National Green Tribunal

National Green Tribunal

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has been established under the NGT Act, 2010 on 18th October, 2010 is headed by Chairperson L.S. Panta, a Retired Supreme Court Judge. The Tribunal has been established for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.


The Law Commission in its 186th Report recognised the inadequacies of the existing appellate authorities constituted under various environmental laws and reviewed their position with a view to bring uniformity in their constitution and the scope of their jurisdiction. The Law Commission undertook the study pursuant to the observations of the Supreme Court regarding the need for constitution of environmental courts. The Law Commission, in its said report, recommended for setting up of environmental courts in each State or for a group of States for exercising all powers of a civil court in its original jurisdiction and with appellate judicial powers against orders passed by the concerned authorities under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991.






The Law Commission’s Report was considered in the Ministry. In view of the growing environmental challenges, it was decided to set up a green tribunal as a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues.






National Green Tribunal Act, 2010



· The Tribunal has the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

· The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.

· The Tribunal’s dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy environmental justice and help reduce the burden of litigation in the higher Courts.

· The Tribunal is mandated to make an endeavor for disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same.

· Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at five places of sittings and will follow circuit procedure for making itself more accessible.

· The Tribunal has the original jurisdiction over all civil cases where a substantial question relating to environment, including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment is involved.

· The Tribunal shall hear disputes arising out of the implementation of environmental laws mentioned in Schedule I of the NGT Act, 2010.

· The Government is empowered to add any Act of Parliament having regard to objectives of environmental protection and conservation of natural resources.

· The Tribunal is competent to provide relief over and above as is admissible under the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991.

· In order to ensure access to justice, pollution control boards and local authorities have also been empowered under the NGT Act to file an application or appeal before the Tribunal on behalf of the affected person.

· Appeal against any order of the Tribunal shall lie to the Supreme Court.

· No civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any appeal in respect of any matter which the Tribunal is empowered to determine under its appellate jurisdiction.

· No injunction shall be granted by any civil court or other authority in respect of any order passed by the Tribunal.

· Consequent to enforcement of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995 and the National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997 have been repealed. The cases pending before the National Environment Appellate Authority at the time of establishment of the National Green Tribunal have been transferred to the National Green Tribunal.

· The five places of its sitting are at Delhi, Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai.

· Delhi has already been specified as ordinary place of sitting of NGT vide Government of India notification dated 5.5.2011.

· The Tribunal at Delhi has already commenced its hearings from 4th July, 2011.

· The applicants can file applications/petitions before the Tribunal at Delhi till other benches of the Tribunal become functional.

· The infrastructure at the 5 places of sitting of the Tribunal is being set up for making it fully functional.

· At present, the Tribunal consists of Chairperson and 3 Expert Members and 2 Judicial Members. The Expert Members are experts in physical and life sciences, engineering and law including persons having practical knowledge and administrative experience in the field of environmental policy and regulation. The Ministry is in the process of filling up of the remaining vacancies of Members in the Tribunal since NGT Act, 2010 provides for a minimum of 10 Expert Members and equal number of Judicial Members.






*Inputs from the Ministry of Environment & Forests

YOJANA - RTI

RTI IN BRIEF: THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT-2001

WHAT IS THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005?

The Government of India has enacted “The Right to Information Act, 2005” to provide for setting out the practical 

regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of Public Authorities in

order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of any public authority.

WHAT DOES RIGHT TO INFORMATION MEAN?

Right to information means the right to information accessible under the Act

which is held by or under the control of any Public Authority and includes the right

to inspect the work, document, records, taking notes, extracts or certified copies of

documents/records, certified samples of the materials and obtaining information

which is also stored in electronic form.

WHO CAN ASK FOR INFORMATION?

Any citizen can request for information by making an application in writing

or through electronic means in English/Hindi/Official language of the areas, in

which the application is being made together with the prescribed fees.

WHO WILL GIVE INFORMATION?

Every public Authority will designate Central Assistant Public Information

Officer (CAPIO) at various levels, and necessary number of Central Public

Information Officers (CPIO) in all the offices who will arrange for providing

necessary information to the public as permitted under the Act. The public

authority is also required to designate such officer who is senior in rank to the

CPIO as Appellate Authority, who will hear the appeal against the decisions/orders

passed by a CPIO. 

THE INFORMATION WHICH IS EXEMPTED FROM DISCLOSURE

As per sections 8 & 9 of the Act, 2005 certain categories of information are

exempt from disclosure to the citizens. The citizens/public may also refer to the

relative sections of the Act before submitting a request for information.

ROLE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICERS/APPELLATE AUTHORITIES

Central Assistant Public Information Officer (CAPIO)

The CAPIO will receive the application or the appeal under the Act and

forward the same immediately to the CPIO or the Appellate Authority as the case

may be along with the relevant information/documents.

Central Public Information Officer

The CPIO will deal/process the request for providing the information and

dispose off the same, either by providing the information or rejecting the request

within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of request. The Central Public

Information Officer may seek the assistance of any other officer as he or she

considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties.

Any officer, whose assistance has been sought, shall render all assistance to

the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the

case may be, seeking his or her assistance and for the purposes of any

contravention of the provisions of this Act, such other officer shall be treated as a

Central Public Information Officer.

