Tripura
Current Affairs - December 2020
10th National Science Film
Festival 2020 Organised by VigyanPrasar Virtually
The 10th National Science Film Festival 2020 was
jointly organised by VigyanPrasar, an
autonomous agency under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and the Tripura State Council of Science and
Technology, Government of Tripura. The four-day
long film festival was held from 24th
to 27th November 2020.
The event
was inaugurated on 24th November 2020 by JishnuDevVerma, Deputy Chief Minister
of Tripura.
Aim:
The
National science film festival provides a unique platform for the
professionals, amateurs and student filmmakers to showcase their science films
made under various themes.
10th National Science Film Festival (2020):
i.10 Jury members under the chairmanship of
Girish Kasaravalli shortlisted 115 films from 372 films & these 115
shortlisted films were screened during the virtual event of the 10th National
Science Film festival.
ii.
The 115 films includes films in Hindi, English, Urdu,
Malayalam, Kashmiri, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Tamil. iii. The entries include, documentaries, biography, short films,
docu-dramas, science fiction and animation films.
Awards
2020:
On 27th November 2020,
the best films were awarded in different categories.
·
Under the Interface-Films,
fusion and Out of the Box categories the 3
Beaver awards – Gold, Silver and Bronze were awarded along with cash
rewards of Rs. 1.5 lakh, Rs. 1 lakh and Rs.75000 respectively.
·
Under the Rainbow category
8 films were awarded with a cash
reward of Rs.25000 each.Incredible Tale of a Water Warrior directed by Mahesha received
the Jury Special
Mention award carrying
Rs. 50,000 prize money.
New categories:
This year, 2 new categories of awards were
introduced: Poonam Chaurasia Memorial
Award, instituted in the memory of Poonam, a talented cameraperson, to
encourage female science film makers and the Destination Award given to one of the best films from the region
where the National Science Film Festival is organized.
Click here to know more
about the winners
Ministry of Home Affairs approves Rs. 90.6 Crore
to Land Ports Authority of India for new ICP in Tripura
On 16th
December, 2020 the Ministry of Home Affairs approved Rs.90.6 crores to the Land
Ports Authority of India (LPAI) for construction of a new Integrated Check Post
(ICP) along the India-Bangladesh border at Sabroom in South Tripura.This will
be the 6th multi-facilitated ICP in the India-Bangladesh Border.
KeyPoints:
i.
The ICP is a milestone project built to expand
India-Bangladesh bilateral relation and provide economic development in Tripura.
ii.
The estimated cost of the proposed ICP at Sabroom is around
Rs 300 crore which will have separate passenger and
cargo
terminals with state-of-the-art facilities.As of now, Department of Expenditure
approved 90.60 crores.
Other 5 multi-facilitated ICP’s along India-Bangladesh Borders
are:
The Other 5
Multi Facilitated ICP’s along the India-Bangladesh Borders are,
Petrapole-Benapole along West Bengal, Dawki (Meghalaya), Sutarkandi (southern
Assam’s Karimganj), Sonamura and Agartala (both Tripura).
About Land Ports
Authority of India (LPAI):
LPAI is a
statutory body under the Ministry of Home Affairs
Founded –2012
Operation– Creating, upgrading, maintaining and
managing border infrastructure in India.
About Tripura:
Festival- Garia Puja, Ashokastami Festival, Pilak
Festival
Wildlife Sanctuary- Gumti Wildlife
Sanctuary, Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary, Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary
ADB & Govt of India Signs $4.21 million PRF
Facility for Tripura Urban and Tourism Development Project On December 18, 2020
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and
Government of India signed a $4.21 million(Around 31 Crore) Project
Readiness Financing (PRF) facility for
Tripura Urban and Tourism Development
Project. This is ADB’s 1st PRF facility for a Northeastern state of India.
Purpose
The
facility will enhance the infrastructure development projects & will
improve the urban amenities and develop tourism infrastructure projects in the
Tripura.
Key People
Dr. C. S.
