Governments New Initiatives Various Committees

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From 1st April, education becomes a

fundamental right

• India has join a group of few countries in the world,with a historic law making education a fundamental

right of every child coming into force.

• The Right to Education Act, 2009 — that became

effective from (1st April) — makes elementaryeducation a fundamental right under Article 21 (A) of

the Constitution. Every child in the age group 6-14will be provided elementary education in the age-appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his/her

neighbourhood.

• The act will directly benefit close to one crore childrenwho do not go to school at present.

• Nearly 92 lakh children, who had either dropped outof schools or never been to any educational

institution, will get elementary education as it will bebinding on the part of the local and State governments

to ensure that all children in the 6-14 age group getschooling.

• As per the Act, private educational institutions shouldreserve 25 per cent seats for children from the weakersections of society.

• The Centre and the States have agreed to share thefinancial burden in the ratio of 55:45, while the Finance

Commission has given Rs. 25,000 crore to the Statesfor implementing the Act. The Centre has approved

an outlay of Rs.15,000 crore for 2010-2011 for thepurpose.

• The school management committee or the localauthority will identify the drop-outs or out-of-school

children aged above six and admit them in classesappropriate to their age after giving special training.

India launches Census 2011, the biggest-ever

in history

• India (April 1) launched “Census 2011,’’ the biggest-

ever census attempted in the history of mankindenumerating the country’s 1.2 billion population and

classifying usual residents according to their gender,religion, occupation and education.

• The massive exercise, to be spread over next 11months, will mark a milestone as the first-ever NationalPopulation Register (NPR) will also be prepared inwhich all persons aged over 15 years will bephotographed and fingerprinted to create a biometricnational database. With this India will probablybecome the first democratic nation in the world whichwould have got its population fingerprinted in a yearfrom now.

• As the first citizen of the country, President Pratibha

Devisingh Patil was the first person to be listed in thedecennial exercise. The Vice-President M. HamidAnsari was the next one to be listed by the Censusofficials

• The 15th National Census exercise, since 1872, willsee over 25 lakh officials capturing the socio-economic-cultural profile of its citizens. It will costaround Rs. 2,209 crore while the expenditure on NPRwill be Rs. 3,539.24 crore. The exercise will alsoconsume more than 11 million tonnes of paper.

• The second phase, called the Population Enumerationphase, will be conducted simultaneously all over thecountry from February 9 to 28, 2011, and the entire

exercise would be completed by March 5, 2011.• While the Census is a statutory exercise conducted

under the provisions of the Census Act 1948 theNPR is being created under the provisions of theCitizenship Act, 1955 and Citizenship Rules(Registration of Citizens and Issue of NationalIdentity Cards), 2003. Two forms will be given toeach household, the first relating to houselistingand housing census which will have 35 columnsrelating to drinking water, amenities like power, andsewer, the second will relate to NPR which will seek usual and basic details on 15 counts like the name,place and date of birth, address, occupation and

nationality.• All 640 districts, 5,767 Tehsils, 7,742 towns and more

than six lakh villages will be covered.

Child rights panel to monitor RTEimplementation

• The National Commission for Protection of Child

Rights (NCPCR) has been mandated to monitor the

implementation of the Right of Children to Free and

Compulsory Education Act, 2009. A special division

Governments’s New Initiatives&

Various Committees

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CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR I.A.S. (PRE.) 2011

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within the NCPCR will undertake this task in the

coming months and a special toll-free helpline to

register complaints will be set up.

Centre halts HPV vaccine project

• In the wake of reports of violation of ethical guidelines

and exploitation during the “clinical trials” of HPV

(human papilloma virus) vaccine, meant to prevent

cervical cancer among women, the Centre advised the

State governments to suspend the vaccine programme

until the issue is settled.

• Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical

Research V.M. had asked the Health Ministry, the State

governments and the people not to go ahead with the

programme.

Rammohan to probe attack• The former Director-General of the Border Security

Force (BSF), E. N. Rammohan, was appointed to probe

the circumstances leading to the massacre of 76 CRPF

personnel in Dandewada district of Chhattisgarh .

Centre grants 282.25 crore for Maritime

University

• The Centre provided financial support of Rs. 282.25

crore to the Indian Maritime University (IMU),

Chennai, to meet capital expenditure and recurring

deficit.

NRHM completes five years, best performing

States to be honoured

• As the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)

completes five years. A mid-term review of the

programme claims that it has unleashed a lot of

positive synergies and the government should make

all efforts to further deepen such processes of

community health in a manner that every household

is able to seek its entitlement to care.

• The 7,00,000 Accredited Social Health Activists

(ASHAs) — the first port of call — across the country

have demonstrated their ability to link households to

facilities.

Ministry moots National Mission on monsoon

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has proposed

a National Mission on monsoon towards developing

reliable dynamic models for forecasting the monsoon

over the next three to five-year period through a multi-

institutional effort.

