UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 23-01-2020
iasparliament
January 23, 2020
Commission on Other Backward Classes
The Commission of Sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes was constituted under article 340 of the Constitution with the approval of President on 2nd October, 2017.
The Commission, headed by Justice (Retd.) Smt. G. Rohini commenced functioning on 11th October, 2017.
Since then it has interacted with all the Stats/UTs which have subcategorized OBCs, and the State Backward Classes Commissions.
The Commission has come to the view that it would require some more time to submit, its report since the repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or transcription etc appearing in the existing Central List of OBCs need to be cleared.
Hence the Commission has sought extension of its term by six, that is upto 31st July 2020 and also addition in its existing Terms of Reference, recently union cabinet approved the extension.
The Cabinet has also approved addition of following Term of Reference to the existing Terms of Reference of the "Commission" -
The Commission is likely to make recommendations for benefit of marginalized communities in the Central List of OBCs.
The expenditure involved are related to the establishment and administration costs of the Commission, which would continue to be borne by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Phasing out HCFC-141 b
Hydro chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC)-141 b, which is a chemical used by foam manufacturing enterprises and one of the most potent ozone depleting chemical after Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) .
(HCFC)-141 b is used mainly as a blowing agent in the production of rigid polyurethane (PU) foams.
India had proactively and successfully taken the challenge of complete phase out of Hydro chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC)-141 b, by 1.1.2020.
In 2019 December, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) brought out a notification in the Gazette of India through which the issuance of import license for HCFC-141b is prohibited from 1st January, 2020 under Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Amendment Rules, 2019 issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
HCFC-141b is not produced in the country and all the domestic requirements are met through imports.
With this notification, prohibiting the import of HCFC-141 b, the country has completely phased out the important ozone-depleting chemical.
Nearly, 50 % of the consumption of ozone depleting chemicals in the country was attributable to HCFC-141 b in the foam sector.
The phase out of HCFC-141b from the country has twin environmental benefits viz. Assisting the healing of the stratospheric ozone layer, and Towards the climate change mitigation due to transitioning of foam manufacturing enterprises at this scale under HPMP to low global warming potential alternative technologies.
SERVICE Scheme
SERVICE is a scheme of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to promote Voluntary Philanthropist Activities by its employees.
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel launched it.
The scheme called “SAIL Employee Rendering Voluntarism and Initiatives for Community Engagement (SERVICE)”.
The dedicated interactive “SAIL SERVICE” portal for implementation of this Scheme shall act as a platform for enabling faster interaction and communication amongst the various stakeholders.
Interpol Notice
According to the Interpol “Notices are international requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information.”
There are seven types of notices - Red Notice, Yellow Notice, Blue Notice, Black Notice, Green Notice, Orange Notice, and Purple Notice.
The Blue Notice is issued to “collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.”
While a Red Corner, notice is issued to seek arrest of a wanted person.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) website refers to Blue Notices as ‘B Series (Blue) Notices’.
It says, “The ‘B’ series notices are also called ‘enquiry notices’ and may be issued in order
To have someone’s identity verified
To obtain particulars of a person’s criminal record
To locate someone who is missing or is an identified or unidentified international criminal or is wanted for a violation of ordinary criminal law whose extradition may be requested.
World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2020 (WESO)
UN International Labour Organization (ILO) releases WESO report annually.
The report analyses key labour market issues, including unemployment, labour underutilization, working poverty, income inequality, labour Income share and factors that exclude people from decent work.
According to the recent report global unemployment is projected to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020 and almost half a billion people are working fewer paid works than they would like or lack adequate access to paid work.
1t.org
World Economic Forum, Davos has launched a global initiative to grow, restore and conserve 1 trillion trees around the world - in a bid to restore biodiversity and help fight climate change.
The initiative aims to unite and promote reforestation efforts worldwide through fund mobilization and political support.
The 1t.org (https://www.1t.org/) project aims to unite governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses and individuals in a "mass-scale nature restoration".
1t.org offers innovative technologies, which will serve to connect tens of thousands of small and large groups around the world that are engaged in tree planting and forest restoration.