Appellate Authority

The Appellate Authority will entertain and dispose off appeals against the

decision of Public Information Officers as required under the Act.

Any person, who does not receive a decision within the time specified under

the Act, may within 30 days from the expiry of such time or from the receipt of

such decision can prefer an appeal before the Appellate Authority.

National pention scheme

New pention sceme of india-NPS 

What is National Pension System?

nps

What is National Pension System?

The Central Government has introduced the Defined Contribution based Pension System known as the National Pension System (NPS) replacing the existing system of Defined Benefit Pension with effect 

from January 01, 2004.

NPS is applicable to all new employees of Central Government service, except Armed Forces, who have joined

 Government service on or after 1st January 2004.The person (employee/citizen) who joins the NPS will

 be known as ‘Subscriber’ in the NPS. Under the NPS, each Subscriber will open an account with Central 

Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) which will be identified through unique Permanent Retirement

 Account Number (PRAN).Under NPS, two types of account would be available to subscribers i.e., 

Tier I & Tier II; Tier I account - where a subscriber contributes his / her savings for retirement in to a

 non-withdrawable account, and a Tier II account - a voluntary savings account from which subscribers

 are free to withdraw his / her savings whenever he/she wishes. The facility of Tier II account was made

 available from December 1, 2009 to all citizens of India including Govt. employees mandatorily covered 

under NPS. An active Tier I account will be a pre requisite for opening of a Tier II.

What are the benefits of NPS?

1: It is transparent - NPS is transparent and cost effective system wherein the pension contributions are

 invested in the pension fund schemes and the employee will be able to know the value of the investment 

on day to day basis.

2: It is portable - Each employee is identified by a unique number and has a separate Permanent Retirement

 Account which is portable i.e., will remain same even if an employee gets transferred to any other office.

3: It is simple - All the subscriber has to do, is to open an account with his/her nodal office and get a PRAN.

4. It is regulated - NPS is regulated by PFRDA, with transparent investment norms & regular monitoring and

 performance review of fund managers by NPS Trust.

What is Swavalamban Yojana?

Swavalamban Yojana is a scheme announced by the Government of India under which for each NPS

 account opened in the year 2009-10 and 2010-11, Government will contribute Rs. 1000 per year for

 the next three years, subject to certain conditions such as eligibility criteria etc as laid down

 by Government of India.

RAJ GK- rajasthan hundred&twenty objectives

राजस्थान सामान्य ज्ञान प्रश्न Rajasthan GK in Hindi Questions


120 राजस्थान सामान्य ज्ञान प्रश्न  RAJASTHAN GK IN HINDI QUESTIONS
हम यहाँ राजस्थान सामान्य ज्ञान के 120 महत्वपूर्ण प्रश्न प्रस्तुत कर रहे है…शायद आपको पसंद आये ये राजस्थान सामान्य ज्ञान……यदि हां तो टिप्पणी जरूर लिखे….
A collection of selected Rajasthan GK in Hindi राजस्थान सामान्य ज्ञा नquestions and answers for RPSC exams like Teacher Recruitments, Patwari exam, RTET, BSTC, B.Ed. Entrance exams.

1.जीणमाता का मंदिर किस जिले में है?
उ- सीकर

2.पुष्टिमार्गीय वैष्णव संप्रदाय की प्रधान पीठ कहाँ है?
उ- नाथद्वारा

3.वल्लभ सम्प्रदाय के प्रवर्तक कौन थे?
उ. वल्लभाचार्य

4.जसनाथी संप्रदाय की प्रधान पीठ कहाँ है?
उ. कतियासर

RAJ GK-rajasthan hundred FACTS

राजस्थान ज्ञान - 100 तथ्य​

1. गुलाबी नगरी के रूप में प्रसिद्ध जयपुर राजस्थान राज्य की राजधानी है।

2. जयपुर् इसके भव्य किलों, महलों और सुंदर झीलों के लिए प्रसिद्ध है, जो विश्वभर से पर्यटकों को आकर्षित करते हैं।

3. सिटी पैलेस महाराजा जयसिंह (द्वितीय) द्वारा बनवाया गया था और मुगल औऱ राजस्थानी स्थापत्य का एक संयोजन है।

4. महराजा सवाई प्रताप सिंह ने हवामहल 1799 ईसा में बनवाया और वास्तुकार लाल चन्द उस्ता थे ।

5. आमेर् दुर्ग में महलों, विशाल कक्षों, स्तंभदार दर्शक-दीर्घाओं, बगीचों और मंदिरों सहित कई भवन-समूह हैं।

