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  • [pib] Ease of Living Index (EOLI) 2020

    The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has announced the release of the final rankings of the Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 and the Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020.

    For any such index, always note the verticals i.e. the various parameters.

    Ease of Living Index (EoLI)

    • It is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development.
    • It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on the quality of life, the economic ability of a city, and its sustainability and resilience.
    • It examines the outcomes that lead to existing living conditions through pillars of Quality of Life, Economic Ability, Sustainability.

    Municipal Performance Index (MPI)

    • It was launched as an accompaniment to the Ease of Living Index.
    • The five verticals under MPI are Services, Finance, Policy, Technology and Governance.
    • The Ease of Living Index encapsulates the outcome indicators while the Municipal Performance Index captures the enabling input parameters.

    Performance of cities

    • Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ categories, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai.
    • In the Less than Million category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.

    Why need such indices?

    • The EoLI primarily seeks to accelerate India’s urban development outcomes, including the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
    • The findings from the index can help guide evidence-based policymaking.
    • It also promotes healthy competition among cities, encouraging them to learn from their peers and advance their development trajectory.

  • LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021

    The Opportunity Index 2021 highlights the difference in perception of available opportunities in the market for men and women in India.

    LinkedIn Opportunity Index 2021

    • The report seeks to understand how people perceive opportunities and the barriers that stand in the way of achieving them.
    • This year’s report dives deep to understand how women perceive opportunities, and how the gender gap is further slowing down career progress for working women in India amid the pandemic.

    LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is mainly used for professional networking and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs

    Highlights of the report

    India’s working women still face the strongest gender bias across Asia Pacific countries.

    • Covid impact: Nine in 10 (89%) women state they were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • General Bias: 1 in 5 (22%) working women in India said their company’s exhibit a ‘favourable bias’ towards men at work when compared to the regional average of 16%.
    • Work opportunity: While 37% of India’s working women say they get fewer opportunities than men, only 25% of men agree with this.
    • Pay: This disparity in perception is also seen in conversations about equal pay, as more women (37%) say they get less pay than men, while only 21% of men share this sentiment.
    • Promotion: In India, more than 4 in 5 working women (85%) claim to have missed out on a raise, promotion, or work offer because of their gender, compared to the regional average of 60%.
    • Family burden: Lack of time and family care stop 7 in 10 Indian women from progressing in their careers.
    • Maternity: Consumer sentiment from the report shows that more than 7 in 10 working women (71%) and working mothers (77%) feel that managing familial responsibilities often come in their way of career development.

    Scope for equality

    • The report shows that even though 66% of people in India feel that gender equality has improved compared to their parents’ age.
    • In India, the top three job opportunities sought by both men and women are job security, a job that they love, and a good work-life balance.
    • But despite having similar goals, more women (63%) think a person’s gender is important to get ahead in life when compared to men (54%).

    Barriers faced by Indian women

    • Lack of required professional skills and a lack of guidance through networks and connections are also some of the other barriers that get in the way of career development for working women in India.

    What next?

    • Organisations should step up to provide robust maternity policies and flexibility programs.
    • Reduced and flexible schedules, more sabbaticals, and new opportunities to upskill and learn are critical offerings that can help organizations attract, hire, and retain more female talent.

  • NITI Aayog proposes revisions to National Food Security Act

    The NITI Aayog has recently proposed a revision in the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 for lowering the coverage of both rural and urban population to save up to Rs 47,229 crore annually.

    National Food Security (NFS) Act

    • The NFS Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.
    • It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013.
    • It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the GoI.
    • It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the Public Distribution System (PDS).
    • Further, the NFSA 2013 recognizes maternity entitlements.
    • The Midday Meal Scheme and the ICDS are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about two-thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).
    • Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals.

    Key provisions of NFSA

    • The NFSA provides a legal right to persons belonging to “eligible households” to receive foodgrains at a subsidised price.
    • It includes rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg and coarse grain at Rs 1/kg — under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
    • These are called central issue prices (CIPs).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to the provisions made under the National Food Security Act, 2013, consider the following statements:

    1. The families coming under the category of ‘below poverty line (BPL)’ only are eligible to receive subsidized food grains.
    2. The eldest woman in a household, of age 18 years or above, shall be the head of the Household for the purpose of issuance of a ration card.
    3. Pregnant women and lactating mothers are entitled to a ‘take-home ration’ of 1600 calories per day during pregnancy and for six months thereafter.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 3 only

    What has NITI Aayog asked for review?

