InstaLinks help you think beyond the issue but relevant to the issue from UPSC prelims and Mains exam point of view. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background. This helps you study a topic holistically and add new dimensions to every current event to help you think analytically.
Table of Contents:
GS Paper 1:
1. Supreme Court Terms 2005 Law On Domestic Violence As ”Milestone”.
GS Paper 2:
2.National Authority for Recycling of Ships:
3. Comparison between India, Bangladesh per capita GDP.
4. India designated Vice-Chair of OECD Working Group on GLP.
GS Paper 3:
1. India joins UK-led fight against encrypted online messages.
2. What are chapter proceedings?
Facts for Prelims:
1. Broadcast Audience Research Council.
2. Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP).
3. Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration.
4. Taiwan Strait.
5. Red Light On, Gaadi Off initiative.
6. Eat Right Movement.
7. Mahila Kisan Diwas.
8. Outcomes of the third assembly of the ISA.
GS Paper : 1
Topics Covered: Women empowerment related issues.
Supreme Court Terms 2005 Law On Domestic Violence As ”Milestone”:
Context:
The Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement in which it held that the relief granting right to residence to a married woman under the domestic violence law by a criminal court is “relevant” and can be considered even in civil proceedings seeking her eviction from the matrimonial home.
- Alongside, the Court termed the 2005 law on protection of women from domestic violence as a “milestone”
Important observations made by the Court:
Despite the 2005 law, offences against women is “rampant” in this country and they face “violence in some form or the other on almost every day”.
A woman resigns her fate to the never ending cycle of enduring violence and discrimination as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a partner or a single woman in her lifetime.
Non-retaliation by women against violence, coupled with the absence of laws addressing women’s issues, ignorance of the existing laws enacted for them and societal attitude makes them vulnerable.
What is Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005?
It is an act to provide for more effective protection of the rights of Women guaranteed under the Constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
- It is the first significant attempt in India to recognise domestic abuse as a punishable offence, to extend its provisions to those in live-in relationships, and to provide for emergency relief for the victims, in addition to legal recourse.
Conclusion:
The progress of any society depends on its ability to protect and promote the rights of its women. Guaranteeing equal rights and privileges to women by the Constitution of India had marked the step towards the transformation of the status of the women in this Country.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link and Mains Link:
Key features and significance of the 2005 Domestic Violence law.
Sources: the Hindu.
GS Paper : 2
Topics Covered: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
Saral Jeevan Bima:
It is a standard individual term life insurance product unveiled recently by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI).
- This will help customers make an informed choice and reduce mis-selling.
- All life insurers will have to offer the standard product by January 1, 2021.
Key features of the product- Saral Jeevan Bima:
- It will be a non-linked, non-participating individual pure risk premium life insurance plan providing for payment of the sum assured in lump sum to the nominee in case of the insured’s death during the policy term.
- Eligibility: The plan will be for those in the 18-65 years age group.
- Policy term will be 5-40 years.
- It allows for a maximum maturity age of 70 years.
- Sum assured will be a minimum of ₹5 lakh and a maximum of ₹25 lakh. Insurers, however, have the option of offering sum assured beyond ₹25 lakh with all other terms and conditions remaining the same.
- No restrictions: The product shall be offered to individuals without restrictions on gender, place of residence, travel, occupation or educational qualifications.
- There will be only one exclusion under the policy – exclusion for suicide.
- There will be no maturity benefit. Neither will there be any surrender value nor can any loan be taken against the product.
- The policy will also offer optional Accident Benefit and Permanent Disability Rider.
Why this product? Don’t we already have enough insurance products in the market?
There are many term products in the market with varying terms and conditions. But, Customers who cannot devote adequate time and energy to make informed choices find it difficult to select the right product. Therefore, It was felt necessary to introduce a standard, individual life insurance product with simple features and standard terms and conditions.
Mandatory pure life insurance will also help in inclusion and insurance penetration in the country.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- About IRDAI.
- Saral Jeevan Bima- Key features.
