INDIAN POLITY PREPARATION-UPSC CIVIL SERVICE

 

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Environment 2017

National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change

• NAFCC was operationalised in 2015-16.

• The fund is meant to assist national and state level activities to meet the cost of adaptation

measures in areas that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

• This scheme has been taken as Central Sector Scheme with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) as National Implementing Entity (NIE).

• The overall aim of the fund is to support concrete adaptation activities which are not covered under ongoing schemes of State and National Government that reduce the adverse effects of climate change facing community sector and states

Science & Tech 2017

Vikaspedia: To provide information on health, education, agriculture, energy, social welfare and egovernance in more than 10 languages.

GI Cloud: In order to utilise and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Meity has embarked upon an initiative - "GI Cloud" which has been coined as "MeghRaj".

Indian Economy 2017

Niryat Bandhu Scheme

It is meant for mentoring first generation entrepreneurs by leveraging the knowledge base of DGFT officers and by providing timely and appropriate guidance through orientation programmes, counselling sessions, etc., implemented by DGFT in coordination with stakeholders, namely, export councils, industry associations, state governments departments, customs, excise, etc

Indian Polity 2017

MPLADS

launched on 23^rd December, 1993.

Initially, Ministry of Rural Development was the Nodal Ministry for this scheme. In October, 1994 this scheme was transferred to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

salient features

v  Central Plan Scheme fully funded by the Government of India under which funds

v  are released in the form of grants-in-aid directly to the district authorities;

v  The funds released under the Scheme are non-lapsable, i.e. the entitlement of funds not released in a particular year is carried forward to the subsequent years, subject to eligibility. At present, the annual entitlement per MP/constituency is 5 crore;

v  Under MPLADS, the role of the Members of Parliament is limited to recommend works. Thereafter, it is the responsibility of the district authority to sanction, execute and complete the works recommended by Members of Parliament within the stipulated time period;

v  The elected Lok Sabha Members can recommend works in their respective constituencies. The elected members of the Rajya Sabha can recommend works anywhere in the state from which they are elected. Nominated members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can recommend works for implementation, anywhere in the country.

v  can be implemented in areas affected by natural calamities like floods, cyclone,hailstorm, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, landslides, tornado, earthquake, drought, tsunami, fire and biological, chemical, radiological hazards, etc. MPs from the non affected areas of the state/UT can also recommend per missible works upto a maximum of 25 lakh per annum in the affectedarea(s) in that state/UT;

v   In order to accord special attention to the development of areas inhabited by Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), 15 percent of MPLADS funds are to be utilized for areas inhabited by SC population and 7.5 per cent for areas inhabited by ST population;

v   The MP can spend a maximum of 20 lakh per year for giving assistance to differently abled citizens for purchase of tricycles (including motorized tricycles),battery operated motorized wheel chair and artificial limbs; and aids for visually and hearing impaired;

v  Funds released by the Government of India are deposited by the District administrations in nationalized banks (including IDBI Banks)/Regional Rural Banks (Gramin Banks) which are on Core Banking Platform with the Nationalized Bank as their sponsor, for each MP for the purpose of MPLAD scheme

v  The roles of Central Government, state government, district authorities and implementing agencies have been clearly defined in the guidelines on MPLADS for implementation of MPLAD Scheme.

Indian Polity 2017

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat

Announced on the occasion of the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

this innovative measure, the knowledge of the culture, traditions and practices of different states& UTs will lead to an enhanced understanding and bonding between the states, thereby strengthening the unity and integrity of India.

The broad objectives

(i) To celebrate the unity in diversity of our nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our country;

(ii) To promote the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all states and union territories through a year-long planned engagement between states;

(iii) To showcase the rich heritage and culture, customs and traditions of either state for enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India, thus fostering a sense of common identity

(iv) To establish long term engagements

(v) To create an environment which promotes learning between states by sharing best practices and experiences.