    • A revision of CIPs is one of the issues that have been discussed.
    • The other issues are updating of the population covered under the NFSA, and beneficiary identification criteria.
    • Under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act, the term “eligible households” comprises two categories — “priority households”, and families covered by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY).
    • Priority households are entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month, whereas AAY households are entitled to 35 kg per month at the same prices.

    Provisions for review

    • Under Schedule-I of the Act, these subsidised prices were fixed for “a period of three years from the date of commencement of the Act”.
    • While different states began implementing the Act at different dates, the deemed date of its coming into effect is July 5, 2013, and the three-year period was therefore completed on July 5, 2016.
    • However, the government has yet not revised subsidised prices.
    • The government can do so under Schedule-I of the Act, after completion of the three-year period.
    • To revise the prices, the government can amend Schedule-I through a notification, a copy of which has to be laid before each House of Parliament as soon as possible after it is issued.
    • The revised prices cannot exceed the minimum support price for wheat and coarse grains, and the derived minimum support price for rice.

    The question of coverage

    • The Act has prescribed the coverage under “eligible households” — 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population.
    • On the basis of Census 2011 figures and the national rural and urban coverage ratios, 81.35 crore persons are covered under NFSA currently.
    • This overall figure has been divided among the states and UTs, based on the NSSO Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011-12.
    • Section 9 of the Act deals with an update of coverage of the population under the Act.
    • However, given the population increase since then, there have been demands from the states and union territories to update the list by ensuring an annual updating system under NFSA.

    Propositions by NITI Aayog

    • The NITI Aayog has suggested that the national rural and urban coverage ratio be reduced from the existing 75-50 to 60-40.
    • If this reduction happens, the number of beneficiaries under the NFSA will drop to 71.62 crores (on the basis of the projected population in 2020).
    • To make these changes in the law, the government will have to amend sub-section (2) of Section 3 of the NFSA. For this, it will require parliamentary approval.

    Implications of the move

    • If the national coverage ratio is revised downward, the Centre can save up to Rs 47,229 crore (as estimated by the NITI Aayog paper).
    • On the other hand, if the rural-urban coverage ratio remains at 75-50, then the total number of people covered will increase from the existing 81.35 crores to 89.52 crore —an increase of 8.17 crore.
    • This estimate by the NITI Aayog is based on the projected 2020 population, and, according to the paper, will result in an additional subsidy requirement of Rs 14,800 crore.

  • What is Khujli Ghar?

    Some villages in Nagaland are trying to revive a traditional form of punishment that seeks to check crime with an itch in time.

    What is Khujli Ghar?

    • Social offenders or violators of Naga customary laws have over the ages dreaded a cramped, triangular cage made from the logs of an indigenous tree that irritates the skin.
    • The dread is more of humiliation or loss of face within the community or clan than of spending at least a day scratching furiously without any space to move.
    • Such itchy cages are referred to as khujli ghar in Nagamese but each Naga community has its own name.
    • The Aos, one of the major tribes of Nagaland, call it Shi-ki that means flesh-house.

    Terminologies associated

    • The cage is usually placed at a central spot in the village, usually in front of the morung or bachelor’s dormitory, for the inmate to be in full public view.
    • The cage is made of the logs of Masang-fung, a local tree that people avoid because of the irritation it causes.
    • It does not affect the palm but people who make the cages have to be careful.

    Naga belief in this

    • It is not proper to view the itchy cages from the prism of modern laws.
    • They have served a purpose for ages and have often proved to reform offenders, as identity and family or clan reputation is very important to a Naga.

    Do you know?

    Article 371(A) of the Constitution guarantees the preservation of the Naga customary laws.

    The State also funds the customary courts in villages and towns where cases — mostly dealing with land litigation, money-lending and marital disputes — have a high rate of prompt disposal.

    Back2Basics: Article 371A

    • Parliament cannot legislate in matters of Naga religion or social practices, the Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law.
    • Parliament also cannot intervene in ownership and transfer of land and its resources, without the concurrence of the Legislative Assembly of the state.
    • This provision was inserted in the Constitution after a 16-point agreement between the Centre and the Naga People’s Convention in 1960, which led to the creation of Nagaland in 1963.
    • Also, there is a provision for a 35-member Regional Council for Tuensang district, which elects the Tuensang members in the Assembly.
    • A member from the Tuensang district is Minister for Tuensang Affairs. The Governor has the final say on all Tuensang-related matters.

  • Places in news: Mount Sinabung

    Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano sent a cloud of hot ash as high as 3 km today, in its first big eruption since August last year.

