1. Context

2. About CAMPA Funds

• Establishment in 2004, the Ministry of Environment and Forests constituted the Compensatory Afforestration Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to oversee and manage the Compensatory Afforestration Fund (CAF) as directed by the Supreme Court.
• CAMPA Act or Compensatory Afforestation Fund act is an Indian legislation that seeks to provide an appropriate institutional mechanism, both at the centre and in each state and Union Territory, to ensure expeditious utilisation in the efficient and transparent manner of amounts released instead of forest land diverted for the non-forest purpose which would mitigate the impact of diversion of such forest land.

3. Objectives of CAMPA

• Lay down broad guidelines for State CAMPA.
• Facilitate scientific, technological and other assistance that may be required by State CAMPA.
• Make recommendations to State CAMPA based on a review of their plans and programmes.
• Provide a mechanism to State CAMPA to resolve issues of an inter-state or Centre-State character.

4. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• It is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change.
• It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
• IPCC assessments provide a scientific basis for governments at all levels to develop climate-related policies, and they underlie negotiations at the UN Climate Conference- the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

5. What is the Assessment report of the IPCC?

• The Assessment Reports, the first of which had come out in 1990, are the most comprehensive evaluation of the state of the earth's climate.
• Every few years (about 7 years), the IPCC produces assessment reports.
• Hundreds of experts go through every available piece of relevant, published scientific information to prepare a common understanding of the changing climate.
• The four subsequent assessment reports, each thousand of pages long, came out in 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2015. These have formed the basis of the global response to climate change.
• Over the years, each assessment report has built on the work of the previous ones, adding more evidence, information and data. So that most of the conclusions about climate change and its impacts have far greater clarity, certainty and wealth of new evidence now than earlier.
• It is these negotiations that have produced the Paris Agreement, and previously the Kyoto Protocol. The Paris Agreement was negotiated based on the Fifth Assessment Report.

6. Why is afforestation Contested?

• India has committed to adding “an additional (cumulative) carbon sink of 2.5­3 GtCO2e through additional forest and tree cover by 2030”, as part of its climate commitments to the U.N. 
• Afforestation is also codified in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), a body chaired by the Environment Minister.
• When forest land is diverted to non­forest use, such as building a dam or a mine, that land can longer provide its historical ecosystem services nor host biodiversity.
• According to the Forest (Conservation) Act, of 1980, the project proponent that wishes to divert the land must identify land elsewhere to afforest and pay for the land value and the afforestation exercise. That land will, thereafter, be stewarded by the forest department. 

7. Why does CAMPA matter?

• The money paid sits in a fund overseen by the CAMPA. As of 2019, the fund had ₹47,000 crores.
• The CAMPA has come under fire for facilitating the destruction of natural ecosystems in exchange for forests to be set up in faraway places.

8. How do ecosystems compare to renewable energy?

• The IPCC report also found that the sole option (among those evaluated) with more mitigating potential than "reducing the conversion of natural ecosystems" was solar power and that the third-highest was the wind.
• But many solar parks in India have triggered conflicts with people living nearby because they limit land use and increase local water consumption.
• A 2018 study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution also found that wind farms in the western ghats had reduced the abundance and activity of predatory birds, which consequently increased the density of lizards.
• However, the IPCC report also noted that reducing the conversion of natural ecosystems could be more expensive than wind power, yet still less expensive than ecosystem restoration, afforestation and restoration for every GtCO2e.

Previous year Question

For Prelims & Mains

DAUGHTER'S PROPERTY RIGHTS AFTER RECEIVING DOWRY

 

 

 

1. Context

A daughter’s right to family property will not extinguish even if dowry was provided to her at the time of marriage, the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court held on March 16 in the case of ‘Terezinha Martins David vs. Miguel Guarda Rosario Martins & Others’

