PIB Summary- 13th September, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Operation Gear Box

Why in News?
Recently, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) launched operation ‘Gear Box’ to stop heroin smuggling, seizes 39.5 kg of contraband from Kolkata port.

• The heroin was examined and seized under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

What is Operation Gear Box?

• Operation Gear Box is conducted to detect the hidden drugs in the gear boxes.
• The gears from old and used gearboxes were removed after opening them and plastic packets containing the narcotic substance were placed in the created cavity and the gearboxes were refitted to avoid detection.
• The drug syndicate has used this unique modus operandi to conceal heroin.
• These packets were shipped concealing inside this metal scrap with other metal scrap so that it would go unnoticed by the authorities.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, (NDPS)

• The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, commonly referred to as the NDPS Act prohibits a person the production/manufacturing/cultivation, possession, sale, purchasing, transport, storage, and/or consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
• India had no legislation regarding narcotics until 1985.
• The Act is designed to fulfill India’s treaty obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
• The Narcotics Control Bureau is a statutory body that was set up under the act with effect from 1986.

Measures taken by the government

• Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD): Government had constituted Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD), the mechanism under Director General (DG), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in order to have effective coordination among all the drug law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, and also to provide a common platform for discussions on drug-trafficking related issues.
• National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse: The government has constituted a fund called “National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse” to meet the expenditure incurred in connection with combating illicit traffic in Narcotic Drugs; rehabilitating addicts, and educating the public against drug abuse, etc.
• Seizure Information Management System (SIMS): SIMS is a step taken towards digitization of pan-India drug seizure data in 2019 for all the drug law enforcement agencies under the mandate of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was provided with the funds for developing SIMS which will create a complete online database of drug offences and offenders.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

Why in News?
Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid tributes to Acharya Vinoba Bhave on his Jayanti, 11th September.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

Original name: Vinayak Narahari Bhave
Birth: September 11, 1895, in a Chitpavan Brahmin family at Gagoda village of the Konkan area of Maharashtra.
Along with reading the texts, he studied Sanskrit and a number of regional languages.
The “Kannada” script was referred to as the “Queen of World Scripts” or “Vishwa Lipigala Raani” by Vinoba Bhave.
He is considered as India’s National Teacher.
Bhave committed his life to religious work and the fight for liberation, keeping his vow of celibacy throughout.
Died in 1982, Wardha, Maharashtra.

Role in Freedom Struggle

• In 1918, Bhave burned his books rather than showing up for an exam in Bombay.
  • After reading an article by Mahatma Gandhi, something transpired.
  • He was a devoted supporter of Gandhi.
• Gandhi in India chose Bhave to be the “First Individual Satyagrahi” against the British Raj in 1940.
• Bhave was crucial to the movement to Quit India.

Role in Social Work

• At Pochampally in Telangana, Vinoba Bhave launched the Bhoodan Movement, a land donation movement.
• He obtained given land from Indian landowners and distributed it to the underprivileged and landless so they might cultivate it.

Gramdan

• Then after 1954, he started to ask for donations of whole villages in a programme he called Gramdan. 
• He got more than 1000 villages by way of donation. Out of these, he obtained 175 donated villages in Tamil Nadu alone.

Brahma Vidya Mandir

• It is a tiny community for women that was established as part of Bhave’s ashrams in order for them to become independent and non-violent in a community.
• This group farms to provide for themselves, but they follow Gandhi’s principles for food production, which include social justice and sustainability.

Sarvodaya Movement

• Vinoba observed the life of the average Indian living in a village and tried to find solutions for the problems he faced with a firm spiritual foundation. This formed the core of his Sarvodaya movement.
  • Sarvodaya is Gandhi’s most important social political movement. Like Satyagraha, it too is a combination of two terms, Sarva ­ meaning one and all, and Uday ­ meaning welfare or uplift. The conjunction thus implies Universal uplift or welfare of all as the meaning of Sarvodaya.
• Although Sarvodaya was a social ideology in its fundamental form, India’s immediate post ­independence requirement demanded that it be transformed into an urgent political doctrine.

Some of his works

• The essence of Quran
• The essence of Christian teachings
• Thoughts on education
• Swarajya Sastra
• Geeta Pravachane,
• Teesri Shakti or The Third Power