    Mount Sinabung

    • It is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano in the Karo plateau of Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia.
    • It is created by the subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate under the Eurasian Plate.
    • It erupted in 2010 after a 400-year-long hiatus and has been continuously active since September 2013.

    Why frequent eruptions?

    • Indonesia straddles the “Pacific ring of fire” with nearly130 active volcanoes, more than any other country.
    • Sinabung had been inactive for centuries before it erupted again in 2010.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following statements:

    1. The Barren Island volcano is an active volcano located in the Indian Territory.
    2. Barren Island lies about 140 km east of Great Nicobar
    3. The last time the Barren Island volcano erupted was in 1991 and it has remained inactive since then.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1 and 3

    What is the Pacific ring of fire?

    • The Pacific Ring of Fire is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
    • It includes the Pacific coasts of South America, North America and Kamchatka, and some islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
    • It is a direct result of plate tectonics: specifically the movement, collision and destruction of lithospheric plates under and around the Pacific Ocean.
    • The collisions have created a nearly continuous series of subduction zones, where volcanoes are created and earthquakes occur.

  • [pib] Sugamya Bharat App

    Union Minister for Social justice and Empowerment has launched the “Sugamya Bharat App”.

    Sugamya Bharat App

    • The Sugamya Bharat App is a simple to use Mobile App with an easy registration process, requiring only 3 mandatory fields, namely, Name, Mobile number and Email-id.
    • Registered users can raise issues related to accessibility being faced.
    • The App is made accessible for ease of use for persons with disabilities also with features such as font size adjustment, color contrasting option, text to speech, and having an integrated screen reader in Hindi and English.
    • It is available in 10 regional languages, namely, Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, Odiya, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Malayalam.
    • The App also has the provision of easy photo uploads with a geotagging option of the premise where accessibility intervention is required.

    Its features

    • The app, a Crowdsourcing Mobile Application is a means for sensitizing and enhancing accessibility in the 3 pillars of the Accessible India Campaign i.e. built environment, transportation sector and ICT ecosystem in India.
    • The app provides for five main features, 4 of which are directly related to enhancing accessibility, while the fifth is a special feature meant only for Divyangjan for COVID related issues.

    The accessibility-related features are:

    • Registration of complaints of inaccessibility across the 3 broad pillars of the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan;
    • Positive feedback of examples and best practices worth emulating being shared by people as jan-bhagidhari;
    • Departmental updates and guidelines and circulars related to accessibility.

    Back2Basics: Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan

    • Accessible India Campaign or Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan is a program that is set to be launched to serve the differently-able community of the country.
    • The flagship program has been launched on 3 December 2015, the International Day of People with Disabilities.
    • The program comes with an index to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings and human resource policies.
    • The initiative also in line with Article 9 of the (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) which India is a signatory since 2007.
    • The scheme also comes under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 for equal Opportunities and protection of rights which provides non-discrimination in Transport to Persons with Disabilities.

  • What is Stockholm+50?

    Stockholm+50 is a high-level meeting that the Government of Sweden plans to hold in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the first UN conference on the human environment – the 1972 Stockholm Conference.

    The 1972 Stockholm Conference

    • The UN Conference on the Human Environment, also known as the Stockholm Conference, was the first UN conference on the environment and was held between 5 and 16 June 1972 in Stockholm.
    • The meeting’s outcome document – the Stockholm Declaration – included several principles that are still important for environmental management.
    • Another result of the meeting was the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Environment Day, held annually on 5 June.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty drawn at:

    (a) United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972

    (b) UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992

    (c) World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002

    (d) UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, 2009

    Background

    • It’s been a generation since global leaders met in Stockholm in 1972 to discuss environmental challenges.
    • Then the concerns were for the local environment; there was no talk of climate change or even the depletion of the ozone layer.
    • All that came later. In 1972, the discussion was on the toxification of the environment as water and air were foul.

    Progress for 50 years

    • The toxification of the environment is still a pressing concern; countries have indeed cleaned up locally but added to the emissions in the global atmosphere.
    • Now, we are out of time as climate change impacts are spiralling out of control.

    Perils of Ecological Globalization

    • The fact is we stitched up the global ecological framework in terms of the many agreements only.
    • During this time, we also signed another agreement on free-trade — the economic globalisation agreement.
    • But we never really understood how these two frameworks — ecological and economic globalisation — would counteract each other.
    • As a result, we have worked to build an economic model based on discounting the price of labour and of the environment.

    Expectations from Stockholm+50

    • The aim of Stockholm+50 is to contribute to concrete action.
    • It aims at leveraging sustainable consumption and production patterns and nature-based solutions in order to achieve climate-neutral, resilient, circular and inclusive economies.
    • The narrative and result will be further developed together with interested governments and other partners.

