GENERAL STUDIES- PAPER I
Posted by B.A,Nagesh MA KAS Retd
CURRENT EVENTS OF NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL AND STATE IMPORTANCE.
1.ANSWER IN 200 TO 250 WORDS.
A) Describe the functions of the National Ganga river basin authority.(NGRBA)
The NGRBA has been constituted by the Govt. of India on 20.2.2009 for a comprehensive management of the river Ganges. The authority has fixed a deadline of 2020 by which no untreated municipal sewage or industrial effluents will be discharged into the river Ganges. The action plan includes the 5 basin states of Bihar, Jharkand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand and West Bengal.
The authority seeks to achieve its objectives by establishing sewer networks, waste=water treatment. Industrial pollution control and solid waste management.
The NGRBA seeks to tackle the issue of untreated sewage of 2900 million litres of waste from tanneries, distilleries, paper mills and sugar mills.
The Govt. of India has involved the 7 IITs for preparing a comprehensive river basin management olan. This is expected to be enabled through several phases of funding and knowledge support. The scheme is being funded by the World bank.
The two components of the scheme are (1) establishing and operationalising authorities at the Central and state level-basin states- (2) reducing pollutants into the river.
The NGRBA will adopt a river-basin approach and has been given a multi-sector mandate to address both water quantity and quality aspects.
2.ANSWER IN 100-150 WORDS.
A) What is Targetted PDS and how is food security assured through PDS?
The PDS has been revamped as Targetted PDS in 1997 to ensure that the items supplied under the PDS reach the poorer sections of society. The Govt. of India has identified 31.29 lakh BPL families. The Govt. of Karnataka has taken up a fresh survey of BPL families as it was discovered that the identified BPL families are more than what has been estimated by the Planning commission.
Food security through the Public distribution system for the BPL families is being ensured by the Antyodaya Anna yojana which covers those sections that cannot afford two meals a day, poor landless labourers, widows and terminally ill. 29kgs of rice at Rs.3 per kg and 6kgs wheat at Rs.2.50 per kg. The beneficiaries are identified by the gram sabha.
Procurement of foodgrains to the state is the responsibility of the Centre while distribution of foodgrains through the PDS is the responsibility of the State Govt. Rice, wheat, sugar and kerosene are the items supplied under PDS.
3.ANSWER IN 50-55 WORDS.
A) Describe the functions of the Commissioner for Linguistic minorities.
Linguistic minorities are those sections of the community whose mother tongue is different from the official language of the State. Thus people who speak Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Konkani are linguistic minorities in Karnataka.
Art. 350B of the Constitution provides for a Special officer for Linguistic minorities to investigate into all matters relating to constitutional safeguards for the Linguistic minorities. The constitutional safeguards for the linguistic minorities are Art- 29 ( right to conserve language) Art.30 (right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions) Art.347( special provisions- adoption of an additional official language, in the State/district/taluk where the members of a linguistic minority are more) Art.350- submitting representations in the language of their choice; Art.350A- instruction in mother tongue at the primary level; translation of rules and regulations into minority languages and provision for textbooks and teachers for linguisitic minorities.
The Commissioner submits a annual report to the President on the action taken and his report is circulated to all State Govt. for compliance.There is a institutional mechanism for implementation of safeguards at the Zonal/state and district levels.