6. आमेर महल मुगल औऱ हिन्दू स्थापत्य का उत्कृष्ट उदाहरण हैं।

7. गवर्नमेण्ट सेन्ट्रल म्यूजियम 1876 में, जब प्रिंस ऑफ वेल्स ने भारत भ्रमण किया,सवाई रामसिंह द्वारा बनवाया गया था और 1886 में जनता के लिए खोला गया ।

books for civil service exam general studies

Ras,Ias,pcs,ssc
books for civil service exam general studies

साथियों, सिविल सेवा के लिए सामान्य अधययन पत्र की तैयारी के लिए महत्वपूर्ण पुस्तकों की सूची मैं यहाँ दे रहा हूँ। यह सूची प्राम्भिक एवं मुख्य परीक्षा के पाठ्यक्रम को आच्छादित करती है। हाँ, पर यह सूची बस सांकेतिक है, एक-एक विषय पर अभी ३-४ स्तरीय किताबें उपलब्ध हैं, आपको उस बुक को चुनना है जो आपको पढने और समझने में अच्छी लग रही हो। आपको यह ध्यान में रखना है की आपको सिलेबस तैयार करना है न की किताबे। किताबो से वे ही चैप्टर पढ़े जो सिलेबस में पढने हो।एक बार सिलेबस को समाप्त करने के बाद आप किसी भी नई किताब को देखकर यह पता कर सकते हैं की उसमे आपके कामका और कुछ है या नही। वैसे NCERT की ९,१०,११,१२ क्लास की किताबों को आप आंख मूंदकर सामान्य अधययन का आधार बनाने के लिए प्रयोग कर सकते हैं.



१.इतिहास हेतु

-आधुनिक भारत- यशपाल एवं ग्रोवर

-स्वाधीनता संग्राम-विपिन चंद्र

-आजादी के बाद का भारत- विपिन चंद्र

-प्रतियोगिता दर्पण -कला-संस्कृति अतिरिक्तांक

-प्राचीन एवं मध्यकालीन भारत- प.द.अतिरिक्तांक (सिर्फ़ प्रारंभिक परीक्षा हेतु)



२.भूगोल हेतु



-Atlas- Oxford Student's Atlas या हिमालय एटलस

-११ एवं १२ की NCERT की बुक या भारत का भूगोल-खुल्लर

-प्रतियोगिता दर्पण भूगोल अतिरिक्तांक प्राम्भिक परीक्षा के लिए



३.प्रशासन एवं संविधान

-भारतीय राज्यव्यवस्था-लक्ष्मीकांत

-हमारा संविधान- सुभाष कश्यप या बासु



४.अर्थशास्त्र एवं भारतीय अर्थव्यवस्था

-प्रतियोगिता दर्पण का भारतीय अर्थव्यवस्था अतिरिक्तांक

-भारतीय अर्थव्यवस्था- रुद्रदत्त व् सुन्दरम



५.विज्ञानं/ विज्ञानं एवं प्रोद्योगिकी



प्राम्भिक परीक्षा हेतु:

-NCERT ९,१० की बुक

-प्रतियोगिता दर्पण का सामान्य विज्ञानं अतिरिक्तांक



मुख्य परीक्षा हेतु :

-भारत में विज्ञानं एवं प्रोद्योगिकी- टाटा मैक्ग्राहिल या विवास पैनोरमा या सिविल सर्विसेस क्रोनिकल प्रकाशन की

-कोई एक-विज्ञानं प्रगति पत्रिका के नवीनतम साल-दोसाल के अंक-कंप्यूटर पर संक्षिप्त टिप्पणी युक्त कोई बुक



६.अंतर्राष्ट्रीय सम्बन्ध / भारत के विदेश सम्बन्ध

-२१वी शताब्दी में अंतर्राष्ट्रीय सम्बन्ध -पुष्पेश पन्त

-अंतर्राष्ट्रीय संगठन- पुष्पेश पन्त

-सिविल सेवा हेतु समर्पित पत्रिकाओं के अंतर्राष्ट्रीय सम्बन्ध / भारत के विदेश सम्बन्ध विशेषांक



७.गणित एवं तर्कशक्ति

-प्रतियोगिया दर्पण अतिरिक्तांक 



८.सांख्यिकी

-प्राम्भिक सांख्यिकी एवं भारतीय आर्थिक विकास -टी.आर.जैन एवं वि.के.ओहरी।या NCERT की सांख्यिकी की ११ की बुक 

STRIVING FOR A TOBACCO FREE INDIA

STRIVING FOR A TOBACCO FREE INDIA

Tobacco is evidently the most common preventable cause of morbidity and death in India. Its consumption has increased over the years. Why so? We need to look at the answer to address the problem. The estimates from the latest round of NFHS-3, 2006-07 indicate an increasing prevalence of tobacco consumption in India, with 57% males and 10.9% females reportedly consuming tobacco in some forms or the other.

The findings of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), 2006 are equally alarming.

 Approx. 14% children in the age group of 13-15 years are consuming tobacco in some form. The majority consume chewing tobacco.
 The age of initiation into tobacco has also come down.
 15% of the ‘never-smoker’ are likely to start initiate smoking in the next year.
 40% of them are exposed to second hand smoke in public places.
 74% of the students are in favour of banning smoking in public places.

According to another study published in ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ in Febuary 2008 smoking will cause one million deaths every year in India during the 2010’s. The WHO-Empower Report of 2007 estimates that tobacco kills a third to half of all people who use it, on an average 15 years prematurely. Today tobacco use causes 1 in 10 deaths among adults worldwide - more that five million people a year. By 2030, unless urgent action is taken, tobacco’s annual death toll will rise to more than 8 million.