- Exclusion under the policy.
- Eligibility.
- Sum assured.
- Matuity benefit.
Mains Link:
Discuss the significance of Saral Jeevan Bima Yojana.
Sources: the Hindu.
Topics Covered: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
National Authority for Recycling of Ships:
Context:
The Centre has notified the directorate general of shipping as the National authority for recycling of ships.
- The notification was issued under the section 3 of the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019.
Roles and functions:
- As an apex body, DG Shipping is authorized to administer, supervise and monitor all activities relating to ship recycling in the country.
- It will also be the final authority for the various approvals required by the ship-recycling yard owners and state governments.
Hong Kong Convention for Ship Recycling:
Under Ship Recycling Act, 2019, India has acceded to Hong Kong Convention for Ship Recycling under International Maritime Organization (IMO).
- IMO adopted the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships in 2009.
- The guidelines are aimed at ensuring that ships, being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and the environment.
Please note, the Convention is yet to come into force because it has not been ratified by 15 nations, representing 40 per cent of the world merchant shipping by gross tonnage (capacity) and a maximum annual ship recycling volume of not less than 3 per cent of the combined tonnage of the countries.
Recycling of ships in India and neighbours:
- India is the largest ship-breaking player in the world, recycling around 70 lakh gross tonnage every year, followed closely by Bangladesh.
- Pakistan and China are the third and fourth largest players.
Around 800 vessels are sent for breaking every year around the world. India accounts for around 30% of that work, with an average 250 ships recycled majorly at centre in Alang, Gujarat.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- Hong Kong Convention is related to?
- Has it entered into force?
- About IMO.
- Who is the National authority for recycling of ships in India?
- Overview of the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019.
Sources: the Hindu.
Topics Covered: India and its neighbourhood- relations.
Comparison between India, Bangladesh per capita GDP:
Context:
This comparison is based on the International Monetary Fund’s latest update on the World Economic Outlook.
Key findings:
- In 2020, growth of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) will witness a contraction of over 10%.
- On average, India’s per capita GDP has been 24 per cent higher than Bangladesh’s during the last five years.
- But, in 2020, the per capita income of an average Bangladeshi citizen would be more than the per capita income of an average Indian citizen (This happened once in 1991 too). India’s per capita GDP, in nominal US dollar terms, is projected to be $1,876.53 in 2020, lower than $1,887.97 projected for Bangladesh.
What is Per Capita Income?
It is arrived at by dividing the total GDP by the total population.
Three reasons why India’s per capita income has fallen below Bangladesh this year:
- Growth rate: Both countries have been growing faster in 2004. But, since 2017 onwards, India’s growth rate has decelerated sharply while Bangladesh’s has become even faster.
- Population growth: In the last 15 years, India’s population grew faster (around 21%) than Bangladesh’s population (just under 18%).
- The most immediate factor was the relative impact of Covid-19 on the two economies in 2020. While India’s GDP is set to reduce by 10%, Bangladesh’s is expected to grow by almost 4%.
What helped Bangladesh stay ahead?
- A key driver of growth has been the garment industry where women workers gave Bangladesh the edge to corner the global export markets from which China retreated.
- The structure of Bangladesh’s economy is such that its GDP is led by the industrial sector, followed by the services sector. Both these sectors create a lot of jobs and are more remunerative than agriculture.
- Over the past two decades, Bangladesh improved on several social and political metrics such as health, sanitation, financial inclusion, and women’s political representation.
- On financial inclusion, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex database, while a smaller proportion of its population has bank accounts, the proportion of dormant bank accounts is quite small when compared to India.
- Bangladesh is also far ahead of India in the latest gender parity rankings.
- It has performed well in the Global Hunger Index too.
What about other neighbours?
China’s per capita GDP in 2020 is projected to be $10,839.43, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are projected to be $1,115.56 and $3,697.89.
What next then?
