Current Affairs 28 August 2020 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 28 August 2020 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are : 

1. New Routes Approved UDAN 4.0
2. Sub Categories in SC-ST
3. World Urdu Conference 2020
4. Amnesty India on rights violation
5. Great Andaman tribe test positive

New Routes Approved UDAN 4.0

Why in News ?

78 new routes under the 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)- UdeDesh Ka AamNagrik (UDAN) have been approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

New Routes

• The North Eastern Region, Hilly States and Islands have been given priority.
• This is a special boost to the connectivity in North East.
• Agatti, Kavaratti and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have also been connected by the new routes.
• The airports that had already been developed by AAI are given higher priority for the award of VGF(Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme.
• Besides UDAN 4 also incorporated the service of of helicopter and seaplanes.

UDAN

• Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)- UdeDesh Ka AamNagrik
• It was launched under Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016. 
• It aims to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses.
• 766 Routes Sanctioned so far under the Scheme.
• During UDAN 1.0, five airline companies were awarded 128 routes to 70 airports.
• In 2018 announced 73 underserved and unserved airports, helipads were introduced.
• During the 3rd Phase UDAN 3 tourist places were included to boost tourism promotion, included seaplanes and North East region.

Source : PIB

Topic 

GS III : Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc

Sub Categories in SC-ST

Why in News ?

States do not have the power to further sub-classify the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, for grant of quotas in jobs and admissions to educational institutions, needs to be revisited. State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh for Sub Categories in SC-ST. 

Background

Punjab’s law applies a creamy layer for SCs, STs in reverse by giving preference to Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs. This case has now led to reopening the debate on sub-categorisation of scheduled castes.

Court Rulings

• The states obligation is eradicate inequalities of the deprived sections.
• Reservation creates inequalities within the reserved castes itself State make sub-classification and adopting a distributive justice method so that State resource does not concentrate in few hands and equal justice to all is provided.
• Redistribution and reallocation of the resources and opportunities is the purpose of the states. 
• Court disagree with the 2004 judgement of the Supreme Court in EV Chinnaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh.
• There are unequal within the list of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and socially and educationally backward classes.
• Various reports indicate that Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes do not constitute a homogeneous group.
• The aspiration of equal treatment of the lowest strata, to whom the fruits of the reservation have not effectively reached, remains a dream.
• State can also make sub classification when providing reservation to all Scheduled Castes that would conform with the spirit of Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution providing reservation.

2004 verdict of a constitution bench in the E V Chinnaiah case needs to be reconsidered and, therefore, the matter be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate direction.

EV Chinnaiah v. State of Andhra Pradesh

• Supreme Court held that the Scheduled Castes form one homogeneous group
• Therefore any inter-se classification within the Scheduled Castes would be a violation of Article 14.
• Court was dealing with a law passed by the Andhra Pradesh government based on the report of the Justice Ramachandra Raju Commission
• Commission recommended sub-dividing the Scheduled Castes into four groups and apportioning reservations separately for each. 

• Supreme Court in Chinnaiah ruled that the Indra Sawhney judgement applied only to OBCs and not to the Scheduled Castes.
• Court strike down the law on the premise that the declaration of a caste as a Scheduled Caste in the presidential list issued under Article 341.
• The Constitution treats all Schedule Castes as a single homogeneous group.

Presidential List under Article 341 and SC

Details of Article 341

• those castes notified by the President are called SCs and STs.
• A caste notified as SC in one state may not be a SC in another state.
• These vary from state to state to prevent disputes as to whether a particular caste is accorded reservation or not.

There were 1,263 SCs in the country in 2018-19 based on the report of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 

• E V Chinnaiah v State of Andhra Pradesh and Others, the Supreme Court ruled that only the President has the power to notify the inclusion or exclusion of a caste as a Scheduled Caste.

Sub-categorisation of SCs

Based on various studies  and report there are certain groups still not properly benefited with reservation. Various sates thus identified the most deprived under those who get the reservation.

• Bihar set up the Mahadalit Commission for identifying the castes within SCs that were left behind.
• Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, special quotas were introduced for the most vulnerable Dalits.
• Justice M S Janarthanam report stated that Arundhatiyar caste in Tamil Nadu despite being 16% of the SC population in the state they held only 0-5% of the jobs.
• Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs within the SC quota in Punjab are not served properly
• Based on  Justice Ramachandra Raju Report Andhra Pradesh legislature in 2000 passed a law reorganising 57 SCs into sub-groups and split the 15% SC quota in educational and government jobs in proportion to their population.