Indian Economy 2017

White Revolution

v  India is the leading milk producing nation in the world with sustainable increase in the annual milk production. Under Conservation and Genetic Improvement of Indigenous Cattle Breeds, the milk yield showed an increasing trend among the progenies of different sets. Semen doses of Gir, Kankrej, and Sahiwal were produced and utilized for insemination. Cloning of the only alive wild-buffalo of Chhattisgarh has led to cloning technology application in conservation of endangered species

Environment 2017

Cool Farm Tool

v  Model used to estimate emission of GHGs, integrates several globally determined

v  empirical GHG quantification models.

v  Using the tool, GHG fluxes (carbon-dioxide and methane), moisture and heat in the soil-plant-atmosphere systems were measured in rice-wheat rotation.

v  Maize-wheatcropping registered highest carbon management index.

v  The cumulative seasonal methane emission was reduced by 75 per cent in aerobic rice as compared to continuously flooded rice and the seasonal emissions were lower in slow-release N fertilizer

Ecology 2017

Kuanad Wetland Ecosystem

v  region covering the Alappuzha and Kottayam Districts, in the state of Kerala, India, well known for its vast paddy fields and geographical peculiarities.

v  The region has the lowest altitude in India, and is one of the few places in the world where farming is carried around 1.2 to 3.0 metres (4 to 10 ft) below sea level.

v  Kuttanadu is historically important in the ancient history of South India and is the major rice producer in the state. Farmers of Kuttinad are famous for Biosaline Farming.

v  FAO has declared the Kuttanad Farming System as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS).

v  Four of Kerala's major rivers, the Pamba, Meenachil, Achankovil and Manimala flow into the region.

v  It is well known for it boat race in the Ramankari Backwaters. 

Indian Economy-Agriculture

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY):

Outlay of 50,000 crore for a period of 5 years (2015-16 to 2019-20).

Objective

To achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable

area under irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency, enhance the adoption of precision irrigation and other water saving technologies(more crop per drop), enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices, etc.

Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Department of Land Resources and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development &Ganga Rejuvenation are involved.

Indian National Movement 2017

National Song

• composed in Sanskrit by Bankimchandra Chatterji, was a source of  inspiration to the people in their struggle for freedom.

• It has an equal status with Jana-gana-mana.It was first sung at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.

Indian National Movement 2017

National Anthem

• composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version as the National Anthem of India on January 24, 1950.

• It was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Kolkata Session of the Indian National Congress.

Indian Polity 2017

National Flag

Art 51A(a) - To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.

Statutes Governing Use of Flag

• Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950

• Prevention of Insults to National Honor Act,1971

• Flag Code of India, 2002

Happy 2017

Near Field Communication

NFC is a set of short-range wireless technologies, typically requiring a distance of 10 cm or less. NFC operates at 13.56 MHz on ISO/IEC 18000-3 air interface and at rates ranging from 106 kbit/s to 424 kbit/s. NFC always involves an initiator and a target; the initiator actively generates an RF field that can power a passive target. This enables NFC targets to take very simple form factors such as tags, stickers, key fobs, or cards that do not require batteries. NFC peer-to-peer communication is possible, provided both devices are powered.

NFC tags contain data and are typically read-only, but may be rewriteable. They can be custom-encoded by their manufacturers or use the specifications provided by the NFC Forum, an industry association charged with promoting the technology and setting key standards. The tags can securely store personal data such as debit and credit card information, loyalty program data, PINs and networking contacts, among other information. 

NFC standards cover communications protocols and data exchange formats, and are based on existing radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards

NFC devices can be used in contactless payment systems, similar to those currently used in credit cards and electronic ticket smartcards, and allow mobile payment to replace or supplement these systems. 

