Daily Prelims Notes 25 November 2020

November 25, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject : Security

Context : Women Army officers moved the Supreme Court to debunk the defence establishment’s announcement that only 422 of 615 women officers screened have been found fit for a Permanent Commission (PC). .

Concept :

Issue:

Under the Short Service Commission scheme, women were commissioned into the Army for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years.
Women were, however, restricted to roles in specified streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps and Corps of Engineers. These specified streams excluded combat arms such as infantry and armoured corps.
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. Women officers were kept out of any command appointment and could not qualify for a government pension, which starts only after 20 years of service as an officer.
In February 2020, the SC held that there is a need for an administrative will and ‘change of mindset’ and directed the government to grant PC and command postings in all services other than combat to women Army officers.

Permanent Commission for Women

The Ministry of Defence has taken steps to ensure implementation of the grant of PC to women officers and all three services have allowed permanent recruitment of women in select streams including medical, education, legal, signals, logistics and engineering.
Indian Air Force: Women Officers recruited through the SSC in the IAF have the option of seeking PC in all streams except the flying branch.
Indian Navy: In March 2020, the SC cleared the way for PC to women in Indian Navy as well.
The Navy has allowed PC of women in a host of departments such as logistics, naval designing, air traffic control, engineering and legal.
Indian Army: Women officers are granted PC in the Indian Army in all the ten branches where women are inducted for SSC.

Implications

The women officers will be eligible to occupy all the command appointments, at par with male officers, which would open avenues for further promotions to higher ranks for them.
If women officers had served only in staff, they would not have gone beyond the rank of Colonel.
After implementation, women can rise to the rank of Colonel and above based on merit, like their male counterparts.
At the rank of Colonel, an officer picks up a substantive command and would be delegated to carry out independent tasks.
A Colonel commands a battalion, which typically consists of 850 men. A woman officer who is successful in this position could technically rise to the highest ranks of the Army, though, women officers will not be inducted into the combat arms such as the infantry, artillery or armoured corps.

2. UNLAWFUL RELIGIOUS CONVERSION BILL

Subject : Polity

Context : The Uttar Pradesh government gave its nod to an ordinance that makes unlawful religious conversion a non-bailable offence inviting penalties up to 10 years in prison if found to be effected for marriage or through misrepresentation, force, allurement etc.

Concept :

Violation of the provisions of the law would invite a jail term of not less than one year extendable to five years with a fine of ₹15,000.
However, if a minor woman or a woman from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes communities was converted through the said unlawful means, the jail term would be a minimum of three years and could be extended to 10 years with a fine of ₹25,000.
Mass conversions would invite a jail term of not less than three years up to 10 years and a fine of ₹50,000, reads the operative statement on the ordinance.
The ordinance further said that the burden to prove that a conversion was not done through misrepresentation would be on the person converting or those who facilitated it.
A person seeking to convert to another to another religion for marriage would have to inform the district magistrate two months prior to it through a prescribed form.

3. POSHAN ABHIYAAN

Subject : Government Schemes

Context : The National Nutrition Mission or the Poshan Abhiyaan, the world’s largest nutrition programme for children and mothers, must be stepped up to meet the targets set by the Centre to reduce stunting, wasting and anaemia by 2022, says a report by NITI Aayog.

Concept :

POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) was launched by the government on March 2018.
The Abhiyaan targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
The target of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to ensure service delivery and interventions by use of technology, behavioural change through convergence and lays-down specific targets to be achieved across different monitoring parameters.
Under the Abhiyaan, Swasth Bharat Preraks will be deployed one in each district for coordinating with district officials and enabling fast and efficient execution of the Abhiyaan across the country. Swasth Bharat Preraks would function as catalyst for fast tracking the implementation of the Abhiyaan.

National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges

Set up under the Poshan Abhiyaan, the Council is also known as National Council on Nutrition (NCN).
The NCN is headed by the Vice-Chairman of the NITI Aayog.
It provides policy directions to address nutritional challenges in the country and review programmes.
It is a national level coordination and convergence body on nutrition.
$200 million loan from World Bank will be used for implementing the National Nutrition Mission.

4. BAMIYAN BUDDHA

Subject : Culture

Context :At least 14 people were killed in central Afghanistan when two blasts ripped through the historic city of Bamiyan(known for Bamiyan Buddha), home to many members of the mainly Shiite Hazara ethnic minority.

Concept :

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were located in the Bamyan Valley of central Afghanistan. These were 2 statues of Buddha carved into a rocky cliff.
These monuments dated back to the 6th century. The smaller statue (Shahmama) measured 35m high while the larger statue (Sosol) was 53m high- some of the largest examples of carved standing Buddhas in the world.

Gandhara Art

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were an example of the Gandhara style of art. It is also called Greco-Buddhist art, showing influences of the Hellenistic styles of classical Greek sculptures. It is a blend of western and eastern art forms. The style is said to have originated in Afghanistan.

Destruction in 2001

The Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed by the Taliban regime under its supreme leader, Mullah Omar. They were destroyed over several weeks using dynamites, anti-aircraft guns, artillery, anti-tank missiles, etc.

