NITI Aayog is organising “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern States” in Guwahati, in association with the North Eastern Council, Government of Assam, Tata Trusts, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).
The three-day event from 24th to 26th February 2020, will take place in Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati and will see representations from the highest offices of all the State Governments of the North East, Central Ministries, academia, civil society and international development organizations. The inaugural session will be presided over by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, Ms. Renata Lok-Dessallien, UN Resident Coordinator, India and Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. This inaugural session on the first day would be followed by technical sessions on the 25th and 26th. The valedictory address would be delivered by Ms. Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India.
The technical sessions would include sessions pertaining to SDG localisation in the northeast, economic prosperity and sustainable livelihoods, climate adaptive agriculture, health and nutrition, education, skill development and entrepreneurship, connectivity and infrastructure development & inequality and exclusion. Each of the sessions, chaired by a renowned domain specialist, are expected to take stock of progress and discuss and deliberate on the way forward for the region in the aforesaid areas.
NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level. Progress in the northeast region is crucial in this decade of action for the country to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and this conclave is part of NITI Aayog’s continuous efforts towards fostering partnerships at the sub-national level. In terms of SDG localisation, the states in the region have taken major strides in integrating the Agenda 2030 framework in their developmental planning and vision documents.
Path breaking measures taken to protect women’s reproductive rights Posted On: 19 FEB 2020 4:56PM by PIB Delhi The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved a historic Bill for the welfare of Women in the Country – the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2020.
This follows the introduction in Parliament of the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020, and the approval of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2020. These legislative measures are path breaking steps to protect women’s reproductive rights.
Once the Bill is enacted by the Parliament, the Central Government shall notify the date of the commencement of the Act. Consequently, the National Board will be constituted.
The National Board shall lay down code of conduct to be observed by persons working at clinics, to set the minimum standards of physical infrastructure, laboratory and diagnostic equipment and expert manpower to be employed by clinics and banks.
The States and Union Territories shall constitute the State Boards and State Authorities within three months of the notification by the Central Government.
The State Board shall have the responsibility to follow the policies and plans laid by the National Board for clinics and Banks in the State.
The Bill also provides for National Registry and Registration Authority to maintain a Central database and assist the National Board in its functioning. The Bill also proposes for a stringent punishment for those practising sex selection, sale of human embryos or gametes, running agencies/rackets/organisations for such unlawful practices.
Benefits The major benefit of the Act would be that it will regulate the Assisted Reproductive Technology services in the country. Consequently, infertile couples will be more ensured/confident of the ethical practices in ARTs.
Background The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2020 is the most recent, in a series of legislations approved by the Union Cabinet to protect and safeguard the reproductive rights of women. The bill makes provisions for safe and ethical practice of assisted reproductive technology services in the country. Through the bill, the National Board, the State Boards, the National Registry and the State Registration Authorities respectively will regulate and supervise assisted reproductive technology clinics and assisted reproductive technology banks.
Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. India has one of the highest growths in the ART centers and the number of ART cycles performed every year. Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), including In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), has given hope to a multitude of persons suffering from infertility, but also introduced a plethora of legal, ethical and social issues.
India has become one of the major centres of this global fertility industry, with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity. Clinics in India offer nearly all the ART services—gamete donation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF, ICSI, PGD and gestational surrogacy. However, in spite of so much activity in India, there is yet no standardisation of protocols and reporting is still very inadequate.
The need to regulate the Assisted Reproductive Technology Services is mainly to protect the affected Women and the Children from exploitation. The oocyte donor needs to be supported by an insurance cover, protected from multiple embryo implantation and children born through Assisted reproductive technology should be provided all rights equivalent to a Biological Children. The cryopreservation of sperm, oocytes and embryo by the ART Banks needs to be regulated and the bill intends to make Pre-Genetic Implantation Testing mandatory for the benefit of the child born through assisted reproductive technology.
Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020 The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020 proposes to regulate surrogacy in India by establishing National Board at the central level and State Boards and Appropriate Authorities in the States and Union Territories. The Bill has been examined by the Select Committee and the report has been tabled in the Rajya Sabha on the 5th of February 2020.
The major benefit of the Act would be that it will regulate the surrogacy services in the country. While commercial surrogacy will be prohibited including sale and purchase of human embryos and gametes, ethical surrogacy to the Indian Married couple, Indian Origin Married Couple and Indian Single Woman (only widow or Divorcee) will be allowed on fulfillment of certain conditions. As such, it will control the unethical practices in surrogacy, prevent commercialization of surrogacy and will prohibit potential exploitation of surrogate mothers and children born through surrogacy.
Medical Termination Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2020 The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (34 of 1971) was enacted to provide for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The said Act recognised the importance of safe, affordable, accessible abortion services to women who need to terminate pregnancy under certain specified conditions.
Besides this, several Writ Petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court and various High Courts seeking permission for aborting pregnancies at gestational age beyond the present permissible limit on the grounds of foetal abnormalities or pregnancies due to sexual violence faced by women.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved revamping of "Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)" and "Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)" to address the existing challenges in implementation of Crop Insurance Schemes.
It is proposed to modify certain parameters/provisions of ongoing schemes of PMFBY and RWBCIS as under: Allocation of business to Insurance Companies to be done for three years (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
Option shall be given to States/UTs to choose Scale of Finance or district level Value of Notional Average Yield (NAY) i.e. NAY* Minimum Support Price (MSP) as Sum Insured for any district crop combination (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS). Farm gate price will be considered for the other crops for which MSP is not declared.
Central Subsidy under PMFBY/RWBCIS to be limited for premium rates upto 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for irrigated areas/crops. Districts having 50% or more irrigated area will be considered as irrigated area/district (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
Flexibility to States/UTs to implement the Scheme with option to select any or many of additional risk covers/features like prevented sowing, localised calamity, mid-season adversity, and post-harvest losses. Further, States/UT can offer specific single peril risk/insurance covers, like hailstorm etc, under PMFBY even with or without opting for base cover (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
States not to be allowed to implement the Scheme in subsequent Seasons in case of considerable delay by States in release of requisite Premium Subsidy to concerned Insurance Companies beyond a prescribed time limit. Cut-off dates for invoking this provision for Kharif and Rabi seasons will be 31st March and 30th September of successive years respectively (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
For estimation of crop losses/admissible claims, two-Step Process to be adopted based on defined Deviation matrix" using specific triggers like weather indicators, satellite indicators, etc. for each area along with normal ranges and deviation ranges. Only areas with deviations will be subject to Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) for assessment of yield loss (PMFBY).
Technology solutions like Smart Sampling Technique (SST) and optimization of number of CCEs to be adopted in conducting CCEs (PMFBY).
In case of non-provision of yield data beyond cut-off date by the States to implementing Insurance Companies, claims to be settled based on yield arrived through use of Technology solution (PMFBY alone).
Enrolment under the Scheme to be made voluntary for all farmers (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
Central Share in Premium Subsidy to be increased to 90% for North Eastern States from the existing sharing pattern of 50:50 (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
Provisioning of at least 3% of the total allocation for the Scheme to be made by Government of India and Implementing State Governments for administrative expenses. This shall be subject to an upper cap fixed by DAC&FW for each State (Both PMFBY/RWBCIS).
Besides above, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare in consultation with other stakeholders/agencies will prepare/develop State specific, alternative risk mitigation programme for crops/areas having high rate of premium. Further, as the scheme is being made voluntary for all farmers, therefore, to provide financial support and effective risk mitigation tools through crop insurance especially to 151 districts which are highly water stressed including 29 which are doubly stressed because of low income of farmers and drought, a separate, scheme in this regard would also be prepared.
The concerned provisions/parameters of scheme and operational guidelines of the PMFBY and RWBCIS shall be modified to incorporate the above said modifications and shall be made operational from Kharif 2020 season.