Indian Genome Variation Consortium Project

Indian Genome Variation Consortium Project:

    Genetic Map of India

by -Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR & Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research
Dr Mitali Mukherjee, Scientist, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi
Dr Samam Habib, Scientist, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow

Contemporary India comprising nearly 1/6th of the world population is a huge melting pot of human diversity brought about by wave upon wave of human migrations followed by admixtures with the existing populations. It is organized into various ethnic, religious, caste groups and isolated tribal populations. There are over 4693 communities, 325 functioning languages and 25 scripts.

Indian Genome Variation Project completed recently, was aimed at studying diversity of 1000 biomedically important and pharmaco-genetically relevant genes in populations representing the genetic spectrum of India. A careful effort was first made to select representative populations of diverse linguistic, ethnic origins from all the major geographical zones of the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Gujarat to Assam. This ambitious project is also unprecedented in terms of the number of participants—over half a dozen Institutes and over 150 CSIR scientists contributed to it.

North East : Attaining Self Sufficiency through Horticulture Mission

North East : 

Attaining Self Sufficiency through Horticulture Mission

by Khagendramani Pradhan,*Journalist

The North-East is very rich in horticulture and floriculture. There is also a rich variety of medicinal plants which are grown here. With funds from the Central Government Horticulture Mission, State like Mizoram, Sikkim and Meghalaya have established Centres of Excellence in Horticulture which have started spreading the idea of fruit and vegetable cultivation among farmers successfully.

‘Converting weakness into strength and success’ is the motto through which the Technology Mission on Horticulture is vying to attain self sufficiency in seasonal and off season vegetables. By providing technical inputs, high yielding seeds and training to progressive farmers, the Department of Horticulture, Government of Sikkim has set the ball rolling for the farmers willing to undertake production of horticulture produce. This is a paradigm shift from the traditional method of farming both for personal economic sustenance and reducing dependency on other states.

Within a span of just one year, after the department took a serious approach, the result has been surplus production, beyond the scale generated by local market that it now has decided to cross the border for marketing.

Ensuring Nutritional Support to Children

Ensuring Nutritional Support to Children

by N. C. Joshi, *Assistant Director (M & C), PIB, New Delhi

India is the home to the largest child population in the world. “The development of children is the first priority on the Government’s development agenda, not because they are the most vulnerable, but because they are our supreme assets and also the future human resources of the country”. As per 2001 census, India has around 157.86 million children, constituting 15.42% of India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) — one of the world’s largest programmes for early childhood development. ICDS is the foremost symbol of India’s commitment to her children. It is India’s response to the challenge of providing pre-school education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality, on the other.
The scheme has covered many milestones ever since it was launched in October, 1975. Today, it is globally recognized as one of the most unique community based outreach programmes catering to the health and nutrition needs of children under six, their mothers, adolescent girls, pregnant women, nursing mothers and all women who are in the age group of 15-45 years especially from vulnerable and remote areas.

Objectives

An integrated package of services in a convergent manner are provided by the Scheme for the holistic development of the child. Basically it aims at laying the foundation for proper psychological development of the child; improve nutritional & health status of children between 0-6 years; reduce incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts; enhance the capability of the mother and family to look after the health, nutritional and development needs of the child and achieve effective coordination of policy and implementation among various departments to promote child development.

Empowering the Adolescent Girls

Empowering the Adolescent Girls

by N.C.Joshi, Assistant Director(M & C), PIB, Delhi

The approach for holistic child development remains unaddressed if adolescent girls are excluded from the developmental programmes. Adolescence is a crucial phase between childhood and womanhood. This intermediary stage is the most eventful for mental, emotional and psychological well being. Various surveys clearly reveal that the health, nutrition, education and social status of adolescent girls are at sub optimal level and the adolescent girls do not have adequate access to vital health and nutrition information or services.
The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), with its opportunities for early childhood development, seeks to reduce both socio-economic and gender inequities. To better address concerns for women and the girl child, it was necessary to design interventions for adolescent girls which addressed their needs of self development, nutrition and health status, literacy and numerical skill, vocational skills etc.
The special intervention Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY0 and Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) are being implemented for adolescent girls, using the ICDS infrastructure. These interventions focus on school dropouts, girls in the age group of 11-18 years, to meet their needs of self-development, nutrition, health, education, literacy and recreational skill formation.

Providing due share to the Handicapped

Providing due share to the Handicapped

by M. I. Habibullah (Freelance Writer from Tamil Nadu)

Realising the problems of the handicapped, the Government has included Handicapped Welfare in its Five Year Pans and from one Pan to another, this area has been given an enhanced outlay. Moreover, the Article 41 & 46 of the Constitution of India also insists on the “all-round betterment” of the handicapped community. The handicapped are classified into five categories:- (1) Visually handicapped (2) Orthopaedically handicapped (3) Hearing handicapped (4) Mentally retarded and (5) Leprosy-cured.
Total population of all categories of the handicapped in our country is quiet large and they take any task as a “Challenge” and that is why the Government began to refer to them as “Physically Challenged Persons”.

UN Convention

Towards empowering the disabled, India signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on 30th March, 2007, the day it opened for signature. India was also among the first countries to ratify it on 1st October, 2007. The Convention has come into force from 3rd May, 2008.
The purpose of the Convention is “to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedom by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity”. Article 3 of the Convention enumerates the eight guiding principles and Article 4 lays down the General Obligations.