5. ARTICLE 32 & 33

Subject : Polity

Context : A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde observed that it is trying to discourage individuals from filing petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution.

Concept :

Notes on Article 32

Article 32 is one of the fundamental rights listed in the Constitution that each citizen is entitled.
Article 32 deals with the ‘Right to Constitutional Remedies’, or affirms the right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred in Part III of the Constitution.
Only if fundamental rights is violated can a person can approach the Supreme Court directly under Article 32.
Both the High Courts and the Supreme Court can be approached for violation or enactment of fundamental rights through five kinds of writs:
Habeas corpus – related to personal liberty in cases of illegal detentions and wrongful arrests
Mandamus — directing public officials, governments, courts to perform a statutory duty;
Quo warranto — to show by what warrant is a person holding public office;
Prohibition — directing judicial or quasi-judicial authorities to stop proceedings which it has no jurisdiction for; and
Certiorari — re-examination of an order given by judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative authorities.

Notes on Article 33 :

Parliament may, by law, determine to what extent any of the rights conferred by this Part , in their application to, –

(a) the members of the Armed Forces; or

(b) the members of the Forces charged with the maintenance of public order; or

(c) persons employed in any bureau or other organisation established by the State for purposes of intelligence or counter intelligence; or

(d) persons employed in, or in connection with, the telecommunication systems set up for the purposes of any Force, bureau or organisation referred to in clauses (a) to (c),

shall be restricted or abrogated so as to ensure the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them.

6. INVERTED DUTY STRUCTURE

Subject : Economics

Context :The rubber goods industry, especially the non-tyre segment, is worried over the irrational duty structure that has put several domestic manufacturing units in a precarious position.

Concept :

Inverted duty structure (IDS) is a situation where the rate of tax on inputs used is higher than the rate of tax on the finished good.
Take an imaginary situation of tyre industry, the tax rate on natural rubber (input) purchased is 10% whereas the tax rate on rubber tyre is 5%. Here since the tax rate on input is higher than that on the finished good, there is an inverted tax structure.
The normal situation is that tax on inputs used is lower than the tax rate of the finished goods. Inverted duty structure is usually prevalent in the case of customs duty (import duty).

7. 3D PRINTING

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Researchers published the results of clinical trials on an innovation: 3D printed nasal swabs as an alternative to commercial swabs to test for Covid-19.

Concept :

The cost of materials per 3D-printed nasal swab ranges from 26 to 46 cents; commercial swabs cost about $1 each, the authors said.

3D Printing

Three-dimensional printing (3-D printing), also known as Additive manufacturing (AM) is a process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer. It is basically a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
This is opposite of ‘Subtractive Manufacturing’ which works on removal of material to create a desired object. It is similar to a man who cuts a stone to create a sculpture.

Process of 3D Printing:

3D printing starts by making a virtual design of the object to be created. Virtual design can be made using a 3D modelling program such as CAD (Computer Aided Design) or 3D scanners.
The 3D digital copy is then put into a 3D modelling program. The model is then sliced into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers in preparation for printing.
This prepared file is thus uploaded in the 3D printer which reads each slices in 2D format and then proceeds to create the object layer by layer and the resulting object has no sign of layering visible, but a 3 dimensional structure.

8. RBI ON NBFC’S CONVERSION

Subject : Economics

Context : The internal working group of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggested that large Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFCs) can convert into banks if they fulfill certain criteria.

Concept :

Well run large NBFCs, with an asset size of ₹50,000 crore and above, including those which are owned by a corporate house, may be considered for conversion into banks subject to completion of 10 years of operations and meeting due diligence criteria and compliance with additional conditions specified in this regard,” the central bank panel recommended.

Non-Banking Financial Companies

A Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares/stocks/bonds/debentures/securities issued by Government or local authority or other marketable securities of a like nature, leasing, hire-purchase, insurance business, chit business.
But, it does not include any institution whose principal business is that of agriculture activity, industrial activity, purchase or sale of any goods (other than securities) or providing any services and sale/purchase/construction of immovable property.
A non-banking institution which is a company and has a principal business of receiving deposits under any scheme or arrangement in one lump sum or in instalments by way of contributions or in any other manner is also a non-banking financial company (Residuary non-banking company).

Difference between NBFC and Banks :

NBFCs lend and make investments, and hence their activities are akin to that of banks; however, there are a few differences. Unlike banks ,
NBFC cannot accept demand deposits;
NBFCs do not form part of the payment and settlement system and cannot issue cheques drawn on itself.
Deposit insurance facility of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is not available to depositors of NBFCs, unlike in case of banks.
Unlike Banks which are regulated by the RBI, the NBFCs are regulated by multiple regulators; Insurance Companies- IRDA, Merchant Banks- SEBI, Micro Finance Institutions- State Government, RBI and NABARD.
The norm of Public Sector Lending does not apply to NBFCs.
The Cash Reserve Requirement also does not apply to NBFCs.