24 DEC 2015 Police reform,act east , buddha,payment banks,Career service,Situation room

1)All That was discussed at Dhordo:-Annual DGP Conference and Police Reform

Background :- Annual DGP conference was recently held in Kutch .The conference in Kutch was a landmark, where there was a frank exchange of views between the Prime Minister and State DGPs on how to bring the police closer to the people. There is an acute need to divorce politics from policing.

There is an interesting article by a former bureaucrat on this :- Click here to read

Here is the analysis on what needs to be done to create a SMRT POLICE FORCE:-

Why the Public is dissatisfied with the Police and Administrative Machinery:-

• Reasons For dissatisfaction :-
  • extraneous influence in public order management
  • the root causes of problems not being addressed by the administrative agencies
  • absence of attempts to find long-term solutions to problems
  • administrative decisions being guided by political expediency
  • inadequate involvement of civil society, NGOs and social workers in public order management
  • lack of an institutional mechanism defining the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders in conflict resolution
  • lack of empowerment of junior ranks at the cutting edge levels of administration to effectively deal with problems at the nascent stage
  • lack of appropriate training
  • lack of modern technology & equipment
  • absence of centralized digital databases on criminal, anti-social and anti-national elements;
  • lack of specialised, well-trained wings
  • ineffective performance monitoring systems
  • Lack of cohesion between different organisation
  • lack of accountability of the police and administration to the public

Status-quo : The existing police system :-

• ‘Public order’ and ‘Police’ figure as Entry 1 and 2 respectively, in List II (State List) in the Seventh Schedule of our Constitution, thereby making State Governments primarily responsible for maintaining public order.Invariably, police, which is a part of the civil administration, is at the forefront in maintaining law and order.
• Broken Window Syndrome:-
  • If a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired , people walking by will conclude that no one cares and that no one is in charge . One unrepaired window is an invitation to break more windows and lawlessness spreads outward from buildings to streets to entire community.Similarly when one witnesses when justice is delayed or inaction of police , one looses faith in them and i.e. exactly one of the undercurrent running in  Indian society. Public cynicism is the testament to this fact.
• Article 355 of the Constitution enjoins upon the Union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and thereby to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
• The Police Act, 1861 is still the basic instrument governing the functioning of the Indian police.

People’s Perception of Police:-

• State’ as an organisation that has a “monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force” – MaxWeber
• The police are the instrument of physical force of the State. They have to bear the burden of failure of other instruments of governance as well. Thus the police always has to be at the  forefront and face the wrath of the public even for the failure of other instruments of governance.
• The police have faced and continue to face many difficult problems. In a country of India’s size and diversity, maintaining public order at all times is indeed a daunting task. It is to the credit of the police that despite many problems, they have by and large been successful in maintaining public order. Despite this, the police are generally perceived to be tardy, inefficient, high-handed and often unresponsive or insensitive.
• In the perception of the people, the egregious features of the police are politically oriented partisan performance of duties, partiality, corruption and inefficiency, degrees of which vary from place to place and person to person.
• The lack of professionalism in an overburdened, under-funded and poorly-skilled police force, coupled with undue interference has led to lower level of trust in law enforcement

Problems faced by Police force:-

The problems faced by police force is not only fault of the police fore with in , it amalgamation of social discontent arising out of multiple institutions of government.

• Problems related to general administration:-
  • Poor enforcement of laws and general failure of administration
  • Large gap between aspirations of the people and opportunities with resultant deprivation and alienation
  • Lack of coordination between various government agencies.
• Problems related to police:-
  • Unwarranted political interference
  • Lack of empowerment of the cutting edge functionaries;
  • Lack of motivation at the lower levels due to poor career prospects, and hierarchical shackles
    • Nearly 87% of all police personnel are constables .The constable is the lowest level at which recruitment takes place. The educational requirement for selection of a constable is a school leaving certificate. A constable can generally expect only one promotion in a life time and normally retires as a head constable.
    • A constable devoid of dignity, lacking opportunities for vertical mobility, constantly pilloried by superiors and politicians, often derided by the public and habituated to easy recourse to violence and force cannot generally be expected to sustain his/her self-esteem or acquire the professional skills to serve the citizens
  • Lack of modern technology/methods of investigation
  • Obsolete intelligence gathering techniques and infrastructures
  • Divorce of authority from accountability
• Problems of organisational behaviour:
  • Inadequate training
  • Entrenched attitudes of arrogance, insensitivity and patronage
• Problems of stress due to overburdening :-
  
