Civil Service Bytes

In News: Unaware of the POSCO law, tribals in Kerala marry minors and are punished for rape The  Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POSCO)  is no doubt an effective deterrent to sexual exploitation and harassment of minors. But its textual implementation in the tribal belts of Kerala has given rise to a strange situation. Many  tribals, who are ignorant of the stringent provisions in the Act, marry minor girls , in keeping with their traditional practice, and  end up in jail on rape charges . Most cases are registered without any formal complaint from the girls or their parents. “The situation is prevalent in almost all tribal belts of Kerala, including Wayanad, Attappady and Idukki. But the worst affected are the Paniya and Kattunaika community members in Wayanad.” “Child marriage is common among the Paniya and Kattunaikars tribes  and this has remained a part of their custom for many years. These people are not aware of t...

A notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change prescribing regulations on river sand mining is feared to result in a mismatch with the Kerala State legislation on the issue. What does the central notification mandates? District Environment Impact Assessment Authority empowered to issue environmental clearance for sand mining below five hectares. It prescribes guidelines for the preparation of a district survey report to identify river sand resources, protection of the riverine ecology and steps to check illegal mining. It mandates to establish District expert appraisal committee to screen projects . Must have no representatives of local bodies. Submission of district survey report every 5 years once. Use of technology aided system for monitoring illegal mining. What does the Kerala Protection of River Banks and Regulation of Removal of Sand Act, 2001 mandates? District-level expert committees chaired by the respecti...

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) , the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant inked an MoU with the Government of Andhra Pradesh today during the “22nd CII Partnership Summit & 1st Sunrise AP Investment Meet”. The three-day Partnership Summit, which began on Sunday, is being jointly organised by the State Government and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). The MoU envisages facilitating investment of around Rs. 38,500 crores by RINL to take up various projects at Visakhapatnam with an employment opportunity to around 3000 people. RINL can support the development of infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, considering Government’s focus on promoting manufacturing and industrialization in the state and facilitating conducive investment environment. Projects : • Expansion of RINL to 7.3 mtpa & modernization with an investment of Rs 3,600 crores. • Construction of Coke Oven Battery-5 and other projects at an investment of Rs 3,400 crores. • Further expans...

The union government is working on issuing a unique identification number for the workforce engaged in un-organised sector to facilitate them to access social schemes and benefits. The software in this regard had been developed and it would be sent to the state governments for its implementation soon . The benefits of the Union government schemes such as pension scheme, old age scheme would be linked with the U-WIN cards.(Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan Suraksha Yojana, Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana will also be made available under the programme) In the first phase, government will cover construction worker, autorickshaw and rickshaw pullers. The government also intends to create a Central-level database of all unorganised sector workers in the country. As per latest data from the  National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) , the country’s labour force comprises at estimated 48.37 crore people, out of which 47.28 crore peo...

The government has constituted a committee headed by noted film-maker Shyam Benegal   to look into revamp of Censor Board. The Committee has been requested to submit its recommendations within two months. Why Committee? The move is meant to eliminate any kind of arbitrariness and discretion in the censorship process. The CBFC(Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has found itself at the centre of several controversies over censorship and cuts made to films ever since  Pahlaj Nihalani   took over as its chairperson. It was criticised for making several “cuts” in the film Spectre, “blurring some visuals” in the movie Angry Indian Goddesses, and removing curses and certain expressions from other films. That many CBFC members opposed Nihalani’s decisions openly did not help matters Expectations from the committee: The recommendations of this committee are expected to provide a holistic framework and enable those tasked with the work of certificatio...

Election Commission has said its proposal to bring a law to prohibit electoral trusts from accepting funds from foreign sources is being actively considered by the government. At present, electoral trusts can raise funds from foreign sources as they are not expressly prohibited under law.  The Commission had recommended to the Finance and Law Ministries to make specific law prohibiting electoral trusts accepting funds from foreign sources so that they are not able to transfer the funds to political parties. The issue came up for discussion at a recent meeting between the Election Commission and  the Law Ministry. What is Electoral trust? Electoral Trust is a Section 25 Company or a non-profit company created in India for orderly receipt of the voluntary contributions from any person and for distributing the same to the respective political parties, registered under Section 29A of the Representation of People Act, 1951. The objective of the Electoral Trust is not ...

Citizenship Act 1955 and Provisions of Indian Citizenship The Citizenship Act 1955 was ãrst enacted on 30 th  December 1955. It  was amended by Citizenship (Amendment) Act 1986, the Citizenship  (Amendment) Act 1992, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2003, and the  Citizenship (Amendment) Ordinance 2005. The Citizenship Act 1955  contains the rules for acquisition and termination of Indian Citizenship.  A person can be an Indian Citizen in various ways, out of which, Citizenship by birth and Descent are called natural citizens. Contents  Citizenship by Birth: Citizenship by Descent: Citizenship by Registration: Citizenship by Naturalization: Citizenship by incorporating a new territory: Commonwealth Citizenship: Citizenship by Birth: Any person born in India, on or after 26 January 1950 but prior to the  commencement of the 1986 Act on 1 July 1987 was a citizen of India  by birth. A person born in India on or after 1 July 1987 was a cit...