Important Current Affairs for 6 January 2022
Index
What is GitHub
- In NEWS
- What is GitHub?
- What actions were taken against the developer?
- Crimes against women in India in 2021
- How are women protected in India?
Dam Safety Act
- In NEWS
- Reasons given for challenging the act
- Centre’s reasons for bringing the bill
- Dam safety bill 2019
Mullaperiyar Dam issue
- In NEWS
- What is the issue?
- Recent SC orders related to the issue
- Background of the issue
Scheduled bank
- In NEWS
- What is a Scheduled Bank?
- Airtel Payment Bank
- What are payments banks?
Multi Agency Centre
- In NEWS
- About MAC
What is Github?
In News:
- Github was used to create and share an offensively named app (Bulli Bai) that sexually harassed Muslim women in India.
The app used pictures of the women stolen from their social media handles and invited “users” to bid for them.
What is Github?
- GitHub is the world’s largest open-source developer community platform where users upload their projects and code for others to view, edit, and tweak.
What actions were taken against the developer?
- GitHub has blocked the user,
- The Indian Computer Emergency Response System (Cert-In), the nodal agency for monitoring cyber security incidents, has been asked to form “a high-level committee” to investigate.
Crimes against women in India in 2021
- The National Commission for Women (NCW) has informed that there was a rise of 46% in complaints of crimes against women in the first eight months of 2021 over the corresponding period of last year.
How are women protected in India?
- Constitutional Protection
- Article 14 – right to equality
- Article 15(1) – no discrimination by the State on the basis of gender
- Article 15(3) – Special provisions to be made by the State in favour of women
- Article 51 (A) – Practices derogatory to the dignity of women are prohibited,
- Legislative Protection
- Indian Penal Code (IPC) criminalises speech that is obscene, defamatory, insults the modesty of women, and intrudes upon her privacy.
- Information Technology Act of 2000 punishes speech that is obscene.
- The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act prohibits the publication of any printed material containing indecent representation of women.
- Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act prevents sexual harassment of a child as well as the use of children for pornographic purposes.
- Other Initiatives
- The Ministry of Women & Child Development has launched Sexual Harassment electronic Box (SHe-Box), is an effort to provide single window access to every woman to register complaints regarding sexual harassment.
- International Efforts to protect women
- Spotlight Initiative – The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) have embarked on this new, global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
Dam Safety Act, 2021
In News
- An MP has moved the Madras High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Dam Safety Act, 2021 on the grounds that it goes against federalism and is beyond the legislative competence of the Centre.
Reasons given for challenging the act
- The act encroaches upon the sovereignty of States to manage their dams, and violates the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution.
- Under the constitution, dams fall within the legislative domain of State governments.
- The power of the Centre under Entry 56 of List I (Union list) was only with respect to inter-State rivers or river valleys and nothing more.
The Centre’s reason for bringing the bill
- Dam safety is an issue of concern in the country.
- There are no legal and institutional safeguards in this regard.
- Background for bringing the bill
- India has 5254 large dams are in operation in the country currently and another 447 are under construction.
- There has been a long-felt need for a uniform law and administrative structure for ensuring dam safety.
- Organizations which were looking dam safety do not have any statutory powers and are only advisory in nature.
- Central Water Commission, through the National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS),
- Central Dam Safety Organization (CDSO)
- State Dam Safety Organizations (SDSO)
- About 75 percent of the large dams in India are more than 25 years old and about 164 dams are more than 100 years old.
- India has had 42 dam failures in the past.
Dam Safety Bill, 2019
- Includes proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in the country to ensure their safe functioning.
- Constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety
- It will evolve dam safety policies and recommend necessary regulations as may be required for the purpose.
- Establishment of National Dam Safety Authority
- It will be a regulatory body
- It will discharge functions to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.
- Constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by State Government.
Mullaperiyar dam issue
In NEWS
- An application has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking appropriate direction to the Government of Tamil Nadu
- To construct a new dam as also augment the storage capacity of the Vaigai dam downstream
- Or to take such steps to strengthen the Mullaperiyar dam till an alternative dam is constructed.
What is the issue?
- The issue is between 2 states – Tamil Nadu and Kerala
- Kerala demanding that a new dam must be constructed and Tamil Nadu saying that a new structure is not needed.
- Kerala has been against increasing water levels at the dam, citing structural stability.
Recent Supreme Court orders related to the issue
- SC constituted a permanent Supervisory Committee in 2014 to oversee all the issues concerning the Mullaperiyar dam.
- Recently, the Supreme Court directed the Supervisory Committee to take an immediate and firm decision on the maximum water level that can be maintained at Mullaperiyar dam, amid torrential rain in Kerala.
- Kerala said the water level should not go above 139 feet.
- Tamil Nadu said the water level should be 142 feet.
Background of the Issue
The dam is located in Kerala, it is operated by Tamil Nadu.
Following an 1886 lease indenture for 999 years (the Periyar Lake Lease Agreement) that was signed between the Maharaja of Travancore and the Secretary of State for India for the Periyar Irrigation works.
The dam was constructed between 1887 and 1895,
The dam redirected the river to flow towards the Bay of Bengal, instead of the Arabian Sea
It provides water to the arid rain region of Madurai in Madras Presidency.
The dam is located on the confluence of the Mullayar and Periyar rivers in Kerala’s Idukki district.
Scheduled Bank
In NEWS
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the inclusion of Airtel Payments Bank Ltd. in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
What is a Scheduled Bank?
- Banks that are included in the Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 are Scheduled banks.
- Every Scheduled bank enjoys two types of principal facilities:
- It becomes eligible for debts/loans at the bank rate from the RBI;
- It automatically acquires the membership of the clearing house.
Airtel Payments Bank
- It is among the fastest-growing digital banks in the country, with a base of 115 million users.
- It offers a suite of digital solutions through the Airtel Thanks app and a retail network of over 500,000 neighborhood banking points.
- The bank turned profitable in the quarter ended September 2021.
What are Payments bank?
- Payment banks were established to promote financial inclusion
- It offers
- Modest savings accounts and
- Payments/remittance services to migratory labour workforce, low-income households, small enterprises, other unorganized sector entities, and other users.’
- These banks can accept a restricted deposit, which is now capped at Rs 200,000 per person but could be raised in the future.
- These banks are unable to provide loans or credit cards.
- Banks of this type can handle both current and savings accounts.
- Payments banks can provide ATM and debit cards, as well as online and mobile banking.
Multi-Agency Centre (MAC)
In NEWS
- The Union government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC).
- States are often reluctant to share information on the platform.
- There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
- Plans are afoot for more than a decade to link the system up to the district level.
About MAC
- It is a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau that was made operational in 2001 following the Kargil War.
- As many as 28 organizations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces, and State police, are part of the platform.
- Various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
- Now functioning 24/7 as the nodal body for sharing intelligence inputs, MAC coordinates with representatives from numerous agencies, different ministries, both central and state.
Quiz for Current Affairs 6 January 2022
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