Prelim Bits 24-11-2018

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory body established by the Government of India under the MoEFCC, to combat organized wildlife crime in the country.
Under Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, it is mandated:

To collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities.
To disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies for immediate action so as to apprehend the criminals.
To establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank.
Co-ordinate actions by various agencies in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of the Act.

Apart from these functions WCCB also assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.
Recently WCCB has received United Nation’s Environment award.

Medical Marijuana

Cannabis-based drugs have the potential to meet the unmet needs of terminally-ill cancer patients and of those suffering from epilepsy and sickle cell anemia (a hereditary disease that afflicts nearly two crore tribal living mainly in central States).
Indian scientists are researching on the active ingredients present in the cannabis plant in the management of these diseases.
Two active compounds of cannabis that are being explored for medical use are Tetrahydro Cannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD).
In India recreational use of cannabis is prohibited under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

The bar does not apply to an edible preparation called bhang, which is allowed in some States.

Notification on Quadricycles

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified the insertion of the item ‘Quadricycle’ as a ‘non transport’ vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988.
A Quadricycle is a vehicle of the size of a 3-wheeler but with 4 tires and fully covered like a car.
It has an engine like that of a 3-wheeler, this makes it a cheap and safe mode of transport for last mile connectivity.
Earlier quadricycles were only allowed for transport usage under the Act, but now has been made usable for non-transport also.

Guru Nanak Dev

Guru Nanak is the founder of Sikhism and the first of the Sikh Gurus, he lived during 1469 – 1539.
He was born Nankana Sahib near Lahore in Modern day Pakistan and gave spiritual teachings based on the universal divinity of creation.
He was committed towards eradicating injustice and inequality from society and also believed in the power of education.

Guru Tegh Bahadur

Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, He was a poet, a thinker, and a warrior.
Guru Tegh Bahadur emphasized the values of freedom of worship, oneness, love and fraternity.
In 1675, for refusing to convert to Islam Guru Tegh Bahadur was publicly beheaded on the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb.

She box

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has linked SHe-Box, to all the Central Ministries, Departments and districts across all States/Union Territories.
SHe-Box is an online complaint management system for registering complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace.
The complaint management system has been developed to ensure the effective implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (the SH Act), 2013.
Once a complaint is submitted to the portal, it will be directly sent to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the concerned Ministry/Department/PSU/Autonomous Body etc. having jurisdiction to inquire into the complaint.

Source: The Hindu, PIB, Business Line