The IMF’s projections show that India is likely to grow faster next year and in all likelihood again surge ahead. But, given Bangladesh’s lower population growth and faster economic growth, India and Bangladesh are likely to be neck and neck for the foreseeable future in terms of per capita income.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- What is GDP?
- What is GNP?
- What is Per Capita Income?
- PCI of India vs neighbours.
Mains Link:
Discuss why India’s per capita income has fallen below Bangladesh this year.
Sources: Indian Express.
Topics Covered: Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.
India designated Vice-Chair of OECD Working Group on GLP:
Context:
India has been designated the ‘Vice-Chair’ of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Working Group of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
What is GLP?
Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is a quality system, which has been evolved by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to ensure that safety data generated on various chemicals like industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals (Human and Veterinary), agrochemicals, cosmetic products, food/ feed additives, and medical devices, etc., can be relied upon by regulatory authorities.
About the National GLP Compliance Monitoring Authority (NGCMA):
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, established the National GLP Compliance Monitoring Authority (NGCMA) with the approval of the Union Cabinet on April 24, 2002.
- NGCMA is the National body which grants GLP certification to test facilities (TFs) conducting safety studies on new chemicals of the above-mentioned categories in accordance with OECD Principles of GLP and OECD Council norms.
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
- OECD- Composition.
- Criteria for membership.
- About the National GLP Compliance Monitoring Authority (NGCMA).
- What is Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)?
Sources: PIB.
GS Paper : 3
Topics Covered: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
India joins UK-led fight against encrypted online messages:
Context:
India joins UK-led fight against encrypted online messages.
- The UK and India are joined by the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
- It marks an expansion of the so-called “Five Eyes” group of nations, a global alliance on intelligence issues, to include India and Japan.
What’s the demand?
The campaign is against end-to-end encryption of messages by social media giants such as Facebook, which they say hinder law enforcement by blocking all access to them.
- The countries also asked companies to not to “blind themselves” to illegal activity on their platforms, including child abuse images.
What’s the issue with end-to end encryption?
The signatories claimed that end-to-end encryption policies like those employed by the social media giant erode the public’s safety online.
- When end-to-end encryption is applied with no access to content, it severely undermines the ability of companies to take action against illegal activity on their own platforms.
- It also prevents law enforcement investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes being committed on these services such as online child sexual abuse, grooming and terrorist content.
What is end-to-end encryption?
It means that the messages are visible only to the sender and the recipient, and not even to the tech company which provides it, for example, WhatsApp, or any third-party.
How it works? (Have a brief overview):
Encryption technology involves scrambling or jumbling of the data being transferred in such a way that it can be deciphered only by the sender and the receiver.
- In the first step, when a sender sends a message, it is in the form of Plaintext that is ordinary readable text.
- Next, as soon as the data gets onto the network, it gets encrypted that is a process of converting ordinary readable text into a code with the help of special keys.
- Next, when the same data reaches its intended destination, it is decrypted that is a process of converting back the coded data to readable text with the help of special keys.
Finally, the intended receiver gets the message in the form of Cipher text that is the readable text obtained after decryption.
Sources: the Hindu.
Topics Covered: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
What are chapter proceedings?
Context:
The Mumbai police last week began “chapter proceedings” against Republic Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami.
What exactly are “chapter proceedings”?
They are preventive actions taken by the police if they fear that a particular person is likely to create trouble and disrupt the peace in society.
- Here, the police can issue notices under sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that the person is aware that creating nuisance could result in action against him, which includes paying a fine, in the absence of which, he could be put behind bars.
The procedure (Have a brief overview. No need to mug up):
- A notice is issued to a person under section 111 of the CrPC whereby he is asked to present himself before the Executive Magistrate – an ACP-rank officer in a commissionerate of a deputy collector in rural areas – who has issued the notice.
- The person has to explain why he should not be made to sign a bond of good behaviour.
- If the Executive Magistrate is not satisfied with the answer, the person is asked to sign a bond of good behaviour and produce sureties vouching for his/her good behaviour.
- A fine amount is also decided – in accordance with the crime and the person’s financial capability – which the person would have to pay if he violates the conditions set in the bond.