Mohapatra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of
Finance signed the facility on behalf of Govt of India and Takeo Konishi,
Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission on behalf of ADB. Highlights
of PRF Facility
Finance
PRF helps
finance the preparation of integrated infrastructure development plans for the
7 Districts Headquarter Towns (DHT) and 13 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) focused on
water supply, sanitation, storm water drainage, urban roads, and urban
amenities.
Support
i.
It supports the priorities of the Tripura govt to improve
urban services and tourism through comprehensive planning by developing key
infrastructure investment projects and related reforms in these sectors that
helps to boost economic development.
ii.
It also supports the objective of the govt to improve the
tourism’s contribution to the economy and also supports development of
integrated tourism infrastructure plans
iii.
These include, providing amenities and improving road
connectivity to the tourist destinations jointly with the marketing and
promotion strategies.
Ensure greater readiness
The
facility by preparing feasibility studies, detailed engineering designs, and
capacity building of state level agencies aims to ensure greater readiness for
assuring infrastructure projects, while also ensuring climate and disaster
resilience, inclusiveness and sustainability of sub projects.
Recent Related News:
On 22nd
November 2020, The Government of Himachal Pradesh(HP) partnered with Asian
Development Bank(ADB) to improve the infrastructure in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.
Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister of HP virtually inaugurated and laid foundation
stones for various development programs worth Rs.15 crores in Mandi district of
HP.
About
Asian Development Bank (ADB):
Establishment
1966
President– Masatsugu Asakawa
Headquarters– Mandaluyong City, Manila, Philippines
Membership– 68 countries (Including India)
About Tripura:
National Park– Clouded Leopard National Park, Bison
National Park
Zoo– Sepahijala Zoo
National Current
Affairs Januray-2021
Patharughat
Uprising in Assam Context: Nearly Twenty five years before the Jallianwallah
Bagh massacre (1919), more than a hundred peasants fell to the bullets of the
British on January 28, 1894 in Assam. The unarmed peasants were protesting
against the increase in land revenue levied by the colonial administration,
when the military opened fire. What led to the Patharughat uprising?
· Assam
Annexation and Survey of Land: After the British annexation of Assam in 1826,
surveys of the vast lands of the state began. This was primarily intended to
make accurate assessment of land so as to increase the land revenues from the
region.
· Levying of Land
taxes: On the basis of such surveys, the British began to impose land taxes,
much to the resentment of the farmers.
·
Increase of Taxes: In 1893, the British government decided to increase
agricultural land tax reportedly by 70- 80 per cent.
·
Raij Mels across Assam: Up until 1893, peasants would pay taxes in kind or
provide a service in lieu of cash. Across Assam, peasants began protesting the
British move of increasing taxes by organising Raij Mels, or peaceful peoples’
conventions
·
Repression by British: Despite these gatherings at Raij Mels being democratic,
the British perceived them as “breeding grounds for sedition”. So whenever
there was a Raij Mel, the British used to come down on it with a heavy hand to
disperse them.
· January 28, 1894
firing at Patharughat Protest: When the British officers were refusing to
listen to the farmers’ grievances, things heated up and there was a lathi
charge, followed by an open firing which killed many of the peasants who were
gathered at Patharughat, a small village nearly 60km northeast of Guwahati.
· High
Casualties: Official placed the casualties in the Patharughat incident as 15
killed and 37 wounded, however it is estimated by eyewitnesses that close to
140 people were killed.
In
news
·
FSSAI has capped the amount of trans fatty acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3%
for 2021 and 2% by 2022 from the current permissible limit of 5% through an
amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on
Sales) Regulations.
·
The FSSAI notified the amendment on December 29, more than a year after it
issued a draft on the subject for consultation with stakeholders.
·
The revised regulation applies to edible refined oils, vanaspati (partially
hydrogenated oils), margarine, bakery shortenings and other mediums of cooking
such as vegetable fat spreads and mixed fat spreads. Key takeaways
·
While the regulation comes into effect immediately, industry players were made
to take a pledge back in 2018 that they would comply with WHO’s call for action
to reduce TFA by 3% by 2021 allowing them three years to comply with the latest
regulation.
