Consultative Committee

Why in News

The meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Members of Parliament for the Ministry of Steel was held on 24th February 2020.

Key Points

Formation

• These committees are constituted by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
• These are normally constituted after the new Lok Sabha is constituted.
• This implies that these committees stand dissolved upon dissolution of every Lok Sabha and thus, are reconstituted upon the constitution of each Lok Sabha.

Composition

• The guidelines regarding the composition, functions and procedures of these committees are formulated by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
• These consist of members of both the Houses of Parliament.
• However, the membership of these committees is voluntary and is left to the choice of the members and the leaders of their parties.
• The maximum membership of a committee is 30 and the minimum is 10.

Functions

• These committees are attached to various ministries/departments of the Central Government.
• The Minister/Minister of State in charge of the Ministry concerned acts as the chairman of the consultative committee of that ministry.
• These provide a forum for informal discussions between the ministers and the members of Parliament on policies and programmes of the government and the manner of their implementation.
• The Consultative Committees are not Parliamentary Committees. A parliamentary committee:
  • Is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker/Chairman.
  • Works under the direction of the Speaker/Chairman.
  • Presents its report to the House or to the Speaker/Chairman.
  • Has a secretariat provided by the Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha.

Source: PIB

Hampi

Why in News

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is about to install a wooden barricade around the stone chariot inside Vittala Temple complex at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi to protect it from damage.

• The Vittala Temple is among the most-visited and the most photographed protected monuments at Hampi.

Hampi                                                                                               

• Hampi is the 14th century capital of the Vijayanagar Empire, located in the Tungabhadra basin in Bellary District, Central Karnataka.
• Vittal Temple Complex is the finest example of Vijaynagar Temple Architecture.
  • A large number of royal buildings were raised by Krishnadeva Raya (A.D. 1509-30) and Vittal Temple Complex is one of them.
• Temples of Hampi are noted for their large dimensions, florid ornamentation, bold and delicate carvings and stately pillars which include subjects from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
• Majority of these temples in Hampi were provided with widespread bazaars flanked on either side by storied Mandapas.
• The Mahanavami Dibba, a variety of ponds and tanks, and the row of pillared Mandapas are some of the important architectural remains of Hampi.
  In 1986, Hampi was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

Vijaynagar Empire

• Vijayanagara or “city of victory” was the name of both a city and an empire.
• The empire was founded in the fourteenth century (1336 AD) by Harihara and Bukka of Sangama dynasty. They made Hampi as the capital city.
• It stretched from the river Krishna in the north to the extreme south of the peninsula.
• Vijayanagar Empire was ruled by four important dynasties and they are:
  • Sangama
  • Saluva
  • Tuluva
  • Aravidu
• Krishnadevaraya (ruled 1509-29) of the Tuluva dynasty was the most famous ruler of Vijayanagar.
• He is credited with building some fine temples and adding impressive gopurams to many important south Indian temples.
• He composed a work on statecraft in Telugu known as the Amuktamalyada.

Source: TH

One Year of PM-KISAN

Why in News

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare observed the 1st anniversary of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme on 24th February.

• The PM-KISAN was launched on February 24 in 2019.
• All states are implementing the scheme, except West Bengal.
• The PM-KISAN Mobile App developed and designed by the National Informatics Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been launched.
• The farmers can view the status of their application, update or carry out corrections of their Aadhaar cards and also check the history of credits to their bank accounts.

PM-KISAN

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India.
• It is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare.
• Under the scheme, the Centre transfers an amount of Rs 6,000 per year, in three equal instalments, directly into the bank accounts of the all landholding farmers irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
• It intends to supplement the financial needs of the Small and Marginal Farmers (SMFs) in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of each crop cycle.
• The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiary farmer families rests with the State / UT Governments.

Source: TH

Kalasa-Banduri Nala Project

Why in News

The cost of the Kalasa-Banduri Nala project on the Mahadayi basin has risen from about ₹94 crores (2000) to ₹1,677.30 crores (2020) due to the ongoing inter-State river water dispute.

Mahadayi River

• Mahadayi or Mhadei, the west-flowing river, originates in Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary (Western Ghats), Belagavi district of Karnataka.
• It is essentially a rain-fed river also called Mandovi in Goa.
• It is joined by a number of streams to form the Mandovi which is one of two major rivers (the other one is Zuari river) that flows through Goa.
• The river travels 35 km in Karnataka; 82 km in Goa before joining the Arabian Sea.