  • Multiplication of functions, with crime prevention and investigation taking a back seat
  • Shortage of personnel and long working hours
  • Too large a population to handle
• Problems related to ethical functioning:-
  • Corruption, collusion and extortion at different levels
  • Insensitivity to human rights
  • Absence of transparent recruitment and personnel policies
• Problems related to prosecution:-
  • Best talent not attracted as public prosecutors
  • Lack of coordination between the investigation and the prosecution agencies
  • Mistrust of police in admitting evidence
• Problems related to the judicial process/criminal justice administration:-
  • Large pendency of cases
    • Judge-population ratio is of the order of 11 to 1 million,  whereas in many developed democracies it is of the order of 100 to 1 million, or nearly ten times that of the strength of the Indian judiciary.
    • The pendency of over 25 million cases is a testimony to this.It is therefore not surprising that people, particularly the poor and vulnerable, have little faith in the system’s capacity to deliver justice or enforce their rights.
    • The case of Machan Lalung who was released in 2005 at the age of 77 from a jail in Assam after 54 years in prison for an IPC offence, for which the maximum sentence is not more than 10 years, puts a human face to the statistics mentioned above. The fact that over 65% of our prison population comprises undertrial prisoners (with the undertrial population reaching 90% in the states of UP, Manipur and Meghalaya) means that there could be a large number of comparable cases where similar injustice is being meted out to
      individuals by an impersonal and sometimes cruel criminal justice system
  • Low conviction rates
  • No emphasis on ascertaining truth
  • Absence of victims’ perspective and rights
• Miscellaneous Problems:-
  • One of the major problems impeding police reforms stems from the traditional approach of clubbing a variety of disparate functions in a single police force and concentrating all authority at one level. A single, monolithic force now discharges several functions: maintaining law and order, riot control, crime investigation, protection of State assets, VIP protection, traffic control, ceremonial and guard duties, service of summons and production of witnesses in courts, anti-terrorist and anti-extremist operations, intelligence gathering, bandobast30 during elections, crowd control and several other miscellaneous duties. Often,even fire protection and rescue and relief are treated as police functions.
  • Aggregation of all these functions in a single police force is clearly dysfunctional for four reasons:-
    • Core functions are often neglected when the same agency is entrusted with
      several functions.
    • Accountability is greatly diluted when duties cannot be clearly and unambiguously stated and performance cannot be measured and monitored.
    • The skills and resources required for each function are unique and a combination of often unrelated functions undermines both morale and professional competence.
    • Each function requires a different system of control and level of accountability. When a single
      agency is entrusted with all functions, the natural propensity is to control all functions by
      virtue of the need to control one function.
  • Emphasis on brawn rather than brain in most situations tend to brutalise and dehumanise policemen.
• Inherent Impedements :-
  • Lateral entry to the police is not feasible, as rigorous training, experience, expertise and knowledge of peers and colleagues are vital to the police service. Since this is a sovereign function, no agency or experience outside government prepares outsiders for police work. At the same time, incentives for performance within the police agencies are feeble.

Reforms:-

• Learnings from Past :-
  • The indigenous system of policing in India was carried out through the village headman or Zamindar in early days.
  • British relieved the zamindars of their liability for police service and their place was taken over by the Magistrates in the district.
  • First major step was the constitution of the Police Commission of 1860:-
  • At the national level, the Gore Committee on Police Training (1971-73) was set up to review the training of the police from the constabulary level to IPS officers.
  • The Government of India constituted in September 2005 a Police Act Drafting Committee (PADC) with Shri Soli Sorabjee as Chairman, to draft a new Police Act to replace the Police Act of 1861 , whose core recommendation as long as principle is concerned is:-
    