YOJANA-EGS UNDER MNREGA

EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME IS A LIFELINE FOR THE VULNERABLE SECTIONS

The National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme, one of the flagship programmes of the UPA government, has become operational throughout the country from First of April 2008.

The NREG Act, notified on 7th September 2005, aims at better livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment, in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

The choice of works suggested in the Act addresses causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion, so that the process of employment is maintained on a sustainable basis. This was the first time a country had passed a law of this nature and scale, guaranteeing livelihood security to rural households. Parliament enacted it expressing the consensus of the states to use fiscal and legal instruments to address the challenges of unemployment and poverty.

INDIA - Towards Conservation of Flora and Fauna

INDIA - Towards Conservation of Flora and Fauna

The Wildlife Division, Forest Protection Division, Survey & Utilisation Division and National Afforestation Division protects, conserves and surveys the natural resources of the country including flora, fauna, forests and wildlife, afforestation and regeneration of degraded areas and ensuring the welfare of animals with sustainable development and enhancement of human wellbeing.

National Tiger Conservation Authority

Several milestone initiatives have been taken by the Government for protection of wildlife, particularly, tiger conservation and conservation of flora and fauna at large. Some of the important ones are-implementing the urgent recommendations of the Tiger Task Force to strengthen tiger conservation, amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, to provide a separate chapter for tiger conservation, constitution of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, strengthening field protection by providing central assistance for deployment of ex-army personnel and local workforce, declaration of eight new tiger reserves, revision of Project Tiger Guidelines which interalia include enhancement of village relocation package.

For the first time all India tiger estimation and assessment of habitat status was done using a refined methodology, notification / identification of 31013.379. sq. km. of core / critical tiger habitat, MoU with States for better implementation of Project Tiger Scheme, bilateral arrangements with neighboring tiger range countries for fostering tiger conservation, taking initiatives in the CITES conference for restricting captive breeding of tigers in other countries to safeguard wild tiger in India, reintroduction of tigers in Sariska and taking steps for creating the Special Tiger Protection Force.

National Wildlife Crime Control Bureau

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau with its five regional offices at New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jabalpur, Chennai and three sub-regional offices at Guwahati, Cochin and Amritsar set up by the Ministry in June, 2007 has been strengthened and made operational. The Bureau is a multidisciplinary agency consisting of officials from forests, police and revenue (customs/excise). The main objective of the Bureau is to compliment the efforts of existing state machineries/enforcement agencies in dealing with wildlife related crimes having national and international ramifications.

Panchayati Raj - power to the grassroots

Panchayati Raj - power to the grassroots

Village communities in the Indian sub-continent have been self-governing over the centuries. The earlier councils or assemblies called Sabhas had a position of considerable authority and slowly they assumed the form of the Panchayats. These Panchayats became the pivot of administration and the principal forum for the dispensation of justice and resolution of local disputes. The British Colonial Administration referred to these village communities as “little republics”. The Indian constitution adopted w.e.f. 26th January 1950 included Article 40 that read : “The state shall take steps to organize village Panchayats and endow them with such power and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government”.

In 1957, a historic breakthrough in establishing Panchayati Raj came about through the report of the Team for the Study of Community Development Projects and National Extension Service headed by Shri Balwantrai Mehta which recommended that “public participation in community works should be organized through statutory representative bodies”. The Team was of the view that without an agency at the village level that could represent the entire community, assume responsibility and provide the necessary leadership for implementing development progammes, real progress in rural development could not come about. Further discourse on this matter saw the term “Panchayati Raj” gaining currency as a process of governance organically linking the will of the people from the Gram Sabha to the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Nehru inaugurated Panchayati Raj in Rajasthan on 2nd October, 1959 at Nagaur.

Universalizing Secondary Education

Universalizing Secondary Education

Government’s initiatives during the 12th Five Year Plan

Secondary Education occupies a crucial stage in the educational hierarchy as it prepares the students for higher education and also to face the challenges of life at large. Besides moulding the personality traits, this stage of education also enhances individual level of productivity.

The remarkable growth of enrolment in elementary education and improvement in retention rate over the past few years, particularly among more disadvantageous sections of society, have dramatically shifted the focus to the Secondary Education sector in the country.

Increased Demand For Secondary And Higher Education

While pressure on Secondary Education is already being felt due to the success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Universalisation of Elementary Education ), India’s impressive and sustained economic growth has worked as an impetus for increased demand for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education.
Added to this is the increased awareness about the role of Secondary Education, in particular for the girl child, in reinforcing positive social outcomes. There is a growing realization of the desirability to universalize access to secondary education leading to greater opportunity for participation to all. In other words, the challenge today is how to drastically improve the reach and quality of Secondary Education.

YOJANA-Janani Suraksha Yojana

Janani Suraksha Yojana

Ensuring Safe Motherhood Through JSY

Maternal mortality and infant mortality are among the key health indicators of any civilized society. They are the touchstone for a public health delivery system. Among the various tools of achieving the goal of low maternal mortality and infant mortality, the most important is ensuring an institutional i.e. a medically supervised environment at the time of childbirth. The Government has made it crucial part of its health delivery effort.

Under the overall umbrella of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) the Reproductive and Child Health programme Phase II (RCH-II) was launched in the year 2005. RCH-II aims to improve access for rural people, especially from the under privileged section to equitable, affordable, accountable and effective primary health care. The corner stone of this ambitious programme has been the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY).

