UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 9th December 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court recently reserved for judgment a batch of petitions seeking to strike down a Tamil Nadu law which protects Jallikattu by claiming that the bull-taming sport is a cultural heritage of the State and is protected under Article 29 (1) of the Constitution.

About

• Jallikattu (or sallikkattu) is also known as eru thazhuvuthal and mañcuvirattu.
• The bull-taming sport is popular in Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Theni, Pudukkottai and Dindigul districts — known as the Jallikattu belt.
• Jallikattu is celebrated in the second week of January, during the Tamil harvest festival, Pongal.
• A tradition over 2,000 years old, Jallikattu is a competitive sport as well as an event to honour bull owners who rear them for mating.
• It is a traditional sport in which contestants try to tame a bull for a prize; if they fail, the bull owner wins the prize.
• Jallikattu is considered a traditional way for the peasant community to preserve their pure-breed native bulls.
• Kangayam, Pulikulam, Umbalachery, Barugur and Malai Maadu are among the popular native cattle breeds used for Jallikattu.

Source: The Hindu

GS-II

Context

Government of India has accorded 'In-Principle' approval for setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports.

About

• Development of a Greenfield airport is governed under the Greenfield Airports (GFA) Policy, 2008.
• As per the Policy, a State Government or an Airport Developer, willing to establish an airport is required to send a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for 2-stage approval i.e. 'Site-Clearance' followed by 'In-Principle' approval.
• Such proposals are considered by MoCA as per the procedure stipulated in the GFA Policy.
• The responsibility of implementation of airport projects including funding of the projects rests with the concerned airport developer including the respective State Government (in case the State Government is the project proponent).
• Government of India (GoI) has accorded 'In-Principle' approval for setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports namely,
  • Mopa in Goa,
  • Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra,
  • Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka,
  • Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh,
  • Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh,
  • Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat,
  • Karaikal in Puducherry,
  • Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh,
  • Durgapur in West Bengal,
  • Pakyong in Sikkim,
  • Kannur in Kerala and
  • Donyi Polo, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Out of these, 9 Greenfield airports Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar and Donyi Polo, Itanagar have been operationalized.

Source: PIB

Context

A political party based in New Delhi lost its election deposit for most of its candidates in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

About Election Security Deposit

• An election security deposit is an amount that is to be deposited with the Returning Officer when a candidate files their nomination.
• This is to be submitted either in cash, or a receipt must be enclosed with the nomination paper.
• It mentions that the said sum has been deposited on the candidate’s behalf in the Reserve Bank of India or in a Government Treasury.
• The main purpose of this practice is to ensure that only genuinely intending candidates end up filing the nomination to be a part of the electoral process.

Is the amount same for all elections?

• No, it depends on the particular election being conducted, and the Representation of the People Act of 1951 mentions different amounts depending on the level of election:
  • In the case of an election from a Parliamentary constituency, meaning a Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seat, the amount is Rs 25,000 and Rs 12,500 for a Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidate.
  • In the case of an election from an Assembly or Council constituency, meaning at the level of legislative bodies in the states, it is Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 for an SC/ST candidate.
  • Even in the case of Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections, a deposit of Rs 15,000 is to be made.

Losing the deposits

• As per the same Act, the deposit has to be forfeited at an election if the number of valid votes polled by the candidate is less than 1/6th of the total number of valid votes polled.
• Or, in the case of the election of more than one member, it would be 1/6th of the total number of valid votes so polled divided by the number of members to be elected.
• This refers to elections by proportional representation method, as is the case in Rajya Sabha.
• If the candidate does meet the threshold, “the deposit shall be returned as soon as practicable after the result of the election is declared.”
• If a candidate withdraws their nomination or passes away before the polls, the amount is returned.

Source: Indian Express

Context

The Delhi High Court has sought a response from the central government on a petition against the cancellation of a person’s Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.

Who is an Overseas Citizen?

• An OCI is a category introduced by the government in 2005.
• Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) of certain categories as specified in the Citizenship Act, 1955 are eligible for being OCI cardholders.
• Some of the benefits for PIO and OCI cardholders were different until 2015 when the government merged these two categories.
• The MHA defines an OCI as a person who was a citizen of India on or after January 26, 1950; or was eligible to become a citizen of India on that date; or who is a child or grandchild of such a person, among other eligibility criteria.
• According to Section 7A of the OCI card rules, an applicant is not eligible for the OCI card if he, his parents or grandparents have ever been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Privileges to an OCI

• OCI cardholders can enter India multiple times, get a multipurpose lifelong visa to visit India, and are exempt from registering with Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) no matter how long their stay.
• If an individual is registered as an OCI for a period of five years, he/she are eligible to apply for Indian citizenship.
• At all Indian international airports, OCI cardholders are provided with special immigration counters.
• OCI cardholders can open special bank accounts in India, they can buy the non-farm property and exercise ownership rights and can also apply for a driver’s license and PAN card.
• However, OCI cardholders do not get voting rights, cannot hold a government job and purchase agricultural or farmland.
• They cannot run for public office either, nor can they travel to restricted areas without government permission.

