UPSC Key—28 July, 2023: Stapled Visas, No-confidence motion and Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023

FRONT PAGE

CBI to probe sexual assault video, Centre will seek trial outside Manipur: Amit Shah

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies I: Role of women and women’s organization

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Investigation into the sexual assault of Kuki women in Manipur, whose video of being paraded naked set off outrage across the nation, will be handed over to the CBI and the Centre will request the Supreme Court to allow the trial to be moved out of the state to Assam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Thursday. The individual who allegedly recorded the video has been apprehended and the mobile phone that was used to record it has been retrieved, Shah said in an interaction with editors at his Atal Akshay Urja Bhavan office.

• Quick Recall-A video showing two women from the Kuki-Zomi community being paraded naked by a mob of men and being sexually assaulted began doing the rounds on Wednesday, bringing to light an incident which took place in Manipur more than two months ago, when violence first started. The video provoked sharp reactions from across the political spectrum, and prompted Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani to speak with the state’s Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

• Women used as weapons of war-Why?

• How breakdown of institutions and social networks in Manipur made women more vulnerable?

• In any war, women and girls are the most vulnerable-discuss

• How are women affected by armed conflict?

• What is the impact of conflict and violence on the lives of women and children?

• What is the social status of women in India?

• The social contract in India appears to be eroding-what is your opinion?

• Why are the authorities unable to bring the situation under control in Manipur?

• Manipur’s chequered history has seen several spells of violence-Comment

• What can be done to put an end to the violence in Manipur?

• Is President’s rule in Manipur a solution?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍A war within a war: Sexual violence as a weapon of war

📍Who is accountable in Manipur? The answer can provide justice to mob assault survivors

📍Manipur Violence Explained: Kuki vs Meitei Conflict, Biren Singh Govt’s Role, Army Action

India pulls out of games in China over stapled visas for Arunachal athletes

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- As a mark of protest against China’s decision to issue stapled visas — instead of stamped ones — to three athletes from Arunachal Pradesh, India withdrew its entire wushu (martial art) team from the World University Games which begin Friday in Chengdu. The decision came hours after airport authorities in New Delhi stopped an eight-member contingent, comprising five athletes, a coach and two support staff, at the boarding gate minutes before departure Thursday midnight, according to coach Raghvendra Singh.

• Stapled Visas vs Stamped Visas-Know the difference

• What is a stapled visa?

• For Your Information-A stapled visa is simply an unstamped piece of paper that is attached by a pin or staples to a page of the passport and can be torn off or detached at will. This is different from a regular visa that is affixed to the passport by the issuing authority and stamped.
China has made it a practice to issue stapled visas to Indian nationals from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. It says the visas are valid documents, but the Government of India has consistently refused to accept this position. The Chinese government says that it issues ‘stapled visas’ to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh because it does not recognise India’s claim over the state. The Indian government says that the ‘stapled visa’ issue is a political tool that China uses to assert its claim over Arunachal Pradesh.

• Why China issued “staple visa” to athletes from Arunachal Pradesh?

• Is this for the first time that China has issued ‘stapled visas’ to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh?

• For Your Information- Passports, visas, and other kinds of immigration controls reiterate the idea of a nation-state and its sovereignty which is inalienable and inviolable. A passport is the certificate of its holder’s identity and citizenship. Since nation-states reserve the right to control and regulate who enters or leaves their borders, a passport and visa entitle their holders to travel freely and under legal protection across international borders. China disputes India’s unequivocal and internationally accepted sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh. It challenges the legal status of the McMahon Line, the boundary between Tibet and British India that was agreed at the Convention Between Great Britain, China, and Tibet at the Simla Convention of 1914. It is this disagreement that lies at the heart of Chinese claims over the position of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and its repeated transgressions into Indian territory. China claims some 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory. It calls the area “Zangnan” in the Chinese language and makes repeated references to “South Tibet”. Chinese maps show Arunachal Pradesh as part of China, and sometimes parenthetically refer to it as “so-called Arunachal Pradesh”. China makes periodic efforts to underline this unilateral claim to Indian territory, and to undermine the sovereignty of India over parts of Indian territory. As part of these efforts, it issues lists of Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh — it has issued three such lists in 2017, 2021, and in April this year — and takes steps such as issuing stapled visas.

