19th November 2020 Currents Affairs Analysis
By IASToppers' Editorial Team | 2020-11-19 17:00:00
Polity & Governance
Karnataka wants to declassify some forest as deemed
Recently, Karnataka announced that it would soon declassify 6.64 lakh hectares of the 9.94 lakh hectares of deemed forests in the state (nearly 67%).
Deemed forests are land tracts that appear to be a “forest”, but have not been notified so by the government or in historical records.
However, this only applies to forest land that has not already been historically classified as “forest” in revenue records, or categorised by the government as “protected” or “reserve forest”.
Supreme court in T N Godavarman Thirumalpad (1996) case order state governments to identify such deemed forest.
T N Godavarman Thirumalpad case
While the concept of deemed forests has not been clearly defined in any law including the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the Supreme Court in the case of T N Godavarman
Thirumalpad (1996) accepted a wide definition of forests under the Act.
Definition of Forest: The word ‘forest’ must be understood according to its dictionary meaning. This description covers all statutorily recognised forests, whether designated as
reserved, protected or otherwise for the purpose of Section 2 (1) of the Forest Conservation Act.
Definition of Forest Land: The term ‘forest land’ will not only include ‘forest’ as understood in
the dictionary sense, but also any areas recorded as forest in the government record irrespective of the ownership.
Implications:
continuously monitored by the Supreme Court since the Godavarman case judgment in 1996.
Thus, state government must obtain clearances from the Supreme Court before making changes to land classified as deemed forests since the verdict.
Why Karnataka want to release 6.64 lakh hectares of deemed forests?
In 2014, Karnataka said that some of the ‘statutory forests’ had been wrongly classified as ‘deemed forest’ by the expert committee constituted after the Supreme Court order (1996).Argument of Karnataka government
The committee used dictionary definition of forests. It should have applied well-defined scientific, verifiable criteria in identifying deemed forests.
Such false classification resulted in conflicts between the Forest Department and other departments like Revenue, Irrigation, Public Works and Energy.
Also, land was randomly classified as deemed forest by officials, causing hardship to farmers in
some areas.
[Ref: Indian Express]
Issues related to Health & Education
Finance panel for public-private partnerships to ramp up health infrastructure
The 15th Finance Commission recommended to scale up public spending on health from 0.95% of GDP
The 15th Finance Commission submitted its report of the period -- 2021-22 to 2025-26 -- to the President of India.
Recommendations of the report:
The total spending of around 0.95% of GDP is not adequate under the National Healthy Policy of 2017. There is a need to raise public spending from 0.95% of GDP to 2.5% of GDP by 2024. The public outlays should focus on primary health care at the panchayat and municipality level. The private players should be relied on for specialty healthcare.
To achieve better healthcare parameters, public-private partnerships must be considered “in
a holistic way” instead of the current situation where the government only turns to the private
sector in times of emergency.
The commission has recommended steps to fix the skewed availability of healthcare across
India as poorer States have the worst facilities.
It recommended substantial improvements in the working conditions for doctors in
government hospitals, many of whom are hired on a contract basis by States.
Recommendation of creation of an Indian Medical Service cadre as envisaged in the Civil
15th Finance Commission for FY 2020-21
The Finance Commission is a constitutional body formed by the President of India to give suggestions on centre-state financial relations.
The 15th Finance Commission (Chair: Mr N. K. Singh) was required to submit two reports. 1. The first report – Recommendations for the financial year 2020-21, was tabled in Parliament on
February 1, 2020.
2. The final report – Recommendations for the 2021-26 period was submitted by October 30, 2020.
Key recommendations in the first report (2020-21 period) include:
The share of states in the centre’s taxes is recommended to be decreased from 42% during the
2015-20 period to 41% for 2020-21.
The 1% decrease is to provide for the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh from the resources of the central government.
States with lower per capita income would be given a higher share to maintain equity among states.
The Commission used only 2011 population data for its recommendations.
The Demographic Performance criterion has been introduced to reward efforts made by states in controlling their population.
[Ref: The Hindu]
Economy
RBI set up Reserve Bank Innovation Hub
The Reserve Bank of India has set up Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) for the financial sector.
About Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH):
Aim: To create an eco-system that would focus on promoting access to financial services and
products. This will also promote financial inclusion.
It would be guided and managed by the 9-member governing council.
Function:
Collaborate with financial sector institutions, technology industry and academic institutions and coordinate efforts for exchange of development of prototypes related to financial
innovations.
Develop internal infrastructure to promote fintech research and facilitate engagement with
innovators and start-ups.
Regulatory sandbox structure:
In November 2019, RBI regulatory sandbox structure to promote innovation across the financial sector by leveraging on technology (same aim as of RBIH).
A regulatory sandbox is a framework set up by a regulator that allows FinTech startups and other innovators to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment under a
regulator's supervision.
[Ref: Business Standard]
Environment, Ecology & Disaster Management
Atlantic Ocean’s Largest Protected Marine Reserve
Tristan Da Cunha has been declared as the largest Protected Marine Reserve in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is a remote group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world.
It is a British Overseas Territory with its own constitution.
It was once the main trading route between Europe and the Indian Ocean.
Biodiversity:
The water around the islands is considered to be the richest in the world.
Home to the World Heritage Site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, which is one of the most important seabird islands in the world.
Home to several species of land birds that live nowhere else, including the Wilkins bunting, the U.K.’s rarest bird, and the Inaccessible rail, the world’s smallest flightless bird.
Thus, it is home millions of seabirds and several unique land birds that are comparable to the Galapagos island finches.
Marine Protected Zones (MPZs) involve the management of certain natural areas for biodiversity conservation or species protection and are created by delineating zones with permitted and non-permitted areas within that zone.
After being declared a Protected Marine Reserve, Tristan da Cunha has become the largest
no-take zone in the Atlantic Ocean and the fourth largest on the planet.
This prohibits fishing, mining, and any such activities.
This development is also supported by the Blue Belt Program which is an initiative of the United Kingdom to support UK Overseas Territories with the protection and sustainable management of their marine environments.
[Ref: Indian Express]
Vulture Action Plan 2020-25 for the conservation of vultures launched
Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched a Vulture Action Plan
Highlights of the Plan:
A conservation project for vultures is running since 2006, it is to now extend to 2025 for: Halting the decline and
Actively increase the vulture numbers in India
The Ministry plans on carrying out safety testing of available Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammataory Drugs (NSAIDs) on vultures and to develop new ones which do not affect vultures.
The sale of veterinary NSAIDs will be regulated and livestock are treated only by qualified veterinarians.
Additional Conservation Breeding Centres are being planned across the country, along with
Vulture Conservation Centres with samples and information collected from the wild analysed and stored at these centres — one each in Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu.
Four rescue centres have been proposed for different geographical areas like:
Pinjore in the north Bhopal in ventral India Guwahati in Northeast Hyderabad in South India
Vultures status in India:
Vulture numbers saw a steep slide — as much as 90 per cent in some species since the 1990s. It is one of the most drastic declines in bird populations in the world.
The 99 % of the three presently critically-endangered species – the Oriental white-backed,
long-billed and slender-billed vultures has been wiped out between the 1990s and 2007.
The number of red-headed vultures (critically-endangered) declined by 91% while the
Egyptian vultures by 80%.
The Egyptian vulture is listed as ‘endangered’
What is the reason for population decline?
The cause of the crash was established as diclofenac.Diclofenac is a veterinary NONSTEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUG (NSAID) used to treat pain and inflammatory diseases such as gout in carcasses that vultures would feed off.
Just 0.4-0.7 per cent of animal carcasses contaminated with diclofenac was sufficient to decimate 99 per cent of vulture populations.
Previous conservation efforts:
The MoEFCC released the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2006 with the DCGI. It banned the veterinary use of diclofenac and the decline of the vulture population being arrested by 2011.
Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme established by Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
The Vulture Safe Zone programme is being implemented at eight different places in the country.
Key Facts:
There are nine recorded species of vultures in India: Oriental white-backed
Long-billed Slender-billed Himalayan Red-headed Egyptian Bearded Cinereous and Eurasian Griffon
An area is declared a Vulture Safe Zone only when:
no toxic drugs are found in undercover pharmacy and cattle carcass surveys, for two consecutive years, and
the vulture populations are stable and not declining. [Ref: Indian Express]
Bilateral & International Relations
PM?of India attended 12th BRICS?summit
12th edition of BRICS Summit hosted by Russia, under the theme of ''Global Stability, Shared Security
and Innovative Growth'', was recently held.