Benefits With these changes it is expected that farmers would be able to manage risk in agriculture production in a better way and will succeed in Stabilizing the farm income. Further, it will increase coverage in north eastern region enabling farmers of NER to manage their agricultural risk in a better way. These changes will also enable quick and accurate yield estimation leading to faster claims settlement.
These changes are proposed to be implemented from Kharif’ 2020 Season throughout the Country.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited “Hunar Haat” here today. He visited the stalls of master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts from across the country participating in Hunar Haat.
More than 250 such stalls have been set up at India Gate lawns. Also, more than 50 percent of the artisans participating were women.
The Prime Minister interacted with the participating artisans at the Haat and also witnessed the cultural programs.
“Hunar Haat” reflects the government's commitment to providing employment opportunities as well as preserving and promoting India’s indigenous traditional legacy, several of which are on the verge of extinction.
The theme of this year’s Hunar Haat is ‘Kaushal ko Kaam’. About 3 lakh master artisans, craftsmen & culinary experts have been provided employment and employment opportunities through Hunar Haat in the last 3 years. These beneficiaries include a large number of women artisans.
Erdogan went on to say that what happened in Turkey during World War I was now happening in Kashmir, that is the Battle of Çanakkale
What is the Battle of Çanakkale? The Battle of Çanakkale, also known as the Gallipoli campaign or the Dardanelles campaign, is considered to be one of the bloodiest of World War I, during which the Ottoman army faced off against the Allied forces, leading to the slaughter of tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
It was an unsuccessful attempt by the Allied Powers to control the sea route from Europe to Russia during World War I.
The campaign began with a failed naval attack by British and French ships on the Dardanelles Straits in February-March 1915 and continued with a major land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, involving British and French troops as well as divisions of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).
Lack of sufficient intelligence and knowledge of the terrain, along with a fierce Turkish resistance, hampered the success of the invasion.
Key outcomes and significance: The campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory.
In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the history of the state, a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire retreated.
The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey eight years later.
The campaign is often considered to be the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness- April 25, anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, is observed as ANZAC Day, the day of national remembrance for the war dead.
Court’s observations: The Supreme Court rejected arguments against greater role for women officers, saying these violated equality under law. The biological argument was also rejected as disturbing.
The court has rejected government’s arguments, saying they are based on sex stereotypes premised on assumptions about socially ascribed roles of gender which discriminate against women.
It has also said that it only shows the need “to emphasise the need for change in mindsets to bring about true equality in the Army”.
Background: The case was first filed in the Delhi High Court by women officers in 2003, and had received a favourable order in 2010. But the order was never implemented, and was challenged in the Supreme Court by the government.
Women in Army: Background of the case: The induction of women officers in the Army started in 1992. They were commissioned for a period of five years in certain chosen streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps, and Corps of Engineers. Recruits under the Women Special Entry Scheme (WSES) had a shorter pre-commission training period than their male counterparts who were commissioned under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme.
In 2006, the WSES scheme was replaced with the SSC scheme, which was extended to women officers. They were commissioned for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years. Serving WSES officers were given the option to move to the new SSC scheme, or to continue under the erstwhile WSES. They were to be however, restricted to roles in streams specified earlier — which excluded combat arms such as infantry and armoured corps.
What was the main issue now? While male SSC officers could opt for permanent commission at the end of 10 years of service, this option was not available to women officers. They were, thus, kept out of any command appointment, and could not qualify for government pension, which starts only after 20 years of service as an officer.
Why the government was against this? Motherhood, childcare, psychological limitations have a bearing on the employment of women officers in the Army.
Family separation, career prospects of spouses, education of children, prolonged absence due to pregnancy, motherhood were a greater challenge for women to meet the exigencies of service.
Physical limitations: Soldiers will be asked to work in difficult terrains, isolated posts and adverse climate conditions. Officers have to lead from the front. They should be in prime physical condition to undertake combat tasks. The Govt. said women were not fit to serve in ground combat roles.