• Though the focus will chiefly be on seasonal forecast,the mission will include aspects of short (up to 3 days)and medium-range (up to a week) predictions as well.

• The currently operational model for long-range or

seasonal forecast used by the India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) is not a dynamic one but astatistical one. It uses a set of historically determinedatmospheric variables with significant statisticalcorrelations to the total rainfall received by the countryas a whole during June-September.

• However, improving and perfecting statistical modelswill not form part of the mission, Dr. Ajit Tyagi,Director-General of the IMD, clarified. The IMD hasalso been using open source dynamic models suchas the Global Forecasting System (GFS) and theWeather Research & Forecasting (WRF) System of

the U.S. for limited area 3-day forecast as well as 5-day forecast, with some success.

• The mission is yet to be formalised for it to beapproved by the Planning Commission and then theCabinet. “The details are being worked out,” saidShailesh Nayak, Secretary, MoES. “The projectproposal is being prepared. In January, we had ameeting of people involved in model development andhave a working knowledge of models. Mostly theseare models developed elsewhere, such as the ClimateForecasting System (CFS) of the U.S. or that of theU.K. Met Office, but have been slightly modified to

be applicable for monsoon prediction. All that activityis slowly getting into frame. But these atmospheric orocean-atmosphere coupled models need to beimproved greatly through a coordinated effort. Wehave to create a forum for that,” he added.

• “I feel, it is a good initiative,” said M. Rajeevan of theNational Atmospheric Research Laboratory of ISROat Gadanki and formerly of the National Climate Centreat the IMD, Pune. ( Locate these H.Q in Atlas )

National Integration Council reconstituted

• The government has reconstituted the NationalIntegration Council (NIC) which will be chaired by

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

• The NIC has 147 members, including Union Ministers,Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and RajyaSabha, Chief Ministers of all States and UnionTerritories with Legislatures.

• Set up in the early 60s by Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru, the NIC held its first meeting in 1962. Thecouncil reviews matters relating to national integrationand makes recommendations over such issues.







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• The NIC aims at finding ways and means to combatthe menace of communalism, casteism and regionalism.It has held 14 meetings so far, with the last one inOctober 2008 during the first innings of the United

Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Rajasthan sets up panel to look into Gujjars

issue

• The Rajasthan government appointed a seven-member committee headed by the former High Court

judge, Justice I.S. Israni, to look into “all aspects” of the issue of providing reservation to Gujjars under aspecial category, even as fresh talks between Gujjarsupremo Kirori Singh Bainsla and governmentemissaries remained inconclusive.

Commission on Centre-State ties submits report

• The Commission on Centre-State relations submittedits report to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.The panel was constituted by UPA-I in April 2007 totake a fresh look at the relative role and responsibilitiesof the various levels of government and Centre-Staterelations.

• It was asked to make recommendations to help addressthe emerging challenges.The commission Chairmanand former Chief Justice of India, M. M. Punchhi,presented the report to the Home Minister which runsinto seven volumes.

Centre gets time to submit EIA report on Sethu

alignment

• With the Centre seeking time for completion of theEnvironment Impact Analysis (EIA) on an alternativealignment for the Sethusamudram Ship ChannelProject without cutting across Adam’s Bridge or RamarSethu, the Supreme Court deferred judgment tillFebruary 2011.(Locate In Atlas)

Panchayats should play a big role in helping us

tackle Maoists: Manmohan

• April 24 is observed as Panchayati Raj Day becauseon this day in 1993, the 73rd ConstitutionalAmendment was implemented, setting up the three-tier panchayats system — village panchayats,panchayat unions and district panchayats — forgrass roots-level governance.

• Dr. Singh said he was happy that the local bodies’poll was held regularly and about 28 lakh people weregetting elected through 600 district panchayats, 6,000intermediate panchayats (panchayat unions) and 2.3lakh village panchayats.

• On the proposed 50 per cent reservation in localbodies for women, the Prime Minister said that whenimplemented, the women representatives’ strengthwould go up to 14 lakh from the present 10 lakh (with

one-third reservation), adding that he was happy thatthe present strength of women (10 lakh) in localbodies was more than the seats reserved for them.

Committee to probe MCI irregularities

• Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad constituteda three-member team to probe irregularities committedby the Medical Council of India (MCI) and stayed thepermission it granted to the Gyan Sagar MedicalCollege in Punjab to take a fresh batch of students for2010-11.

• K. Desiraju, Additional Secretary of the Health andFamily Welfare Department, will head the fact-finding

committee, which has All-India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) dean Rani Kumar and a seniorofficer of the Directorate-General of Health Services(DGHS) as its other members. The committee has beendirected to submit its report within a week.

UID number gets brand name, logo

• The 16-digit unique identification number to beassigned to each individual by the UniqueIdentification Authority of India (UIDAI) will nowcome under the new name ‘AADHAR’ and will alsobear a logo.

