ICMR sero-survey
India could be witnessing a much wider spread of coronavirus infections and the rate of contagion may be a lot higher in most-affected cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune,
https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/23925-icmr-sero-survey.html
#icmr #survey #covid19

Watch KSG Explainer - India ranks 40th out of 43 global pension systems, as per survey #upsc #iascoaching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhI41532NGM

KSG Podcast - More women than men in India | Short Crisp Concise and Exam Oriented Edited Editorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuNplaOQ6g&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=11
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

KSG Podcast - More women than men in India | Short Crisp Concise and Exam Oriented Edited Editorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuNplaOQ6g&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=11
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

KSG Podcast - More women than men in India | Short Crisp Concise and Exam Oriented Edited Editorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuNplaOQ6g&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=26
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

KSG Podcast - A new demographic reality for India | Short Crisp Concise and Exam Oriented #podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49x30FU83UY
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

KSG Podcast - More women than men in India | Short Crisp Concise and Exam Oriented Edited Editorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQuNplaOQ6g&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=48
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

KSG Podcast - A new demographic reality for India | Short Crisp Concise and Exam Oriented #podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49x30FU83UY&list=PLCUwtp5IghZmJBi1h7xiAhsORKmmumVsR&index=57
#UPSCOnlineClasses #OnlineClassses #IASOnlineclasses

Today's Headlines - 25 July 2023
SC stops Gyanvapi mosque survey
GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

The Supreme Court on 24 July 2023 stayed the ongoing scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, which a 30-member team of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had begun earlier in the day. In doing so, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud put on hold until 26 July 2023 the order of a district court in Varanasi that had directed the ASI to carry out a “scientific” survey of the mosque premises.

What was the Varanasi court’s order?

On 21 July 2021, the Varanasi court asked for a “scientific investigation/ survey/ excavation” of the mosque premises by the ASI.
District and Sessions Judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha asked the ASI to conduct a “ground penetrating radar survey just below the three domes of the building in question and conduct excavation, if required”.
The court directed the “Director of ASI…to conduct a detailed scientific investigation by using GPR Survey, Excavation, Dating method and other modern techniques of the present structure to find out…whether the same has been constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple”.
The ASI was also directed to investigate the age and nature of the construction of the western wall of the building through scientific methods, and to carry out a GPR survey beneath the ground of all the cellars and an excavation, if required.
The court told the ASI Director to ensure that no damage is done to the “structure standing on the disputed land” and that “it remains intact and unharmed”.

How did the court take up this matter?

The court was acting on a petition filed by four Hindu women petitioners seeking the right to worship Maa Shringar Gauri on the outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
In its order, the court clarified that the survey will exclude the wuzu khana or the ablution area which was sealed last year on the orders of the Supreme Court after Hindu litigants claimed that they had identified a Shivling there.
However, the Muslim litigants contended that the object that had been found was a fountain. Following this, the court instructed that the survey proceedings be videographed, and a report is submitted to it before 4 August.
The Hindu litigants contend that the mosque was built on the site of the original Kashi Vishwanath temple. The Muslim litigants maintain that the mosque was built on Waqf premises, and that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 barred changing the character of any place of worship as it existed on 15 August, 1947.
However, this was not the first time this issue reached the court. The Varanasi district court had agreed to hear the present plea for an ASI survey on 16 May this year, after an order by the Allahabad High Court.

How did the Supreme Court come into the picture?

The Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, moved the top court, arguing that the proceedings were an attempt to change the religious character of the mosque.
The Places of Worship Act, 1991 bars the conversion of the religious character of a place of worship from how it existed on 15 August 1947.
On 20 May 2022, the Supreme Court, underlining the “complexity of the issues involved in the civil suit”, transferred the case to the District Judge. The SC subsequently said it would intervene only after the District Judge had decided on the preliminary aspects of the case.
After that, the Supreme Court in November 2022 extended its interim direction securing the area of the Gyanvapi complex where the “Shivling” was claimed to have been found without impeding or restricting the rights of Muslims to access and offer namaz there till further orders.

