Road Accidents in India - 2018

Why in News

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has released the annual report on Road Accidents in India.

• The report shows 53 crashes and the loss of 17 lives every hour.
• The road traffic injuries were the eighth leading cause of death in India in 2018.

Key Points

• Global Analysis:
  
  • According to World Road Statistics ( 2018), India reports the highest number of road accident deaths followed by the US and China.
    
    • World Road Statistics is released by the World Road Federation.
  • As per the WHO Global Report on Road Safety 2018, India accounts for almost 11% of the accident-related deaths in the world.
• National Analysis:
  
  • The road accidents numerics:
    • It kills almost 1.5 lakh people annually in India.
    • The accidents, as well as accident-related deaths in the period 2010-2018, dropped drastically compared with the previous decades, despite the very high rate of growth of automobiles.
    • The road accident severity (the number of persons killed per 100 accidents) has increased by 0.6% in 2018 compared to 2017.
  • Major Cause:
    
    • Over-speeding is a major cause, accounting for 64.4% of the persons killed. As the maximum number of road accidents occurred on straight roads.
    • Two-wheelers accounted for the highest share (35.2%) in total accidents in 2018.
  • Age:
    
    • The young adults (18-45 years) accounted for nearly 69.6% of road accident victims.
    • Minors involved in road crash deaths were at 6.6% of the total deaths.
  • Gender:
    
    • The share of males in the number of total accident deaths was 86% while the share of females was around 14% in 2018
• State-wise Analysis:
  
  • As in 2017, the State of Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents in 2018.
  • Similarly, as in 2017, the number of persons killed in a road accident was the highest in Uttar Pradesh in 2018.
  • Delhi has been ranked first in the total number of road fatalities compared to other Indian cities.

Significance of Road Safety

• Road transport is the dominant mode of transport in India, in terms of traffic share and in terms of contribution to the national economy.
• A negative externality of expansion in the road network, motorization, and urbanization in the country is the increase in road accidents and road crash fatalities.
• Road traffic injuries are one of the leading causes of death, disabilities and hospitalization in the country imposing huge socio-economic costs.

Steps taken at Global Level

• Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety (2015):
  
  • The declaration was signed at the second Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety held in Brazil. The first conference was held in Russia (2009).
  • Through the Brasilia Declaration countries plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3.6 i.e.to half the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2030.
  • United Nations has also declared 2010-2020 as the decade of action for Road Safety.
• UN Global Road Safety Week:
  
  • It is celebrated every two years, the fifth edition of the UN Global Road Safety Week (6-12 May 2019) highlighted the need for strong leadership for road safety.
• The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) :
  
  • It is a registered charity dedicated to saving lives through safer roads.

Steps taken Indian Government

• India has signed the Brasilia declaration and committed to reduce the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.
• Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019
  
  • It hikes the penalties for traffic violations, defective vehicles, juvenile driving, etc.
  • It provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.
  • It also provides for a National Road Safety Board, to be created by the Central Government through a notification.
  • The act also provides for the protection of good samaritans.
• Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan Committee
  
  • Supreme Court had set up the three-member KS Radhakrishnan panel on road safety in 2014. The SC had termed the roads in India as “giant killers”

Source: TH

National Skills Study

Why in News

According to a study conducted by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), 7 crore additional individuals in the working-age (15-59 years) are expected to enter the labour force by 2023. Of this 84.3% will be in the age group 15-30 years.

• The NSDC has projected trends in the country’s labour market potential during 2019-23 based on:
  
  • Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2017-18,
  • Crude Death Rates (CDR) at gender and region (rural/urban) level, and
  • Employment-Unemployment Survey (EUS), 2011-12 (68th round).

Key Findings

• Gender: According to the study, one out of five persons (15-30 years age) entering the labour force is expected to be a female by 2023.
  
  • Female labour force participation rate for 15 years and above is estimated at 23.3%.
  • According to World Bank data, India’s female labour force participation rate ranks much lower than other Asian economies in 2019, including Vietnam (73 %), China (61 %), Singapore (60 %), Bangladesh (36 %). It is closer to the estimates in countries such as Lebanon (24 %), Pakistan (24 %), Libya (26 %), Tunisia (24 %) and Sudan (24 %).
• Education: According to NSDC, many female candidates in the age group of 15-19 years may not be actively present in the labour force. They would instead opt for higher education.
• Age: Of the total youth entrants (aged 15-30 years) during these four years (2019-23), half are expected to come from the 15-20 years age group.
• State-wise:
  
  • Only six states- Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are expected to account for 50% of the new youth entrants (15-30 years) during 2019-23.
  • Among female youth (15-30 years), the highest numbers of new entrants are expected in the years 2021 and 2023 each, while among male youth, the highest number of new entrants are expected in 2023.

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)

• It is a public-private-partnership working under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
• NSDC aims to promote skill development by catalyzing the creation of large, quality and for-profit vocational institutions. It acts as a catalyst in skill development by providing funding to enterprises, companies, and organizations that provide skill training.
• NSDC is the implementation agency for skills training in the country.

Source: IE

West Bank Settlements

Why in News

The United States has declared that it does not consider Israeli settlements on the West Bank a violation of international law.

• The U.S.A.'s stand is different from that of most countries on the issue.
  
  • Even the USA considered the West Bank settlements as illegitimate since 1978. However in 2016, the US did not veto a resolution that called for an end to Israeli settlements.
• The current stand of the USA reverses four decades of U.S. policy.

