22 12 19 · 2019-12-23 · daily news simplified - dns 22 12 19 notes sl. no. topics the hindu page...

Daily News Simplified - DNS

22 12 19 Notes

SL. NO. TOPICS

THE HINDU PAGE NO.

1 Manual Scavenging left 282 dead since 2016. 09

2 What connects the NPR, NRIC and Census 14

3 ICC to probe ‘War Crimes’ in Palestinian territories since 2014 12

4 Why is it taking so long to label fast food? 14

Dated: 22-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 1. Manual Scavenging left 282 dead since 2016.

(Page 09)

Syllabus GS II: Social Issues

Theme Manual Scavenging

Highlights Context :

• 282 people have died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the country between 2016 and November 2019, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said in a response to a question in Rajya Sabha.

• Sanitation is a State subject, the people for cleaning of sewers and septic tanks are

employed by local bodies.

• States and Union Territories have been requested to ensure filing of FIRs and prosecution in all cases of employment of persons for hazardous cleaning of sewers as per the provisions of The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013,

State wise figures – Tamil Nadu has recorded 40 deaths, the highest in number, in these four years. This is followed by Haryana with 31 deaths, and Gujarat and Delhi with 30 deaths each. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have recorded 27 deaths each in the same period.

Dated: 22-Dec-2019 DNS Notes

Law on Manual Scavenging

• Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 provides for the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers, rehabilitation of manual scavengers and their families.

• Section 7 of the Act prohibits any person, local authority or any agency to engage or employ people for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks. Violation of the provision provides for imprisonment which may extend to two years.


• Section 13 of the Act provides for rehabilitation of persons identified as manual scavengers by a Municipality.

• However, the law is not properly enforced and people are forced to do manual scavenging.

Ignoring worker’s safety norms • The requirements of worker safety and provision of safety norms in cases of human

intervention are often ignored leading to death of persons involved in such cases of manual scavenging.

• In the absence of political will and social pressure, more lives could be lost as more tanks are being built in rural and urban areas as part of the drive to construct toilets.

What can be done? • The law on manual scavenging must be enforced in letter and spirit both by the

Centre and State governments. • No person, agency or authority shall employ people for manual scavenging. • Local Authorities must find resources to employ machines for cleaning of septic

tanks and sewers. • The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should make expansion of the sewer network a top

priority and come up with a scheme for scientific maintenance of tanks as it will also help in ending manual cleaning of septic tanks.

• Two components of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBM) i.e. SBM-Rural and SBM-Urban must look into the issue of sanitation and use funds available for SBM in providing mechanised way of cleaning septic tanks.

• Mechanised cleaning of sewers and tanks will reduce inequality especially for such communities who have been traditionally involved in manual scavenging.

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Title 2. What connects the NPR, NRIC and Census (Page number 14)

Syllabus Mains : Polity & Governance Theme NPR, NRIC, Census Highlights

NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER – NPR #Indian Express #NPR #Aadhaar #Governance #Rights Issue

In a recent address, Home Minister of India has floated the idea of “One Nation, One Card” and asserted that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would be implemented across the country. In the same address he also highlighted about the idea to resurrect National Population Register (NPR) all over again despite successful implementation of Aadhaar Card. So let us understand about National Population Register and how is it different from National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Aadhaar Card. About National Population register (NPR)

• The National Population Register (NPR) is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under Ministry of Home Affairs.

• It is a Register of “usual residents of the country” and will be prepared at the local, sub-district, district, state and national level.

• The NPR is being prepared under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. It is mandatory for every “usual resident of India” to register in the NPR.

• As per section 14A of Citizenship Act 1955, it is compulsory for every citizen of the country to register in the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC). The creation of NPR is the first step towards preparations of NRIC.

• According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, “usual resident of the country” is one who has been residing in a local area for at least the last 6 months or intends to stay in a particular location for the next six months.

• Citizens & Foreigners - Unlike the NRC, the National Population Register will not only include citizens but also foreigners as it would record even a foreigner staying in a locality for more than six months. The NPR database would contain demographic as well as biometric details.

