21 October 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Forest Conservation Act 1980: GS II – Topic Government Policies and Interventions

Context:

• According to chair Harsh Chouhan, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has a responsibility to “warn the government” when its policies might have an impact on the rights and welfare of tribal people. According to him, the NCST asked the Union Environment and Forest Ministry to postpone the new Forest Conservation Rules, 2022, for this reason above all others.
• According to the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, obtaining permission from the government is required before engaging in sustainable agroforestry in forested regions. A person was considered a criminal if they were operating against the law.
• The Center receives recommendations for these clearances from an advisory body established by the Act.
• The Act applies to all types of woods, including private, protected, communal, and reserved forests.
• It made an effort to preserve biodiversity, safeguard wildlife, and halt further destruction. This Act fell short of its objectives while having a better power to conserve forests.

Features:

• In four of the circumstances stated in Section 2 of the legislation, the Central Government must give its consent before any state action is taken.
• that no restricted woodland is currently protected.
• utilising the resources of a forest for uses other than forestry
• Anyone is welcome to hire a forest.
• stating that any forest site can be used for planting new trees after old trees have been removed.
• Another non-forest function is the removal of self-regenerating forest to make plantations.
• A provision for compensatory afforestation is also included. In a similar way to how they pay for revenue land, the user agency must pay for forest land. Net Present Value (NPV) must be repaid over a 50-year period. The NPV of the environmental cost is borne by forests.

What amendments are recommended?

• Exemptions for Road and Railways: Any vegetated, undeveloped land that was purchased by a variety of ministries, including Road and Railways, among others, before 1980 is intended to be exempt from the Act. The purchased land won’t need to be cleared for new development or expansion.
• Private property cannot be utilised for any non-forestry purposes in accordance with the current definition of a forest under the Forest Act. As a one-time relaxation, the government wants to permit the construction of buildings with residential units up to 250 square metres.
• It won’t be necessary to remove forests to construct defence projects close to international borders. Important national initiatives are consequently delayed.
• Extraction of Oil and Natural Gas: New environmentally friendly techniques are being developed to extract oil and natural gas that have been discovered deep beneath forest land by drilling holes outside of forest areas. The Act should not apply to this technology because it is so environmentally benign.
• The building of zoos, safaris, and facilities for forest training are examples of activities that are suggested to be excluded from the category of non-forestry uses because they are related to the preservation of forests and animals.
• Before leasing forest land to private companies, the Union government would not require permission.

What worries exist?

• The ecological system might suffer if private land use is accepted as a personal right. the rate of deforestation increasing
• Tree growth will be stopped to create place for development projects if prior approval is not obtained. Deforestation will eventually result from the revised Act.
• The rights or means of subsistence of the clans and tribes who live in the woodlands are unaffected by the adjustments.
• Wildlife will be impacted by the development of a zoo, safari, and training facility.

Source The Hindu

 2 – Indian Vultures: GS III – Topic Environmental Conservation:

Context:

• Concerns were aroused by the 96% fall in the population of vultures in India between 1993 and 2003, which prompted the Central government to develop two action plans in 2006 and 2020–2025 to protect the species across the nation. The establishment of State-level committees to safeguard the critically endangered vulture population is one of the main action objectives in this national strategy.

In India, NSAIDS pose a serious threat to vultures:

• The three NSAIDS are frequently used, putting the Center’s 20 years of work to stop the vulture population decline in the wild in peril.
• Of substitute diclofenac, whose use on animals was banned by India in 2006 due to the drug’s propensity to kill vultures, aceclofenac, ketoprofen, and nimesulide were made available.

Diclofenac:

• Diclofenac, a medication for treating cattle, has been connected to vulture renal failure and a decline in vulture population.
• Although it was outlawed in 2006, the drug still appears to be accessible.
• Despite the fact that diclofenac may be hazardous to vultures, veterinarians nevertheless use medication to treat animals. As the vultures consume the corpses, the medications are absorbed by their bodies.

Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020-2025:

• It is recommended that vulture conservation breeding centres be constructed in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Tripura, and Karnataka.
• The creation of a “Vulture Safe Zone” would also safeguard the remaining Red-Headed and Egyptian vulture populations.

Why is environmental preservation crucial for vultures?

• Due to their consumption of carrion, vultures are crucial to an intrinsic infection-control mechanism.
• A thriving and balanced environment is maintained by vultures and other scavengers. Amazingly, vultures consume contaminated carcasses and don’t get sick.
• Because stomach acids have the ability to do so, they can eliminate the virus. Thus, the chain of transmission is cut. Dangerous viruses such as cholera, foot-and-mouth disease, rabies, distemper, and anthrax are subtly regulated in their transmission.

Source The Hindu

 3 – Indian Meteorological Department: GS II – Topic Constitutional & Non-Constitutional Bodies:

Context:

• A low-pressure system that appeared on Thursday in the Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify over the following four days into a cyclonic cyclone, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

About IMD:

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) was established in 1875. It is a division of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Indian government.
• It is the principal agency in charge of meteorological observations, weather forecasting, and seismology.
• IMD is one of six geographically focused meteorological centres that make up the World Meteorological Organization.

Objective:

• to guarantee the most effective operation of weather-sensitive industries, including offshore oil exploration, shipping, aviation, irrigation, and agriculture. to compile weather data and offer current and upcoming forecasts.
• to give alerts for hazardous weather conditions, such as tropical cyclones, nor’easters, dust storms, heavy rain, snow, cold, and heat waves, which can cause both property damage and fatalities.
• For performing and advancing research in meteorology and related domains, IMD is essential. This is due to the need for meteorological information in the management of industry, oil exploration, and other nation-building initiatives.

Source The Hindu 

4 – Official Language of India: GS II- Topic Constitutional Provisions:

Context:

• On the recommendation of the Home Minister Amit Shah, President Droupadi Murmu recently received the report of the Official Language Committee. It was suggested that Hindi and other regional languages spoken in other States be taught in major universities. The argument for mandating Hindi education for everyone has so been revived.
• A language that has been given special status by a nation, state, or other organisation is referred to as an official language. Official languages are frequently used to describe regional dialects spoken by the judicial, legislative, and/or executive arms of a government.

Term Usage Associated with Constitutional Provisions:

• The official language of the union is Hindi (written in Devanagari), as stated in the Indian Constitution.
• The Constitution mandated that English be used for all official Union activities until January 25, 1965. This is primarily because to the belief that Hindi’s replacement would not occur so quickly. Thus, Hindi and English were added to the list of national languages.
• Our constitution stipulates in Article 343(1) that Hindi written in Devanagari must be the official language of the Union.

Local languages:

• The official language of a state is not mentioned in the Constitution. But it also includes:
• A state’s legislature has the authority to declare any one or more of its native tongues, including Hindi, as the state’s official tongue. English will continue to be the state’s official language until then.

Laws and statutes are written in the following languages:

 The clauses of the constitution:

• A statute passed by Parliament may specify the language to be used in Supreme Court proceedings and Union laws.
• SC meetings are currently conducted fully in English.
• The Official Languages Act of 1963 must be followed while evaluating any legislation, decrees, orders, rules, or bylaws that the President may issue (OLA).
• Hindi must be used in the translation of all measures submitted to the Parliament.
• State statutes or ordinances may occasionally be translated into Hindi in compliance with the law.
• The use of Hindi or any other official state language in proceedings before the state’s supreme court may be permitted by the governor of a state with the prior approval of the president.

Conclusion:

• The topic of language can be divisive and challenging in a multilingual nation like India. One language for the entire nation is obviously not a practical solution to issues like fostering greater national integration. Both those who wrote the constitution and our legal system acknowledged this truth. So they brought a formula that was multilingual.

Source The Hindu