Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
For Prelims: BBBP.
For Mains: Declining CSR- concerns, challenges and solutions.
Context: All States and UTs except West Bengal have constituted the State Task Force headed by Chief Secretary/ UT Administration as per the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Scheme guidelines.
About BBBP:
Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched in January, 2015.
The scheme is aimed at promoting gender equality and the significance of educating girls.
The Scheme is targeted at improving the Child Sex Ratiothrough multi sectoral interventions including prevention of gender biased sex selection and promoting girls’ education and her holistic empowerment.
It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
Significance and the need for scheme:
The trend of decline in the Child Sex Ratio (CSR) has been unabated since 1961. The decline from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 and further to 918 in 2011 is alarming. The social construct discrimination against girls on one hand, easy availability, affordability and subsequent misuse of diagnostic tools on the other hand, have been critical in increasing Sex Selective Elimination of girls leading to low Child Sex Ratio.
Child Sex Ratiois defined as number of girls per 1000 of boys between 0-6 years of age. Hence, a decline in the CSR is a major indicator of women disempowerment. The ratio reflects both, pre-birth discrimination manifested through gender biased sex selection and post birth discrimination against girls.
In news- About Swadhar Greh Scheme:
The Swadhar scheme was launched by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2002 for rehabilitation of women in difficult circumstances.
The scheme provides shelter, food, clothing and care to the marginalized women/girls who are in need.
The beneficiaries include widows deserted by their families and relatives, women prisoners released from jail and without family support, women survivors of natural disasters, women victims of terrorist/extremist violence etc.
The implementing agencies are mainly NGOs.
In news- International Cooperation Scheme:
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is implementing International Cooperation (IC) Scheme.
Objective: enhance competency of MSMEs, capturing new markets for their products, exploring new technologies for improving manufacturing capacity, etc.
Financial assistance is provided under the Scheme on reimbursement basis to the eligible State /Central Government Organisations, Registered Industry Associations and Societies/Trusts associated with the promotion and development of MSME sector to visit/participate in international exhibitions /trade fairs/buyer-seller meet etc. abroad and also for holding International conferences/seminars/workshops in India which are in the interest of MSME sector.
In news- About NLCPR:
The broad objective of the Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources scheme is to ensure speedy development of infrastructure in the North Eastern Region by increasing the flow of budgetary financing for new infrastructure projects/schemes in the Region.
Both physical and social infrastructure sectors such as Irrigation and Flood Control, Power, Roads and Bridges, Education, Health, Water Supply and Sanitation – are considered for providing support under the Central Pool, with projects in physical infrastructure sector receiving priority.
Funds from the Central Pool can be released for State sector as well as Central sector projects/schemes. However, the funds available under the Central Pool are not meant to supplement the normal Plan programmes either of the State Governments or Union Ministries/ Departments/ Agencies.
The Ministry for Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER) allocates funds from NLCPR to various Northeast states for infrastructure projects.
Relevant articles from various news sources:
Bill to tackle Ponzi schemes
For Prelims and mains GS III Economic Issues
In news
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister had earlier given its approval to move official amendments to The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018, after the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF).
- The 2019 Bill will replace the The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019.
- The 2019 ordinance helped in the creation of a central repository of all deposit schemes under operation, thus making it easier for the Centre to regulate their activities and prevent fraud from being committed against ordinary people.
- The ordinance allowed for compensation to be offered to victims through the liquidation of the assets of those offering illegal deposit schemes.
Background
- The Finance Minister in the Budget Speech 2016-17 had announced that a comprehensive Central legislation would be brought in to deal with the menace of illicit deposit taking schemes.
- This was because in the recent past, there have been rising instances fraud by illicit deposit taking schemes across India. The worst victims of these schemes are the poor and the financially illiterate, and the operations of such schemes are often spread over many States.
The Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance 2019 – Important features
- The ordinance aims to provide for a comprehensive mechanism to ban unregulated deposits schemes and thereby protect the interests of depositors.