• Seeding with Aadhaar - The government also plans to seed Aadhaar database with the updated NPR. This updated NPR database along with Aadhaar Number will


become the mother database and can be used by various government departments for selection of beneficiaries under their respective schemes.

Backdrop to NPR • The data for the NPR were first collected in 2010 along with the house listing phase

of Census 2011. In 2015, this data was further updated by conducting a door-to-door survey. Earlier, the roll out of NPR had slowed down due to overlapping with that of Aadhaar.

• NPR will again be conducted in conjunction with the house listing phase from 1st April 2020 till 30th September 2020 - the first phase of the Census 2021 - by the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the Home Ministry for Census 2021. Only Assam will not be included, given the recently completed NRC.

How to Register for NPR • During the first phase of Census 2011, enumerators have visited every household

and have collected the details required for the NPR in a paper format. These forms have been scanned and the data has been entered into an electronic database in two languages - the State language and in English.

• Biometric attributes - photograph, ten fingerprints and two iris images are being added to the NPR database by organizing enrolment camps in each local area. The enrolment will be done in the presence of Government servants appointed for this purpose.

• All usual residents who are above 5 years of age will have to attend the enrolment camp even if their biometrics have been captured under Aadhaar. For persons not enrolled under Aadhaar, they can also register themselves in the enrolment camps.

• If the household has not been covered during 2011 Census or if the individual has changed residence after 2011 Census, then they will have to fill up another form provided by government officials. These forms will be verified by the authorities and the individual’s biometric details will be captured during the next round of biometric camps.

• Two camps will be held in every local area. If an individual misses the first camp, intimation will be provided to attend the second camp. In case, the second camp is also missed, government will allow to enrol at camps that would be set up at sub-district level until a designated date. After the date, if the individual does not enrol under NPR, then his/her name will be struck off the list.

Objectives & Benefits of the massive exercise of NPR

• The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every


usual resident in the country and to help in better utilization and implementation of the benefits and services under the government schemes, improve planning and security in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.

• It will provide solution to multifarious problems facing the country that range from effective maintenance of law and order to efficient implantation of welfare schemes like MGNREGS, food security and nutrition campaigns etc.

• Updation of NPR will help in tracking criminal activities, and better planning and execution of government schemes. The NPR links biometric and demographic details of any ordinary resident, thus making it a comprehensive database of residents.

Connection between NPR & Aadhaar • Data collected in NPR will be sent to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

for de-duplication and issue of Aadhaar number. • So, the NPR will contain three elements of data:

1. Demographic Data, 2. Biometric Data, & 3. Aadhaar – UID Number

• A person who has register under Aadhaar still has to register under NPR. In NPR, certain processes like the collection of data at the doorstep of the individual by authorized persons, collection of biometrics after following a certain process, authentication through social audit, verification by authorities etc is mandatory.

Census - The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India under Ministry of Home Affairs. Conduct of census in India is guided by The Census Act, 1948. The NPR exercise is different from the census and is not linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). For the purpose of the NPR, an ordinary resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more.


Personal Notes

Dated: 22-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 3. ICC to probe ‘ War Crimes’ in Palestinian territories since 2014 (Page number 12) Syllabus GS II: International relations Theme International Criminal Court Highlights

Context:

• The International Criminal Court (ICC)’s chief prosecutor has said that she wanted to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories.

• She had launched a preliminary probe in January 2015 into allegations of war crimes

and crimes against humanity in Israel and the Palestinian territories, in the wake of the 2014 Gaza war.

• A full ICC investigation could possibly lead to charges against individuals.

• States cannot be charged by the ICC.

• Both US and Israel have opposedthis move of ICC.


Personal Notes

Dated: 22-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 4. Why is it taking so long to label fast food ? (Page 09)

Syllabus GS III: Food Processing Industry, Science & Technology GS Paper II: Regulatory Body; Laws and regulations

Theme Regulating packaged food contents

Highlights Context: • Recently, a study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has shown

that the total amount of salts, fat, trans-fat and carbohydrates in various fast foods such as pizzas, burgers, chips, instant noodles etc. is well-above the recommended dietary allowance (RDA).

