Compensation Scheme Must Cover Child Victims: SC

The Supreme Court has said that the Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other Crimes-2018, proposed by the National Legal Services Authority should include child victims of sexual assault as well.

• The scheme can be a source of financial solace for victims of sex crimes and acid attacks during court trial.
• The court has stressed upon the implementation of the scheme in letter and spirit by all states and union territories of the country.
• Earlier, the Centre had told SC that it was finding it difficult to get the cooperation of states on the issue relating to disbursal of compensation to the victims of sexual assault under the Nirbhaya Fund.

NOTE: Nirbhaya Fund was announced by the Centre in 2013 after the December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder case in Delhi to support the initiatives on women's safety across the country.

Compensation Scheme for Women Victims/Survivors of Sexual Assault/Other Crimes-2018

• The scheme proposes a uniform payment of Rs. 5 lakh to the maximum of Rs. 10 lakh to gang-rape survivors in any part of the country.
• In the case of rape and unnatural sexual assault, the victim will get a minimum of Rs. 4 lakh and the maximum of Rs. 7 lakh.
• The scheme also says that victim of acid attacks, in case of disfigurement of face, would get a minimum compensation of Rs 7 lakh, while the upper limit would be Rs 8 lakh.
• The scheme also provides for the provision of setting up of Women Victims Compensation Fund from which the amount of compensation, as decided by the State Legal Services Authority or District Legal Services Authority, shall be paid to the women victim or her dependents.

NOTE: National Legal Services Authority

• The National Legal Services Authority was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to fulfill the objectives of Article 39A and provide for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society.
• The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the second senior most Judge of Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.

POSHAN Abhiyaan

Ministry of Women and Child Development organized the second meeting of National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan.

• POSHAN Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission) was launched by the government on March 8, 2018.
• The Abhiyaan targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
• The target of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
  POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to ensure service delivery and interventions by use of technology, behavioural change through convergence and lays-down specific targets to be achieved across different monitoring parameters.
• Under the Abhiyaan, Swasth Bharat Preraks will be deployed one in each district for coordinating with district officials and enabling fast and efficient execution of the Abhiyaan across the country. Swasth Bharat Preraks would function as catalyst for fast tracking the implementation of the Abhiyaan.

The National Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges

• Set up under the Poshan Abhiyaan, the Council is also known as National Council on Nutrition (NCN).
• The NCN is headed by the Vice-Chairman of the NITI Aayog.
• It provides policy directions to address nutritional challenges in the country and review programmes.
• It is a national level coordination and convergence body on nutrition.
• $200 million loan from World Bank will be used for implementing the National Nutrition Mission.

Optimum Utilization of Fly Ash

Recently, Ministry of Power has informed that ash produced by thermal power plants is being utilized in the manufacture of Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), fly ash bricks/blocks/tiles manufacturing, road embankment construction & low lying area development, in agriculture as soil conditioner etc

• Fly ash is the end product of combustion during the process of power generation in the coal-based thermal power plants.
• Proper management of fly ash is important for not only the environment but for us also as the ash produced by the power plants occupies a lot of land space.
• At present, 63% of the fly ash is being utilised in India but the target is for 100% utilisation of the fly ash.

Government Initiatives for Optimum Utilization of Fly Ash:

• GST rates on fly ash and its products have been reduced to 5%.
• ASH TRACK Mobile App has been launched by the Ministry of Power for better management of fly ash produced by thermal power plants.
• Ash-park, for promoting fly ash-based product manufacturing units, has been developed and awareness programme for utilisation of fly ash and its products have been conducted.

Note:

• “ASHTRACK” is a mobile-based application and a web portal for monitoring of fly ash generation and utilization data of Thermal Power Plants.
• It provides an interface between fly ash producers (Thermal Power Plants) and potential ash users such as – road contractors, cement plants etc.

Need to Ease Carbon Taxes: NITI Aayog

India is one of the most expensive places to produce coal-based electricity despite having a competitive advantage in coal. From a developing country's perspective with low per capita consumption of electricity, carbon tax seems to be excessive.

• According to NITI Aayog, high energy-intensive sectors are being penalized by paying high carbon tax through various cesses and duties.
• India’s use of carbon taxes to promote clean energy has gone too far and there is a case for easing them to let energy-intensive industries compete globally.
• As per renewable power obligations, power distribution firms have to buy a stipulated part of their overall power purchase from solar and other clean energy suppliers.
• For the current financial year, the target is 17%. Renewable power is unpredictable and the need for battery backup adds to its hidden costs.

Example: In a recent report by NITI Aayog titled ‘Need for an aluminium policy in India’ it states that apart from higher power cost, additional burden in the form of power distribution firms’ obligation to purchase renewable power and coal cess of Rs 400 a tonne, the carbon trading system and electricity duty on power generation (levied by states) have increased the overall production cost of aluminium, a strategic metal critical to infrastructure, automobiles and defence industries.

• Steps to discourage use of coal and promote solar and wind power comes at a time India is taking a global lead in climate change policies.
• However, it may be practically difficult for India to go back on policies meant to promote clean energy including use of carbon taxes as there is globally a negative sentiment about coal because of climate change concerns and there is a declining trend in its consumption in most of the major economies.
• Also, considering the recent decline in clean energy prices, it may not be difficult for power distribution firms to meet renewable purchase obligation.

