Daily Prelims Notes 9 November 2020

November 9, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

1. UN ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE AND BUDGETARY QUESTIONS (ACABQ)

Subject: International Events

Context: Indian diplomat Vidisha Maitra was elected to the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.

Concept:

The 193-member General Assembly appoints members of the Advisory Committee. Members are selected on the basis of broad geographical representation, personal qualifications and experience.
The Fifth Committee of the General Assembly, which deals with administrative and budgetary issues, recommended Maitra to the Assembly for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2021.
The victory comes as India gets ready to sit in the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for a two-year term beginning January 2021.

ACABQ:

ACABQ consists of 16 members appointed by the Assembly in their individual capacity.
ACABQ ensures that fund contributions to the UN system are put to good effect and that mandates are properly funded.
The major functions of the Advisory Committee are to examine and report on the budget submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly and to advise the General Assembly concerning any administrative and budgetary matters referred to it.

2. HIMACHAL PRADESH’S LAW AGAINST RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

Subject: Polity

Context: Haryana Home Minister said that his government is considering a law against forced religious conversions and has sought information about such a law already in force in Himachal Pradesh.

Concept:

Salient features of the law:

Last year, the Himachal Pradesh assembly passed the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2019.
According to it, no person shall convert any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage; nor shall any person abet or conspire such conversion.
The Act does not cover a person re-converting to his “parent religion”.
Any marriage done for the sole purpose of religion conversion may be declared null and void by a court on a petition by either party.
Anyone who wishes to convert to any other religion will give a declaration to the district authorities at least one month in advance, specifying that one is doing so as per his/her “own volition or free consent”.
The burden of proof as to whether a religious conversion was not effected through force or fraud lies on the person so converted, or the person who has facilitated the conversion.
All offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable. The violator can be punished with a prison term ranging from one to five years, along with a fine.

3. ATAL BEEMIT VYAKTI KALYAN YOJANA (ABVKY)

Subject: Govt Schemes

Context: Ministry of Labour and Employment said that submitting claims through Affidavit Form is now no longer required under Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation- ESIC.

Concept:

Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana is a welfare measure being implemented by the Employee’s State Insurance (ESI) Corporation.
It offers cash compensation to insured persons when they are rendered unemployed.
The scheme provides relief to the extent of 50% of the average per day earning during the previous four contribution periods (total earning during the four contribution period/730) to be paid up to maximum 90 days of unemployment once in lifetime of the Insured Person.
The Scheme was introduced w.e.f. 01-07-2018. The ESI Corporation in its meeting held in August this year had extended the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana’ from 1st of July, 2020 to 30th June,2021.

4. GREEN GDP

Subject: Environment

Context: In the post COVID World, we should make efforts to ensure that the ‘G’ in GDP is not ‘Gross’ but ‘Green’.

Concept:

Green GDP is a term used for expressing GDP after adjusting for environment degradations.
Green GDP is an attempt to measure the growth of an economy by subtracting the costs of environmental damages and ecological degradations from the GDP
The concept was first initiated through a System of National Accounts.
The System of National Accounts (SNA) is an accounting framework for measuring the economic activities of production, consumption and accumulation of wealth in an economy during a period of time. When information on economy’s use of the natural environment is integrated into the system of national accounts, it becomes green national accounts or environmental accounting.
The process of environmental accounting involves three steps viz. Physical accounting; Monetary valuation; and integration with national Income/wealth Accounts.
Physical accounting determines the state of the resources, types, and extent (qualitative and quantitative) in spatial and temporal terms.
Monetary valuation is done to determine its tangible and intangible components.
Thereafter, the net change in natural resources in monetary terms is integrated into the Gross Domestic Product in order to reach the value of Green GDP.

5. NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICE DAY

Subject: Polity

Context: The National Legal Services Day is celebrated on 9th November to spread awareness for ensuring reasonable fair and justice procedure for all citizens

Concept:

National Legal Services Day (NLSD) was first started by Supreme Court of India in 1995 to provide help and support to poor and weaker sections of the society.
Free legal services are provided in matters before Civil, Criminal and Revenue Courts, Tribunals or any other authority exercising judicial or quasi judicial functions.

Objectives of Legal Services Authorities are:

Provide free legal aid and advice.
Spread legal awareness.
Organise lok adalats.
Promote settlements of disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms. Various kinds of ADR mechanisms are Arbitration, Conciliation, Judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat, or Mediation.
Provide compensation to victims of crime.

Persons Eligible for Free Legal Services:

Women and Children
Persons with disability
Member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes
Industrial Workmen
Persons in custody
Victims of natural disasters, ethnic/caste violence, industrial disaster
Victims of Human Trafficking or Begar
Persons with an annual income of less than Rs. 1,00,000/- or as notified by the Central/State Governments.