Source: The Indian Express

GS-III

Context

58 airports will be covered under Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0

About

• Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 was announced on 27 October 2021.

Objective

• The main objective of the Krishi Udan Scheme 2.0 is to increase share of air carriage in the modal mix for transportation of Agri-produce, which includes horticulture, fishery, livestock and processed products.
• The scheme assists farmers in transporting agriculture products so that it improves their value realisation.
• The Scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time bound, air transportation and associated logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from North-East, hilly and tribal regions of the country.
  • Few successful examples are air transportation of 'King Chillies, Burmese Grapes & Assamese Lemon' from Gauwahati, 'Jackfruit' from Tripura and 'Litchi' from Darbhanga.

Waiver

• For facilitating and incentivising movement of agri-produce by air transportation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) provides full waiver of Landing, Parking, Terminal Navigational Landing Charges (TNLC) and Route Navigation Facility Charges (RNFC) for Indian freighters and P2C (Passenger-to-Cargo) Aircraft.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has also asked States to reduce sales tax on aviation turbine fuel to one perc ent for airlines under the Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme.

Budget

There is no specific budget allocation under Krishi Udan Scheme.

• Ministries/Departments
  • It is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce.
• E-Kushal
  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is also developing an online platform named E-Kushal (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics).
  • It will facilitate information dissemination to all stakeholders regarding the transportation of agricultural produce.
  • E-Kushal will also assist in coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme.
  • The MoCA has also proposed a convergence of E-Kushal with the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) platform.
• Krishi UDAN scheme
  • The Krishi UDAN scheme was launched in August 2020.
  • It aims to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products on international and national routes so that it improves their value realisation.

Source: PIB

Context

9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) was inaugurated recently at Panaji, Goa.

About

• The 9th WAC aims to showcase the efficacy and strength of the AYUSH systems of medicine at the Global level.
• Objective: To provide a global platform for all the stakeholders, including industry leaders, practitioners, traditional healers, educationists, students, medicine manufacturers, growers of medicinal plants and marketing strategists, for networking and engaging in intellectual exchange to strengthen the Ayurveda sector, envision its future, and facilitate interaction between professionals and consumers to boost Ayurveda commerce.

AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) sector

• The market size of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) sector in the country has grown from USD 3 billion in 2014 to over USD 18 billion now, clocking a phenomenal growth of six times.
• During 2014-2020, the AYUSH industry grew 17 per cent year-on-year while the Ayurveda market is predicted to grow at 15 per cent CAGR from 2021-2026.

Ayush Grid

• The Ayush Grid project was initiated by the Ministry in 2018 for creating a comprehensive IT backbone for the entire sector.
• Digitalization of the entire Ayush Sector will lead to its transformation in fields of health care delivery at all levels, including research, education, various health programmes and drug regulations.

Source: PIB

Context

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has introduced the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Highlights of the Bill

• The Bill amends the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 to empower the central government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme.
• Designated consumers may be required to meet a proportion of their energy needs from non-fossil sources.

Why was this Bill introduced?

• During the COP-26 summit in 2021, India made commitments relevant for energy efficiency efforts.
• Against this backdrop, the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Lok Sabha in August 2022.

Key features of the bill

• Carbon credit trading:The Bill empowers the central government to specify a carbon credit trading scheme.   Carbon credit implies a tradable permit to produce a specified amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse emissions.
• Obligation to use non-fossil sources of energy:The Act empowers the central government to specify energy consumption standards for designated consumers to meet a minimum share of energy consumption from non-fossil sources.  Designated consumers include: (i) industries such as mining, steel, cement, textile, chemicals, and petrochemicals, (ii) transport sector including Railways, and (iii) commercial buildings, as specified in the schedule.
• Energy conservation code for buildings: The bill empowers the central government to specify norms for energy efficiency and conservation, use of renewable energy, and other requirements for green buildings.   Under the Act, the energy conservation code applies to commercial buildings: (i) erected after the notification of the Code, and (ii) having a minimum connected load of 100 kilowatt (kW) or contract load of 120 kilo volt ampere (kVA).
• Standards for vehicles and vessels: Under the bill, the energy consumption standards may be specified for equipment and appliances which consume, generate, transmit, or supply energy.  The Bill expands the scope to include vehicles (as defined under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988), and vessels (includes ships and boats).
• Composition of the governing council of BEE: The Act provides for the setting up of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).  The Bureau has a governing council with members between 20 and 26 in number.

Concerns raised

• Carbon credit trading aims to reduce carbon emissions, and hence, address climate change.  The question is whether the Ministry of Power is the appropriate Ministry to regulate this scheme.
• A further question is whether the market regulator for carbon credit trading should be specified in the Act.
• Same activity may be eligible for renewable energy, energy savings, and carbon credit certificates.
• The Bill does not specify whether these certificates will be interchangeable.
• Designated consumers must meet certain non-fossil energy use obligation.  Given the limited competition among discoms in any area, consumers may not have a choice in the energy mix.

Source: The Hindu