#upsc #news #todayheadline #gyanvapi #mosque #supremecourt #archaeological #survey #CJI #districtcourt #varanasi #sessions #scientific #penetrating #construction #shrinagar #kashivishwanath #temple #anjumanintezamia #masajid

Today's Headlines - 19 August 2023
New non-poor emerging in India
GS Paper - 3 (Economy)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day address that in the first five-year term of his government, “13.5 crore of my fellow poor brothers and sisters have broken free from the chains of poverty and entered the new middle class”. The 13.5-crore number cited by the PM appears in the second National Multidimensional Poverty Index report that was published by Niti Aayog on 17 July 2023 (Some highlights in chart). The first such report was published in 2021.

What is the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)?

The national MPI measures deprivations across the three dimensions of health and nutrition, education, and standard of living.
Within health, it tracks three variables: nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, and maternal health.
In education, it tracks two variables: years of schooling, and school attendance. And in standard of living, it tracks seven variables such as sanitation, drinking water, bank account, etc.
The index is based on the methodology used by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to construct the Global MPI. OPHI and UNDP are technical partners in the formulation of the national index.
But India’s MPI is not exactly the same as the Global MPI. For instance, India’s MPI has 12 variables, while the Global MPI has 10. The two additional variables in India’s MPI are maternal health and bank account.
How does this reduce poverty?

It must be noted that this is a multidimensional poverty index and, as such, is not comparable to India’s traditional and official way of estimating poverty.
However, the Global MPI 2023 report, which too was released in July, states that 415 million people in India moved out of poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-21.
The Global MPI pegs India’s poverty ratio at 16.4% as against 14.96% in Niti Aayog’s MPI. This difference is on account of the two additional metrics, and some differences in definitions.
Does the reduction in poverty add to India’s middle class?

There is no official definition of the middle class in India. It is, therefore, difficult to say whether those who escape poverty necessarily join the middle class, or to what extent.
Estimates of India’s middle class provided by private research organisations peg the middle class at income levels that are considerably higher than those of the people who are coming out of poverty.
For instance, in a report, ‘The rise of India’s middle class’, published in July, People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) divided all households into four categories: Destitutes, Aspirers, Middle Class and Rich. “…Households which are classified as Middle Class have an annual income in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh (at 2020-21 prices),” the report said. Destitute households were those with an annual income less than Rs 1.25 lakh.
According to PRICE’s survey, as of 2021, out of a population of 1,416 million, 196 million Indians were categorised as ‘Destitutes’, 432 million were the ‘Middle Class’, and 732 million were ‘Aspirers’.

#upsc #news #headline #nonpoor #emerging #india #economy #primeminister #Narendramodi #Independenceday #poverty #middle #nitiaayog #multidimensional #poverty #MPI #index #nutrition #education #bankaccount #OPHI #UNDP #methodology #oxford #sanitation #middle #class #india #research #consumer #destitude #population #price #survey #annualincome #middleclass #aspires #UNDP #technical #MPI

Today's Headlines - 22 August 2023
Violation of privacy in caste survey
GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

The Supreme Court asked the petitioners challenging the Bihar caste survey what was the violation of privacy in asking people to disclose their caste after the latter contended that the exercise was clearly in violation of the top court’s nine-judge decision in the privacy case wherein it was held that the state cannot encroach on the privacy of individuals without a law to back it.

What

If somebody is asked to give caste or sub-caste, in a state like Bihar, caste is known to neighbours… Which of these 17 questions (asked as part of the survey) invades privacy, asked Justice Sanjeev Khanna, presiding over a two-judge Bench, and said the exercise was carried out on the strength of an executive order.
The Bench commenced hearing a batch of pleas challenging the 1 August decision of the Patna High Court, which gave the go-ahead to the caste survey.
Some of these petitions have claimed the exercise was an infringement of the people’s right to privacy.
The SC, he pointed out, had said that “while it intervenes to protect legitimate state interests, the state must nevertheless put into place a robust regime that ensures the fulfillment of a threefold requirement.
These three requirements apply to all restraints on privacy (not just informational privacy). They emanate from the procedural and content based mandate of Article 21.
The first requirement that there must be a law in existence to justify an encroachment on privacy is an express requirement of Article 21.
For, no person can be deprived of his life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure established by law. The existence of law is an essential requirement.
The caste survey, however, was carried out on the basis of an executive order, which does not even set out the aim of the exercise.
Puttaswamy judgment says privacy can be intruded upon only by a just fair and reasonable law, with a legitimate aim, which has to stand the test of proportionality.