The BRICS counter-terrorism strategy was issued.
It calls upon all nations to prevent the use of their territories for terrorist bases or
organization of terrorist acts intended to be committed against other States or their citizens. It also underlined the cross-border movement of terrorists.
Talked about “respect for territorial integrity” of Syria, Libya, Iraq and in the context of the UN.
UNSC Reforms: India raised the issue of credibility and effectiveness of the institutions that were
necessary for global governance. It asks for urgent United Nations Security Council reforms.
Vaccine: BRICS countries will play a significant role in the recovery of the post COVID-19 world as the
42% of the world’s population resides in the BRICS countries.
About BRICS:
It was established in 2009 with four member states — Brazil, India, Russia and China (BRIC). An extra "S" was added to the acronym following the addition of the fifth member South Africa to the group in 2010.
In 2014, BRICS established the New Development Bank with its base in Shanghai.
Aim of the bank: To mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development
projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing nations. The last BRICS summit was hosted by Brazil in November 2019.
The next summit will be hosted by India. So far India has hosted the summit twice - in 2012 and
2016. BRICS comprises:
41 % of the world's population, 24 % of the global GDP and 17 % of the share in world trade.
Import
30% of India's total imports are from the other four Brics nations. China, on the other hand, is the least dependent for imports vis-a-vis its Brics partners.
A mere 9 % of India's export were to the BRICS nation. This was marginally higher than China's 7%.
Key Fact:
India will be taking over the chairship of the BRICS, which would be the third BRICS Presidency for the India since its inception, after 2012 and 2016, and will host the 13th BRICS Summit in 2021.
[Ref: The Hindu]
Defence and Security
India has dismissed as ‘fake’ a report about China’s use of ‘microwave weapons’
The claim of Chinese army of using “microwave weapons” to drive Indian soldiers away from their positions in eastern Ladakh has been rejected by the Indian Army.
What was the claim of China?
The report claimed that the “microwave weapons” were allegedly deployed by China in Ladakh used “beams of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation to heat the water in a human
target’s skin, causing pain and discomfort”.
China had used a “microwave weapon” in late August to retake land that had been occupied by the Indian Army on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh.
The report claimed that Chinese forces had turned two strategic hilltops occupied by Indian soldiers “into a microwave oven”, forcing them to retreat, and allowing the positions to be retaken without an exchange of conventional fire.
Background:
India and China have been locked in a tense standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh for the last six months.
Twenty Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese were killed in a fierce clash between the two armies in Galwan Valley on June 15.
What are ‘microwave weapons’?
“Microwave weapons” are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly
focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
In a microwave oven, an electron tube called a magnetron produces electromagnetic waves (microwaves) that bounce around the metal interior of the appliance, and are absorbed by the food.
The microwaves agitate the water molecules in the food, and their vibration produces heat that cooks the food.
Foods with a high water content cook faster in a microwave often than drier foods.
Countries having ‘microwave weapons’:
China had first put on display its “microwave weapon”, called Poly WB-1, at an air show in 2014.
The United States has also developed a prototype microwave-style weapon, which it calls the
“Active Denial System”.
‘Microwave weapons’ used in past:
The US apparently deployed such a weapon in Afghanistan, but withdrew it without ever using it against human targets.
In 2016, employees at the US embassy in Havana, Cuba, may have been targeted with a covert sonic weapon.
Subsequently, in 2018, staff at the US consulate in Guangzhou, China complained of a possible similar attack in 2017.
In all, more than three dozen American diplomats and members of their families in Cuba and China were suspected to have been targeted using ‘microwave weapons’.
They reported symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.
How dangerous are these weapons?
Sudden effects may include: A loud noise exposure, a pressure sensation, ear pain, then
ringing in the ears and dizziness.
Other effects: Difficulty breathing Disorientation Nausea Pain Vertigo
Other systemic discomfort [Ref: Indian Express]
