Consider the following statements with respect to Defence Acquisition Council

It is the Defence Ministry’s highest decision-making body for deciding on new policies and capital acquisitions in India.

Indian Prime Minister is the Chairman of the Council.

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

2)Protected Planet Report is released by which of the following organizations?

a.   International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNEP

b.   United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IUCN

c.   World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and IUCN

d.   The Nature Conservancy and IUCN

3)Rishiganga River originate from which of the following glaciers?

a.   Bandar Poonch glacier

b.   Nanda Devi glacier

c.   Alakapuri glacier

d.   Milam glacier

Map of the Day :-

1. Punjab, T.N. and Kerala top education index ranking :- Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have all scored higher than 90% in the Education Ministry’s Performance Grading Index for 2019-20, which was released on Sunday.

Gujarat dropped from second to eighth rank in the index, while Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the only States which have seen actual regression in scores over this period.

The index monitors the progress that the States and Union Territories have made in school education with regard to learning outcomes, access and equity, infrastructure and facilities, and governance and management processes.

In fact, Punjab overtook the Union Territory of Chandigarh, which topped both previous editions of the index, but has now slid to second place with a score of 912.
Tamil Nadu also overtook Kerala, with a score of 906, largely driven by improvements in the State’s educational governance and management, as well as in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Gujarat, which had the second highest score in the previous edition, dropped to eighth place.

2)Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur, launched the YounTab scheme for students. Under the scheme, about 12,300 tablets were distributed among them in Leh.

About YounTab scheme:- It is an initiative of Department of School Education. It was launched with the technical support of Information Technology Department.

Under the scheme, 12,300 tablets with preloaded online and offline content like textbooks, video lectures and online class applications would be distributed among students from Class 6th to 12th in government schools. Scheme was launched as an attempt for long term technology infusion in education system.

3. Parliament of Denmark has approved plans for an artificial island which will house 35,000 people and help in protecting port of Copenhagen from rising sea levels.

 Lynette Holm Island:- This giant island would have an area of 1 sq mile and would be connected to mainland through ring road, tunnels and metro line.

4. As per Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Centre, Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupted four times with lava spreading to 1,500 metres from crater. Most Active Volcano Merapi is considered as Indonesia’s most active volcano.

5. Kerala government has launched ‘Knowledge Economy Mission’ to boost job prospects in the state by supporting knowledge workers.

Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include programmers, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, and academics, whose job is to “think for a living”. 

6. NPR slips valid for long-term visas: MHA :- Migrants belonging to six non-Muslim minority communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while applying for longterm visas (LTVs), can also produce National Population Register (NPR) enrolment slips as proof of the duration of their stay in India.

What is NPR :- The NPR is a list of “usual residents” of the country. It is compulsory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. This includes both Indian citizens as well as a foreign citizen.

Anyone who has resided in India for 6 months or is planning to live for 6 months is a resident and will fall under NPR.

The NPR was first compiled in 2010 simultaneously with the decadal Census exercise and later updated in 2015. It already has a database of 119 crore residents.

The NPR is a register of usual residents linked with location particulars down to the village level and is updated periodically “to incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration”.

7. The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) came into existence in 1987. It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

TRIFED has its Head Office located in New Delhi and has a network of 13 Regional Offices located at various places in the country.

Objectives:- The ultimate objective of TRIFED is socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of the tribal products such as metal craft, tribal textiles, pottery, tribal paintings and pottery on which the tribals depends heavily for major portion of their income.

TRIFED acts as a facilitator and service provider for tribes to sell their product.

The approach by TRIFED aims to empower tribal people with knowledge, tools and pool of information so that they can undertake their operations in a more systematic and scientific manner.

It also involves capacity building of the tribal people through sensitization, formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and imparting training to them for undertaking a particular activity.

Functions:- It mainly undertakes two functions viz. Minor Forest Produce (MFP) development and Retail Marketing and Development.

Editorial of the Day

Media and sedition :- The Article is about Sedition and the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on vinod dua’s case. Author says that The Supreme Court’s rulings on cases of sedition give hope the law will be reexamined.

Sedition is mentioned in Section 124A of the IPC.

In a Significant judgment, the Supreme Court has quashed a criminal case registered in Himachal Pradesh against journalist Vinod Dua by invoking the narrowed down meaning of what constitutes an offence under Section 124A of the IPC, the provision for sedition, set out in Kedar Nath Singh (1962). Every journalist, the Court has ruled, is entitled to the protection of that judgment, which said “comments, however strongly worded, expressing disapprobation of actions of the Government, without exciting those feelings which generate the inclination to cause public disorder by acts of violence, would not be penal”.

Author says that in the famous Kedar Nath Singh case of 1962 the SC madde it clear that Sedition does not apply till the words / criticism cause violence.

Author says that Sedition was initiated in the colonial times to suppress the Nationalist activities and the journalists and still today in independent India , it is being used.

The Court’s verdict brightens the hope that the section’s validity will be reexamined. For now, it is a blow for free speech and media freedom.

Editorial 2 : Recognising sex work as work

The pandemic has hit millions of people and caused a great deal of suffering across communities. But there is one community that is especially hard hit and that is sex workers. Owing to the nonrecognition of sex work as “legitimate work”, sex workers have mostly been kept at arm’s length from the government’s relief programmes.

Author says that Sex workers are considered immoral and also it is believed that the women who are in to this profession have been forced to do so. It is also thought that the profession of sex worker is very easy way out and thus women opt it.

Act governing sex worker :- The legislation governing sex work in India is the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. The Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Children Act was enacted in 1956. Subsequent amendments were made to the law and the name of the Act was changed to Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. The legislation penalises acts such as keeping brothel, soliciting in a public place, living off the earnings of sex work and living with habitually being in the company of a sex worker.

The Justice Verma Commission had also acknowledged that there is a distinction between women who are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and adult, consenting women who are in sex work of their own volition.

We must recognise sex work as work and stop ourselves from assigning morality to their work. Adult men, women and transgender persons in sex work have the right to earn by providing sexual services; live with dignity; and remain free from violence, exploitation, stigma and discrimination. It is time we rethink sex work from a labour perspective, where we recognise their work and guarantee them basic labour rights.