JSY is a cash benefit scheme under RCH-II to promote institutional delivery with the special focus on below poverty line and SC/ST pregnant women. Promoting Institutional Delivery Janani Suraksha Yojana is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission was launched on 12th April 2005 to promote institutional delivery among the poor pregnant women. The Yojana is being implemented in all States and Union Territories. JSY is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme.

YOJANA-ICDS

Integrated Child Development Service

ICDS taking care of nutritional needs of children
by V. Mohan Rao,Freelance Journalist

The Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) Scheme providing for supplementary nutrition, immunization and pre-school education to the children is a popular flagship programme of the government. It is one of the world’s largest programs providing for an integrated package of services for the holistic development of the child. As per 2001 Census, there are around 160 million children, constituting 15.42 per cent of the scheme in the country.

The scheme gets a further boost with the Ministry of Women and Child Development deciding to expand and universalize it by increasing the number of Anganwadis to 14 lakhs from the existing 10 lakhs as per the commitment to the National Common Minimum Programme and increasing weightage cost of supplementary nutrition from Rs. 2 to Rs. 4 per child and in the case of severely malnourished children to Rs. 6 per child. Nutritional support and referral medical services are available to pregnant and lactating mothers and adolescent girls also at Anganwadis.

In order to reduce malnutrition among children and the pregnant and lactating mother, the government provides supplementary nutrition through Angawnwadis under the scheme. The government provided around Rs. 3338 crore during 2007-08 to the states. The allocation for the purpose has been increased to Rs.5984.95 crore in the current financial year.

Under the scheme, innovative methods are used to provide pre-school education to the children at Anganwadis. The children feel more comfortable as generally they are accompanied by their mothers and Anganwadi workers from neighbourbood. India is the home to the largest child population in the world. ICDS is the foremost symbol of India’s commitment to its children and it is the response to the challenge of providing pre-school education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality, on the other. It is an inter-sectoral programme, which seeks to directly reach out to children, below six years, especially from vulnerable and remote areas.

YOJANA-JNNURM

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

JNNURM - an initiative with a vision
by Manisha Jain, Freelance Journalist

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), aims to convert cities into engines of economic growth, to encourage urban fast-track integrated development.

JNNURM
The JNNURM was launched with a lot of fanfare by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 3rd December, 2005. A total of 343 projects were sanctioned. It envisages an investment of more than Rs 1,00,000 crore with committed Central Government share of Rs 50,000 crore.

The State Governments and the Urban Local Bodies will contribute Rs 50,000 crore. The Mission is to be implemented in a time-frame of seven years (2005-2011). The objective is to ensure integrated development of urban infrastructure and services, secure effective linkages between asset creation and management and to ensure adequate investment of funds to address deficiencies in the urban infrastructure. It lays particular emphasis on providing basic services to the urban poor.

JNNURM has two components: Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) for the bigger cities and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for small and medium towns and aims to encourage reforms and to fast track planned development of identified cities with a focus on urban infrastructure. The progress of municipal reforms is an important component of the mission which enables a city to claim additional funds under this scheme. As per the 2001 population census, 285.35 million people reside in urban areas. It is about 28 per cent of the total population of the country.

The urban population has grown five times in the post-independence era. It has also given rise to an increase in the number of urban poor. As per the 2001 estimate, the slum population is estimated to be 61.8 million. Slum dwellers cause considerable pressure on the urban basic services and infrastructure. In order to cope with the massive problems that have emerged as a result of rapid urban growth, it has become imperative to draw up a coherent urbanization policy/strategy to implement projects in select cities on a mission mode.

In its third year since inception, the JNNURM is now progressing at an even pace. Under Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) which focuses on 63 mission cities , 324 projects have been sanctioned covering 54 cities in 26 states and union territories in the country. The cost of these projects is estimated to be Rs 30,135.23 crore. The JNNURM came in for appreciation from the then Finance Minister Shri P Chidambaram, who proposed to increase the allocation of the mission from Rs 5,482 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 6,866 crore for 2008-09. The mission is seen as the main vehicle for improving urban infrastructure and has also succeeded in bringing about reforms in urban governance and urban related laws.

Water Resources Development in the Country

Water Resources Development in the Country

by Sanjay Kumar,Media & Communication Officer, PIB, New Delhi

Water on the earth is moving through the hydrological cycle. The utilization of water for most of the users - human, animal or plant involves movement of water. The dynamic and renewable nature of the water resources and the recurrent need for its utilization requires water resources be measured in terms of its flow rates. What is effectively available for consumption and other uses is a small proportion of the quantity available in rivers, lakes and ground water. The crisis about water resources development and management arises, because most of the water is not available for use and secondly it is characterized by its highly uneven spatial distribution. Accordingly, the importance of water has been recognized and greater emphasis is being laid on its economic use and better management.

