Today in History (February 21^st, 1999)

In 1999, the Lahore Declaration was signed on the use of nuclear weapons between India’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif.

Let’s Revise the previous study

• Which one of the following is the correct law for forest conservation in India?

1. Forest conservation Act 2001
2. Forest conservation Act 1988
3. Forest conservation Act 1980
4. Forest Protection Act 1890

Ans. c)

• Which Article of the Indian Constitution is related with Establishment and Constitution of Supreme Court?

1. 152
2. 124
3. 142
4. 226

Ans. b)

• PM SHRI (Prime Minister Schools for Rising India) scheme is related with which of the following sector?

1. For up gradation of gram Panchayats
2. For development of villages
3. For up gradation of selected schools
4. None of the above

Ans. c)

• The New Curriculum Framework (NCF) announced by the Ministry of Education in_____

1. 2024
2. 2023
3. 2022
4. 2021

Ans. b)

• The board examinations will be held at least twice a year to ensure that students have enough time and opportunity to perform well from which session?

1. 2024-2025
2. 2025-2026
3. 2026-2027
4. Already implemented

Ans. b)

• Recently who have taken the charge of VICE CHIEF OF THE ARMY STAFF?

1. LIEUTENANT GENERAL UPENDRA DWIVEDI
2. LIEUTENANT GENERAL MANOJ PANDE
3. LIEUTENANT GENERAL MUKUND NARVANE
4. LIEUTENANT GENERAL VIVEK AGNIHOTRI

Ans. a)

• Who is the current General of the Indian Army or Chief of the Army Staff (COAS)?

1. LIEUTENANT GENERAL UPENDRA DWIVEDI
2. LIEUTENANT GENERAL MANOJ PANDE
3. LIEUTENANT GENERAL MUKUND NARVANE
4. LIEUTENANT GENERAL VIVEK AGNIHOTRI

Ans. b)

• The European Union launched a naval mission on 19^th February to protect Red Sea shipping from Yemen’s Houthi rebels. What is the name of this mission?

1. Operation Prosperity Guardian
2. Mission Aspides
3. Mission Red Sea
4. Mission Gulf of Aden

Ans. b)

• Operation Prosperity Guardian is a______

1. United States-led military operation
2. Britain-led Space mission
3. India US military Exercise
4. None of the above

Ans. a)

• Which one of the following is not the part of Operation Prosperity Guardian?

1. India
2. USA
3. Italy
4. France

Ans. a)

Summary of Today’s News

Having Panchayats as self-governing institutions

• Three decades have passed since the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments Acts 1993
• These amendments aimed that the local self government would work self sufficient institutions.
• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj was constituted in 2004 to strengthen rural local governments.
• After analyzing the status of devolution of funds, we find that some States have well done but others lag behind.
• The commitment of State governments towards decentralization
  • To make Panchayatiraj institutions an effective local governance mechanism at the grass-roots level.
• The constitutional amendment has set forth specific details on
  • fiscal devolution and
  • Generation of own revenues.
• Based on the Central Act, various States Panchayati Raj Acts have made provisions for taxation and collection.
• Panchayats have made efforts to generate their own resources to the maximum extent.
  • Like Participatory planning and budgeting
• “Panchayats earn only 1% of the revenue through taxes”,
• 99% is grants from the State and Centre.
• The 80% of the revenue is from the Centre and 15 % from the States.
• This is an eye-opener for the proponents of decentralization.
• So the result is Panchayats are dependent for funds even after 30 years.

Overcoming the dependency syndrome

• The ‘freebie culture’ rampant in society is the cause for the antipathy in paying taxes.
• Elected representatives feel that imposing taxes would alter their popularity adversely.

The solution/way forward

• Educate elected representatives and the public on the significance of raising revenue to develop panchayats as self-governing institutions.
• Ultimately, the dependency syndrome for grants has to be minimized and in due course, Panchayats will be able to survive on their own resources.
• Panchayats can only achieve such a state of affairs when there are dedicated efforts in all tiers of governance, which includes even the State and central level.

Char/Chapori

Recently, the Chief Minister of Assam said his government would undertake a mission to reclaim the chars from encroachers to safeguard the “ecological integrity” of the Brahmaputra Valley.

• The riverine areas (island) of the river Brahmaputra, locally known as “Char/ Chapori”. The chars follow a peculiar pattern of migration. They are subjected to erosion on their upstream and deposition on the downstream, due to which they migrate downstream.
• “Majuli” is the world’s largest river island and it attracts tourists from all over the world. It is an island in the Brahmaputra River, Assam and in 2016 it became the first island to be made a district in India.

Anti-Satellite Weapon

• Russia is actively working towards a formidable new development in space technology, focusing on creating a nuclear anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon.
• Anti-Satellite Weapon is designed to debilitate and/or destroy satellites that are already in orbit and operational.
• All of these attacks can be launched from the air, low orbit, or even ground installations.
• These can even undertake pellet cloud attacks on enemy’s low orbit satellites.
• There are many countries which have this capability, but only four countries — including India — have demonstrated their ASAT capabilities.
• India’s anti-satellite (ASAT) test in March 2019 made it the fourth country (after the United States, Russia, and China) to have a demonstrated ASAT capability.
• ‘Mission Shakti’ is the India’s first ever Anti-Satellite Missile test.