Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

Why in NEWS ?

• The Home Ministry has sought an extension of three months to frame the rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, a legislation that was passed by Parliament in December 2019.

About

• The Ministry informed a parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation about the delay, after the former wrote to it seeking the status of the CAA rules.
• Without rules being notified, the CAA cannot be implemented or come into force.
• Ministry has sought more time but did not specify the reasons for the delay.

About CAA

• Act aims to grant Indian citizenship to six minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Christians and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have faced or fled fearing religious persecution.
• The law, which excludes Muslims, will be applicable to those who entered India before December 2014.
• The government has claimed that while the rules are being framed, the non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will have to provide proofs of their religious beliefs while applying for citizenship.
• The applicants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain or Parsi faiths will also have to furnish documents to prove that they entered India on or before December 31, 2014, according to officials.
• After the CAA was passed by Parliament, widespread protests were witnessed in the country.
• Those opposing the CAA contend that it discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution. They also allege that the CAA, along with the National Register of Citizens, is intended to target the Muslim community in India.

Agarbatti Production

Why in NEWS ?

• MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari Approves New Scheme to Make India Aatmanirbhar In Agarbatti Production.

About

• The program is named as Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission.

Objective

• It is a unique employment generation program proposed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to make India Aatmanirbhar in Agarbatti production.

Aim

• It aims at creating employment for unemployed and migrant workers in different parts of the country while increasing domestic Agarbatti production substantially.

Investment Model

• Developed on PPP mode is unique in the sense that in a very less investment, it will create sustainable employment and help private Agarbatti manufacturers to scale up Agarbatti production without any capital investment by them.
• KVIC will provide Automatic Agarbatti making machines and powder mixing machines to the artisans through the successful private Agarbatti manufacturers who will sign the agreement as business partners.

Vocal for Local

• KVIC has decided to procure only locally made machines by Indian manufacturers which also aims at encouraging local production.

Subsidy

• KVIC will provide 25% subsidy on the cost of the machines and will recover the remaining 75% of the cost from the artisans in easy installments every month.
• The business partner will provide the raw material to the artisans for making Agarbatti and will pay them wages on job work basis.
• Cost of artisans' training will be shared between KVIC(75%) and the private business partner(25%).
• Wages to the artisans will be provided by the business partners on weekly basis directly in their accounts through DBT only.

• The scheme has been designed in wake of the two major decisions - import restriction on Raw Agarbatti and increase in import duty on Bamboo sticks - taken by the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance respectively on the initiative of Gadkari.

Inst Scientists Develop simple economical nonsurgical prevention of cataract

In News

• A team of scientists from the Institute of Nano Science & Technology (INST) an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India has developed nanorods from the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) Aspirin, a popular medication used to reduce pain, fever, or inflammation and found it to be an effective non–invasive small molecule-based nanotherapeutics against cataract.

About

• A cataract is an opacification of the lens of the eye which leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes.
• Cataracts cause half of all cases of blindness and 33% of visual impairment worldwide.
• India is a signatory to the World Health Organization resolution on Vision 2020: The right to sight.
• Efforts of all stakeholders have resulted in increased number of cataract surgeries performed in India, but the impact of these efforts on the elimination of avoidable blindness is unknown.

What Are the Symptoms of Cataracts?

Here are some vision changes you may notice if you have a cataract:

• Having blurry vision
• Seeing double (when you see two images instead of one)
• Being extra sensitive to light
• Having trouble seeing well at night, or needing more light when you read
• Seeing bright colors as faded or yellow instead

Conclusion:

• Considering existing prevalence and projected incidence of cataract blindness over the period 2001-2020, visual outcomes after cataract surgery and sight restoration rate, elimination of cataract blindness may not be achieved by 2020 in India.

Endangered Dhole in India

IN NEWS

• Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh rank high in the conservation of the endangered Dhole in India, according to a new study.

ABOUT

• Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society-India, the University of Florida, the Wildlife Conservation Trust, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences found that these three States were adequately equipped to maintain their high ranks in consolidating forest habitats and recover Dhole populations by increasing prey density and reducing the pressure on forests.
• Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and Goa will need to increase financial investments in the forest and wildlife sectors, and reduce the ease of granting forest clearances for infrastructure projects.
• The Dhole is a canid native to Central, South, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, and mountain wolf.
• Dholes were treated as ‘vermin’ and bounty-hunted in India until they were brought under protection in 1972 with the Wild Life Protection Act.

IMPROVING HABITATS

• It also found that improving habitat conditions and prey densities in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha would “strengthen the link” between Dhole populations in the Western Ghats and central India.

IMPORTANT ROLE

• “Dholes play an important role as apex predators in forest ecosystems. Besides the tiger, the Dhole is the only large carnivore in India that is under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s ‘endangered’ category.