2. Background & Legality

• The case revolved around a petition filed by the eldest daughter in a family of 10 people, including four sisters and four brothers
• In her plea, the petitioner drew attention to a deed of succession executed in her favour by her late father, Antonio Martins, declaring her as the property heir
• The plea also contested the transfer deed dated September 8, 1990, by way of which her brothers and mother had transferred the petitioner’s family shop to their two other brothers, seeking to declare the same as “null and void.”
• The daughter also prayed for a permanent injunction restraining her brothers from transferring her property without her written consent.
• The petitioner’s brothers argued that “sufficient dowry” was provided to all four sisters at the time of their marriage, following which three of them founded the partnership.
• The suit shop and the property beneath it were brought into the partnership and was an asset of the firm, they contended
•  Based on this, they argued that neither the petitioner nor her three sisters had any right, title, or interest in the suit shop
• In their counterclaim, the brother also argued that the petitioner’s claim will be barred by the statute of limitations as more than the stipulated three years had passed since the transfer deed was instituted and that the petitioner filed her suit after four years
• The trial court, by a judgment and decree dated May 31, 2003, dismissed the daughter’s suit and partly decreed the counterclaim by cancelling her deed of succession
• However, the first appellate court upheld the dismissal of the daughter’s suit, set aside the decree in the counterclaim, and upheld the succession deed showing her as one of the successors of the late Antonio Martins
• Following this, the daughter instituted a second appeal before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court questioning the dismissal of her suit
• The court observed that although the present suit was filed by the petitioner after four years of instituting the transfer deed, the daughter came to know about it only six weeks prior to the institution of the suit
• The limitation period, in this case, was governed by the provisions of Article 59 of the Schedule to The Limitation Act 1963
•  For a suit to cancel or set aside an instrument or a decree or for the rescission of a contract, the period of limitation prescribed is three years
• The time for which this period begins to run is when the facts entitling Plaintiff to have the instrument or Decree canceled or set aside or the contract rescinded first become known to him
• The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court also looked at various provisions of the Portuguese Civil Code, 1867, such as Articles 2184, 1565, 2177, and 2016

3. Provisions of the Portugese Civil Code

• Article 1565 of the Code provides that the parents or grandparents shall not be entitled to sell or mortgage to children or grandchildren if the other children or grandchildren do not consent to the sale or mortgage
• Article 1565 of the Portuguese Civil Code was repealed by extension of the Transfer of Property Act, 1881 to Goa, the Court reiterated its 2011 decision in ‘Norberto Paulo Sebastiao Fernandes & ors. vs. Gabriel Sebastiao Idalino Fernandes..’ to say that it is clear that the provisions of Article 1565 of the Code are still in force
• Article 2177 of the Code provides that a co-owner may not, however, dispose of any specific part of the common property unless the same is allotted to him in partition; and the transfer of the right which he has to the share which belongs to him may be restricted in terms of the law
• Finally, the court concluded that in this case, it was evident that the ‘plea of partnership property was a weak and misconceived attempt to ward off the legal effects of Articles 1565 and 2177 of the Code” and allowed the appeal in favour of the eldest daughter

 

 

 

For Prelims: Dowry Act, Property Rights, Portugal Civil Code Rights For Mains: 1. Does the Daughter have right to family property after receiving dowry

 

 

 

Source:indianexpress

BHAGAT SINGH

 

 

1. Context

Bhagat Singh was hanged on March 23, 1931, which is now observed as Shaheed Diwas. Today, his revolutionary philosophy is often juxtaposed with Congress’s non-violence

However, while Congress did choose the path of non-violence in its struggle for freedom, there were many younger leaders in Congress who not only sympathised with the idealism of Bhagat Singh’s convictions, but also his use of revolutionary violence

 