• Since when has this practice gone on?

• How Government of India responded?

• How are relations between China and India currently?

• ‘China-India relations have been worse over recent months. Along their contentious border in the Himalayan area, the two nations are at odds with one another’-Discuss

• Map Work-Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang and Line of Actual Control (LAC)

• What is the difference between Line of Actual Control (LAC) and McMahon Line?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What is a stapled visa, and why does China issue these to Indians from Arunachal and J&K?

THE CITY

In a first, board set up to crack down on mining in Aravallis

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: 

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Drones for surveillance and CCTV cameras in sensitive areas are some of the measures to be undertaken by the newly constituted seven-member Aravalli Rejuvenation Board to curb illegal mining in the mountain ranges. Constituted by the Haryana government to prevent illegal mining in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Nuh and protect the hills, the board will be headed by Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav. It will include a district forest officer, pollution department officer, district revenue department officer, mining officer, Zilla Parishad CEO and another member appointed by the DC.

• What are the objectives of the Aravalli Rejuvenation Board?

• For Your Information-The board has been constituted to protect the Aravallis, deal with complaints of illegal mining and their impact on the environment, ensure coordination between administrative agencies, formulate policies for the prevention of mining as well as for conservation and management of the Aravalli region, and plan and implement programmes for integrated environmental management and sustainable development of the range. The board will utilise the funds of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) for the projects.

• The mining industry in India-Know in detail

• How illegal mining harms the country be it economically, politically and administratively -Brainstorm

• How environment is affected by the illegal mining?

• What are the challenges faced by a policer officer to control illegal mining?

• Illegal mining and Political Nexus-Do you agree with the same?

• Do you Know- According to a 2018 report by the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), illegal mining has destroyed 25% of the Aravalli range in Rajasthan since 1967-68.

• Supreme Court on illegal mining-Know in detail

• Map Work-Aravallis (North to south and east to west stretch)

• Which peak is the highest point of the Aravalli Range?

• The Aravalli Range is arguably the oldest geological feature on Earth, having its origin in which era?

• The Aravalli Range, is believed to be the oldest range of fold mountains in India-True or False?

• What is fold mountain?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Aravallis broken beyond repair

IN PARLIAMENT

‘Bills after Bills…’: Opp says against propriety while no-trust motion pending

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- The Opposition Thursday objected to the government clearing Bills dealing with policy changes at a time when the Lok Sabha is in the process of taking up a no-confidence motion against the Union government, calling it a “travesty” and against “probity and propriety”. Parliament has not been able to function since the start of the Monsoon Session on July 20, with the Opposition demanding a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the House on the Manipur situation first.

• Why no-confidence against the government moved by the opposition?

• What do you understand by the term ‘collective responsibility’?

• How no-confidence motion and collective responsibility are interlinked?

• For Your Information-Since the beginning of the Monsoon Session, opposition parties have been demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement in Parliament on the violent situation in Manipur. After several days of protests and washouts, the opposition gave two separate notices to move motions of no-confidence against the government on Wednesday, hoping to force the Prime Minister to reply to the debate. The Constitution specifies that the Prime Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers. Therefore, the PM responds to the debate whenever MPs discuss a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha. The opposition parties’ move requires the PM to reply to the charges they bring during the discussion. Parliament records show that during the term of the current Lok Sabha, which started in 2019, Prime Minister Modi has participated in seven debates. Five of these interventions came when he replied to the yearly debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. The other two occasions were (i) for informing the House about the setting up of the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in February 2020, and (ii) his speech felicitating the newly elected Speaker, Om Birla, in 2019. The opposition has also criticised the fact that the PM chose to speak on Manipur outside Parliament rather than in the House. In the past, PMs and ministers have made policy and other announcements outside Parliament when a session was underway. Successive Speakers of Lok Sabha have ruled that making such announcements does not involve any breach of parliamentary privilege.