West Bank Settlements

• West Bank (about one and a half times the size of Goa) is a landlocked territory in West Asia. It also contains a significant section of the western dead sea.
• It was captured by Jordan after the Arab-Israeli War (1948) but Israel snatched it back during the Six-Day War of 1967 and has occupied it ever since.
• At present, there are around 130 formal Israeli settlements along with 26 lakh Palestinians at West Bank.

Global Stand over West Bank Settlements

• Majority of the countries’ consider West Bank settlements illegal and an occupied territory.
• The United Nations General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and the International Court of Justice have declared that the West Bank settlements are violative of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
• Under the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), an occupying power “shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies”.

Way Forward

• Under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, both Israel and the Palestinians agreed that the status of settlements would be decided by negotiations. But the negotiations process has been all but dead for several years now. Thus the world at large needs to come together for a peaceful solution for Israel-Palestine conflict.

Source:IE

Solar Eclipse

Why in News

Cheruvathur in Kasaragod district, Kerala is one of the three places in the world where the solar eclipse will be most clearly seen on December 26, 2019.

• It will be an annular solar eclipse in which the ‘ring of fire’- a characteristic of this kind of solar eclipse could be clearly observed.

Solar Eclipse

• A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that happens when the moon comes in the way of the sun’s light. The moon's shadow casts itself on Earth, blocking out the sun's light (as seen from Earth).
• The moon's shadow has two parts: a central region (umbra) and an outer region (penumbra). Depending upon which part of the shadow passes over the Earth, one of three types of solar eclipses could be observed:
  
  • Total Solar Eclipse- The entire central portion of the sun is blocked out by the moon.
  • Partial Solar Eclipse- Only part of the sun's surface is blocked out.
  • Annular Solar Eclipse- The sun is covered in such a way that only a small ring-like sliver of light is seen from the sun's disc. This ring is known as the ring of fire. 
    
    • An annular eclipse happens when the moon is farthest from Earth. As the moon is farther away from Earth, it seems smaller and is unable to block the entire view of the sun, because of which the ring-like structure could be observed.

• The total eclipse happens about every year and a half somewhere on Earth, while the partial eclipse happens at least twice a year somewhere on Earth.

Source: TH

Maha Bodhi Temple Complex

Bhutan’s Foreign Minister recently visited Maha Bodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar.

• The Maha Bodhi Temple Complex is one of the four holy sites related to the life of the Lord Buddha, and particularly to the attainment of Enlightenment (Bodhi).
  
  • The other three are: Lumbini (Birth) in Nepal, Sarnath (Dharma-Chakra-Pravartana - 1^st Sermon) and Kushinagar (Mahaparinirvana- death) in Uttar Pradesh.
• The original structure was built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. However, it was reconstructed entirely in brick in late Gupta period. The present temple dates from the 5th or 6th centuries.
• The site of the Mahabodhi Temple provides exceptional records of the events associated with the life of Buddha and subsequent worship.
• A descendant of the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha is said to have sat until he attained enlightenment stands adjacent to the temple.
  
  • Ashoka’s stone slab purporting to mark the exact position where the Buddha sat is traditionally called the Buddha’s vajrasana (literally “diamond throne” or “thunder seat”).
• It was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002.

Rani Lakshmibai

The Prime Minister paid tributes to Rani Laxmibai on her 191^st birth anniversary. She was one of the leading figures of the 1857 war of independence.

• She was born on 19^th November 1828 in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
• Rani Lakshmibai was one of the brave warriors of India's struggle for Independence. In 1853, when the Maharaja of Jhansi died, the East India Company took advantage of the situation and applied the Doctrine of Lapse to annex Jhansi.
• Lakshmibai fought bravely against the British and gave a tough fight to Sir Hugh Rose so as to save her empire from annexation. She died fighting on the battlefield on June 17, 1858.
• When the Indian National Army started its first female unit (in 1943), it was named after the valiant queen of Jhansi.

Doctrine of Lapse

• It was an annexation policy followed widely by Lord Dalhousie when he was India's Governor-General from 1848 to 1856.
• According to this, any princely state that was under the direct or indirect control of the East India Company where the ruler did not have a legal male heir would be annexed by the company.
  
  • As per this, any adopted son of the Indian ruler could not be proclaimed as heir to the kingdom.
• By applying the doctrine of lapse, Dalhousie annexed the States of:
  
  • Satara (1848 A.D.),
  • Jaitpur, and Sambalpur (1849 A.D.),
  • Baghat (1850 A.D.),
  • Udaipur (1852 A.D.),
  • Jhansi (1853 A.D.), and
  • Nagpur (1854 A.D.)

Source: TOI

Srisailam Dam

Why in News

• Several floods in the region have created a need for repair and maintenance of the Srisailam dam.
• The Srisailam dam is constructed across the Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh.
• It is located in the Nallamala hills.

Krishna River

• The Krishna River is the second biggest river in peninsular India after the Godavari River.
• It originates near Mahabaleshwar (Satara) in Maharashtra.
• It runs from four states Maharashtra (303 km), North Karnataka (480 km) and the rest of its 1300 km journey in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh before it empties into the Bay of Bengal.
• Tributaries: Tungabhadra, Mallaprabha, Koyna, Bhima, Ghataprabha, Yerla, Warna, Dindi, Musi and Dudhganga.
• Pattiseema Lift Irrigation project is the first river-linking project in India, connecting Godavari with Krishna through the Polavaram right canal. It will divert surplus Godavari water to Krishna river.

Source: TH