NFC can be used in social networking situations, such as sharing contacts, photos, videos or files, and entering multiplayer mobile games. The NFC Forum promotes the potential for NFC-enabled devices to act as electronic identity documents and keycards. As NFC has a short range and supports encryption, it may be more suitable than earlier, less private RFID systems. No pairing code is necessary to link up and because it uses chips that run on very low amounts of power (or passively, using even less), it's much more power-efficient than other wireless communication types

NFC and Bluetooth

NFC and Bluetooth are both short-range communication technologies that are integrated into mobile phones. NFC operates at slower speeds than Bluetooth, but consumes far less power and doesn't require pairing.

NFC sets up more quickly than standard Bluetooth, but has a lower transfer rate than Bluetooth low energy. With NFC, instead of performing manual configurations to identify devices, the connection between two NFC devices is automatically established in less than a tenth of a second. The maximum data transfer rate of NFC (424 kbit/s) is slower than that of Bluetooth V2.1 (2.1 Mbit/s).

With a maximum working distance of less than 20 cm, NFC has a shorter range, which reduces the likelihood of unwanted interception. That makes NFC particularly suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) becomes difficult.

In contrast to Bluetooth, NFC is compatible with existing passive RFID (13.56 MHz ISO/IEC 18000-3) infrastructures. NFC requires comparatively low power, similar to the Bluetooth V4.0 low energy protocol. When NFC works with an unpowered device (e.g., on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, a smart poster), however, the NFC power consumption is greater than that of Bluetooth V4.0 Low Energy, since illuminating the passive tag needs extra power.

What Is Cybersquatting?

Cybersquatting is registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark. It generally refers to the practice of buying up domain names that use the names of existing businesses with the intent to sell the names for a profit to those businesses.

WIPO and India

World Intellectual Property Organisation established in 1967, is the global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. It is a self-funding agency of the United Nations, with 188 member states. India became member state in 1975

Its mission is to lead the development of a balanced and effective international Intellectual Property (IP) system that enables innovation and creativity for the benefit of all. It helps governments, businesses and society realize the benefits of IP. WIPO provides the following facilities

· a policy forum to shape balanced international IP rules for a changing world

· global services to protect IP across borders and to resolve disputes

·  technical infrastructure to connect IP systems and share knowledge

· cooperation and capacity-building programs to enable all countries to use IP for economic, social and cultural development

Main IP Laws: enacted by the Union Legislature

· The Patents Act, 1970 (as amended up to Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005) (2013)

· The Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2012 

· The Trade Marks (Amendment) Act, 2010 

· Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 (Act No. 15 of 2005) 

·Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002 

· Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 

·The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000 

· The Designs Act, 2000 

· Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1999

· The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 

·The Trade Marks Act, 1999 

·Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999 

·Copyright Act, 1957 (as consolidated up to Act No. 49 of 1999) 

·Copyright (Amendment) Act, 1994 

IP-related Laws: enacted by the Union Legislature

·         The Competition Act 2002 

·         Biological Diversity Act, 2002 

·         The Seeds (Amendment) Act, 1972 

·         The Seeds Act 1966

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. . Intellectual property is divided into two categories:

·  Industrial Property includes patents for inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications.

·    Copyright covers literary works (such as novels, poems and plays), films, music, artistic works (e.g., drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures) and architectural design. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

What is a Patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention – a product or process that provides a new way of doing something, or that offers a new technical solution to a problem. A patent provides patent owners with protection for their inventions. Protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a distinctive sign that identifies certain goods or services produced or provided by an individual or a company

What is a Geographical Indication?

A geographical indication is a sign used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation due to that place of origin. Most commonly, a geographical indication consists of the name of the place of origin of the goods.

What are Copyright?

Copyright laws grant authors, artists and other creators protection for their literary and artistic creations, generally referred to as “works”.

What is an Industrial Design?

An industrial design refers to the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of an article. A design may consists of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article or two-dimensional features ,such as patterns, lines or colour.