- The Ordinance bans Deposit Takers from promoting, operating, issuing advertisements or accepting deposits in any Unregulated Deposit Scheme.
- A prize chit or money circulation scheme banned under the provisions of The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Scheme (Banning) Act, 1978 shall also be considered an unregulated deposit and has been banned accordingly.
- The Ordinance enables creation of an online central database, for collection and sharing of information on deposit-taking activities in the country. The law also makes it incumbent upon newspapers to verify the advertisements placed in them to ensure that none of them is for unregulated deposit schemes.
The Bill creates three different types of offences:
- Running of Unregulated Deposit Schemes,
- Fraudulent default in Regulated Deposit Schemes, and
- Wrongful inducement in relation to Unregulated Deposit Schemes.
Hayabusa2
For Prelims and Mains: Objectives and significance of the mission, Asteroid Ryugu.
Context: Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft, which successfully made its second touchdown on asteroid Ryugu on July 12, 2019, has become the first ever space probe to gather material from beneath the surface of an asteroid.
Hayabusa:
In mid-September 2005, Hayabusa landed on the asteroid Itokawa, and managed to collect samples in the form of grains of asteroidal material. It returned to Earth with the samples in June 2010, thereby becoming the first spacecraft to return asteroid samples to Earth for analysis.
Hayabusa2:
It is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese space agency, JAXA.
It was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused with near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018.
It is in the process of surveying the asteroid for a year and a half, departing in December 2019, and returning to Earth in December 2020.
Hayabusa2 carries multiple science payloads for remote sensing, sampling, and four small rovers that will investigate the asteroid surface to inform the environmental and geological context of the samples collected.
The scientific objectives of Hayabusa2 mission are twofold:
To characterize the asteroid from remote sensing observations (with multispectral cameras, near-infrared spectrometer, thermal infrared imager, laser altimeter) on a macroscopic scale
To analyse the samples returned from the asteroid on a microscopic scale.
What is the significance of the mission?
Ryugu is a C-type asteroid – a relic from the early days of the Solar System. Scientists think that C-type asteroids contain both organic matter, and trapped water, and might have been responsible for bringing both to Earth, thereby providing the planet with the materials necessary for life to originate.
Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal
For prelims: Geographical location of SYL canal and associated rivers.
For mains: Dispute over the construction of this canal, concerns and what needs to be done?
Context: The recent Supreme Court order asking Punjab, Haryana and Centre to sort out SYL issue amicably, has brought to centre stage the contentious issue of sharing of waters between the two states.
What is the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, and the controversy over it?
- The creation of Haryana from the old (undivided) Punjab in 1966 threw up the problem of giving Haryana its share of river waters. Punjab was opposed to sharing waters of the Ravi and Beas with Haryana, citing riparian principles, and arguing that it had no water to spare.
- However, Centre, in 1976, issued a notification allocating to Haryana 3.5 million acre feet (MAF) out of undivided Punjab’s 7.2 MAF.
- The Eradi Tribunal headed by Supreme Court Judge V Balakrishna Eradi was set up to reassess availability and sharing of water. The Tribunal, in 1987, recommended an increase in the shares of Punjab and Haryana to 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF, respectively.
To enable Haryana to use its share of the waters of the Sutlej and its tributary Beas, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna, cutting across the state, was planned.
A tripartite agreement was also negotiated between Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan in this regard.
However, following the protests in Punjab, the Punjab Assembly passed The Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004, terminating its water-sharing agreements, and thus jeopardising the construction of SYL in Punjab.
Why is Haryana’s claim?
Haryana has been staking claim on Ravi-Beas waters through SYL canal on the plea that providing water for irrigation was a tough task for the state. In southern parts, where the underground water had depleted up to 1700 feet, there was a problem of drinking water.
Haryana has been invoking its contribution to the central food bowl and lamenting that justice had been denied to the state by not providing it its rightful share in the water as assessed by a tribunal.