• The brand name and logo for the unique number were

made public at a meeting chaired by UIDAI chairmanNandan Nilekani, who said the symbols werenecessary to make the scheme and the numberrecognisable and communicate the spirit and essenceof the mandate to the people and win their confidence.

• The number will be the ‘AADHAR’ or foundationthrough which the citizen can claim his/her rights andentitlements when assured of equal opportunities, assymbolised by the logo, which has the halo of theSun on the imprint of a thumb.

• Atul Sudhakarrao Pande, whose design was pickedfrom among 2,000 entries. The UIDAI rewarded himwith a cheque for Rs.1 lakh.

In public interest, Centre keen on interveningin MCI

• The Centre i s contemplating br ing ing in anordinance to amend the Indian Medical CouncilAct , 1956 empowering the government toin tervene in the even t o f MCI members ,including the president and the vice-president,being unable to perform and on grounds of misconduct.

Government’s New Initiatives and Committees








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• The ordinance seeks to fix the term — to a maximumof two – of the president and the vice-president andgive the Union Health Ministry powers to makearrangements in the event the office of president

falling vacant in unforeseen situations as it has arisennow.

• The functioning of the Medical Council of India hascome to a virtual standstill following the arrest of itspresident, Ketan Desai, on corruption charges.

• These amendments are expected to incorporate majorchanges suggested by the Ministry in the amendmentBill, tabled in 2005, which were turned down by theParliamentary Standing Committee on Health.

• The government be able to intervene in the MCI inthe “larger public interest” as did the Human ResourceDevelopment Ministry in the case of the All-India

Council for Technical Education and the UniversityGrants Commission under Section 20 (1) of the AICTEand the UGC Acts though these were nominatedbodies.

• The MCI is an elected body with no such provisionfor intervention by the Centre. A provision forintervention was turned down by the StandingCommittee on the ground that it would seriously

jeopardise the independent working of the MCI anddecision making of its president and vice-president.

Elders pass Tamil Nadu Council Bill

• Amidst opposition by the Left Parties and the

AIADMK, the Rajya Sabha passed a Bill proposingto create a 78-member Legislative Council for TamilNadu, 24 years after it was abolished.

Supreme Court to examine validity of Tandon

committee

• The Supreme Court said it would examine the validityof the constitution of the Tandon Committee set upby the Human Resource Development Ministry to gointo the working of the deemed universities in thecountry.

• The Professor Tandon Committee had earlier

recommended de-recognition of 44 institutions forfailing to meet the prescribed standards and said thatthese institutions after de-recognition would beaffiliated to the respective State universities.

• During the resumed hearing, Justice Bhandari headinga Bench told Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam that

when there were allegations against Professor Tandonhimself that he was heading a deemed university and

it was not appropriate for him to head the Committee,“we have to examine the whole issue.”

“The enumerator is not an investigator or

verifier,” Mr. Chidambaram

• “The enumerator is not an investigator or verifier,”

Mr. Chidambaram said, pointing out that 21 lakhenumerators — mostly primary school teachers —

had no training or expertise to classify the answer asOBC or otherwise.

• “There is a Central list of OBCs and State-specificlists of OBCs. Some States do not have a list of OBCs

while some have a list of OBCs and a sub-set calledMost Backward Castes,” he said.

• Quoting the Registrar-General, Mr. Chidambaram said

issues regarding methodology, avoiding phonetic andspelling errors, stage of canvassing of caste,

maintaining integrity of enumeration and doing an

accurate headcount of population would arise.

• “The census is done under the authority of the CensusAct, 1948. Census 2011 will be the 15th national census

since 1872 and the 7th since Independence. Populationcensus is the total process of collecting demographic,

economic and social data. What is published as thecensus data are only aggregates; the informationrelating to the individual is confidential and not shared

with anyone or any authority,” he said.

Amid protests, Nuclear Liability Bill introduced

in Lok Sabha

• The contentious Nuclear Liability Bill was introducedin the Lok Sabha amid protests and walkout by Left

and NDA members, who termed it “illegal,

unconstitutional and anti-people.”

• The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, which

provides for payment of compensation in the event

of a nuclear accident is a pre-requisite for U.S. nuclear

companies to enter India, and an enabling conditionfor their French and Russian counterparts.

• The Bill, whose passage is essential to operationalisethe nuclear deal with the U.S., was moved by Minister

of State in the Department of Atomic Energy Prithviraj

Chavan. It provides for a maximum liability of Rs. 500crore on the part of the operator in case of an accident.

• In the event of an accident, countries are also entitledto compensation of 300 million special drawing rights.However, to join the Convention on SupplementaryCompensation, India will have to ensure that it has a

national legislation, consistent with the provisions inthe annexure of the Convention. Now India is not a

party to any international nuclear liability convention.