• What is the purpose of a no-confidence motion against the government?

• Do You Know-In India’s cabinet form of government, the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to Lok Sabha. The rules of Lok Sabha provide the mechanism of a no-confidence motion to test whether the Council of Ministers continues to enjoy the confidence of the House.
Twenty-seven no-confidence motions have been moved so far (See list). None of these motions, including the one against the first Modi government in 2018, has been successful. The present government has a large majority in Lok Sabha, and the current motion of no-confidence is likely to be negatived as well. In 1979, Prime Minister Morarji Desai realised that he did not have the support of the majority of MPs, and therefore resigned before the House voted on the motion.

• When will the debate on the current no-confidence motion start?

• What is the difference between a no-confidence motion and trust vote

• A no-confidence motion is a parliamentary motion which is moved in only in the Lok Sabha and not in the Rajya Sabha, State Assemblies or State Council-True or False?

• What is ‘session’ of the Parliament?

• Who summons each House of Parliament to meet?

• There are usually three parliament sessions in a year, what are they?

• For Your Information-The period spanning between the prorogation of a House and its reassembly in a new session is called ‘recess’.

• A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment or adjournment sine die-Know the difference between adjournment or adjournment sine die

• Prorogation and dissolution-Compare and Contrast

• What is ‘Quorum’?

• Which languages are permitted for parliamentary business?

• Know the devices of parliamentary proceedings like question hour, zero hour etc.

• What is meant by motion in Parliament?

• What is the meaning of resolution in Parliament?

• Substantive, Substitute and Subsidiary Motion-Compare and Contrast

• Know these terms-Closure Motion, Privilege Motion, Calling Attention Motion, Adjournment Motion, No-Confidence Motion, Motion of Thanks etc.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why no-trust vote matters

📍What is a no confidence motion?

GOVT & POLITICS

Scope for 1.24 crore more beneficiaries under NFSA: minister

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- THERE IS a scope for identification of 1.24 crore more beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, 2013 by the state governments, in addition to the existing 80.11 crore beneficiaries of the food security law, show the latest data available with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. If these beneficiaries are identified, they will become eligible to avail of the Centre’s free foodgrains scheme — Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) — which is being implemented from January 1 to December 31 during 2024. The NFSA provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of rural population and up to 50 per cent of urban population, which at Census 2011 figures comes to 81.35 crore persons.

• What is National Food Security Act 2013?

• What are the three features of National Food Security Act 2013?

• What was the main aim of Food Security Act 2013?

• Salient features of the National Food Security Act, 2013

• What is National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) eligibility?

• What Schedule II of the National Food Security Act says?

• For Your Information- The NFSA, which was enacted by the then UPA government, entitles beneficiaries covered under it to buy foodgrains at a subsidised rate — rice Rs 3/kg, wheat Rs 2/kg and nutria-cereals Rs 1/kg. However, the NDA government, last year, decided to provide foodgrains free of cost to eligible households for a year. “Every person belonging to priority households, identified under sub-section (1) of Section 10, shall be entitled to receive 5 kilograms of foodgrains per person per month at subsidised prices specified in Schedule I from the state government under the Targeted Public Distribution System: Provided that the households covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana shall, to such extent as may be specified by the Central government for each State in the said scheme, be entitled to 35 kilograms of foodgrains per household per month at the prices specified in Schedule I,” states the Section 3(1) of the NFSA.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Govt announces free foodgrains in 2023, but what’s the economics and politics underlying the promise?

EXPLAINED

Cinematograph bill passed in Rajya Sabha: what are its provisions

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Main Examination: General Studies III: Issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Rajya Sabha on Thursday (July 27) passed the Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which cracks down on film piracy along with changing how movies are certified by the censor board. The Bill lays down a three-year jail term and a fine of up to 5% of a movie’s production cost for those making its pirated copies. It introduces three certifications under the ‘UA’ category, UA 7+, UA 13+ and UA 16+, which means that children younger than the given age limits can access such movies with parental guidance. It also empowers the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to give separate certificates for a film’s exhibition on television or other media.