Behavioural and Psychological Challenges: Army units were a “unique all-male environment”. The presence of women officers would require “moderated behaviour”. The male troop predominantly comes from a rural background and may not be in a position to accept commands from a female leader.
But, why they should be granted permanent commission? Past records: A quick look at the past records reveals, all the arguments put forth against giving women more responsibility have been answered by the armed forces by giving women greater responsibility in uniform — the IAF has allowed women to become fighter pilots, and the Army has sent them to tough UN peacekeeping missions globally.
Women officers are already commanding platoons, companies and second in command successfully, with male soldiers accepting orders from them as part of a professional force.
Now they are being excluded from commanding a unit, only on the basis that they are women. This argument doesn’t hold water.
A professional force does not discriminate on the basis of gender, it works because of training, norms and culture. Denying women the posts will be an “extremely retrograde step” and “will inflict irreparable injury” to their dignity.
Order and its implications: It means that women officers will be eligible to tenant all the command appointments, at par with male officers, which would open avenues for further promotions to higher ranks for them.
It also means that in junior ranks and career courses, women officers would be attending the same training courses and tenanting critical appointments, which are necessary for higher promotions.
The implications of the judgment will have to be borne by the human resources management department of the Army, which will need to change policy in order to comply.
Way ahead: The bigger shift will have to take place in the culture, norms, and values of the rank and file of the Army, which will be the responsibility of the senior military and political leadership. After the Supreme Court’s progressive decision, they have no choice but to bite the proverbial bullet.
Background: Bifurcation of J&K into two UTs has led to redrawing of Assembly constituency boundaries. While, the UT of Ladakh will not have its own legislature, J&K will. This would be similar to Puducherry or Delhi.
Such delimitation was also necessitated in 2014 when Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were bifurcated.
What is Delimitation? Delimitation literally means the process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a state that has a legislative body.
How it will be done? The new state assembly shall have 114 seats (currently 107), out of which only 90 will be open for elections, and the remaining 24 will be shadow seats reserved for the areas of the erstwhile state that have been occupied by Pakistan (PoJK).
For the delimitation exercise, the population figures of 2011 census shall be taken as the basis.
The J&K Representation of the People Act 1957 has now been invalidated and, instead, delimitation will be done as per the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (as amended from time to time) and provisions of Sections 59, 60 of Act 34 of 2019.
Who carries out the exercise? Delimitation is undertaken by a highly powerful commission. They are formally known as Delimitation Commission or Boundary Commission.
These bodies are so powerful that its orders have the force of law and they cannot be challenged before any court.
Such commissions have been constituted at least four times in India — in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952; in 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962; in 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972 and last in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.
The commissions’ orders are enforced as per the date specified by the President of India. Copies of these orders are laid before the Lok Sabha or the concerned Legislative Assembly. No modifications are permitted.
Composition of the Commission: According to the Delimitation Commission Act, 2002, the Delimitation Commission appointed by the Centre has to have three members: a serving or retired judge of the Supreme Court as the chairperson, and the Chief Election Commissioner or Election Commissioner nominated by the CEC and the State Election Commissioner as ex-officio members.
About SUTRA PIC- Scientific Utilisation Through Research Augmentation-Prime Products from Indigenous Cows:
It is led by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
It is supported by the Department of Biotechnology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Ministry for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy) among others and the Indian Council of Medical Research as partners.
It has five themes: Uniqueness of Indigenous Cows. Prime-products from Indigenous Cows for Medicine and Health. Prime-products from Indigenous Cows for Agricultural Applications. Prime-products from Indigenous Cows for Food and Nutrition. Prime-products from indigenous cows-based utility items.
Aims and objectives: Scientific research on the complete characterisation of milk and milk products derived from Indian indigenous cows.