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Make Selection of child rights commission

transparent’

• Child r ights organ isat ions and civi l socie ty

representatives have written to Prime MinisterManmohan Singh seeking his intervention in theselection of the chairperson and members to theNational Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR).

• As the NCPCR, the National Human RightsCommission and the National Commission for Womenare important mechanisms set up to play a criticalwatchdog role, it is imperative to ensure proper andfair selection to these statutory bodies, says thecitizens’ appeal. It has been made following allegations

of irregularities, malpractices and lack of transparencyin the NCPCR selection process.

• It has pointed out that the rules framed under theNational Commission for Protection of Child RightsAct 2005 have failed to lay down a detailed selection

process, leaving scope for favouritism andundemocratic and non-transparent methods of

selection. The result: selection of undeservingcandidates.

• This has caused a great loss to the children who have

waited all these years to find a body of people whocould act as their ombudsmen, says the appeal. “India

ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Childin 1992, reiterating its commitment to its children.

Pharmacopoeia Commission coming

• The government decided to set up a PharmacopoeiaCommission at a cost of Rs. 14.08 crore for developingindigenous medicines with the aim of raising thecountry’s share in the $62-billion global herbal drugmarket.

• The Commission for development of Ayurveda,Siddha and Unani medicines would be set up in thewake of increasing cost of modern healthcare drugsand demand for herbal medicines.

• The Commission, to be housed in Ghaziabad, wouldset standards for drugs in the Ayurveda, Siddha andUnani medical systems.

• Earlier, a Committee set up by the Planning Commissionfor AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) sectorapproved the setting up of the Commission. The panelwill be responsible for publication and revision of standards on Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs, as

well as their formulation, development and publishingstandards.

• The global trade in herbal drugs is worth $62 billion.Of this, China’s share was $19 billion, against a meagre

$1 billion of India, a senior official said. TheCommission would strive for India increased its market

share.• The Commission would be an autonomous society

headed by an eminent technical person. It should work

with immediate effect and would eventually becomeself-sustainable.

President signs ordinance on MCI

• President Pratibha Devisingh Patil signed anordinance empowering the government to dissolvethe Medical Council of India, a regulatory bodyresponsible for maintaining standards of medicaleducation.

• With the promulgation of the ordinance, thegovernment created a seven-member Board of Governors that took over the functioning of the 30-member executive council, the highest decision-making body of the MCI, that stands dissolved. Theremaining council has been kept in “abeyance.”

• Amending the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, thegovernment has inserted Article 3 (a) through theordinance that authorises the government tointervene in matters of “national policy.”

• In case of a dispute over “national policy,” the viewof the government will prevail.

Panchayats in tribal areas to control forest

management

• Panchayats in tribal areas will soon be controllingforest management at the ground level, replacing thecontrol of the Forest Department.

• It was decided to remove Joint Forest ManagementCommittees (JFMCs) from the control of the DistrictForest Officer and instead bring them under thecontrol of the gram sabhas and panchayats. This willbe implemented in the tribal areas which come underPESA, or the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled

Areas) Act, 1996.• Currently, about Rs. 1,000 crore in funding is routed

through the one lakh JFMCs across the country forvarious forestry-related schemes. The money wouldnow be routed through the panchayats in tribal areas.Forest Department staff will be made accountable tothe panchayats on relevant issues. Panchayatinstitutions will be consulted before declaring theirlands as wildlife reserves and their consent will beneeded to declare a community reserve.









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• The Ministry of Environment and Forests will examine

how to make the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and theForest Conservation Act, 1980 compliant with thePESA.

Green India Mission to double afforestation

efforts by 2020

• The Green India Mission, part of India’s plan to fightclimate change, proposed to double the area being

taken up for afforestation and eco-restoration overthe next decade.

• The first draft of the Mission released, projects an

ambitious target of 20 million hectares by 2020, at acost of Rs. 44,000 crore. Public consultations has beenundertaken across the country from June 11, following

which the draft will be finalised.

• Earlier, the Prime Minister had spoken of undertakingafforestation in 6 million hectares of degraded forest

land as part of the Mission, which is one of the eightMissions of the National Action Plan on ClimateChange. (About 10 million hectares would anyway be

treated by the Forest department and others withoutthe Mission’s interventions).

• The more ambitious target in this draft, however,

emphasises a holistic approach to greening, making itclear that the project will not just be limited to treesand plantations, but would focus on restoring diverseecosystems. It would not only strive to restore

degraded forests, but also protect and enhancerelatively dense forests.

• The nine sub-missions include, separate targets formoderately dense forests, degraded forests, degradedscrub and grasslands, mangroves, wetlands, urbanforest lands and institutional areas with tree cover,degraded and fallow agricultural land, wildlife

corridors, more efficient stoves and alternative energydevices for better fuel wood use, and enhancedlivelihoods for communities dependent on biomassand non-timber forest produce.