    • The two most important functions of the police in addition to crime prevention are the investigation of crime and maintenance of law and order. These two functions are quite
      distinct requiring different capabilities, training and skills. More importantly they require different types of accountability mechanisms and different degree of supervision from the
      government.
• Reforms Required:-
  • Revamping the Police functions:–
    • Crime Investigation should be separated from other policing functions.A Crime Investigation Agency should be constituted in each state.
    • This agency should be headed by a Chief of Investigation under the administrative control of a Board of Investigation, to be headed by a retired/sitting judge of the High Court
    • The Chairman and Members of the Board of Investigation should be appointed by a high-powered collegium, headed by the Chief Minister and comprising the Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Justice of the High Court, the Home Minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. The Chief of
      Investigation should be appointed by the State Government on the recommendation of the Board of Investigation
    • The following provision should be incorporated in the respective Police Acts:-
      “It shall be the responsibility of the State Government to ensure efficient, effective, responsive and accountable functioning of police for the entire state. For this purpose, the power of superintendence of the police service shall vest in and be exercised by the State Government in accordance with the provisions of law”
  • Accountability of Law and Order Machinery – A State Police Performance and Accountability Commission should be constituted.
  • Police Establishment Committees – A State Police Establishment Committee should be constituted. It should be headed by the Chief Secretary . The Director General of Police should be the Member Secretary and the State Home Secretary and a nominee of the State Police and Accountability Commission should be the Members. This Committee should deal with cases relating to officers of the rank of Inspector General of Police and above..
  • Competent Prosecution and Guidance to Investigation:-A system of District Attorney should be instituted. An officer of the rank of District Judge should be appointed as the District Attorney.
  • Local Police and Traffic Management:-A Municipal Police Service should be constituted in Metropolitancities having population of more than one million. The Municipal  Police should be empowered to deal with the offences prescribed under the municipal laws.The function of Traffic control (along with traffic police) may be transferred to the local governments in all cities having a population of more than one million
  • Reducing Burden of Police – Outsourcing Non Core Functions:- Outsourcing of non core functions like – Traffic management,patrolling streets ,surveillance domestic violence response disposal of dead bodies forensic service  etc.
  • Welfare Measures for the Police:-Rational working hours should be strictly followed for all police personnel.Welfare measures for police personnel in the form of improved working
    conditions, better education facilities for their children, social security measures during service, as well as post retirement should be taken up on priority.
  • Independent Complaints Authorities:-A District Police Complaints Authority should be constituted to enquire into allegations against the police within the district
  • Improvement of Forensic Science Infrastructure – Professionalisation of Investigation :- There is need to set up separate National and State Forensic Science
    Organisations as state-of-the-art scientific organizations
  • Strengthening Intelligence Gathering:-Intelligence agencies should develop multi-disciplinary capability by utilising services of experts in various disciplines for intelligence
    gathering and processing. Sufficient powers should be delegated to them to obtain such expertise.
  • Training of the Police:-Deputation to training institutions must be made more attractive in termsof facilities and allowances so that the best talent is drawn as instructors.  The Chief of Training in the state should be appointed on the recommendation of the Police Performance and Accountability Commission
  • Gender Issues in Policing:-The representation of women in police at all levels should be increased through affirmative action so that they constitute about 33% of the police.
  • National Security Commission:- There is no need for a National Security Commission with a limited functionof recommending panels for appointment to Chiefs of the Armed Forces  of the Union. There should be a separate mechanism for recommending the names for appointment as Chief of each one of these forces, with the final authority vesting in the Union Government
    
  • Measures to be Taken during Peace Time:-
    • The administration should be responsive, transparent, vigilant and fair in dealing with all sections of society. Initiatives such as peace committees should be utilised effectively to ease tensions and promote harmony
  • Security Proceedings:-The use of preventive measures in a planned and effective manner needs to be emphasized. Training and operational manuals for both Executive Magistrates and police need to be revised on these lines.
  • Regulating Processions, Demonstrations and Gatherings
  • Accountability of Public Servants Charged with Maintaining Public Order:-The State Police Complaints Authority should be empowered to identify and fix responsibility in cases of  glaring errors of omission and commission by police and executive magistrates in the discharge of their duties relating to the maintenance of public order
  • Adoption of Zero Tolerance Strategy:-All public agencies should adopt a zero tolerance strategy towards crime, in order to create a climate of compliance with laws leading to maintenance of public order
  • Citizen Friendly Registration of Crimes
  • Confessions before Police:-Confessions made before the police should be admissible. All such statements should be video-recorded and the tapes produced before the court. Necessary amendments should be made in the Indian Evidence Act.
  • Perjury:-The penalties provided under Section 344 CrPC for those found guilty of perjury after a summary trial should be enhanced to a minimum of one year of imprisonment
  • Witness Protection:-A statutory programmme for guaranteeing anonymity of witnesses and for witness protection in specified types of cases, based on the best international models should be adopted early
    
