09 August 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Mid Day Meal Scheme: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Context:

• According to research commissioned by the Karnataka government that involved more than 4,500 pupils in two districts and examined the effects of serving eggs as part of midday meals, girls in Class 8 gained up to 71 percent more weight than their counterparts who did not.

What does the midday meal plan entail?

• It is the world’s largest school feeding programme of its kind, serving pupils in government schools in Classes 1 through 8.
• This program’s main goal is to increase school enrollment.
• Ministry of Education is the nodal ministry.
• Background: The programme was first made available to underprivileged kids in Madras Municipal Corporation in 1925.
• For kids in Classes 1 through 5, the Union government introduced a centrally sponsored programme on a trial basis in 1995.
• MDMS had been raised up to Class 8 by October 2007.
• Current Situation: In 2021, the programme will be renamed PM Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM Poshan.
• Scale of Coverage: From Classes 1 to 8, 11.80 crore children are included in the programme (age group 6 to 14).
• Through the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, it is not simply a programme but a right granted to all students enrolled in primary and upper primary classrooms.
• The Supreme Court’s decision in People’s Union of Civil Liberties v. Union of India and Others further supported this (2001).
• Federal Setup: According to the regulations, the allocation of Rs. 4.97 per child per day (primary classes) and Rs. 7.45 per child per day (upper primary) is shared in a ratio of 60:40 with states and UTs that have legislatures, and 90:10 with the Northeastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The Centre is responsible for covering all expenses in UTs without legislatures.

What is the problem with eggs?

• Due to regional diversity, religious conservatism, and caste rigidities, eating choices are a hotly debated topic in India.
• As a result, many states have been hesitant to include eggs in the school lunch menu even though numerous scientific studies, including those commissioned by state governments, have shown the advantages of giving children eggs.

What Problems and Challenges Surround This?

• Corrupt Practices: There have been cases where ordinary chapatis were provided with salt, milk was diluted with water, people became sick from eating, etc.
• Children are often forced to sit apart in classrooms based on their caste position because food is a key component of the caste system.
• Malnutrition threat:According to the National Family Health Survey-5, levels of child malnutrition have gotten worse in a number of states across the nation.
• Around 30% of the world’s stunted children and almost 50% of severely wasted children under the age of five reside in India.
• Global Nutrition Report-2021: India has not achieved any progress in reducing anaemia and childhood wasting, according to the recently published Global Nutrition Report (GNR, 2021).
• In the age range of 15 to 49 years, more than half of Indian women are anaemic.
• Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021: India dropped from its 2020 rank of 94th to 101st place in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 among 116 countries.

Steps to Take:

• Early Detection & Care: Years before these girls and young women become mothers, interventions to increase maternal height and education must be put into place.
• A holistic view of health: While improving early children’s nutrition has been a common strategy in the fight against stunting, nutritionists have long emphasised that improving mother health and wellbeing is the key to lowering stunting in offspring.
• Expanding and improving school meals is necessary for intergenerational benefits, according to the MDMS menu enhancement project. School-based treatments can be quite beneficial because girls in India finish school, get married, and have children all within a short period of time.

Source The Indian Express

2 – Sessions of Parliament: GS II – Parliament Related Issues

Context:

• Four days before their session was supposed to end, both houses of Parliament adjourned on Monday. Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla declared the chamber adjourned sine die after 16 days of session during which seven laws were passed. M. Venkaiah Naidu, the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, whose term ends on August 10, recessed the Upper House sine die and announced that the Rajya Sabha secretariat would distribute complete session data throughout the meeting.