• The Mission envisages a key role for local

communities and includes a four-level monitoringframework.

• The new and restored forest areas will act as a carbon

sink. They are expected to absorb an additional 43million tonnes of green house gases every year. Thismeans that India’s forests will be able to absorb 6.35

per cent of the country’s annual emissions by 2020.The draft is rather vague on the source of funding,

merely saying that the “resources will be mobilised as

additionality from the Planning Commission.” It adds

that “the deficit, if any, will be taken care of bydeveloping projects for seeking assistance frominternational funding agencies, UN organisation, etc.”

Rural health care course in advanced stage of

finalisation : Union Health Minister

• The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to take

forward the process of consultation on the proposedbachelor of rural health care course.

• There are 25,000 Primary Health Centres in the country,

where qualified doctors are supposed to be available.

• The three-year course has broadly been approved byall the States and universities. Under the scheme, localstudents will be trained in providing basic health carein far-flung and remote areas where doctors normally

do not go.

• They, however, will not be allowed to performsurgeries or complicated procedures.

• The Centre proposes to open medical schools at thedistrict level, where these courses will be conducted.The students will then be asked to go back to theirvillages to provide health care, but they cannotpractise in urban areas.

• The infrastructure for opening medical schools withan intake of 25-50 students will be provided by theCentre, while the States will recruit, on contract, retired

medical professionals, aged up to 65 years, as faculty.

• With the functioning of the Medical Council of Indiahaving been taken over by a Board of Governors, the

process is expected to be put on fast track.

Final decision on NCHER rests with Centre,

says Kapil Sibal

• Under criticism from his Cabinet colleagues, UnionHuman Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibalsought to clarify that the final decision on theproposed National Commission on Higher Educationand Research (NCHER) remained with the government

at the “highest level” and that the decision would be“acceptable” to the Ministry.

• At the end of a daylong consultation organised bythe task force on the draft NCHER bill with academicsfrom across the country, Mr. Sibal said the bill wasthe property of the task force. The government could

change its title and take the final call.

• The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and

the Bar Council of India oppose the idea of







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transferring medical and legal education to the Human

Resource Development Ministry, which is piloting the

legislation and which has set up the task force.

• The task force decided to set up an ‘informal’

committee of four eminent persons. It will study the

drafts of the NCHER and National Council for Human

Resource in Health (NCHRH) bills to ensure there was

no overlap. The committee will comprise Srinath Reddy

and Ranjit Roy Choudhary (both members of the

HCHRH task force) and M.K. Bhan and Syeda Hamid,

both members of the NCHER task force.

• The draft NCHER bill before it was placed before the

Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) next

month. After the CABE approved it, the draft Bill

would be sent to the government.

NCHER new draft to address States concerns

• Taking into account the concern expressed by some

States that the proposed National Commission on

Higher Education and Research (NCHER) — the

overarching regulatory body — would centralisehigher education, the revised draft of the NCHER Bill

proposes to constitute a general council for giving

wider representation to the States and educational

and research institutions across different areas.

• Every decision of the proposed commission will have

to be placed before the general council for approval.

• With veto powers, the general council can, by two-thirds majority of its members present and voting,

bring amendments to the measure or regulationproposed.

• The new draft also re-defines ‘Central government’ toincorporate the “Ministry concerned with the subject

matter,” suggesting that the Health and Family WelfareMinistry deal with matters relating to medical

education, while the Human Resource Development

Ministry would be concerned with higher andtechnical education — but under the purview of the

NCHER.

• While there is no clarity over which Ministry deals

with legal education, agricultural education has been

left out of the ambit, it being a State subject. However,the task force is likely to suggest amending the

Constitution to bring agriculture in the ConcurrentList such as education and health.

Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal had stronglyopposed the proposed panel, with Tamil Nadu Chief

Minister M. Karunanidhi even writing to Union

Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal describing theCommission as a body of “seven wise men” who would

take decisions for the States at the Centre.

Social Security Fund for unorganised workers• Noting that it was committed to extending social

security cover to all sections, the Government said it

had decided to set up a National Social Security Fund

for workers in the unorganised sector.

• The National Social Security Fund for workers in the

unorganised sector would cover weavers, toddy

tappers, rickshaw pullers and bidi workers with an

initial allocation of Rs. 1000 crore, the UPA

government’s Report to the People 2009-10 released

by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

• It said several other important steps have been taken

for the benefit of workers in the organised sector like

carrying out amendment in the Workmen Compensation

Act, 1923 to enhance benefits to the workers.

• Besides, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 had been

amended for providing safety and occupational health

care to plantation workers.

• Further, Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 had also been

amended to raise the limit of maximum gratuity payable

from Rs. 3.5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh. The benefit will not

attract any interest rate.• The report card said comprehensive amendments had

also been made in the Employees State Insurance Act,

1948 to improve the quality of delivery of health care

and other benefits provided to the insured persons in

the organised sector.