Way Forward

• India cannot allow the narrative of “carbon imperialism” to come in the way of realistic and rational planning for the country’s energy future.
• A separate energy policy for high energy intensive sectors must be introduced wherein power supply should be ensured at globally competitive rates so that these industries too can compete with global players.
• Renewable purchase obligations, coal cess and electricity duty charges must looked at and rationalized as well to make these sectors competitive.

SEBI Proposes using UPI to Reduce Public Issue Timeline

Recently, markets regulator SEBI has proposed introducing Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as an alternative payment option for retail investors buying shares in an initial public offer (IPO).

• Currently, retail investors either invest in an IPO through bank ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount) or through broker ASBA, where the broker does the bidding and hands over the application form to the investors' bank.
• The UPI system, however, will only be restricted to retail investors, while institutional investors and high net worth individuals (HNIs) will continue to use existing ASBA process because the maximum proposed limit for UPI transfers is only Rs 200,000.

Note

• UPI is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an entity regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It allows instant transfer of money between any two person's bank accounts using a payment address which uniquely identifies a person's bank account.
• ASBA [Applications Supported by Blocked Amount] is a system of blocking the funds of applicants of IPOs in their respective accounts. This money is released to the Company only after the allotment, as per the extent of allotment made. The remaining amount is unblocked in the account.

Benefits

• The use of UPI mechanism would allow the investor to authorise blocking of funds for making an application, as is done using ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount).
• The move will help cut down the time taken between the closing of an IPO and listing of the equity shares from current six days to just three days, and also result in the reduction in manpower costs.
• It will also do away with the physical movement of application forms.
• ASBA had helped in reducing the timeline two years back from 12 days to 6 days. UPI could help in further bringing down the overall IPO timeline.
• The unified payments interface (UPI) could be incorporated with the ASBA mechanism to further improve the efficiency of the (IPO) process.

Invest India and Business France Sign MoU to Promote Investment

• Invest India and Business France have signed an MoU to promote investment facilitation and cooperation between startups of India and France.
• It will facilitate direct foreign investment by providing practical investment information to enterprises and support the companies pursuing those opportunities.
• This will also result in the cross-pollination of ideas, talent and technologies between the start-up ecosystems of India and France, create new opportunities, catalyse joint collaboration, and help innovative startups to be successful.
• Invest India is the official Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India and acts as the first point of reference for investors in India.
  • Invest India is set up as a non profit venture under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India.
  • It is the first stop for potential global investors in the country.
• Business France is an executive agency of the French government under the supervision of the Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development.
  • It promotes International Business Development for French companies and professionals through a worldwide network of Trade Commissions.

Underground Lake Found on Mars

Using a radar instrument on an orbiting spacecraft, scientists have spotted a sizable salt-laden lake under ice on the southern polar plain of Mars.

• It represents the first stable body of liquid water ever found on Mars.
• The body of water has been called a possible habitat for microbial life.
• The reservoir is roughly 20 km in diameter, shaped like a rounded triangle and located about 1.5 km beneath the ice surface.
• If confirmed, the buried pocket of water could answer a few questions about where Mars’s ancient oceans went, as well as provide a resource for future human settlements.
• Moreover, such a feature may be an ideal habitat for extraterrestrial life-forms.
• However, the researchers have said, it could take years to verify whether something is actually living in this body of water that resembles a subglacial lake on Earth.

Note:

• The evidence comes from an instrument called MARSIS aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet. MARSIS is a special kind of radar called ground-penetrating radar.
• Ground-penetrating radars use radio signals that are capable of penetrating into the ground and then get reflections from the material under the surface.
• Such radars are useful when searching for liquid water because water is a very strong radar reflector.

Important Facts for Prelims (26th July 2018)

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

• It is one of the five hill railways in India. Apart from NMR, the other four include Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (West Bengal); Kalka-Shimla Hill Railway (Himachal Pradesh); Kangra Valley Railway (Himachal Pradesh); and the Matheran Light Railway (Maharashtra).
• The Mountain Railway of India is included in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.
• To increase tourist footfall, the southern railway is putting in efforts to refurbish a 25-year old coach (NMR-87), with world-class facilities without its heritage value being compromised.

UNESCO's World Heritage Sites

• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.
• This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
• The World Heritage Fund provides about US$4 million annually to support activities to preserve monuments that require international assistance.
• The World Heritage Committee allocates funds according to the urgency of requests, priority being given to the most threatened sites.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

• Recently, KVIC has applied for registration of “Khadi” as a Word Mark and “Khadi India” as a Trade Mark in the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Act at the National Level.
• It has also filed an online application for registering “Khadi” as a trademark under International bureau in European Union and other countries.
• KVIC is a statutory body established by Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956.
  It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Its objectives are to provide employment, produce saleable articles and create strong and self-reliant rural community.

Trademark (popularly known as brand name) in layman’s language is a visual symbol which may be a word signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colours used by one undertaking on goods or services or other articles of commerce to distinguish it from other similar goods or services originating from a different undertaking.

Wordmark is a type of trademark which can be words letters or numerals. A wordmark gives the proprietor a right only in the word, letter or numerical. No right is sought with respect to the representation of the mark.

Cabotage Law

• The Government has relaxed Cabotage rule for movement of cotton from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu.
• Cabotage is a term of maritime law. It refers to transit of a vessel along the coast of a nation for the purpose of trade from one port to another within the territorial limits of that nation.
• The Cabotage policy in India is governed under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.