Prelim Bits 22-12-2023 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs

Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to take security charge of the Parliament building from the Delhi Police.

• Established - CISF is an armed force of the Union established under an Act of Parliament, Central Industrial Security Force Act, 1968.
• Headquarters - Headquartered in Delhi, it is headed by an Indian Police Service officer with the rank of Director-General.

CISF has the largest percentage of women in its force, in comparison to all other CAPFs.

• CISF was first inducted at the Fertilizer Corporation of India manufacturing plant in Trombay, Maharashtra, on November 1, 1969.
• CAPF - It is one of seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) under the MHA.

• The force is divided into nine sectors including Airport, North, North-East, East, West, South, Training, South-East, and Central.

• Private undertakings - Initially, its remit was restricted to protecting government-owned industries, but this was expanded to include joint ventures and private undertakings in 2009.
• Compensatory cost force - CISF also provides consultancy services to the private sector and is a compensatory cost force, which means that it bills its clients for the services it provides.

CISF is the only CAPF with a dedicated firefighting wing.

• CISF is involved in providing security cover to VIPs.

Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)

• CAPF is Central Armed Police Force under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• CAPF represents a set of seven security forces in India.

1. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
2. Assam Rifles (AR)
3. National Security Guard (NSG)
4. Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)
5. Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
6. Border Security Force (BSF)
7. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

References

1. The Indian Express – CISF set to take over Parliament security
2. CISF – About CISF

Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, 2023 (BNSS)

Under new law, doctors face two years of imprisonment for death due to negligence.

• Section 106 (1) - Section 106 (1) of the BNS Bill, 2023 deals with causing death by negligence.
• This makes a differentiation between a doctor and any other person causing death by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide.
• The amended Section 106 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill does not provide a blanket exemption to doctors in cases of death due to negligence.

A registered medical practitioner is person who possesses any medical qualification recognised under the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 and whose name has been entered in the National Medical Register or a State Medical Register under that Act.

• Currently, under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the punishment for causing death by negligence is two years imprisonment and fine or both.
• The BNSS increases the punishment for such acts to five years, however, specifies that doctors will still get the lower punishment of two years jail time if convicted.
• Section 106 (2) - It prescribes a more stringent punishment, a jail term of 10 years and a fine, for somebody who causes death of any person by rash and negligent driving of vehicle not amounting to culpable homicide.
• Section 106 (2) is also applicable to persons who escapes without reporting it to a police officer or a Magistrate soon after the incident.

The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill will replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC); the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill will be in place of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill will replace the Indian Evidence Act (IEA).

References

1. The Hindu – Doctors face not exempt for death due to negligence
2. The Hindu – Revamping the criminal justice system to fit the bill
3. The Print – Medical practitioners not exempt from death by negligence

Watsonx.ai

At the recent COP28, NASA and IBM announced that an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool called watsonx.ai would be available on the open-source AI platform Hugging Space.

• Watsonx.ai is built on a foundation model; it is trained on a broad set of uncategorized data allowing the model to apply information about one situation to another.
• The platform has a set of AI assistants to help one scale and accelerate the impact of artificial intelligence through trusted data across his/her business.

• In the case of watsonx.ai, NASA provides the datasets and IBM created the foundation model to interpret them.
• Watsonx.ai will help users monitor the Earth from space, measuring environmental changes that have already happened while also making predictions about the future.
• The model is also designed to be extremely simple to use.
• A user would merely need to select a location and a date, and the model will highlight changes in floodwater, reforestation efforts and other relevant factors.

In India, AI-equipped peanut farmers have already witnessed a 30 per cent increase in yield.

• watsonx.data - It is a fit-for-purpose data store optimized for governed data and AI workloads.
• watsonx.governance - It is an end-to-end toolkit encompassing both data and AI governance.

References

1. The Indian Express – AI tool to forecast weather
2. Hindustan Times – What is watsonX?
3. IBM – watsonx.ai

Flying Squirrel

Missing for 42 years, flying squirrel resurfaces in Arunachal Pradesh.

• Flying Squirrel are one of the 50 species of gliding squirrels.

• Habitat - Northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) and southern flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans) are the flying squirrel species found in North America.

• The third type, Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) is found in the temperate and tropical forests of India and other parts of Asia.
• It is a nocturnal species, meaning they are active at night.
• They have a special membrane between their front and back legs that allows them to glide through the air between trees.
• The Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) was last described in 1981 based on a single individual found in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Diet - Flying squirrels are omnivores.

References

1. The Hindu – Flying squirrel resurfaces in Arunachal
2. Britannica – Flying Squirrel
3. NWF – Flying Squirrel

Pappathi Chola

There is an urgent need to protect Pappathi Chola, a biodiversity hotspot.

• Pappathi Chola, known for its high butterfly population, derived its name from the Tamil word Pappathi meaning butterflies.
• While Pappathi means butterfly, Chola means shola land.
• Many butterflies reach the area during their migratory course from the rain shadow forests of Tamil Nadu back to the higher elevations of Munnar.
• Pappathi Chola is also regarded as a hub of balsams (Impatiens balsamina) and rare varieties of orchids.
• It is located right in the middle of the Chathurangappara hills and Mathikettan shola and last year; the region witnessed the blooming of Neelakurinji.
• The Pappathi Chola area is covered with eucalyptus trees.

Biodiversity Hotspots

• Biodiversity hotspots are regions that are exceptionally rich in biodiversity and contain numerous endemic species.

• According to Conservation International, a region must fulfill the following two criteria to qualify as a hotspot:
  1. The region should have at least 1500 species of vascular plants i.e., it should have a high degree of endemism.
  2. It must contain 30% (or less) of its original habitat, i.e. it must be threatened.
• Following the criteria must for an area to be declared as Biodiversity Hotspot, there are major four biodiversity hotspots in India:
  1. The Himalayas
  2. Indo-Burma Region
  3. The Western Ghats
  4. Sundaland
• The Western Ghats, located along the western coast, and the Eastern Himalayas are two prominent biodiversity hotspots in India.
• The Western Ghats are known for their diverse habitats and endemic species of plants, birds, and amphibians.
• The Eastern Himalayas, spanning across northeastern states, harbor a wide range of flora and fauna in alpine meadows, subtropical forests, and montane rainforests.

Impatiens balsamina

• It is commonly known as balsam, is a species of plant native to India and Myanmar.
• Different parts of the plant are used as traditional remedies for disease and skin afflictions.
• Juice from the leaves is used to treat warts and snakebite, and the flower is applied to burns.
• This species has been used as indigenous traditional medicine in Asia for rheumatism, fractures, and other ailments.

Reference

The Hindu – Pappathi Chola