• The amendment would also enable ESI infrastructure

to be used to provide health care to workers in the

unorganised sector.

• As the industrial training institutes across the country

were being upgraded to train more than five crore people

within the next five years, the report card said 60 ITIs,

located in minority concentration districts would be

upgraded as part of the Prime Minister’s New 15-point

programme.

• The 15-point programme for ensuring targeted

development to minorities and the government’s thrust

on improving their education status find mention in

the report card.









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South Asian University start functioning from

August 2010

• The South Asian University (SAU) has begin its first

academic session from August with 50 students. Theywere taken from the eight member States of the SouthAsian Association for Regional Cooperation(SAARC).

• Though the university — the first of its kind in the

region — has been allotted land in the Capital for its

campus, classes for the first year will be held in the

School of Physical Sciences building at Jawaharlal

Nehru University (JNU). The building is currently

lying vacant and JNU has agreed to lend the premises

to SAU to start a temporary campus.

• The concept of a world-class university was initiated

by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the 13th

SAARC summit at Dhaka in 2005, with a formal

agreement for establishing the institute signed in April

2007 during the 14th summit in New Delhi.

• The foundation stone of the SAU campus, at a 100-

acre plot in Maidan Garhi, was laid in 2008. The initial

investment for the university is being made by the

Indian government. All SAARC member countries will

contribute towards operational costs, and the

university will also raise money from international

financial institutions, educational foundations and

donors.

• The SAU will focus on research and postgraduate

level programmes, and will ultimately have 12

postgraduate science and non-science faculties, as

well as a small faculty of undergraduate studies. At

full strength, the university will have 7,000 students

and 700 teachers. A flagship Institute of South Asian

Studies will also be established.

Centre considering safety board

• Keeping aviation safety uppermost in its mind, the

Centre is mulling over creation of an independent

board on the lines of the United States National

Transportation Safety Board in a bid to separate the

roles of aviation regulator and investigator.

• With concerns over civil aviation safety coming into

sharp focus after the May 22 Air India Express crash

at Mangalore, which claimed 158 lives, the Centre has

stepped up efforts to revamp safety and probe

mechanisms.

• NTSB’s role

• In the U.S., the NTSB investigates all major accidents,

including air crashes, accidents at sea or on highways.It also assists other nations in probing such accidents.The NTSB sent a team to India after the Mangalore

crash.

IM declared terror outfit

• The government has declared the Indian Mujahideen

(IM), suspected to be a shadow outfit of the bannedStudents Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and

Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist outfit.

• The IM is allegedly involved in the serial bomb blasts

in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bangalore and Mumbai. Ithas been added to the list of terror groups under the

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

• The IM came to light after the February 23, 2005 blast

in Varanasi. Its hand was suspected in the incident.In 2008, it was allegedly involved in many terror

attacks.

• Intelligence agencies believe that the outfit is also afront group of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJI).

Ganga clean-up plan proposal submitted

• A consor t ium of seven Indian Ins ti tutes o f Technology (IIT) has submitted a proposal to the

Union government on the Ganga River Basin

Management Plan (GRBMP) to clean up the r iver inthe next 12-18 months.

• To be carried out under the government’s Technology

Development Mission, the project will be executed in

“mission mode” at a cost of Rs.15-18 crore, accordingto Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment

and Forests.

• The GRBMP would be comprehensive and look at

socio-cultural, legislative, economic and institutional

capacity building and public participation aspects.

• The seven IITs involved in the project are IIT-Kanpur,IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Guwahati, and IIT-Roorkee.

• Vinod Tare, professor of Environmental Engineeringand Management at IIT-Kanpur, will be the missionco-ordinator, the mission activities will be overseen

by the Mission Management Board chaired by thedirector of IIT-Bombay.

Pranab to head group on caste census

• Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will head

the promised Group of Ministers (GoM) that will







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examine the modalities of enumeration of caste inCensus 2011.

• The GoM was constituted on June 4, nine days after

the Union Cabinet took a decision to do so.

Cabinet sitting on Plachimada report

• The verdict of the Bhopal Chief Judicial Magistrate inthe Bhopal gas tragedy case, which has given rise towidespread consternation, has brought into focus thedelay in the State government initiating action on theK. Jayakumar Committee report on the ecologicaldamage caused by Hindustan Coca Cola BeveragesCompany Limited at Plachimada in Palakkad district(Thiruvananthapuram) Kerala.

• The Cabinet is yet to take a decision on the reportsubmitted on March 22. The Water Resources

Department, which had constituted the committee, hadsubmitted the report to the Cabinet roughly a monthago after getting it vetted by the Law Department.

Centre seeks help of panchayats to counter

naxalism

• To implement its two-pronged strategy to counter thespread of naxalism, the Centre has sought the help of the panchayats.