• This has proved to be critical since the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had earlier come out with the draft guidelines to put threshold limits on salt and fat in the packaged foods. However, due to the opposition by the companies, these regulations have not yet been notified.

Understanding the Issue

• The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) refers to the daily ceiling on the amount of salt, fat, carbohydrate and trans-fat. The RDA is based on scientific consensus and has been agreed upon by expert bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN).

• As per the RDA, an adult should consume no more than 5g of salt, 60g of fat, 300g carbohydrate and 2.2 g of trans fat every day. Further, the RDA from breakfast, lunch and dinner should not be more than 25% and that from snacks should not be more than 10%. Thus, a snack should ideally have no more than 0.5g of salt and 6g of fat.

• The study carried out by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) revealed that the majority of packaged food and fast food items being sold in India contain "dangerously" high levels of fat and salt in them. The consumption of high levels of fat and salt causes obesity, hypertension, diabetes and heart-related ailments.

Present law on disclosing Nutritional Components and its flaws

• Currently, the labelling of the Pre-packaged Foods has been provided under the food safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. It mandates the companies to disclose energy (kilo calories), protein, carbohydrates, total fat, trans-fat and saturated fat contained per 100g or per millilitre or per serve.

• However, these regulations have not proved to be effective in promoting public awareness about the health hazards of the pre-packaged foods.

• For instance, the companies are not required to display these nutrients information on the front of the pack. The companies are also not under any obligation to compulsorily declare the salt content in a product. Further, the companies are required to distinguish veg and non-food products through Green and Brown Colour symbol enabling the consumers to make informed choices. However, the same has not been incorporated for the identification of food products with higher salt and fat contents.

Highlights of the Draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2019

• The proposed regulation suggests labelling the ingredients Front-of-Pack (FoP). The proposed FoP label has two parts: the first part declares the number of calories, saturated fat, trans fat, added sugar and sodium per serve; and the second part declares the per serve percentage contribution to RDA.

• For nutrients like saturated fat, trans-fat, added sugar and sodium, thresholds are


defined and if quantity of these exceeds the threshold the nutrient will be coded with colour red.

• It aims to make salt declaration mandatory on pre-packaged foods. Salt declaration will help people in taking informed choices, especially those who suffer from hypertension or are prone to it.

• Another positive change is the mandatory requirement of declaration of added sugar as part of nutrition labelling. Added sugar basically refers to sugar which gets added during processing to improve the taste and shelf life of the products. Under the existing regulations, sugar is to be declared without specifying how much of it is added and how much is naturally present. With the proposed declaration of added sugar, consumers will now be able to make informed choices.

• As per the existing law, a consumer is expected to be informed only about quantity of ingredients but not their contribution to the RDA. The proposed regulation will make declaration of per serve contribution to recommended dietary allowance (RDA) mandatory. With this a consumer will be informed about the quantity of the ingredient he or she will consume through a particular product as percentage of daily requirement of that ingredient. In other words, how much quota of sugar or fat will consumption of a particular quantity of biscuits exhaust.

Certain flaws in the Draft Regulations

• The draft regulations seeks to exempt certain categories of the pre-packaged foods from following Front-of-Pack (FoP) labelling. These categories include packages less than 100 square centimetre, beverages providing less than 80 kilo calorie per serve and those sold in reusable bottles. Hence, in order to avoid the red coding on their packages, the food companies may start promoting smaller packages.

• The proposed draft does not mention labelling of genetically modified (GM) food. It was, however, a part of the earlier draft. GM labelling should be mentioned as it falls in the purview of packaged food. The proposed law allows companies three years to adjust to the new laws.

Why the draft regulations are opposed by the Food Processing Industries? The Industry argues that norms are unscientific and that packaged food is made to cater to the “taste” of people. Further, the packaged industry argues that immense quantities of junk street food such as Samosa and Fried foods are consumed in the country with no check on their nutritional status and hence there is an inherent unfairness in regulating only the organised food processing sector. The Industry is also opposed to the “RED COLOUR” coding since it would dissuade the consumers from buying such products.


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