• The Cinematograph Act, 1952 needed to be amended due to several reasons-what are those reasons?

• Cinematograph Bill, 2023-What is covered by the Bill?

• What means by piracy?

• “Revisionary powers” over the Central Board of Film Certification-what is that?

• For Your Information-The fresh Bill seeks to replace the 71-year-old Cinematograph Act of 1952, which is the only legislation that guides certification of films for public exhibition. The provisions of the legislation are applicable to films released in Indian theatres, which are regulated by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). There has been a major jump worldwide in consumption of pirated content over the last few years. A joint report published by Akamai and MUSO in February last year showed that global demand for pirated content jumped between January and September 2021 and India ranked third globally for consuming pirated content in 2021. The current Cinematograph Act of 1952 does not have provisions to check video piracy and has limited age-based categories for certification of films. It had been largely rendered redundant with the growth of the OTT industry and the content produced by the platforms every year. OTT content is governed by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, which were released in 2021.

• What type of ratings the Bill proposes?

• “Revisionary powers” over the Central Board of Film Certification and Cinematograph Bill, 2023-what is the present status?

• Do You Know-Section 5B(1), derived from Article 19(2) of the Constitution, imposes reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement of any offence.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Rajya Sabha passes cinematograph Bill, minister says will curb piracy

📍New Cinematograph Bill to check film piracy gets Cabinet approval

📍Anurag Thakur upset with CBFC nod to Oppenheimer Gita scene: How are films certified in India?

THE IDEAS PAGE

Forests and national security

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: 

• General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Ravi Chellam writes: At least from the early 1970s, there has been a growing realisation of both the environmental damage that humans are collectively causing and the impact this is having on our lives. For example, extensive wildfires, prolonged and intense heat waves, extreme rainfall events, powerful and more frequent cyclones, rampant loss of biodiversity and the unravelling of ecosystems have all, and in many cases synergistically, impacted the lives of billions of people. Premature deaths, increasing incidence of diseases, destruction of built infrastructure, declining soil fertility, and decreasing quality of air and water are a short list of the impacts we are suffering. Globally, the response has included dozens of multilateral environmental agreements committing to the time-bound reversal of these trends. Many countries, especially India, have put in place strong policies and laws to protect the environment and restore it.

• Why the author of this article is It is deeply concerned about the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill, 2023?

• What is the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023?

• How the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 is different from the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980?

• The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023-What are the objectives?

• For Your Information-On March 29, the government introduced The Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha to make changes to The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. It was passed on July 27 and is now awaiting passage in the Rajya Sabha.
Diversion of forests for the construction of roads, railway lines or other projects of strategic nature near India’s international borders would no longer require clearance once the bill becomes law. It exempts certain kinds of infrastructure or development projects from the need to get forest clearance, which is mandatory at present. The amendment bill also renames the parent legislation, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, to Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam which translates to Forest (Conservation and Augmentation) Act. Besides being in Hindi, the new name is a reflection of a new focus on afforestation and reforestation activities with the objective of increasing India’s forest cover and fulfilling its international commitment of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes by 2030. The predominant idea of the proposed changes is to build forest carbon stock by raising plantations. The Bill also seeks to make land available for developers to meet their legal obligation towards compensatory afforestation in lieu of forest land diverted for development projects. The Bill tries to achieve both these objectives by restricting the applicability of the FC Act, and by freeing up land that is currently locked up as unrecorded forests.

• What is the 33 percentage of the forest policy?

• “With only 21 per cent of India’s land area having forest cover and even more worryingly, only 12.37 per cent intact natural forest, we have a long way to go to meet our target of 33 per cent forest cover”-Discuss

• “By stating that the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) will only apply to areas recorded as “forest” in government records, as on or after October 25, 1980, I fear that the amendment will invalidate the SC’s 1996 judgment in T N Godavarman”- What Supreme Court said in 1996 judgment in T N Godavarman?

• What are the concerns and issues with the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Missing The Woods

📍Lok Sabha passes Bill to let forest land be used for strategic needs

📍How the forest conservation Bill in Lok Sabha trades forests for trees

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