• Secretary of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj A.N.P.Sinha has written to the Chief Secretaries of the nineStates where several districts are covered by the

provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to theScheduled Areas) Act, 1996. The Ministry proposedamendments to the PESA Act. It hoped that AndhraPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh,Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, which, Mr. Sinha said were characterisedby poverty, illiteracy, weak infrastructure anddeprivations would tackle naxalism.

• The States are expected to amend the Panchayati RajAct in consonance with PESA. This would define a“village” and also the powers of the gram sabha. Thechanges in laws and rules and executive instructionson mines and minerals, excise, money lending, and

land acquisition would allow a role to gram sabhas inthese matters.

GoM on Bhopal case reconstituted

• The Centre, under fire from the victims of the Bhopalgas tragedy for the way the legal case has panned outover the last 26 years, announced the reconstitutionof a Group of Ministers (GoM) to go into the relief and rehabilitation measures for those affected by theworld’s worst industrial disaster.

• Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram replaces ArjunSingh, who is no longer in government, as the head of the panel.

Government moots amendments to RTI Act

• The Right to Information (RTI) Act will be amended toavoid frivolous or vexatious requests and prevent theCentre from disclosing information relating to theCabinet papers so as to ensure the smooth functioning

of the government.

The amendment proposals are:

• Section 2 of the RTI Act so as to remove difficulty in

ascertaining whether a particular NGO should be treated asa public authority or not.

• Section 4 so as to enlarge the scope of suo motu disclosure.

• Section 7 to avoid frivolous or vexatious requests

• Section 8 to slightly modify the provision about disclosureof Cabinet papers to ensure smooth functioning of the

government and to take care of the sensitivity of the officeof the CJI.

• Sections 12 and 15 to make a provision about giving currentchange of the post of Chief Information Commissioner to

any Commissioner.

• Section 13 and 16 to bring the provisions on a par withsimilar provisions in other Acts.

• Section 19 to incorporate a provision for constitution of Benches of the Commission.

• Section 24 to incorporate a provision about partial exemption

of organisations possessing sensitive information.

The government, however, made it clear that theamendments would be introduced only afterconsultations with the stakeholders.

Task forces unable to decide on medical

education

• Given the complexities of bringing medical education

under the National Commission on Higher Education

and Research (NCHER) as against within the purviewof the National Council on Human Resource for Health

(NCHRH), the task forces of the two proposed bodies

decided to explore the possibility of allowing bothinstitutions to come up but with some linkages with

each other.

• The members of the task forces, who met , felt therewas a “cultural disconnect” between the two draftBills. While the NCHER Bill strove to make universities









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and research institutions highly autonomous, theNCHRH Bill was based on far too many “governmentcontrols” on medical institutions and hospitals.

• Instead of trying to force uneasy compatibility, the

members sort of agreed that both bodies could becreated through different legislation as announcedby President Pratibha Patil in her speech to the jointsession of Parliament, and then find some possibleconnection.

• The task force on NCHRH, set up by the HealthMinistry, might also go in for are look at the draft

to make the institutions more autonomous.

Petroleum Ministry to fuel tribal development

• The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry plans to reachout to tribals, providing them LPG connections and

offering them small dealerships to make themstakeholders in the development process.

• The UPA government would like to extend the LPGreach to rural areas where the coverage as of date isonly 20 per cent. Government plan to increase thiscoverage to 75 per cent by 2015 and have sought thehelp of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

• Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas wouldrelease 85 lakh new LPG connections every year and

the tribal regions could become major beneficiaries of this scheme.

Mullaperiyar dam panel meets

• The five-member Empowered Committee headed bythe former Chief Justice of India, Justice A.S. Anand,to go into the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam meetsfor the first time after it was constituted pursuant tothe orders of the Supreme Court on February 18.

• By the order dated February 18, the Supreme Court,acting on a suit filed by Tamil Nadu, directed theconstitution of the committee and said the panel wouldsubmit its report in six months after considering allaspects, including Kerala’s demand for a new dam aswell as the safety of the existing one.

• Subsequently Tamil Nadu filed an application for recall

of the order contending that the relief it asked for inthe suit concerned only the question whether Kerala’slaw was ultra vires the Constitution or not. But thecommittee had been delegated even judicial powers,which were an exclusive jurisdiction of the SupremeCourt.

Draft bill on voting rights for NRIs cleared

• A long-standing demand of the NRIs for voting rightsin India may finally see the light of the day with a

Group of Ministers (GoM) clearing a draft bill on theissue, paving the way for its consideration by theUnion Cabinet.

• Drafted almost fours years back by the Overseas

Affairs Ministry, the Representation of the People’s(Amendment) Bill was cleared by a GoM headed byDefence Minister A.K. Antony.

• The government moved the bill in the Rajya Sabha in

2006 proposing amendments to the Representationof the People’s Act to make provision for voting rightsto non-resident Indians. The bill was then sent to a

Parliamentary Standing Committee and later it wasreferred to the GoM.