#upsc #news #violation #privacy #castesurvey #polity #supremecourt #bihar #caste #neighbours #patna #highcourt #pleas #caste #survey #requirement #interests #threefold #restraints #encroachment #puttaswarmy #judgment #law #proportionality #executive #order #article #decision #polity

Today's Headlines - 06 September 2023
Revamped ‘Adopt a Heritage 2.0’ programme
GS Paper - 1 (Art and Culture)

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) launched a revamped version of the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ programme apart from an Indian Heritage app and an e-permission portal.

More about the Programme

Initially launched in 2017 under the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the ASI which invited corporate stakeholders to adopt from over 3,000 protected monuments spread across the country, ‘Adopt a Heritage 2.0’, is the upgraded version of ‘Adopt a Heritage’ programme.
The programme encourages corporate stakeholders to utilise their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to enhance facilities at historically-important monuments.
The app, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive guide to monuments under ASI’s ambit. It lists historical structures along with pictures, public facilities available on site and geo-tagged locations.
The e-permission portal has been designed to simplify and speed up the process for acquiring approvals for photography, filming, and developmental initiatives concerning heritage monuments, with the goal of expediting the permission-granting process.
The Adopt a Heritage 2.0 has incorporated a host of changes to the programme after a leaner management and supervision structure for the partner agencies, clear guidelines for semi-commercial activities and detailed scope of work and amenities required for monuments was proposed in the earlier version. 1,000 additional monuments have also been added to the list for adoption.
In the updated programme, more freedom has been given to companies such as the option to either adopt a monument in whole and develop its tourism infrastructure, or provide a particular amenity such as drinking water facility or cleaning services for one or several sites.

#upsc #news #headline #Ravamped #Adopt #Heritage #programme #artandculture #ASI #launched #ministry #tourism #CSR #funds #developmental #monuments #historical #corporate #social #indian #survey #locations #freedom #geotagged #speed #commercial

Today's Headlines - 09 September 2023
Indore ranks first in Clean Air Survey 2023
GS Paper - 2 (Infrastructure)

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav awarded first rank to the Information Technology hub of Madhya Pradesh, Indore, in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan-2023 (or Clean Air Survey), conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board.

More about the Sarvekshan-2023

Under the first category (million-plus population), Indore ranked first, followed by Agra and Thane. Amravati secured first rank in the second category (3-10 lakh population), followed by Moradabad and Guntur.
Similarly, for the third category (less than 3 lakh population), Parwanoo secured the first rank, followed by Kala Amb and Angul.
The fourth International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies (Swachh Vayu Diwas 2023) aims to create stronger partnerships, increase investment, and share responsibility for overcoming air pollution, with the global theme of "Together for Clean Air."
About NCAP

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been implementing the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a national-level strategy, outlining the actions for reducing the levels of air pollution at city and regional scales in India since 2019.
The NCAP aims to systematically address air pollution by engaging all stakeholders and ensuring necessary action.
A total of 131 cities have been identified for the implementation of the city-specific action plans under this programme, for reducing air pollution by up to 40 per cent by FY26.
NCAP focuses on the preparation and implementation of national-level action plans, state-level action plans, and city-level action plans for the targeted 131 cities.
Flashback

The NCAP Ministry has also launched "PRANA", a portal for monitoring the implementation of NCAP.
In this portal, action plans of cities, states, and line ministries will be reflected and monitored for their implementation status.
In addition, best practices adopted by cities are shared on the PRANA portal for adoption by other cities.

#upsc #news #headline #indore #ranks #cleanair #survey #infrastructure #UNIONMINISTER #Enviroment #Forest #climate #bhupenderyadav #technology #pollution #controlboard #madhyapradesh #sarvekshan #agra #thane #amravati #moradabad #guntur #parwanoo #angul #NCAP #forest #air #city #PRANA #Portal