Legal Services Institutions for providing Free Legal Services:

National Level : National Legal Services Authority
State Level : State Legal Services Authority. It is headed by the Chief Justice of the State High Court who is its Patron-in-Chief. A serving or retired Judge of the High Court is nominated as its Executive Chairman.
District Level : District Legal Services Authority. The District Judge of the District is its ex-officio Chairman.
Taluka/ Sub-Division Level : Taluka/ Sub-Divisional Legal Services Committee. It is headed by a senior Civil Judge.
High Court : High Court Legal Services Committee
Supreme Court: Supreme Court Legal Services Committee.

National Legal Services Authority

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 which came into force on 9th November, 1995 to establish a nationwide uniform network for providing free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society.
The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the second senior most Judge of Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.
Article 39 A of the Constitution provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society, to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity. Article 14 and Article 22 (1), obligates State to ensure equality before law.
It can be noted that the role played by NALSA and its networks is very much relevant to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal-16 , which seeks to “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.

6. AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS

Subjects: Agriculture/ Economy

Context: Commodity-wise foreign trade data from the department of commerce shows exports of farm goods from India during April-September at $18.12 billion, 4.6% higher than the $17.32 billion for the first half of 2019-20.

Concept:

Most of the agri commodities exports have grown up. The highest rise is seen in Rice (Basmati and Non basmati), sugar etc.
The general reason for rise in exports of most agri-commodities is that world prices, which were hardening in the months just before the pandemic and then crashed with lockdown measures imposed by most countries, have since resumed their earlier trajectory.
This is captured by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Food Price Index (base year: 2014-16=100), which rose from 93.3 points in September 2019 to a 61-month-high of 102.5 in January 2020.
Subsequently, it collapsed to a four-year-low of 91 points by May. But since then, it has risen every single month to touch 100.9 points in October.
The recovery in global prices — courtesy a combination of demand revival from unlockdowns (opposite to what happened in April-May), continuing supply chain disruptions (including from a shortage of shipping containers), Chinese stockpiling (in anticipation of a fresh corona outbreak during the winter) and dry weather in producer countries such as Thailand, Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine — isn’t bad news for Indian

7. CASH IN SYSTEM

Subject : Economy

Context : Four Years since Demonetisation , Cash in system is steadily rising.

Concept :

Four years after the government announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016, the currency with public for the fortnight ended October 23, 2020 stood at a record high of Rs 26.19 lakh crore — up 45.7 per cent or Rs 8.22 lakh crore from a level of Rs 17.97 lakh crore on November 4, 2016. In the fortnight ended October 23, 2020, the currency with public rose by Rs 10,441 crore to hit a new high.
Cash in the system has been steadily rising, even though the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pushed for a “less cash society”, digitisation of payments and slapped restrictions on the use of cash in various transactions.
However, the pace of rise in currency with the public has been very sharp over that last 10 months as it has risen from Rs 21.79 lakh crore as on January 3, 2020 to Rs 26.19 lakh crore as on October 23, 2020.
The jump was primarily driven by a rush for cash by the public between March and May as the government announced stringent lockdown to tackle the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As nations around the world announced lockdowns in February and the Indian government also prepared to announce lockdown, people began accumulating cash to meet their grocery and other essential needs that was being mainly catered by neighbourhood grocery stores
As per the RBI definition, currency with public is arrived at after deducting cash with banks from total currency in circulation. Currency in circulation refers to cash or currency within a country that is physically used to conduct transactions between consumers and businesses.
Earlier, the sudden withdrawal of notes in November 2016 roiled the economy, with demand falling, businesses facing a crisis and gross domestic product (GDP) growth declining nearly 1.5 per cent. Many small units were hit hard and shut shutters after the note ban. It also created a liquidity shortage.
According to an RBI study on digital payments, although digital payments have been growing gradually in recent years, both in value and volume terms across countries, the data suggests that during the same time currency in circulation to GDP ratio has increased in consonance with the overall economic growth.

8. SICHUAN-TIBET RAILWAY

Subject : International Relations

Context :Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed officials to expedite the construction of the new railway project connecting the country’s southwest Sichuan province to Linzhi in Tibet close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh, saying it would play a key role in safeguarding stability in the border areas.

Concept :

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project. It will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world’s most geologically active areas.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway starts from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province and travels through Ya’an and enters Tibet via Qamdo, shortening the journey from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 hours to 13 hours.
Linzhi, also known as Nyingchi, is located close to the Arunachal Pradesh border.
The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of south Tibet which is firmly rejected by India.