Global and Indian Water Scenario

70 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered with water and many have an image of the world as a blue planet. The reality, however, is that 97 percent of the total water on earth of about 1400 Billion Cubic Meter (BCM) is saline and only 3 percent is available as fresh water. About 77 percent of this fresh water is locked up in glaciers and permanent snow and 11 percent is considered to occur at depths exceeding 800 m below the ground, which cannot be extracted economically with the technology available today. About 11 percent of the resources are available as extractable ground water within 800 m depth and about 1 percent is available as surface water in lakes and rivers. Out of the 113,000 bcm of rain and snow received on the earth, evaporation losses account for about 72,000 bcm, leaving a balance of about 41,000 bcm, out of which about 9000-14000 bcm is considered utilisable.

YOJANA-SABLA

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (SABLA)

By - Smt. Anita Patnaik, Freelance Writer

Empowerment of adolescent girls is one of the top most priorities of the Government. The Cabinet approval for the expansion of the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) is another move in this direction. The scheme is being implemented through Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) projects and Anganwadi Centers in 200 select districts across the country for empowering adolescent girls in the age group of 11 to 18. The Cabinet approval followed the recommendation of a Group of Ministers (GoM) aiming at enhancing their nutritional and economic status. Under the scheme, adolescent girls will be provided Take Home Ration. There is also a provision in the scheme that if any state insists on providing hot cooked meal, standards should be set for the same. In addition, the Women and Child Development Ministry will explore feasibility for implementing Conditional Cash Transfer scheme as an alternative of adolescent girls in 100 more districts. Around 92 lakh to 1.15 crore adolescent girls of 11 to 18 years per annum are expected to be covered under the scheme during the Eleventh Plan.

Salient Features

50:50 per cent sharing between the Centre and the States of nutrition provision (600 calories and 18 to 29 gram of protein) at the rate of Rs.5 per beneficiary per day for 300 days a year for 11 to 14 years out of school girls and all girls in the age of 15 to 18 years. A provision of Rs.3.8 lakh per ICDS project per annum has been made for various components of the scheme like training kit at each Angawadi center, National Health Education, Life Skill Education, purchase of Iron Folic Acid Tablet for mothers. Continuation of Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) in remaining districts from funds of SABLA and utilization of savings available under KSY and RGSEAG-SABLA in 200 districts are the other salient features of the Scheme.

Action on Socio-Economic and Religious Differentials

Action on Socio-Economic and Religious Differentials

The Government has been taking a number of steps as a follow-up action on the 

recommendations of theSacharCommittee. This follow-up action is basically in tune with

 the basic tenet of the Government to improve the socio-economic conditions of the

 minority communities through affirmative action and inclusive development so that every 

citizen has equal opportunity to participate actively in building a vibrant nation. 

A large number of Ministries/Departments, including the Ministry of Minority Affaris, 

are involved in this effort. The status of implementation of the decisions taken by the

 Government on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee are:

YOJANA-SEVOTTAM

Sevottam for Ensuring Excellence in Services

by Ravinder Singh, Director ( M & C), Press Information Bureau, New Delhi.

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of 

Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has taken steps to put in place Sevottam Compliant 

Citizen’s Charter and Grievance Redress Mechanism. TheSevottam framework was designed by

 DARPG in 2006 as an assessment improvement framework for public service delivery.

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in its 12th Report “Citizen Centric 

Administration – The Heart of Governance” has recommended that Union and State Governments

 should make the Seven Step Model outlined in para 4.9 mandatory for all organizations having

 public interface which was accepted by the Government of India. The ARC had made the 

recommendations after studying the Sevottam model which the Commission felt was a step

 in the right direction.

What is Sevottam

Sevottam literally is the combination of Hindi words ‘SEWA + UTTAM’, meaning uttam sewa 

i.e. excellence in services. TheSevottam model was developed with expert support after studying

 international best practices, stake-holder consultations and field validity. It has basically three

 modules - Citizen Charter, Public Grievance Redress Mechanism and Service Delivery

 Capability. Each of the modules is further divided into three criteria and eleven elements each.

 The framework helps Government Departments towards improving their public service delivery.

Sevottam as PIOLOT PROJECT

Initially, Sevottam framework was undertaken from April 2009 to June 2010 in ten Departments of 

the Government having large public interface. These are, Department of Post, 

CBEC, CBDT, Railways, Passport office, Pensions, Food Processing,

 Corporate Affairs, Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools and EPFO. All these organizations have 

declared standards and implemented in pilot locations. The Project is now being extended

 to 62 ministries of the Government.

India Marching towards Global knowledge hub

By - V. Mohan Rao, Freelance Journalist 

India is gradually marching ahead to become a knowledge hub in the world thanks to various 

measures taken by the Government through its Literacy Mission and reforms in the education sector.

 Realizing that creation of new knowledge and its dissemination are critical to the progress and 

development of the society, the government has been taking effective steps like strengthening of

 existing higher educational institutions as well as creation of new knowledge based intuitions, 

striving quality and excellence in research both in public sphere as well as by not-for-profit private

 initiative. Putting its Literacy Mission high on agenda, the Government has initiated a number of

 measures including the adoption of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, to 

achieve higher literacy rate in the country. Constant efforts are also made to recasting of the National

 Literacy Mission to focus on literacy of women, reduction in the drop out rate of children at school

 levels and introduction of public private participation in the school education.

RIGHT TO EDUCATION (RTE) ACT, 2009.