·
It was in 2011 that India first passed a regulation that set a TFA limit of 10%
in oils and fats, which was further reduced to 5% in 2015.
·
Trans fats, or trans-fatty acids, are a form of unsaturated fat. They come in
both natural and artificial forms.
·
Trans fats are associated with increased risk of heart attacks and death from
coronary heart disease.
·
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), approximately 5.4 lakh deaths take
place each year globally because of intake of industrially produced trans fatty
acids. The WHO has also called for global elimination of trans fats by 2023.
COVID-19 Vaccine Dry Run Context: With two vaccine candidates — Covishield from
the Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech — at
final stages of emergency use authorisation (EUA) in India, several States and
Union Territories conducted a dry run for a COVID-19 vaccination programme. India’s Immunization Experience
·
Under India’s ‘Expanded Programme on Immunization’, which was initiated in
1978, the country has gathered experience in administering essential vaccines
to children and pregnant women.
·
In 1985, the programme was renamed ‘Universal Immunisation Programme’, under
which about 12 different vaccines are provided through the government health
system.
·
Other than inoculation, there is a three-tier system at the district, State and
national levels to monitor coverage and adverse events and to ensure that the
vaccines adhere to quality norms.
·
Roughly 9 million immunisation sessions are conducted annually in India,
according to the UNICEF. Despite that, only about 60% of eligible children are
fully immunised, with wide variations among States.
Supreme Court on Central Vista
Project Context: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its
nod to the Central Vista redevelopment project in a 2:1 verdict.
A
Brief Background :
·
The project aims to renovate and redevelop 86 acres of land in Lutyens’s Delhi,
in which the landmark structures of the Indian government, including Parliament
House, Rashtrapati Bhavan, India Gate, North Block and South Block, etc. stand.
·
A batch of petitions had challenged the plan for demolition of old structures
and new construction, including a brand new Parliament, on approximately 86
acres of land in the national capital. What was under challenge, and what has
the court held?
·
Procedures Adopted: Broadly, the change in land use and the manner and
procedure adopted for making the changes in the Central Vista precincts were
challenged.
·
Clearances given: The petitioners argued that there were irregularities in the
process that involved approval of design, clearance on monetary allocations and
the tendering processes, and other regulatory clearances on environment and
from local municipal bodies.
·
Heritage Approval: The petitioners had argued that the government failed to
consult Heritage Conservation Committee, which is an expert body in matters
involving heritage structures and ought to have been consulted from the stage
of conception of the project, even before the design is agreed upon
·
Hasty Decision: The petitioners highlighted that the whole process involving
multiple local bodies was completed in just three months — between December
2019 and March 2020 — during which public consultation was held, objections
were invited, considered and overruled.
Supreme Court clarifies the
position of law on vertical and horizontal reservations
In news
·
The Supreme Court clarified the position of law on vertical and horizontal
reservations recently.
·
The decision in Saurav Yadav Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh dealt with issues
arising from the way different classes of reservation were to be applied in the
selection process to fill posts of constables in the state.
Key
takeaways
·
The court ruled that if a person belonging to an intersection of
vertical-horizontal reserved category had secured scores high enough to qualify
without the vertical reservation, the person would be counted as qualifying
without the vertical reservation, and cannot be excluded from the horizontal
quota in the general category.
·
It argued that if both vertical and horizontal quotas were to be applied
together then the overall selection would have candidates with lower scores.
Important value additions
·
Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes
is referred to as vertical reservation.
·
It applies separately for each of the groups specified under the law.
·
Horizontal reservation refers to the equal opportunity provided to other
categories of beneficiaries such as women, veterans, the transgender community,
and individuals with disabilities, cutting through the vertical categories.
·
The horizontal quota is applied separately to each vertical category, and not
across the board.
·
The interlocking of the two types of reservation throws up a host of questions
on how certain groups are to be identified.
·
For example would an SC wom
G Kishan Reddy Committee formedan
be put in the category of women or SC?
