5th DECEMBER-DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB- IASbhai

Arrival of pulses and oilseeds began in October and will end by February.

TOTAL FUND ALLOCATION:

• A total of 37.59 lakh metric tonnes of procurement had been sanctioned under the Centrally-funded scheme.
• However, only 1.08 lakh tonnes have been procured so far
• In fact, of the eleven States that opted for the scheme this season, procurement has not even started in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

SALIENT FEATURES OF PM-AASHA :

• Price support scheme whereby Central agencies would procure pulses and oilseeds directly from farmers.
• Apart from initiatives to allow cash payment to farmers or procurement by private traders.
• The main crops covered : moong, urad, arhar, groundnut and soyabean.

• Bill shall not apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura as included in the sixth schedule of the Constitution and States of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland protected by the Inner Line Permit (ILP).
• Citizens of other States require ILP to visit the three States as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

BACKGROUND:

• The freedom to define which tracts of forest qualify as forest has been the prerogative of States since 1996.
• The SC 1996 judgement, had broadened the definition of forest to include not just land classified as forest under forest or revenue departments, but also those that are forests according to the definition of a forest.
• However, this only applies to forest land that has not already been historically classified as “forest” in revenue records, or categorised so by the government as “protected” or “reserve forest”.

Deemed Forests

• It had then also asked states to form committees to identify forests, irrespective of the nature of land ownership or whether they are notified, recognised or classified in a time-bound manner.
• There are forests that are notified either with the forest department or revenue department.
• Then there are those areas that are like forests but are neither recorded, nor notified. The Supreme Court had ordered that the states identify and classify these as deemed forests.

Deemed forests are already a legal category of forests in some states and they are not defined according to the dictionary definition.

What is LAC?

• Line of Actual Control is the effective military border which separates Indian controlled areas of Jammu and Kashmir from Aksai Chin.

HISTORY:

• Indians consider Johnson Line of 1865 as the boundary, whereas PRC government claims Macartney-MacDonald Line of 1899 as the accepted boundary.
• This term LAC got legally recognized during Sino-Indian agreements which were signed in 1993 and 1996.
• LAC has been a sensitive issue just like LOC.
• In 1962, a brief war had killed more than 2000 people.
• This war has resulted from the Himalayan border dispute.

GEOGRAPHY:

• It is the effective border between People’s Republic of china and India. It is nearly 4,057 km long.
• It touches  Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himanchal and Sikkim of Indian states.
• This border is not a legally recognized international boundary, but rather it is the practical boundary.

REALITY:

• Apart from the geographical differences, LOC is a clearly demarcated line and a lot of activity takes place in this region, which involves firings, face to face confrontation, etc.
• On the other hand, LAC is not clearly demarcated and nearly 50 to 100 km distance is maintained between the two armies.

WHAT DOES THIS VERDICT MEAN ?

• “It would be against the concept of fair trial if in every case the prosecution presents documents in sealed cover and the findings on the same are recorded as if the offence is committed and the same is treated as having a bearing for denial or grant of bail.

Pressing documents

• The agencies present these documents as evidence collected against the accused in the course of investigation.
•  The situation was made worse when judges converted the findings of the investigative agencies in these documents into their own judicial findings and reproduced them in orders refusing the accused bail.

Reproducing material

• The court said though it was open for a judge to receive the materials/documents collected during the investigation either to “satisfy its conscience that the investigation is proceeding on the right lines” or grant bail, the judge could not reproduce the material as his own findings in a judicial order.

What Is an ETF?

Additional source

• On the issuer side, the bond ETFs are expected to offer CPSEs, CPSUs, CPFIs and other government organisations an additional source of meeting their borrowing requirements, apart from bank financing.

How are e-pharmacies different?

• E-pharmacies receive request for prescription and non-prescription medicines. For prescription drugs, the doctor’s instruction note has to be uploaded.
• Medical devices like blood pressure and sugar monitor can also be ordered through them.
• These platforms then forward the orders to a licensed pharmacy in their network that is registered with the government authorities.
• They deliver the order to the customer through a courier.
• Some e-pharmacies also stock medicines and thus dispense directly.
• The new draft rules require all digital platforms engaged in this business to register with the regulator and be available for inspections.

How big is the sector, what is its growth rate?

• The sector caters to about 5 million patients a month.
• Research and Markets, a market research firm, estimates the industry size at ₹2,000-3,000 crore .
• Online pharmacies have so far attracted investments of over $500 million from members of the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
• As per an EY report, the industry is expected to touch $2.7 billion by 2023.

Does this mean online drug sales will stop for now?

• There’s ambiguity on who can sell and who can’t.
• Offline retailers say existing laws bar e-pharmacies from selling drugs.
• Online retailers say they are operating through licensed retailers and are hence not barred.
• The draft rules allow only government-registered e-portals to sell drugs; they must retain the prescriptions and verify patients’ and doctors’ details.

What do e-pharmacies say about regulations?

• There are “miscreants”—mostly outside India and some local players—which do not follow laws and sell medicines without prescription or licence.
• The sector claims that the benefit of the digital system is a fully accountable and auditable track, so every transaction can be verified with its prescription and invoice.

So what is Data protection Bill ? 

• The bill proposes social media platforms to create a mechanism so that for “every user who registers their service from India or uses their service from India, a voluntary verifiable account mechanism has to be made”.
• The provision puts the onus of creating the mechanism on the company. The provision is largely aimed at checking social media trolling.
• The bill categorizes data into three categories—critical, sensitive and general.

1. Sensitive data—financial, health, sexual orientation, biometrics, transgender status, religious or political beliefs and affiliation—can be stored only in India. However, data can be processed outside India with explicit consent.
2. Critical data will be defined by the government from time to time and has to be stored and processed in India.
3. Any data that is non-critical and non-sensitive will be categorized as general data with no restriction on where it is stored or processed.

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018, was prepared by a high-level expert group headed by former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna. However, interministerial consultations delayed its approval.

CHALLENGES:

• However, in the interest of national security, certain agencies can have access to personal data for any investigation pertaining to offences.
• “Technological evidence is the best evidence. Investigation of crime is public purpose; hence, under the garb of data protection, one cannot cage the rights of an investigating agency,”

VIOLATIONS:

• As far as violations are concerned, a company will have to cough up as much as ₹5 crore or 2% of its worldwide turnover, whichever is higher, in case there is a data breach or inaction by the fiduciary or a minor violation.
• In case of major violations such as data processed or shared without consent, there will be a penalty of ₹15 crore or 4% of global turnover.
• Besides, there is also a jail term for any violation.