The Act has come into force with effect from 1st of April 2010. It has been enacted to provide free

and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. The provisions of the

 Act provide that with a view to prepare children above the age of three years for elementary

 education and to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete

 the age of six years. Under the Integrated Child Development Service Scheme (ICDSS), over

 3.5 crore children between the age group of 3 to 6 years are being provided pre-school education

 in the Anganwadi Centres.

SAAKSHAR BHARAT

Saakshar Bharat, a new variant of the National Literacy Mission has been launched in

 September 2009. The Mission was rolled out in 167 districts targeting over 30 million adults

 predominantly belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and other disadvantaged

 groups. It aims to provide literacy, basic education, skill development and continuing education to

 adults, especially women in rural areas. During 11th Five Year Plan, Saakshar Bharat aims to impart

 literacy to 70 million non-literate adults at an estimated cost of Rs.5,257 crore. It has been launched

 primarily to bridge the gender gap with the aim of achieving 80 per cent literacy at the end of 11th

 Plan. Under Adult Literacy programme, a total 597 districts across the country have been covered

 so far.

SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SSA)

Physiography of Water

Physiography of Water

By - Sanjay Kumar, Media & Communication Officer , PIB, New Delhi

India is a land of many rivers and mountains. Its geographical area of about 329 MHa is criss-crossed by a large number of small and big rivers, some of them figuring amongst the mighty rivers of the world. The rivers and mountains have a greater significance in the history of Indian cultural development, religious and spiritual life. It may not be an exaggeration to say that the rivers are the heart and soul of Indian life.
India is a union of States with a federal set up. Politically, the country is divided into 28 States and 7 Union Territories. A major part of India’s population of 1,027,015,247 (2001 census) is rural and agriculturally oriented for whom the rivers are the source of their prosperity.

Physiography

Physiographically, India may be divided into seven well defined regions. These are:

 The Northern Mountains, comprising the mighty Himalayan ranges
 The Great Plains traversed by the Indus and Ganga Brahmaputra river systems. As much as one third of this lies in the arid zone of western Rajasthan. The remaining area is mostly fertile plains;

 The Central Highlands, consisting of a wide belt of hills running east-west starting from Aravalli ranges in the west and terminating in a steep escarpment in the east. The area lies between the Great Plains and the Deccan Plateau;
 The Peninsular Plateaus comprising the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, North Deccan Plateau, South Deccan Plateau and Eastern Plateau;
 The East Coast, a belt of land of about 100-130 km wide, bordering the Bay of Bengal land lying to the east of the Eastern Ghats;
 The West Coast, a narrow belt of land of about 10-25 km wide, bordering the Arabian Sea and lying to the west of the Western Ghats, and;
 The islands, comprising the coral islands of Lakshadeep in Arabian Sea and Andaman and Nicobar Islands of the Bay of Bengal.

Ozone Layer – Preserving Life on the Planet

by - Kalpana Palkhiwala, Deputy Director(M & C), PIB, New Delhi

The entire world will celebrate 21st World Ozone Day on 16th of this month. Theme for the year 2008 is “Montreal Protocol - Global partnership for global benefits". Nations considered the urgent need to preserve the ozone layer, which filters sunlight and prevents the adverse effects of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface, thereby preserving life on the planet.
The issue of ozone depletion was first discussed by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1976.

A meeting of experts on the ozone layer was convened in 1977, after which UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) set up the Coordinating Committee of the Ozone Layer (CCOL) to periodically assess ozone depletion. Intergovernmental negotiations for an international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances started in 1981 and concluded with the adoption of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer in March 1985. The 1985 Vienna Convention encouraged intergovernmental cooperation on research, systematic observation of the ozone layer, monitoring of CFC production and the exchange of information.

Holistic Development of Urban India

Holistic Development of Urban India

*Inputs from the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation is the apex authority of the 

Government at the national level for formulation of housing policy and programmes

 relating thereto, review of the implementation of the plan schemes, collection and 

dissemination of data on housing, building materials/techniques and for adopting

 general measures for reduction of building costs. In addition, it is entrusted with

 implementation of the specific programmes of urban employment and urban

 poverty alleviation.

NUHHP

To address the problem of housing shortage along with deficiencies in basic services and in 

consonance with the changing policy environment, this Ministry has announced the National

 Urban Housing and Habitat Policy (NUHHP), 2007, for promoting sustainable development 

of habitat in the country with a view to ensuring 

equitable supply of land shelter and services at affordable prices to all sections of the society. 

Involvement of multiple stakeholders namely- private sector, co-operative sector, industrial 

sector for labour housing and the services, institutional sector for employee housing has been

 emphasized in the NUHHP.

JNNURM

For holistic slum development and basic infrastructure facilities to the slum dweller Jawaharlal

 Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is being implemented to assist cities and

 towns in taking up housing and infrastructural facilities for the urban poor in 63 cities in the 

country under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) Programme. Under BSUP 274 

Detailed Projects Reports on improvement/development/relocation of slums to improve the 

housing and infrastructure conditions of urban poor from 61 Mission Cities of 30 States have

 so far been approved with a total project cost of Rs. 17,421.11 crore with a Central Share of

 Rs. 8761.03 crore covering 7,87,111 Dwelling Units and other basic civic amenities to the

 Urban Poor.

IHSDP

Further, to address the needs of shelter and basic amenities in the non-Mission cities and for 

taking up housing and slum upgradation programmes,