Source : Indian Express

Topic

GS III : Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections

World Urdu Conference 2020

Why in News ?

Union Education Minister virtually addresses inaugural session of World Urdu Conference organised by National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language.

World Urdu Conference 2020

• Two days World Urdu Conference organised by National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language ( NCPUL ).
• Urdu is the part of India’s cultural heritage.
• Writers and literators will be honoured with awards and honours in the name of important personalities of Urdu from next year

About Urdu Language

• Origin of Urdu language had taken place in India several centuries back.
• Historical evidence suggest that origin of Urdu had taken place in Punjab state of India.
• In every aspects it is much like Indian and similar to Hindi language.
• After its origin in Punjab Urdu  flourished in Delhi, part of Haryana state and some states in South in the form of Dakhni language.
• During the period between Delhi Sultanate and Mughal period the language was used in the court and spread to Deccan region through them.
• Alauddin Hasan Bahmani of Bahmani kingdom played an important role in popularising Urdu in the Deccan.
• Urdu Status
  • Officials’ languages under the Constitution of India
  • One of the 15 Indian Languages written on the Indian Currency notes.
  • Official languages in states like Kashmir, Telangana, UP, Bihar, New Delhi and West Bengal.
• Urdu Status in World : 
  • 11th most spoken language in the world with approximately 16.32 crore speakers.
  • Urdu is also spoken in Pakistan, Guyana, Mauritius, Nepal and South Africa.

Reason for Urdu Language decline

Millions of Indians speak this language and it is the only language in certain region. Urdu language is reducing its important as it i no more a compulsory languages in the school level. Besides they are not using in day today activities as majority speaks Hindi and other regional languages. 

Source : PIB

Topic

Prelims : Conference and Urdu language

GS I : Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

Amnesty India on rights violation

Why in news ?

Amnesty International India has demanded an independent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations by the police during the northeast Delhi riots.

Amnesty India on rights violation : What is the issue ?

• Riots broke out in Northeast Delhi between Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 and pro-CAA protesters.
• Investigative brief which was collated after the NGO interviewed more than 50 riot survivors, lawyers, activists and retired police officers, found the conduct of policemen in many incidents during the violence.
• Riot survivors have also maintained that the Delhi police intimidated and harassed many by unlawfully detaining them and forcing them to sign on blank papers.
• Delhi police violated the fair trial procedures through arresting people without producing arrest warrants
  and restricting their access to legal aid.

About Amnesty International India

• Human rights abuses and strive to create change by inspiring people across India and around the world.
• We demand, and hold to protect and respect human rights.
• Organisation formed in 1961 independent of government, business, religion or political groups.
• They are awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1977.
• Amnesty International has a presence in over 150 countries around the world.

Source : The Hindu

Topic 

Prelims : About Amnesty

GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Great Andaman tribe test positive

What is the News ?

Five members of the Great Andamanese tribe, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal group (PVTG), have tested positive for COVID­ 19.

COVID19 and Great Andaman Tribes

• The Great Andamanese are one of five PVTGs that reside in the Andamans archipelago.
• This is one of the first cases of COVID­19 infection among the endangered PVTGs of the region.
• Some members travel between Port Blair and Strait Island and a few do odd jobs in the city.
• They are only 74 in number and speaks Jeru as their language. 

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal group

75 tribal groups have been categorized categorized by Ministry of Home Affairs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG)s. PVTGs reside in 18 States and UT of A&N Islands. In India, tribal population makes up for 8.6% of the total population.

• Some tribal groups have some specific features such as
  • Dependency on hunting.
  • Gathering for food.
  • Pre-agriculture level of technology.
  • Zero or negative growth of population.
  • Extremely low level of literacy.
• Identification Procedure : State governments or UT governments submit proposals to the Central Ministry of Tribal Welfare and after ensuring the criteria is fulfilled, the Central Ministry selects those groups as PVTGs.
• Five PVTG’s identified in Andaman and Nicobar
  1. Great Andamanese
  2. Jarawas
  3. Onges
  4. Sentinelese
  5. Shom Pens
• Schemes for PVGT : Development of Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) aimed to adopt a holistic approach to the socio-economic development of PVTGs.

Source : The Hindu

Topic 

Prelims : About Tribes, PVTG, Schemes

GS II : Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections

Current Affairs 28 August 2020 : Our major Sources for the Current Affairs are The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB. For more queries and mentor-ship please contact us.