2.About Bhagat Singh

• Bhagat Singh was an Indian revolutionary freedom fighter who was hanged to death by British colonisers at the age of 23 years.
• Fondly known as 'Shaheed (martyr) Bhagat Singh', he is considered a national hero of India's freedom struggle against colonial rule
• As a teenager, Bhagat Singh popularised the slogan of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ which eventually became the catchphrase of the Indian independence movement
• ‘Shaheed Diwas’ is commemorated every year on March 23 to remember the unparalleled sacrifice made by the revolutionary leaders Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Hari Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar who were hanged at the Lahore Central Jail in Lahore in 1931 today
• Among the three, Bhagat Singh is remembered as a charismatic freedom fighter. He joined the independence movement at an early age and was only 23, when he was executed by the British
• In December 28, Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru plotted to kill superintendent of police James Scott in Lahore in a bid to avenge the death of the nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai
• He was arrested after his another attempt at uprooting the British authority when he along with Batukeshwar Dutt hurled bombs in Delhi’s Central Assembly Hall, and raised the slogan of “Inquilab Zindabad!” On March 23,1931, the three folk heroes of the independence movement, Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged to death

3. Reasons for hanging Bhagat Singh

• On March 23, 1931, revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and S Rajguru were hanged at 7.30 pm in the premises of the Lahore Jail
• The trio had been convicted in what came to be known as the ‘Lahore Conspiracy Case’, for the murder of British police officer John Saunders in 1928
• The trial that convicted Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was contentious
•  To speed the process, Viceroy Lord Irwin passed an ordinance to set up a special tribunal comprising three high court judges
• This is seen by legal historians as an injustice as it abruptly, and for no legitimate reason, upended the due process of law to swiftly arrive at a judgement
• Crucially, the only appeal after the tribunal was to the Privy Council, the British Empire's highest court, located in England
• Despite petitions challenging Irwin’s ordinance as illegal, the trial went on
• On October 7, 1930, the tribunal delivered a 300-page judgement and concluded that based on available evidence, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru participated in Saunders’ murder
• They were sentenced to death by hanging, despite themselves requesting a shooting squad instead
• In one of his last letters, Singh wrote, “I have been arrested while waging a war. For me there can be no gallows. Put me into the mouth of a cannon and blow me off.”

4. Reactions of Our Leaders

• Jawaharlal Nehru angrily denounced the tribunal’s judgement, British academic Satvinder Singh Juss wrote in his book The Trial of Bhagat Singh
•  In a speech in Allahabad on October 12, 1930, he criticised not just the tribunal, but also the Viceroy and the British regime on a whole
• In his speech, Nehru did not only justify violence used by the revolutionaries by pretty much using the same arguments they themselves made, he openly stated his disagreement with friend and mentor, Mahatma Gandhi
• Nehru always sympathised with Indian revolutionaries even though he himself did not believe in or preach violence
• While Gandhi often outrightly condemned revolutionary activities, Nehru saw revolutionaries fighting their own struggle and appreciated them for it

 

 

Source: indianexpress

 

 

GUILLOTINE

1. Context 

Amidst the ongoing stalemate in Parliament, some MPs said the government may guillotine the demands for grants and pass the Finance Bill without any discussion.

2. About Guillotine

• A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading.
• It consists of a large, weighted blade that is raised to the top of a tall, erect frame and released to fall on the neck of a condemned person secured at the bottom of the frame, executing them in a single, clean pass.
• The origin of the exact device as well as the term can be found in France.
• The design of the guillotine was intended to make capital punishment more reliable and less painful through new Enlightenment ideas of human rights.
• Before the use of the guillotine, France had inflicted manual beheadings and a variety of methods of execution, many of which were more gruesome and required a high level of precision and skill to carry out successfully.
• The guillotine is most widely associated with the French Revolution, when it became popular with the revolutionaries meting out capital punishment to members and supporters of the Ancient Regime, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.
• It was a method of execution in France until the country stopped capital punishment in 1981.

3. Guillotine refers to in legislative parlance

• In legislative parlance, "guillotine" means to bunch together and fast-track the passage of financial business.
• It is a fairly common procedural exercise in Lok Sabha during the Budget Session.
• After the Budget is presented, Parliament goes into recess for about three weeks, during which time the House Standing Committees examine Demands for Grants for various Ministries and prepare reports.
• After Parliament reassembles, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) draws up a schedule for discussions on the Demands for Grants.
• Given the limitation of time, the House cannot take up the expenditure demands of all Ministries; therefore, the BAC identifies some important Ministries for discussion.
• It usually lists Demands for Grants from the Ministries of Home, Defence, External Affairs, Agriculture, Rural Development and Human Resource Development.
• Members utilise the opportunity to discuss the policies and working of Ministries.
• Once the House is done with these debates, the Speaker applies the "guillotine" and all outstanding demands for grants are put to vote at once.
• This usually happens on the last day earmarked for the discussion on the Budget.
• The intention is to ensure the timely passage of the Finance Bill, marking the completion of the legislative exercise about the Budget.