  • Victim Protection
  • Classification of Offences:-There is need to re-examine certain offences which have inter-state or national ramification and include them in a new law.The following offences may be included in this category:
    i. Organised Crime
    ii. Terrorism
    iii. Acts threatening National security
    iv. Trafficking in arms and human beings
    v. Sedition
    vi. Major crimes with inter-state ramifications
    vii. Assassination of (including attempts on) major public figures
    viii. Serious economic offences.
  • Organised Crime:-Specific provisions to define organised crimes should be included in the new law governing ‘Federal Crimes’. The definition of organised crime in this law should be on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999

2)Body Burden: State of India’s Health (2015) – CSE Report highlight:-

Background :-A new report lays bare the link between environmental degradation and the health of Indians. The numbers cited are cause for concern

• Every poison we put out into the environment comes right back at us, in our air, water and food. These poisons slowly seep into our bodies and take years to show up as cancer or as immune system disorder or as hormonal or reproductive system disorders — affecting even the foetus.
• The prognosis doesn’t read well for India. The report pegs air pollution as the fifth leading cause of death in India leading to more than 6 Lakh premature deaths annually due to stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections and cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lungs, among others.
• Water contamination that causes diseases affects 37.7 million Indians annually, including 1.5 million children who die of diarrhoea alone.
• Establishing the link between climate change and a rise in vector-borne diseases, including dengue and malaria, the report notes: “The potential period of spread of malaria has increased to 10-12 months (almost the whole year), which is up from four to six months.” 
• The report also warns that deforestation is causing diseases in animals that were earlier confined to forests but now affect humans, claiming 2.7 million lives annually.
• World Health Organization report says our indiscriminate use of pesticides will cause 20 times more deaths due to cancer by 2030.
• In fact, environmental degradation’s first assault is on our bodies and this is one of the biggest reasons why we try to protect the environment.

3)Payment Banks:-

Background :-The World Bank has shown interest to financially support the proposed India Post Payment Bank, having approached the department of posts (DoP). However, there has not been any official announcement yet.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had in October approved the proposals of 11 applicants, including the DoP, to start a payments bank.

What are Payment banks:-

New stripped-down type of banks, which are expected to reach customers mainly through their mobile phones rather than traditional bank branches.

What they can and can’t do:-

-They can’t offer loans but can raise deposits of upto Rs. 1 lakh, and pay interest on these balances just like a savings bank account does.

-They can enable transfers and remittances through a mobile phone.

-They can offer services such as automatic payments of bills, and purchases in cashless, chequeless transactions through a phone.

-They can issue debit cards and ATM cards usable on ATM networks of all banks.

-They can transfer money directly to bank accounts at nearly no cost being a part of the gateway that connects banks.

-They can provide forex cards to travellers, usable again as a debit or ATM card all over India.

-They can offer forex services at charges lower than banks.

-They can also offer card acceptance mechanisms to third parties

Who has Reserve Bank granted in-principle approval to be a payment bank?

Note- (The list as such is not important , but we recommend just go over it so that if the questions comes you can give one or two examples)

-Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd

-Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd

-Cholamandalam Distribution Services Ltd

-Department of Posts

-Fino PayTech Ltd

-National Securities Depository Ltd

-Reliance Industries Ltd

-Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi

-Vijay Shekhar Sharma

-Tech Mahindra Ltd

-Vodafone m-pesa Ltd

Why are they going to be a game-changer?

This is for the first time in the history of India’s banking sector that RBI is giving out differentiated licences for specific activities

The move is seen as a major step in pushing financial inclusion in the country.

The Reserve Bank expects payment banks to target India’s migrant labourers, low-income households and small businesses, offering savings accounts and remittance services with a low transaction cost.

