Questions
Which of the following statements regarding the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) and Adjoining Areas Bill, 2021, is incorrect?
a. The Chairperson of the Commission, established through this bill, will have a tenure of 5 years or till the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier
b. The Bill dissolves the Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority established in the NCR in 1998
c. In case of conflicts, directions of the Commission, established through this bill, will prevail over the orders of the respective state governments, and the CPCB
d. The Commission may collect an environmental compensation from farmers causing pollution by stubble burning
2)Consider the following statements:
Under Article 30 of Indian Constitution, Parliament, by law, can restrict or abrogate the rights of the members of the armed forces.
For the first time, Essential Defence Services Bill, 2021, made strikes by government employees explicitly illegal in India.
Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
3)Consider the following statements with respective to Strait Island
It is a small island of Andaman & Nicobar, separated from Ritchie’s Archipelago through Diligent Strait.
The island is inhabited by Jarawas and Sentinelese tribes of Andaman & Nicobar.
Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?
a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
Prelims Specific News
1_Principal Scientific Adviser, Prof. K. Vijay Raghavan, virtually inaugurated a decentralized biomedical waste incinerator at Buxar in Bihar.
It was selected through Biomedical Waste Treatment Innovation Challenge that was launched in June 2020. It was developed under the Innovation challenge organised under Waste to Wealth mission.
2)Government of India, Central Water Commission, government representatives of 10 participating states and World Bank signed a $250 million project on August 4, 2021 for long-term dam safety program.
Highlights :-
Project will help in improving the safety and performance of existing dams across different states in India.
3)Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) launched an earthquake early warning (EEW) Mobile App for Uttarakhand.
Key Facts:-
Earthquake early warning system will alert people regarding the onset of calamity on mobile application. It can detect onset of the Earthquake and issue warnings before significant tremors take place in state.
Early warning system works on the basis of speed of the seismic waves, that propagate after release of stress from faults movement. Strong ground shaking is caused by shear waves. Shear waves travel at half speed as compared to primary waves and much slower than the electromagnetic signals. EEW system uses these waves to generate warning.
4)Maldives style water villas will soon be set up in Lakshadweep in a bid to attract tourists to scenic beauty in the Union Territory. Highlights Administrator of Lakshadweep, Praful Khoda Patel highlighted that, water villas will be set up at the cost of ₹800 crore. This project is first of its kind in India.
Under the project, world-class facility will be provided through solar-powered and eco-friendly villa.
These villas would be set up in Minicoy, Suheli and Kadmat islands in Lakshadweep.
5) Umling La Pass:
Umling La is located in the Eastern Ladakh region. The world’s highest motorable road is now situated at the height of 19,300 feet at Umling La Pass.
The road at the Umlingla Pass connects the important towns in the Chumar sector of Eastern Ladakh.
The road is close to the Line of Actual Control(LAC) and will allow quick movement of troops and equipment.
6)Australia is keen that India join its biggest war games ‘Exercise Talisman Sabre’ in 2021. And a formal invite could be extended during Australian Defence Minister’s visit to India, in next couple of months.
About Exercise Talisman Sabre:-
According to the Australian Defence Ministry,
Talisman Sabre 2021 is the largest bilateral combined training activity between the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the U.S. military.
It also saw the participation of approximately 17000 military personnel from seven nations on land, air and sea.
The other countries include Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and U.K.
7) Steps taken by Bihar Government to mitigate Floods:- The steps have been taken under two heads :-
- structural steps
- non-structural steps
Structural Steps :
Renewed approaches in infrastructure augmentation for dams and reservoirs,
detention basins,
embankments and
channel improvement.
Non-structural measures:-
floodplain management,
flood forecasting and warning,
flood insurance and
financial compensation.
8) EOS-03 :- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch an Earth Observation Satellite on August 12 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, at Sriharikota.
The satellite, EOS-03, will be carried on board the 14th flight of the GSLV, the GSLV-F10, and will place the satellite in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
A 4-metre diameter Ogive-shaped payload fairing is being flown for the first time in this GSLV flight, ISRO said.
The EOS-03 is a state-of-the-art agile satellite that would enable real-time monitoring of natural disasters such as floods and cyclones, monitoring of water bodies, crops, vegetation condition, forest cover changes among others.
9) No plan to house Indian military base on Agalega island: Mauritius :- Mauritius has denied a report that it has allowed India to build a military base on the remote island of Agalega, with a government offi cial telling AFP that no such agreement exists between the two nations.
Editorials of the day
A guide to resolving the Assam-Mizoram issue
Why is there a dispute between Assam and Mizoram :-
Mizoram borders Assam’s Barak Valley, and both border Bangladesh. The boundary between the two states, which runs 165 km today, has a history dating back to the time when Mizoram was a district of Assam and known as Lushai Hills. Boundary demarcations in 1875 and 1933, particularly the second one, are at the heart of the dispute.
The 1875 demarcation, notified on August 20 that year, derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873. It differentiated Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar in Assam’s Barak Valley. This was done in consultation with Mizo chiefs, and it became the basis for the Inner Line Reserve Forest demarcation in the Gazette two years later.
The 1933 demarcation marks a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur, beginning at the tri-junction of Lushai Hills, Cachar district and Manipur. The Mizos do not accept this demarcation on the ground that their chiefs were not consulted this time.
According to Mizo leaders, the only acceptable boundary is the Inner Line of 1875 on the southern frontier of Cachar, notified as per the BEFR Act. (This was subsequently revised in 1878 as it sought to demarcate the Lushai Hills frontier from the plains of Assam.)
The present so-called boundary was arbitrarily made in 1930 and 1933 without the consent and approval of the competent authorities and the people of the Lushai Hills, now Mizoram, thereby unreasonably excluding some of the Lushai inhabited areas such as Cachar Zion, Tlangnuam, Lala Bazar and Banga Bazar.
What can be the Feasible Solution :-
- These matters need the supervision of the centre and thus the different stakeholders can sit and sort out the issues.
- The approach of the stakeholders should be accommodative so that they can accept the viewpoint of the different parties involved
- The solution should be permanent and not motivated by the short term electoral gains.