  • 10th century Buddhist Monastery uncovered in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

    The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has unearthed a Buddhist monastery, believed to be at least 900 years old, buried under a mound in a village situated in a hilly area of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

    Details of the excavation

    • The findings were significant since the monastery is on the old route to Varanasi, 10 km from Sarnath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon.
    • Archaeologists found four statues of the deity Tara in Varad Mudra and six statues of the Buddha in bhumisparsa Mudra
    • So it is a significant finding as deity Tara’s statues mean this was an important centre of the Vajrayana sect of Buddhism.
    • Vajrayana is a form of Tantric Buddhism, which flourished in India from the 6th to 11th century.

    Tap to read more about Buddhism at:

    Chapter 5 | Mauryan Period (400BC – 200BC)

    Learning: Various Mudra of Buddha

    PC: Pinterest

  • Inscription on Krishnadevaraya’s death discovered

    The first-ever epigraphical reference to the date of death of Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya has been discovered in the Tumakuru district of Karnataka.

    Try this question from CS Mains 2016:

    Q.Krishnadevaraya, the King of Vijayanagara was not only an accomplished scholar himself, but was also a great patron of learning and literature. Discuss.

    Who was Krishnadevaraya?

    • Krishna Devaraya was the emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire during 1509–1529. He was the third ruler of the Tuluva Dynasty and is considered to be its greatest ruler.
    • He possessed the largest empire in India after the decline of the Delhi Sultanate.
    • Krishnadevaraya earned the titles Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana (lit, “Lord of the Kannada empire”), Andhra Bhoja (lit, “Andhra Bhoja(Scholar) King”) and Mooru Rayara Ganda (lit, “King of Three Kings”).
    • He became the dominant ruler of the peninsula of India by defeating the Sultans of Bijapur, Golconda, the Bahmani Sultanate and the Gajapatis of Odisha, and was one of the most powerful Hindu rulers in India.
    • Indeed, when the Mughal Emperor Babur was taking stock of the potentates of north India, Krishnadevaraya was rated the most powerful and had the most extensive empire in the subcontinent.
    • Portuguese travellers Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz also visited the Vijayanagara Empire during his reign.

    His literary work

    • The rule of Krishnadevaraya was an age of prolific literature in many languages, although it is also known as a golden age of Telugu literature.
    • He was fluent in many languages like Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil.
    • Eight Telugu poets were regarded as eight pillars of his literary assembly and known as Ashtadiggajas. He himself composed an epic Telugu poem Amuktamalyada.
    • He took the title of Abhinava-Bhoja and Sakala-Kala-Bhoja (“Bhoja of all the arts”) in honour of Parmara emperor Bhoja who was a polymath, a master of 64 arts and a military genius.

    What does the inscription say?

    • As per the inscription, Krishnadevaraya died on October 17, 1529, Sunday.
    • Incidentally, this day was marked by a lunar eclipse.
    • The inscription also registers the gift of village Honnenahalli in Tumakuru for conducting worship to the god Veeraprasanna Hanumantha of Tumakuru.
    • The Kalahasti inscription refers to the date of Achyutaraya’s (his successor) coronation as October 21, 1529 AD.

  • [pib] Who was Mannathu Padmanabhan (1878-1970)?

    The Prime Minister has tweeted tributes to Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan on his death anniversary.

    UPSC is digging deeper in the regional freedom movements to get such questions beyond our knowledge base.Try this question from CSP 2020

    Q.The Vital Vidhvansak, the first monthly journal to have the untouchable people as its target audience was published by:

    (a) Gopal Babu Walangkar

    (b) Jyotiba Phule

    (c) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

    (d) Bhimarao Ramji Ambedkar

    Here, we know something about options b, c and d. So it is less dicey to pull the odd man out.

    Mannathu Padmanabhan

    • Padmanabhan was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from the south-western state of Kerala.
    • He is recognised as the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), which claims to represent the Nair community that constitutes 12.10% (From KMS 2011) of the population of the state.
    • He fought for social equality, the first phase being the Vaikom Satyagraha, demanding the public roads near the temple at Vaikom be opened to low caste Hindus.
    • He took part in the Vaikom (1924) and Guruvayoor (1931) temple-entry Satyagrahas; the anti-untouchability agitations. He opened his family temple for everyone, irrespective of caste distinction.
    • He became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1946 and took part in the agitation against Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer’s administration in Travancore.
    • As the first president of the Travancore Devaswom Board, he revitalised many temples which had almost ceased to function.