4. Happening in this case

• With meetings called by presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha failing to end the stalemate between the government and the Opposition, there is uncertainty over whether the Budget Session will continue till its scheduled date of April 6.
• On Tuesday, for the seventh day in a row, proceedings in both Houses were adjourned following chaotic scenes.
• Some MPs said the government may guillotine the demands for grants and pass the Finance Bill without any discussion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
• The Budget Session cannot continue "With no business and complete logjam".
• But the government has to find a way to complete the passage of the Budget, which includes the passing of the Finance Bill.

5. The stalemate in Parliament 

• Parliament remains stalled as the government and opposition have been unable to constructively engage with each other.
• While the opposition has been demanding a JPC (Joint Parliamentary committee) probe into the Adani issue, the government has been steadfast in demanding Rahul Gandhi apologise for his recent "Anti-India" remarks.
• At the meetings held by Speaker Om Birla for the Lok Sabha and Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for the Upper House, the BJP maintained that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi could be allowed to put forward his point of view regarding his remarks on Indian democracy in London only if he was ready to apologise over the same.
• But Congress rejected this while insisting on its demand that the government constitute a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the Adani issue.
• With no end in sight any time soon for the ongoing stalemate, the government might have to guillotine together different demands and pass them en masse.

For Prelims & Mains

For Prelims: Guillotine, Parliament, Budget session, Joint Parliament Committee, French Revolution, Business Advisory Committee,  For Mains: 1. What does ‘guillotine’ refer to in legislative parlance? Discuss the parliamentary procedure of 'guillotine'.  (250 Words)

Previous Year Questions

1. What is meaning of Guillotine in Parliamentary Procedure? (UPSC 2017) 1. To stop the debate on the bill 2. To continue the debate on the bill 3. Boycott of the house by members 4. To adjourn the house 5. To adjourn the house for the day   1. Answer: 1   2. Consider the following statements: (UPSC 2013)  The Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts 1. consists of not more than 25 members of the Lok Sabha. 2. scrutinizes appropriation and finance accounts of the Government. 3. examines the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? A. 1 only   B. 2 and 3 only    C. 3 only     D. 1, 2 and 3   2. Answer: B

 

Source: The Indian Express

FRANCE'S NEW PENSION SYSTEM

 

 

1. Context

On March 17, protesters in France clashed with the police at the Place de la Concorde in Paris amid growing unrest over the government’s decision to change the state pension age from 62 to 64.

 

2. What is this New Pension System

 

• The scheme aims to provide up to a maximum of 50% of the retiree's income during their 25 highest earning years up to the Plafond de la sécurité sociale (€41,136 annually in 2022). The state scheme is financed by a payroll tax known as "social security contributions".
• In France, all retirees get a state pension. Mandatory payroll taxes paid by those currently working fund the pension of retirees, meaning generations have been able to retire with assured, state-backed pensions
• The government now argues that as life expectancy in France increases, so does its ageing population which means more retirees than new entrants in the workforce
• This would cause the current pension system to fall short in the coming decades
• According to the administration’s projections, while there were 2.1 workers putting money into the system for every one retiree in 2000, this figure dropped to 1.7 workers per retiree in 2020, and is expected to further slide to 1.2 by 2070
• The government says the measure to gradually raise the legal retirement age by three months every year, till it reaches 64 by 2030, is “indispensable” in order to balance the pension system and keep it financially viable
• However, there are some exceptions. Those starting work between the ages of 14 to 19 will be able to seek early retirement, as will public workers engaged in physically or mentally arduous jobs
• But the minimum retirement age only applies to those who have worked enough years to qualify
• In Present system, many women who pause their careers to raise children and people who study for longer and start their careers late, must work till the age of 67 to retire with full pension benefits
• The government highlighted the potential outcomes of the pension reform, stating that new retirees will get a guaranteed minimum pension of not less than 85% of the total minimum wage  about 1,200 euros per month at current levels
• The government also plans to index the pensions to inflation levels for those who receive minimum incomes, a year after retirement
• It says that the pensions of the poorest 30% of retirees will increase by 2-5%

