Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan 3
- Privilege Motion
- Invasive Species
- MANI App
- Saansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana
1 . Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan 3
Context : Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-3 in mission mode, says ISRO
About Chandrayaan 3 Mission
- The Chandrayaan-3 mission will consist of a lunar rover and a stationary lander. Chandrayaan-3 will aim to achieve the original mission objectives that were set for Chandrayaan-2. This entails studying the lunar south pole, where the water reservoirs are expected to hold multiple answers for mankind.
- Lunar water deposits may help us further understand the origin of life on Earth, and even attempt to find the first confirmed sign of life outside Earth.
- ISRO’s latest press conference has further stated that Chandrayaan-3’s total cost, earmarked at Rs 615 crore, will be lesser than Chandrayaan-2, which cost India a total of Rs 960 crore. India’s space missions have so far been particularly prudent, and the upcoming moon mission aims to continue on the same note.
- The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover are estimated at ₹250 crore and will go to moon on a propulsion model. The GSLV Mark III vehicle costs around ₹350 crore.
Reason for failure of Chandrayaan 2 Mission
- Indian moon lander Vikram may have most likely crashed on the moon because the navigation control and guidance mechanism in the penultimate phase was not designed to handle the large spike in speed that developed in the last 3-5 minutes of its descent.
About Gaganyaan
- Gaganyaan, announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2018, is the ₹10,000-crore Indian human space flight scheduled for 2022.
- It is designed to have 3-7 crew members spend 3-7 days in space in a 400-km orbit.
- The first of the two pre-Gaganyaan flights with a humanoid will be launched this year-end along with some of the six shortlisted micro-gravity experiments
2 . Privilege Motion
Context : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has described as unheard of a Rajya Sabha member filing a petition with the Chairman seeking to initiate breach of privileges and contempt proceedings against a Chief Minister.
About Privilege Motion
- Parliamentary privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by members of Parliament, individually and collectively, so that they can “effectively discharge their functions”.
- When any of these rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under law of Parliament. A notice is moved in the form of a motion by any member of either House against those being held guilty of breach of privilege.
- Each House also claims the right to punish as contempt actions which, while not breach of any specific privilege, are offences against its authority and dignity.
Where do these rules find mention?
- The rules governing privilege motion are mentioned as Rule 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and as Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha Rule Book.
- According to the rules, an MP may raise a question of breach of privilege with the Speaker or the Chairperson, notices for which have to be sent to them before 10am.
- The breach of privilege could be of another MP, a committee or of the House. However, the rules mandate the notice should be regarding an incident which has occurred recently and that it needs the intervention of the House.
What is the authority of the Speaker/ Chairperson vis-à-vis privilege motion?
- The first level of scrutiny that a privilege motion has to go through is that of the Speaker, in case the motion is moved in the Lok Sabha, and that of the Chairperson when a motion is moved in the Rajya Sabha. The Speaker/Chairperson may decide on the privilege motion at their own discretion or they may refer it to a parliamentary committee. If the Speaker/Chairperson admits the motion, then the concerned member is given an opportunity to explain themselves by making a short statement.
What if the Speaker/Chairperson refers the motion to a parliamentary committee?
- In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker nominates a committee of privileges which consists of 15 members proportionate to the strengths of various political parties in the Lower House of Parliament.
- They prepare a report which is then presented before the House for its consideration. The Speaker may allow a half-an-hour debate on the report before she/he passed the final orders.
- The Speaker can also direct that the report be tabled before the House and a resolution may be unanimously passed on the breach of privilege. Currently, Congress MP PC Chacko is the chairperson of the privilege committee.
- The process is similar in the Upper House, except that the privilege committee consists of 10 members and is headed by the deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.
Have privilege motions been passed in Parliament earlier?
A number of privilege motions have been passed in Parliament earlier, with most of them being rejected and very few demanding penal action.
- The most significant privilege motion was passed against Indira Gandhi in 1978. The then Home Minister Charan Singh had moved a resolution of breach of privilege against her on the basis of observations made by Justice Shah Commission, which investigated the excesses during the Emergency. Mrs Gandhi, who had just won the Lok Sabha elections from Chikmagalur, was expelled from the House.
- In another case, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy was expelled from Rajya Sabha in 1976 for bringing disgrace to Parliament through his interviews to foreign publications.
- In 1961, editor of ‘Blitz’ RK Karanjia was indicted with gross breach of privilege after the publication put out an article that publicly castigated Congress veteran JB Kripalani. Karanjia was reprimanded in Lok Sabha and the gallery pass of his correspondent was annulled.
3 . Invasive Species
Context : The Forest and Wildlife Department is planning to adopt steps to arrest the rampant growth of invasive plants, especially Senna spectabilis, in the forest areas of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), including the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.