It hopes payments banks will enable poorer citizens who transact only in cash to take their first step into formal banking.

It could be uneconomical for traditional banks to open branches in every village but the mobile phones coverage is a promising low-cost platform for quickly taking basic banking services to every rural citizen. The innovation is also expected to accelerate India’s journey into a cashless economy.

Payment banks can also play a crucial role in implementing the government’s direct benefit transfer scheme, where subsidies on healthcare, education and gas are paid directly to beneficiaries’ accounts.

What has the experience been in other countries?

Payment technologies have proved hugely popular in other developing countries. In Kenya, the most cited success story, Vodafone’s M-Pesa is used by two in three of adults to store money, make purchases and transfer funds to friends and relatives

4)Emission norms for thermal power plants made stricter:-

Background :-Union environment ministry has notified revised norms of emission standards for coal-based thermal power plants in the country and made it mandatory for the existing plants to meet those parameters within two years.

Objective :-Reducing emission of PM10 (particulate matter), Sulphur Dioxide, and Oxide of Nitrogen, which will in turn help in bringing about an improvement in the Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) in and around thermal power plants.

Details :-

• “zero waste water discharge” from thermal plants
• Limiting the use of water in thermal power plant will lead to water conservation as thermal power plant is a water-intensive industry.
• Restrict the emission at 100 mg per cubic meter as compared to 600 mg per cubic meter of the older plants for SO2 and NOx
• New standards pertaining to Mercury to control mercury emission
• PM10, the new plants will have to restrict the emission to 30 mg per cubic meter as compared to 100 mg per cubic meter in older plants.

5)Food regulatory Mechanism:-

Background :-FSSAI sets up 9 panels to strengthen food regulatory mechanism across India

About FSSAI:

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 .

• It was created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.
• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry for the implementation of FSSAI.

6)2 Mobile app for farmers launched :-

• Crop Insurance Mobile app- This Crop Insurance mobile app can be used to find out complete details about cover available but also to calculate the Insurance Premium for notified crops based on area, coverage amount and loan amount in case of a loanee farmer. It can also be used to get details of normal sum insured, extended sum insured, premium details and subsidy information of any notified crop in any notified area.
  
• AgriMarket Mobile App – Farmers sometimes have to suffer losses due to distress sales in absence of correct market information. They can take an informed decision based on information about the ongoing prices in markets around them as to which market they should take their produce for selling.  This App has been developed with an aim to keep them abreast with crop prices around them.
  

Analysis :- The apps are good , and have right intention. While crop insurance app can help the farmer   to avail the crop insurance , the Agrimarket app can help farmer discover the price of commodities. More often than not, even though the food is priced is so high , the real beneficiaries are the middle man , who have nothing to do with agriculture and form the part of supply chain only.That is the reason why one wonder why the farmers are committing suicide while the tomato is selling at Rs 100/kg.The middle men are also known to create artificial supply -demand mismatch by hoarding and then exploiting the innocent customers with exorbitant prices.One of the solution to this is national agricultural market .

Anyway ,these are holistic approaches ,the issue remains on the literacy and digital literacy of farmers and their knowledge to use these applications. Usage of local language in these apps add a great advantage and if the user interface is simple and good, it will definitely be a success and adequate promotion should be done to generate necessary awareness for this.

7)Bhiksha Patra of Lord Buddha Found in Kabul Museum :-

A stone bowl believed to be a begging bowl of Buddha is presently displayed in the National Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan

8)Act East Policy :-

India’s Act East Policy focusses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region. The policy which was originally conceived as an economic initiative, has gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions including establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation.

India has upgraded its relations to strategic partnership with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia, Singapore and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and forged close ties with all countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Further, apart from ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and East Asia Summit (EAS), India has also been actively engaged in regional fora such as Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

Act East Policy has placed emphasis on India-ASEAN cooperation in our domestic agenda on infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, skills, urban renewal, smart cities, Make in India and other initiatives.

Connectivity projects, cooperation in space, S&T and people-to-people exchanges could become a springboard for regional integration and prosperity.

The Objective of ”Act East Policy” is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the States of North Eastern Region including Arunanchal Pradesh with other countries in our neighbourhood.

