• Digital Banks will have a balance sheet and legal personality & are proposed to be duly licensed banks under Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Level of Innovation/Competition:

• DBUs improve existing channel architecture by offering regulatory recognition to digital channels. However, they are silent on competition.
• The DBU guidelines expressly state that only existing commercial banks may establish DBUs.
• In contrast, a licensing and regulatory framework for Digital banks as proposed here, is more enabling along competition/innovation dimensions.

Use of Regional Language in Legal System

Context: Recently, the Prime Minister inaugurated the All-India Conference of Law Ministers and Law Secretaries via video conference.

• While Inaugurating the Conference, PM bats for use of regional languages in the legal system to bring ease of justice.
• He stressed that new laws should be written in a clear manner and in regional languages to bring in “ease of justice,” so that even the poor can easily understand them and legal language doesn’t become a barrier for citizens.

What is the Background of Languages in the Legal System?

Background:

• The language used in Courts in India has seen a transition over centuries with the shift from Urdu to Persian and Farsi scripts during the Mughal period which continued in subordinate courts even during the British Rule.
• The British introduced a codified system of law in India with English as the official language.
• Post-independence, Article 343 of the Constitution of India provides that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in the Devanagari script.
  • However, it mandated that the English language will continue to be used for all official purposes of the Union for 15 years from the commencement of the Constitution of India.
  • It further provides that the President may, during the said period, by order to authorise the use of the Hindi language for any official purpose of the Union, other than the English language.

Constitutional Provisions:

• Article 348(1)(a) states that unless Parliament by law provides otherwise, all proceedings before the Supreme Court and in every High Court shall be conducted in English.
• Article 348(2) provides further that notwithstanding the provisions of Article 348(1), the Governor of a state may, with the previous consent of the President, authorise the use of Hindi or any other language used for any official purpose, in proceedings in the High Court.
  • States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have already authorised the use of Hindi in proceedings before their respective high courts and taking a cue, Tamil Nadu is also working in that direction – to authorise the use of Tamil before its high court.
• A further provision states that nothing in this clause would apply to any judgement, decree, or order made by the High Court.
• Therefore, the Constitution recognizes English as the primary language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, with the caveat that when some other language is used in the proceedings of High Courts, judgments of the High Courts must be delivered in English.

Official Languages Act 1963:

• It empowers the Governor of a state to, with previous consent of the President, authorise the use of Hindi/the official language of the state, in addition to English, for the purpose of any judgement, decree or order passed by the High Court of that state.
• It further provides that where any judgement/decree/order is passed in any such language it shall be accompanied by a translation of the same in English.
  • Read with the constitutional provisions, it is clear that primacy is given to English even by this Act.
• The Official Languages Act makes no mention of the Supreme Court, where English is the only language in which proceedings are conducted.

Language of Subordinate Courts:

• The language of all courts subordinate to High Courts generally remains the same as the language on the commencement of the Civil Procedure Code 1908, till the state government determines.
• There are two provisions regarding the use of language in subordinate courts.
• Under Section 137 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the language of the district courts shall be similar to the language of the act.
• The state government has the power to declare any regional language as an alternative for the proceedings of the court.
• However, judgments, orders, and decree may be passed by the magistrate in English.
• The recording of the evidence shall be done in the prevailing language of the state.
• In case of a pleader being unacquainted with English, a translation into the language of the court shall be supplied to him on his request and the court shall bear such costs.
• Section 272 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, states that the State government shall determine the language of all courts other than the High Courts. So, broadly it means that the language used in the district courts shall be in the regional language as the state government directs.

What are the Reasons for Using English Language in Legal System?

About:

• Just like cases from all over the country come to the Supreme Court, judges and lawyers of the Supreme Court also come from all parts of India.
• Judges can hardly be expected to read documents and hear arguments in languages with which they are not familiar.
• Without the use of English, it would be impossible to discharge their duty. All judgments of the Supreme Court are also delivered in English.
• Though, in 2019, the Court introduced an initiative to translate its judgments into regional languages, it is rather a tall order given the sheer volumes of judgments which the Court delivers.

Significance:

• Uniformity: At present the judicial system in India is well developed, integrated and uniform throughout the country.
• Easy Access: Lawyers as well as the judges have the benefit of easy access to the views of other high courts on similar legislations and other matters of law and constitution.
• Seamless Transfers: Presently, the judges from one high court are transferred to other high courts seamlessly.
• Unified Structure: This has given a unified structure to the Indian judicial system. The hallmark of any robust legal system is that the law should be certain, precise and predictable and we have nearly achieved that in India.
• Link Language: To a very great extent, we owe it to the English language, which has served as a link language for India where we have about two dozen official state languages.

Way Forward

• The need of the hour is to encourage local language in courts, which will not only increase the confidence of common citizens in the justice system, but they will feel more connected to it.
• India celebrates the 75th anniversary of Independence, focus should be on creation of a judicial system where justice is easily available, is quick and for everyone.
• The confluence of the judiciary and legislature will prepare the roadmap for an effective and time-bound judicial system in the country.