Tribal Welfare

Article 164 of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Minister in charge of Tribal Welfare who may in addition be in charge of the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes or any other work in the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

Consequent upon the creation of the States of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, a sizable portion of the Scheduled Areas of the erstwhile State of Madhya Pradesh stands transferred to Chhattisgarh and the entire Scheduled Areas of the former Bihar State stand transferred to the newly formed Jharkhand State and the Scheduled Areas. Further, as per census figures of 2001, the percentage of the Scheduled Tribes population to total population in the four States are as follows:—

            Name of the State                                          Percentage of the Scheduled Tribes population to total

(i)                  Bihar                                                0.9

(ii)                Jharkhand                                26.3

(iii)                Chhattisgarh                              31.8

(iv)               Madhya Pradesh                                   20.3

As there are no Scheduled Areas in Bihar now and the fraction of population of the Scheduled Tribes is very small, it is proposed to exclude Bihar from the purview of the said proviso and also proposed to extend the provisions of clause (1) of Article 164 to the newly formed States of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

ECO-SENSITIVE ZONES

29 Eco Sensitive Zones notified by The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

ECO-SENSITIVE ZONES

The National Wild Life Action Plan (2002-2016) provided for declaring identified areas around Protected Areas and corridors as ecologically fragile under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, wherever necessary. The Indian Board for Wild Life on 21^st January, 2002 considered Wild Life Conservation Strategy, 2002 and recommended that lands falling within 10 km of the boundaries of National Parks and Sanctuaries should be notified as eco-fragile zones under Section 3(v) of the Environment (Protection) Act and Rule 5  Sub-Rule 5(viii) & (x) of Environment (Protection) Rules.

          The National Board for Wild Life reviewed the matter and recommended that delineation of eco-sensitive zones would have to be site specific, and relate to regulation, rather than prohibition, of specific activities. The following criteria, as proposed by the Ministry were agreed by the National Board for Wildlife for declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones around National Parks and Sanctuaries:

i.Complete protection to endemic species in its entire range;

ii.Development processes not to reduce, damage or destroy the habitat  of critically  endangered or any other threatened species;

iii.Protection to biological corridors;

iv.Protection to highly complex and diversified ecosystems susceptible to irreversible damage, like coral reefs, mangroves, etc.;

v.Sites associated with reproductive, breeding or nurturing behaviour of  rare and threatened species;

vi.Existence of pristine forests;

vii.Steep slopes ( more than 60º)

At present the 29 ESZ spread across 10 States notified by the Union Government are spread across Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Sikkim, Goa, Maharasthra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttarakhand. Jammu and Kashmir government has identified 12 ESZ around National Parks and Sanctuaries in the state, including those around the Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary, Dachigam National Park, Hemis High Altitude National Park and Changthang Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.

The conservation and sustainable development of ESZ is achieved through preparation of Zonal Master Plans for them on a scientific basis with adequate participation of the local communities and line departments of the state government. 

El Nino & La Nina

El Niño is defined by prolonged warming in the Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures when compared with the average value. El Niño and La Niña are opposite phases of what is known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. The ENSO cycle is a scientific term that describes the fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the east-central Equatorial Pacific. The ENSO cycle, both El Niño and La Niña, causes global changes of both temperatures and rainfall

The first signs of an El Niño are a weakening of the Walker circulation or trade winds and strengthening of the Hadley circulation and may include

1.  Rise in surface pressure over the Indian Ocean, Indonesia, and Australia

2.  Fall in air pressure over Tahiti and the rest of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean

3.  Trade winds in the south Pacific weaken or head east

4.  Warm air rises near Peru, causing rain in the northern Peruvian deserts

La Niña is sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Niño as the warm phase of ENSO. These deviations from normal surface temperatures can have large-scale impacts not only on ocean processes, but also on global weather and climate. La Niña caused a drop in sea surface temperatures over Southeast Asia by 2 °C. It also caused heavy rains over Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. La Niña causes mostly the opposite effects of El Niño

2014 hottest year on record: US scientists

According to US scientists, year 2014 was the hottest year on record, with global average temperature increasing about 0.8 degrees Celsius since 1880. It was revealed by two separate analyses carried out by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).However, 2014’s record warmth occurred during an El Nino-neutral year.