The North East of India has been a priority in our Act East Policy (AEP). AEP provides an interface between North East India including the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the ASEAN region.

Various plans at bilateral and regional levels include steady efforts to develop and strengthen connectivity of Northeast with the ASEAN region through trade, culture, people-to-people contacts and physical infrastructure (road, airport, telecommunication, power, etc.).

Some of the major projects include Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project, the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Project, Rhi-Tiddim Road Project, Border Haats, etc.

The ASEAN-India Plan of Action for the period 2016-20 has been adopted in August 2015 which identifies concrete initiatives and areas of cooperation along the three pillars of political-security, economic and socio-cultural.

India continues with stepped up efforts to forge closer partnership with concerned regional and Multilateral organisation such as ASEAN, ARF, EAS, BIMSTEC, ACD, MCG and IORA.

On the Civilizational front, Buddhist and Hindu links could be energized to develop new contacts and connectivity between people.

On Connectivity, special efforts are being made to develop a coherent strategy, particularly for linking ASEAN with our North East. Measures, including building transport infrastructure, encouraging airlines to enhance connectivity in the region, contacts between academic and cultural institutions are underway.

India has also invited ASEAN member states to participate in the International Solar Alliance which it has co-launched with France on 30 November 2015 at COP-21. On strategic issues, we have increasing convergence on security interests with key partners both in bilateral and multilateral format.

Closer cooperation in combating terrorism, collaborating for peace and stability in the region and promotion of maritime security based on international norms and laws are being pursued.

9)Situation room to analyze social media  :-

A Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs with members from Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry of External Affairs and the Central Intelligence Agencies has been constituted  to examine the feasibility of setting up a multi agency 24×7 Social Media Analysis Centre and to prepare an approach paper on the creation of a ‘Situation Room’ to analyse Social Media. 

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and some other terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are active in the cyber space and social media platforms. The Government is closely monitoring the situation and has directed the intelligence and security agencies to keep surveillance on them. The Cyber space is also being closely monitored in this regard.

Analysis :- Given the cyber radicalization is on an upswing , this is a welcome step.However there is a concern for violation of right to privacy , however if the state has to be protected this becomes a necessary tool in the hands of the government.Moreover, there have been lone-wolf attacks across many regions.Hence to safeguard our youth from radicalizing and falling into propaganda of terror, this is a must and should operate with the ambit of right to privacy without violating it.

10)National Career Service Project  :-

The Government is implementing the National Career Service Project for linking employment exchanges and other institutions using technology to provide a variety of employment related services like job postings, career counselling, vocational guidance, skill courses, apprenticeship, etc. These service are available online on the National Career Service Portal (www.ncs.gov.in) supported by Call Centre/Helpdesk (No. 1800-425-1514). The portal is accessible to both employers as well as job seekers. Employers can register and post their vacancies and shortlist the candidates whilst job seekers can register online for seeking employment related assistance.

This is about digitalizing the old and almost defunct employment exchanges to make them relevant and useful.

11)Here is the link to an interactive map which can help you track the prime minister’s recent visit and the outcomes:-

Click Here

Check it and take notes.

Questions of the day

1)Do you think begging is a socially acceptable in India. What is difference you find between the Buddha and Buddhi Bhikus ( Who begged for food) and the beggars of contemporary India.

Note:-This question is not directly related to the daily current events, however we would appreciate if you do research on this and write on this.If you check UPSC questions of this year, there is hardly anything that can be answered directly from book , hence we are giving this out-of-the-box questions that can push you to think, correlate and write.The hitherto out-of-the-box questions are no more outside the box, UPSC made amply clear about it this year and questions of this nature are going to be common.

2)What is the impact of social media in India ? Do you think social media in a broader sense is an angry platform ? More people go there to vent out than to communicate or have a normal conversation ? Elucidate.

3)Do you think ACT EAST POLICY can be a game changer in the regional integration of NORTH-EAST of India? What are the security threats of this region that makes ACT EAST POLICY a must?

4)What are  the environmental concerns arising out of thermal power plants? What are the GOI measures to check and reduce its impact?

5)Do you think development is a must while it’s impact can leave majority of the generation prone to life threatening diseases like cancer ?What are alternative to the methods of conventional development ?

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