Legal options to appeal against the notice?
A person can appeal the notice before the courts.
Sources: Indian Express.
Facts for Prelims
Broadcast Audience Research Council:
- It is an industry body jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by the Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
- Created in 2010.
- I&B Ministry notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014 and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.
Why in News?
BARC has announced the suspension of audience estimates and ratings for all news channels for the next three months.
- This is to improve “statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes”.
Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP):
- Located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
- Adjacent to Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary.
- It is the only zoological park in India to become an institutional member of World Association of Zoos and Aquarium (WAZA).
- Host zoo for white tigers. White tigers born to normal coloured parents in the year 1980.
- First captive breeding centre for endangered Gharials in the year 1980.
- Kanjia Lake – A wetland of National importance (2006).
- Conservation Breeding Centres for Indian Pangolin and Long billed vultures.
- First record of breeding of Indian Ratels in captivity (in 2012).
- Only zoo in India after which an express train (Nandankanan Express) has been named by Indian Railways.
- One among the three zoos in India for breeding Long billed vulture.
- First birth of Melanistic tiger in captivity in the year 2014.
Why in News?
The zoo has revived its innovative ‘Adopt-An-Animal’ programme to mobilise resources for animals.
Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration:
- It is a new grouping comprising various political parties.
- The goal is to fight for Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Background:
- On August 4, 2019, first Gupkar declaration was signed before the abrogation of Article 370.
- On August 22, 2020, the six political parties of Jammu and Kashmir signed a statement titled as ‘Gupkar Declaration II’ to collectively fight against the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Taiwan Strait:
- The Taiwan Strait is a 110-mile-wide channel that separates mainland China from the island of Taiwan.
- It is also known as the Formosa Strait or the Tai-hai (the Tai Sea).
- The Taiwan Strait makes up part of the South China Sea, and its northern portion is linked to the East China Sea.
- The strait borders the south eastern part of China and runs along the eastern part of China’s Fujian Province.
Why in News?
U.S. warship in Taiwan Strait enrages China. China claims sovereignty over the island and surrounding seas.
Red Light On, Gaadi Off initiative:
- Launched by Delhi Government under the “Yuddh, Pradushan Ke Viruddh” campaign of the government.
- It is an initiative to tackle the problem of rising air pollution in the Capital.
- Background: There are one crore vehicles registered in Delhi out of which if 10 lakh turn off their ignition at traffic signals, around 1.5 tonnes of PM10 will reduce in a year and PM 2.5 will decrease by 0.4 tonnes.
Eat Right Movement:
Launched by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in 2018.
- The movement aims to cut down salt/sugar and oil consumption by 30% in three years.
- It also aims to engage and enable citizens to improve their health and well-being by making the right food choices.
Mahila Kisan Diwas:
Observed on 15th October.
- The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare set aside this day to empower women in the field of agriculture.
- The UN also observes 15th October as the ‘International Day of Rural Women’.
- The main objective of celebrating this day is to create awareness and to encourage women farmers to take up different income generation activities in agriculture and allied sectors to enhance the economy of the nation.
Outcomes of the third assembly of the ISA:
The third assembly of the the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held virtually recently.
Outcomes:
- India and France were re-elected as President and Co- President.
- Approved the initiatives of the ISA Secretariat in institutionalizing ISA’s engagement with the private and public corporate sector through the Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (CSCA).
Awards:
- Visvesvaraya award was conferred. It recognizes the countries with maximum floating solar capacity in each of the four regions of ISA. The awards went to Japan for the Asia Pacific region and the Netherlands for Europe and Other region.
- Kalpana Chawla awards recognise outstanding contribution of scientists and engineers working in the field of solar energy.
- The Diwakar award recognizes organisations & institutions that have been working for the benefit of differently-abled people and have maximised the use of solar energy in the host country.
Articles to be covered tomorrow:
- SCALE India Android app.
- Zozi la tunnel.
- Rashtriya Ajeevika Mission.