India among worst countries in human

trafficking

• India has been ranked as a “Tier II Watch List”country — only one level better than worst-

performing Tier III countries such as Saudi Arabiaand Zimbabwe — in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons

Report (TIP) compiled by the United States StateDepartment.

• Given the definition of Tier II Watch List in the TIP,this implies that India ranks among those countries

whose governments “do not fully comply with theTrafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum

standards, but are making significant efforts to bringthemselves into compliance with those standards.”

• Additionally, one of the three following conditionswas found in India:

• First, that the absolute number of victims of severeforms of trafficking was very significant or was

significantly increasing.

• Second, there was a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of

trafficking from the previous year.

• Third, the determination that India was making

significant efforts to bring themselves intocompliance with minimum standards was based on

commitments by India itself, to take additional futuresteps over the next year.

• In terms of the definition of trafficking under theTVPA, a person may be a trafficking victim

“regardless of whether they once consented,participated in a crime as a direct result of being

trafficked, were transported into the exploitativesituation, or were simply born into a state of

servitude.”







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• The TIP adds that at the heart of this phenomenonlies the myriad forms of enslavement, including forcedlabour, sex trafficking, bonded labour, debt bondageamong migrant labourers, involuntary domestic

servitude, forced child labour, child soldiers and childsex trafficking.

• While most of South Asia ranks along with India as aTier II Watch List country, Pakistan is notably rankedas Tier II — one level better than India.

• Most developed countries, even some developingcountries such as Colombia and Nigeria, were ranked

as Tier I countries in the TIP, that is, countries whosegovernments fully complied with the TVPA’s minimum

standards.

Two doctrines for greater synergy among tri-

services• Seeking to build greater synergy among the tri-

services and enhancing its joint fighting capabilities,the armed forces released two doctrines, one forperception management and psychological operationsand the other for air and land operations.

• Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik released thetwo joint operational doctrines, formulated by the

Doctrine Directorate of Headquarters IntegratedDefence Staff (IDS).

• The IDS was set up after the 1999 Kargil war to bringabout synergy among the three services.

Nod for amending Central Educational

Institutions Act

• The Union Cabinet approved amendments to theCentral Educational Institutions (Reservation inAdmissions) Act, 2006 that will allow the institutionsto implement the 27 per cent reservation for the OtherBackward Classes (OBC) in six years instead of thestipulated three years and exempts some Centralinstitutions from implementing the quota for the OBCwhere implementation of this Act exceeds the maximum

limit of reservation as fixed by the Supreme Court.

• The amendment seeks to provide a balance betweenthe State level policy and the national policy onreservation, particularly in the north-eastern States.

• As per the proposed amendments State seats (theseats earmarked to be filled from amongst the eligiblestudents of State in which the Central EducationalInstitution is situated), if any, in a Central EducationalInstitution (CEI) situated in the tribal areas referred to

in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shall begoverned by the reservation policy of the Stategovernment concerned in the matter of admissions of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the

Other Backward Classes.

• If the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes or theScheduled Tribes or both taken together in a CEIexceed 50 per cent of the annual permitted strength,that CEI shall be exempt from making any reservationfor the OBCs.

• If such a CEI is situated in the north-eastern States,including Sikkim but excluding the non-tribal areas of Assam, the percentage of seats reserved for the SCor the ST candidates shall not be reduced from thelevel obtaining on the date immediately preceding thedate of the commencement of the Act; while in case

of the CEI situated in other areas the percentage of seats reserved for the SC or the ST candidates in thatCEI shall stand reduced to 50 per cent.

• If the seats reserved for the SC or the ST candidatesor both taken together in a CEI fall short of 50 percent of the annual permitted strength, the percentageof seats reserved for the Other Backward Classes shallbe restricted to such shortfall.

Employment policy soon, says Kharge

• The government would soon announce a NationalEmployment Policy (NEP), and with this, employmentcreation would be mainstreamed into all

macroeconomic decision-making, Union Labour andEmployment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge has said.

• The National Policy on Skill Development had set atarget of training 500 million people by the year 2022.The 11th Plan was keen on developing labour-intensive small and micro industries to encourageemployment programmes for the rural poor.

Sibal proposes merger of entrance tests

• In a move that could affect thousands of studentsseeking admission to professional colleges, the Centreis considering the merger of the Central Board of

Secondary Education-conducted All India PreMedical Test and the All India Engineering EntranceExamination.

• The proposal was made by Union Human ResourceDevelopment Minister Kapil Sibal at the meeting of the State Education Ministers. “This is being done toreduce the multiplicity of entry to higher educationinstitutions and to save the students from sitting fortwo separate exams,”. He said those wanting to writeboth the tests will have the choice to do so.









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Governments New Initiatives Various Committees

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