Scientific research on nutritional and therapeutic properties of curd and ghee prepared from indigenous breeds of cows by traditional methods. Development of standards for traditionally processed dairy products of Indian-origin cows, etc.
However, users in India will be able to continue using the existing facilities at the over 400 stations via RailTel, Google’s partner in India for the programme.
Why? Google believes that better data plans and improving mobile connectivity have made it “simpler and cheaper” for users to get online.
India, specifically now has among the cheapest mobile data per GB in the world, with mobile data prices having reduced by 95% in the last 5 years, as per TRAI in 2019. Today, Indian users consume close to 10 GB of data, each month, on average.
Besides the Indian government’s continuous impetus for internet penetration through the Digital India programme, private sector initiatives such as Vodafone’s SuperWi-fi coupled with the entry of Reliance Jio 4G services have drastically brought down the cost of internet subscription. This has been instrumental to the growth of internet users in India.
Above all, the challenge of varying technical requirements and infrastructure among partners across countries has also made it difficult for Station to scale and be sustainable.
Background: The programme was kick-started in India in 2015 as a partnership between Google, Indian Railways and RailTel to bring fast, free public WiFi to over 400 of the busiest railway stations by mid-2020.
However, the company crossed that number by June 2018, following which more locations were added across the country in partnership with telecommunication companies, ISPs and local authorities.
Key findings: Over 50 per cent of the 867 species studied, exhibit a population decline in the long term while 146 are at great risk in the short term. The populations of raptors (eagles, hawks, kites, etc.), migratory seabirds and birds that live in specialised habitats were the most affected in the past decades.
The number of birds in the Western Ghats, which is considered one of the world’s foremost biodiversity hotspots, also declined by almost 75 per cent since 2000.
Indian Peafowl, the national bird, has shown a dramatic increase in both abundance and distribution across the country. The number of house sparrows has also stabilised nationwide, although there is still a marked decline in their population in cities.
126 species, including the peafowl, house sparrow, Asian Koel, rose-ringed parakeet and the common tailorbird, are expected to increase in numbers, primarily due to their ability to survive in human habitats.
How was the study carried out? The data for these birds was collected through the citizen science app ‘eBird’, which received a record ten million entries by approximately 15,500 citizen scientists.
Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology hosts the app, while its India-specific portal is curated and customised by Bird Count India, an informal group of birdwatching enthusiasts, ornithologists, naturalists and conservationists dedicated to documenting Indian birds.
Concerns: This assessment makes it very clear that our birds are in overall decline, in some cases catastrophically so.
Several spectacular birds, many of them endemic to the sub-continent, face a growing threat from loss of habitat due to:
Human activity. The widespread presence of toxins, including pesticides. Hunting and trapping for the pet trade.
Categorisation: It categorises 101 species as ‘High Conservation Concern for India’. 319 species are classified under the ‘Moderate Conservation Concern’ These species must be carefully monitored to rapidly detect and act upon signs of continuing decline.
What next? This information should also translate into many voices being raised for bird conservation, both among conservation bodies, and the general public.
Many urgent policy measures need to be adopted immediately. Conservation action must be taken immediately to identify causes of decline and implement measures to halt and reverse the trend for these species.
The Punjab Agri Export Corporation recently launched the ‘Punjab Kinnow’ brand at the kinnow festival in Abohar.
This brand of kinnow, which is considered the ‘king fruit’ of Punjab, is also said to be “pesticide-free”.
Punjab being the largest producer of kinnow in the country, such branding will attract more consumers. orange
Context: The Election Commission of India has been awarded ‘Silver’ for Excellence in Government Process re-engineering for digital transformation for the year 2019-20.
The award was given in recognition of ERONET.
Key facts: ERONET is a common database for all States and UTs with data of 91 crore electors.
It provides bedrock of electoral roll in providing various web services to Conduct of Elections applications of Election Commission of India.
It automates the process of electoral roll management starting from elector registration, field verification of electors, decision support system for Electoral registration officers and for providing extensive integrated value-added services.