About the News
- The spread of invasive plants, especially Senna spectabilis, is posing a major threat to the forest areas of the reserve, owing to its quick growth and coppicing character
- The tree species was found in nearly 10 sq km area of the 344.44 sq km sanctuary around five years ago. Now, it had invaded to more than 50 sq km of the sanctuary
- The plant has started to invade the adjacent Bandipur and Nagarhole tiger reserves in Karnataka and the Mudumalai tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu
- Due to mass flowering and drying of bamboo species in Wayanad, lots of open spaces were created which had been occupied by Senna spectabilis.
- The vayal ecosystem (marshy land) of the forest area now has this plant in large numbers. The allelochemicals produced by this plant adversely affect the germination and growth of the native species
What is an Invasive Plant Species?
An “invasive species” is defined as a species that is
- Non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration; and,
- Whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary
- Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) in Kerala is a biodiversity hotspot in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, holds the largest tiger population in the State.
- Of the total 176 tigers in the State, 75 were identified from the WWS
- The Periyar and Parambikulam tiger reserves followed suit, where 25 tigers each were captured in camera traps
- There are no tigers in the Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary and the adjoining Kottayam and Kothamangalam forest divisions as the landscape is cut off from the adjacent mainland (Munnar and Malayattoor forest divisions).
- As the WWS and the adjoining tiger reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu constitute a major tiger habitat in the country, the sanctuary has the potential to get the status of a tiger reserve.
About Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
- The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve was the first biosphere reserve in India established in the year 1986.
- It is located in the Western Ghats and includes 2 of the 10 biogeographical provinces of India.
- The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve falls under the biogeographic region of the Malabar rain forest. The Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Wyanaad Wildlife Sanctuary Bandipur National Park, Nagarhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley are the protected areas present within this reserve.
- It covers Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
- The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve was established mainly to fulfill the following objectives:
- To conserve insitu genetic diversity of species
- To restore degraded ecosystems to their natural conditions
- To provide baseline data for ecological and environmental research and education
- To function as an alternate model for sustainable development
4 . MANI App
About MANI App
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the Mobile Aided Note Identifier (MANI), a mobile application for aiding visually impaired persons to identify the denomination of Indian banknotes.
- As per the RBI, Indian banknotes contain several features which enable the visually impaired (colour blind, partially sighted and blind people) to identify them, including intaglio printing and tactile mark, variable banknote size, large numerals, variable colour, monochromatic hues and patterns. “Technological progress has opened up new opportunities for making Indian banknotes more accessible for the visually impaired, thereby facilitating their day to day transactions
- The bank has developed a mobile application, MANI, with features like capability of identifying the denominations of Mahatma Gandhi series and Mahatma Gandhi (new) series banknote by checking front or reverse side/part of the note including half-folded notes at various holding angles and broad range of light conditions
5 . Saansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana
Context : Five years down the line, official data shows that the progress of SAGY has been sluggish — about two-thirds of Lok Sabha MPs are yet to select gram panchayats under Phase-4 of the scheme.
About Saansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana
- Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) is a village development project launched by Government of India in October 2014, under which each Member of Parliament will take the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in three villages by 2019.
Goal
- The goal is to develop three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one would be achieved by 2016. Thereafter, five such Adarsh Grams (one per year) will be selected and developed by 2024.
Values of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
Far beyond mere infrastructure development, SAGY aims at instilling certain values in the villages and their people so that they get transformed into models for others. These values include:
- Adopting people’s participation as an end in itself – ensuring the involvement of all sections of society in all aspects related to the life of village, especially in decision- making related to governance
- Adhering to Antyodaya – enabling the “poorest and the weakest person” in the village to achieve well being
- Affirming gender equality and ensuring respect for women
- Guaranteeing social justice
- Instilling dignity of labour and the spirit of community service and voluntarism
- Promoting a culture of cleanliness
- Living in consonance with nature – ensuring a balance between development and ecology
- Preserving and promoting local cultural heritage
- Inculcating mutual cooperation, self-help and self-reliance
- Fostering peace and harmony in the village community
- Bringing about transparency, accountability and probity in public life
- Nurturing local self-governance
- Adhering to the values enshrined in the Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties of the Indian Constitution.
Objectives
The main objectives of SAGY are:
- To trigger processes which lead to holistic development of the identified Gram Panchayats
- To substantially improve the standard of living and quality of life of all sections of the population through
- Improved basic amenities
- Higher productivity
- Enhanced human development
- Better livelihood opportunities
- Reduced disparities
- Access to rights and entitlements
- Wider social mobilization
- Enriched social capital
- To generate models of local level development and effective local governance which can motivate and inspire neighbouring Gram Panchayats to learn and adapt
- To nurture the identified Adarsh Grams as schools of local development to train other Gram Panchayats.
Activities