Sessions of Parliament:

• Article 85 of the Constitution contains specifics regarding the calling of Parliament.
• The Government has the authority to call a session of Parliament.
• The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs makes the decision, which is formalized by the President, on whose behalf MPs (Members of Parliament) are called to a session.
• India’s parliamentary calendar is not set in stone. By custom (rather than as required by the Constitution), Parliament meets three times a year.
• The first session of the budget, which lasts the longest, begins near the end of January and ends by the end of April or the first week of May.
• The three-week Monsoon Session, which normally starts in July and lasts into August, is the second session.
• The third session, known as Winter Session, lasts from November through December.
• summoning the legislature
• The process of summoning all of the Parliament’s members to a meeting. Periodically, the President will call a meeting of each House of Parliament. The Parliament must assemble at least twice every year, and the interval between sessions cannot be longer than six months.

Adjournment:

• The House adjourns and reconvenes at the hour set for the subsequent sitting after adjournment. The delay could be for a set period of time, like a few hours, days, or weeks.
• Adjournment sine die refers to the termination of a meeting without setting a specific time or date for the subsequent meeting.
• The presiding officer of the House (the Speaker or Chairman) has the authority to call an adjournment and to declare an adjournment sine die.

Prorogation:

• Prorogation is not the dissolution of the house but rather the conclusion of the current session (in case of Lok Sabha, as Rajya Sabha does not dissolve).
• The Indian President carries it out.

Quorum:

• The term “quorum” describes the bare minimum of members needed to convene a house meeting.
• For both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Constitution set a quorum of one-tenth of the total membership.
• As a result, at least 55 members must be present for a Lok Sabha meeting to take place, whereas at least 25 members must be present for a Rajya Sabha meeting to take place.

Parliament’s Joint Session (Article 108):

• In order to resolve any impasse between the two Houses of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Indian Constitution calls for a joint session of both.
• The President convenes the joint session. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha, or the Deputy Speaker in his or her absence, presides over such a session.
• It is run by the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman if none of them are present.
• By agreement of both Houses, any other member of the Parliament may preside if any of the aforementioned are absent.

Source The Indian Express

3 – New START Treaty: GS II – International Relations

Regarding the New START Agreement:

• Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms is the official name of the nuclear arms reduction agreement between the United States and the Russian Federation.
• signed on April 8, 2010, in Prague, and became effective on February 5, 2011, following ratification.
• the Treaty of Moscow (SORT), which was set to expire in December 2012, was replaced.
• Its name is a follow-up to the START I treaty, which expired in December 2009, the START II treaty that was in the works, but was never signed, and the START III pact that never saw the end of discussions.

According to the agreement:

• There will be half as many launchers for strategic nuclear weapons.
• In place of the SORT process, a new inspection and verification regime will be implemented.
• There can only be 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.
• There will be a cap on the number of heavy bombers with nuclear weaponry to 800, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) launchers, and deployed and non-deployed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers.

Timeline for achieving these Goals:

• These commitments must be fulfilled within seven years of the treaty’s effective date.
• The agreement will be in effect for ten years, with the possibility of a mutually agreed-upon five-year renewal.

Source The Indian Express

4 – Fake Currency in India: GS III – Internal Security of India

Context:

• According to a Finance Ministry response in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the value of counterfeit money in the financial system fell dramatically by more than 80%, from 43.47 crores in 2016–17 to 8.26 crore in 2021–22.

Measures made to combat false currencies:

• By classifying the production, smuggling, or circulation of high-quality counterfeit Indian currency as a terrorist act and expanding the definition of proceeds of terrorism to include any property intended to be used for terrorism, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967’s provisions will be strengthened.
• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has established a Terror Funding and Phony Money (TFFC) Cell to conduct targeted investigations into cases involving terror funding and fake currency.
• Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) network is one of the ways that India finances terrorism, according to the FICN Coordination Group (FCORD). The Ministry of Home Affairs established the FICN Coordination Group (FCORD) to facilitate intelligence and information sharing across state and federal security agencies in an effort to combat the issue of counterfeit currency notes.
• India and Bangladesh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to prevent and combat the circulation of fake currency notes. Additionally, increased manpower has been deployed for round-the-clock surveillance, new surveillance technology has been used, observation posts have been established along international borders, border fencing has been erected, and intensive patrolling has increased security at international borders.

Source The Indian Express