Kalasa-Banduri Nala Project

• It is undertaken by the Government of Karnataka to improve drinking water supply to the three districts of Belagavi, Dharwad, and Gadag.
• It involves building across Kalasa and Banduri, two tributaries of the Mahadayi river to divert water to the Malaprabha river (a tributary of Krishna river).
• Malaprabha river supplies the drinking water to Dharwad, Belgaum, and Gadag districts.
• Kalasa-Banduri project was planned in 1989; Goa raised an objection to it.
  • The Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal was set up in 2010. Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are parties to the tribunal.

Source: TH

SPICe+ Web Form

Why in News

Recently, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has launched the Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically Plus (SPICe+) web form.                    

• The SPICe+ form will replace the existing SPICe form.
  • SPICe was launched in 2016 and is a single form for multiple services for incorporation of a company.

• SPICe+ would offer 10 services by 3 central government ministries & departments (Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Ministry of Finance) and one State Government (Maharashtra).
• SPICe+ has two parts:
  • Part A for name reservation for new companies and
  • Part B offering a bunch of services including incorporation, Director Identification Number (DIN) allotment, mandatory issue of Permanent Account N​umber (PAN), besides allotment of Goods and Service Tax Identification Number - GSTIN (if applied for).
• The new web form will help save many procedures, time and cost for starting a business in India.
  • India has improved its ranking to the 63rd spot on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) survey, 2019 out of 190 countries. However, the report had cited India was lagging behind in certain parameters such as starting a business.
  • The latest step is an effort towards achieving the government’s target of reaching the 50th spot.

Source: PIB

Olive Ridley Turtles

Why in News

Preparations are almost done at the Rushikulya rookery on the Odisha coast to welcome and protect olive ridley turtles during mass nesting.

Key Points

• Olive Ridley Turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world, inhabiting warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
• These turtles, along with the Kemps ridley turtle, are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada (mass-nesting event when thousands of turtles come ashore at the same time to lay eggs on the same).
• They are carnivores.

Note:

• The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the Olive-ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.

Protection Status

• Vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
• Listed in Appendix I of CITES.
• Under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Threats

• Unfriendly fishing practices: The accidental killing of adult turtles through entanglement in trawl nets and gill nets due to uncontrolled fishing during their mating season around nesting beaches.
• The Odisha government has made it mandatory for trawls to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), a net specially designed with an exit cover which allows the turtles to escape while retaining the catch.
  • However, this has been strongly opposed by the fishing communities as they believe TEDs result in loss of a considerable amount of the catch along with the turtle.
• Development and exploitation of nesting beaches for ports and tourist centres.

Rushikulya River

• It originates from Rushikulya hills of the Eastern Ghats in Phulbani district (Odisha).
• It is 165 kms. long with 8900 sq.kms of catchment areas.
• It covers the entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam district of Odisha.

Source: TH

International Conference on ‘Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation (EMMDA)’

Why in News

An international conference on “Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation (EMMDA)” is being organised by the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) from 24th -26th February 2020 in Noida.

• The Conference provides a platform for discussions and deliberations on the present status, future prospects and optimum use of Ensemble Prediction System (EPS).
• Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS) are Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) systems that allow one to estimate the uncertainty in a weather forecast as well as the most likely outcome.
• India has recently operationally implemented two global EPS which have the highest resolution in the world and also a regional EPS of horizontal resolution 4km which covers the Indian region.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) provides weather and climate services to various users round the year and on a 24/7 basis. Both operational and research aspects for these services are implemented through its constituent units like Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), NCMRWF, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),
  Pune and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad.

National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting

• The National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) is a centre of excellence in weather and climate modelling under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• The mission of the Centre is to continuously develop advanced numerical weather prediction systems, with increased reliability and accuracy over India and neighbouring regions through research, development and demonstration of new and novel applications, maintaining the highest level of knowledge, skills and technical bases.
• It is located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Source: PIB

SERB Women Excellence Award- 2020

Why in News

Dr Niti Kumar, a senior scientist from the CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow has received SERB Women Excellence Award-2020.

• Award will be conferred by the President of India during National Science Day (NSD) celebrations on 28th February, 2020. The theme for the NSD 2020 is ‘Women in Science’.
• SERB Women Excellence Award is a one-time award given to women scientists below 40 years of age and who have received recognition from national academies such as Young Scientist Medal, Young Associate etc.
• The women researchers will be supported by a research grant of 5 lakhs per annum for 3 years by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Ministry of Science and Technology.
• Niti Kumar’s research group is trying to understand the protein quality control machinery in human malaria parasite for exploration of alternative drug targets for malaria intervention.
• Dr. Niti Kumar has many awards and recognitions in her credit including, Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (DBT-IYBA, 2015), INSA Medal for Young Scientist (2010) by Indian National Science Academy, etc.

Source: PIB