3. Reasons for the Protests

• France currently has one of the lowest qualifying ages for a state pension among big European economies
• The French cherish the retirement system, as well as national healthcare, as it is seen as hard-earned, having been introduced by the National Resistance Council after the Second World War, when the country was reeling from the aftermath of the war
• Generations of workers have accepted high mandatory taxes to fund the pension system because it creates interdependence and guarantees state-backed pension earnings
• The new system means current workers will have to work longer to sustain pensions for the ballooning aged population
• Observers also worry that the reform will negatively affect blue-collar workers who often start working young, have shorter life expectancies, or have less optimum working conditions compared to white-collar workers
• Opponents of the reform argue that instead of altering the pension age, the government could have balanced the system through other measures like increasing payroll taxes paid by workers, taxing the wealthy more, or not tying pensions to inflation

4. Way Forward

After Ms. Borne used special powers to pass the Pension Bill in the Assembly without a vote, two Opposition Groups filed no-confidence motions against the Macron government

However, these motions have not succeeded. Meanwhile, protests continued to intensify, turning violent in some places, with the police banning demonstrations in parts of Central Paris

 

 

WORLD TB DAY

 

1. Context

With India setting the target of eliminating tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the global target, scientists are rushing to test newer vaccines and shorter courses of treatment, the government is focusing on active case finding, entrepreneurs have helped increase testing capacity, and the community at large has come forward to provide nutritional support to patients. On world TB day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the One World TB Summit. He is likely to announce initiatives to help the country meet the 2025 target.

2. About Tuberculosis

• Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• It commonly affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body.
• It is a treatable and curable disease.
• TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze, or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air.
• Common symptoms of active lung TB are cough with sputum and blood at times, chest pains, weakness weight loss, fever, and night sweats.
• Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a vaccine for TB disease.

3. How many TB cases are detected each year?

• Although India continues to be the largest contributor to global TB cases, there has been a decline in the number of cases in 2021.
• Reporting of TB cases also improved in 2021 although it didn’t reach the pre-pandemic levels, it bounced back from the lows seen during the first year of the pandemic, according to the Global TB Report 2022.
• The incidence of TB new cases detected throughout the year was reduced by 18% in 2021 over the 2015 baseline, dropping to 210 cases per lakh population as compared to 256 cases per lakh population.
•  The incidence of drug-resistant TB also went down by 20% during the period from 1.49 lakh cases in 2015 to 1.19 lakh cases in 2021.
  India accounts for 28% of all TB cases in the world, according to the Global TB Report 2022. 

4. What is India’s elimination target?

• Although the elimination of Tuberculosis is one of the sustainable development targets
  to be achieved by 2030 by the world, India has set a target of 2025.
• The national strategic plan 2017-2025 sets the target of India reporting no more than 44 new TB cases or 65 total cases per lakh population by 2025.
• The estimated TB incidence for the year 2021 stood at 210 per lakh population. 
• Achieving this target is a big task as the plan had envisaged an incidence of only 77 cases per lakh population by 2023.
• The programme also aims to reduce the mortality to 3 deaths per lakh population by 2025. The estimated TB mortality for the year 2020 stood at 37 per lakh population.
• The plan also aims to reduce catastrophic costs for the affected family to zero.
• However, the report states that 7 to 32 percent of those with drug-sensitive TB, and 68 percent with drug-resistant TB experienced catastrophic costs.
• The goals are in line with the World Health Organisation’s End TB strategy which calls for an 80% reduction in the number of new cases, a 90% reduction in mortality, and zero catastrophic cost by 2030.

5. What is being done to try to achieve t

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