In news
·
The Central Government has decided to form a committee to protect the language,
culture and land of Ladakh and ensure citizen's participation in the Union
Territory's development.
Key takeaways
·
The Committee will be headed by the Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy.
·
It will include elected representatives from Ladakh, Ladakh Autonomous Hill
Development Council, central government, and the Ladakh administration.
·
The decision to form the Committee was taken after meeting a 10-member
delegation from Ladakh who expressed their views about the need to protect
Ladakh's unique cultural identity.
SC’s order on Prevention Of Cruelty
To Animals (Care And Maintenance Of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017
In
news
·
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to delete its three-year-old law.
·
The law under question is the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and
Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017 notified on May 23, 2017.
·
The rules were framed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
·
It allowed seizure and subsequent confiscation of livestock from people who
depended on these animals for a livelihood, even before they were found guilty
of cruelty towards them. Key takeaways
·
The SC warned the government that it would “stay” the implementation of a 2017
law, which allowed authorities to seize cattle on a mere suspicion that they
suffered cruel treatment at the hands of their owners or were being primed for
slaughter.
Centre Merges J&K Cadre
Officers With AGMUT
In
news
·
Recently, the Centre has merged J&K cadre for all India Services - IAS, IPS
and IFoS officers - with that of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union
Territory (AGMUT), also called the Union Territory cadre, through an ordinance.
Key takeaways
·
The President has promulgated an ordinance to amend J&K Reorganisation Act,
2019 and make IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service officers of existing cadre of
J&K a part of AGMUT cadre.
·
The move will allow officers posted in these states and UTs to work in J&K
and vice versa.
·
It will also help tackle the shortage of All India Services Officers in J&K
owing to an earlier rule fixing the ratio of direct recruits in Civil Services
to promotees from J&K State Civil Services (Kashmir Administrative Service)
at 50:50 instead of 67:33 formula followed in other states.
SC sets up Farm Laws Committee
In
news
●
The Supreme Court has put a stay on the implementation of the three farm laws
until further orders.
●
It has also set up a committee of agricultural experts to facilitate talks
between the Centre and farmers' unions to resolve the impasse.
Key takeaways
●
The members include: (1) Bhupinder Singh Mann, the national president of the
Bhartiya Kisan Union and All India Kisan Coordination Committee; (2) Dr Parmod
Kumar Joshi, an agricultural economist who is also the Director for South Asia,
International Food Policy Research Institute; (3) Ashok Gulati, agricultural
economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and
Prices; (4) Anil Ghanwat, the chief of Shetkari Sanghatana, who in articles
written in the media have expressed views in favour of the farm laws.
●
The Chief Justice said that the committee will not pass an order or punish and
submit a report to the Supreme Court.
●
The SC has said the committee is the judicial process in this case.
Manipur 4th Sate to undertake Urban
Local Bodies Reforms
In news
●
Manipur has become the 4th State in the country to successfully undertake
“Urban Local Bodies (ULB)” reforms
●
The reforms were stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of
Finance in its letter to the States dated 17th May, 2020.
Key
takeaways
●
Manipur has now become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of
Rs.75 crore through Open Market Borrowings.
●
It has now joined the three other States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh
and Telangana, who have completed this reform. Reforms in the Urban Local
Bodies and the urban utilities reforms are aimed at financial strengthening of
ULBs in the States and to enable them to provide better public health and
sanitation services. Economically rejuvenated ULBs will also be able to create
good civic infrastructure.
Publication Of Notice Of Marriage
Not Mandatory
In
news
·
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that the provision of publication of notice
of intended marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, is not mandatory.
Key
takeaways
·
The court said making such publication mandatory “would invade the fundamental
rights of liberty and privacy, including within its sphere the freedom to
choose for marriage without interference from state and non-state actors, of
the persons concerned”.
·
While giving notice under Section 5 of the Act, it shall be optional for the
parties to the intended marriage to make a request in writing to the marriage
officer to publish or not to publish a notice under Section 6 and follow the
procedure of objections as prescribed under the Act.
·
In case the parties do not make such a request, the officer “shall not publish
any such notice.
