Daily News Simplified - DNS

16 06 19
Notes
SL. THE HINDU
TOPICS
NO. PAGE NO.

1 Why does Assam need more Foreigners Tribunals? 14

2 Targeting tankers in the Gulf 12

3 Smoke billows from city fields 05

4 Maharashtra stares at severe water crisis 09

5 Eastern Himalayas, a treasure trove of Balsams 09

6 Stubble Burning 05
Dated: 16.June.2019 DNS Notes

Title 1. Why does Assam need more Foreigners Tribunals? (The Hindu, Page – 14)
Syllabus Mains: GS Paper 2 under Polity & Governance
Theme Foreigners Tribunal
Assam suffers from huge problem of illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Now on directions of the Supreme Court, the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, under the Union
Home Ministry, published the final draft list of the National Register of Citizens on July 30, 2018. NRC is meant to
segregate Indian citizens living in Assam, from those who had illegally entered the Assam from Bangladesh after
March 25, 1971.
However, nearly 40 lakh people were excluded from the final draft. In the course of the year, 36 lakh people filed
claims against the exclusion; the remaining four lakh did not apply. These claims which are filed are heard by the
Foreigners Tribunal. 100 Foreigners Tribunals currently exist across across the State.
Now, final list of NRC is to be published by July 31 and to give a proper hearing to those excluded from the final
list and to handle the influx of applications, the Ministry of Home Affairs sanctioned 1,000 additional F.T. to be
setup in Assam. Of these, 400 will come up in the next one month before the final publication of the list.

FT is headed by a member appointed under the Foreigners Tribunal Act, 1941 and Foreigners (Tribunal) Order,
1984. Specific guidelines are issued by the government from time to time. A member can be a retired judicial
officer of the Assam Judicial Service, a retired civil servant not below the rank of Secretary and Additional
Secretary with judicial experience, or a practising advocate not below the age of 35 years and with at least seven
years of practice. The member is also required to have a fair knowledge of the official languages of Assam
(Assamese, Bengali, Bodo and English) and the State’s historical background giving rise to the foreigners’ issue.

The Assam Police Border Organisation, a wing of the State police tasked with detecting foreigners, readies the
cases for the tribunals to decide who is a foreigner and who is not.
Foreigners (Tribunals) Amd. Order, 2019 empowers district magistrates in all States/UTs to set up tribunals.

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Dated: 16.June.2019 DNS Notes

Title 2. Targeting tankers in the Gulf – (The Hindu, Page-12)

Area of Prelims: International Relations
interest
Theme Strait of Hormuz
Highlights Why is Strait of Hormuz important?
The Gulf lies between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Besides Iran and Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar,
Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq also share the Gulf coastline. As all these countries are energy-rich, the Gulf has naturally
emerged as a major trade route. Strait of Hormuz is a choke-point between the Gulf and the open ocean. With Iran on
its northern coast and the UAE and an Omanian enclave on the south, the Strait, at its narrowest point, has a width of
34 km. A third of crude oil exports transported via ships pass through the Strait, which makes it the world’s most
important oil artery.

The last ‘Tanker War’

In the 1980s, when Iran and Iraq were locked in a protracted conflict, both sides targeted each other’s energy vessels in
the Gulf and on the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq started the ‘Tanker War’ by targeting ships carrying Iranian fuel in 1981.
Three years later, Iran started attacking vessels carrying Iraqi fuel, turning the Gulf waters into a war zone.

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Dated: 16.June.2019 DNS Notes

Title 3. Smoke billows from city fields (The Hindu, Page-5)

Syllabus Prelims: Environment & Biodiversity
Theme About National Clean Air Programme
Highlights The National Clean Air Programme is a pollution control initiative launched by the Ministry of Environment Forest
and Climate Change, with the intention to cut the concentration of Coarse Particulate (PM10) and Fine particles (PM
2.5) by 20-30% by 2024 (compared to 2017 levels). It will be a mid-term, five-year action plan with 2019 as the first
year.
It aims to provide the States and the Centre with a framework to combat air pollution, whereby it underlines need for
close collaboration and cross-sectoral coordination among central ministries, state governments and local bodies. It
also includes non-govt. partnerships with academia, policy groups, etc.
The aims of the plan align with existing policies and programs, including the National Action Plan on Climate Change,
initiatives on electric vehicles, the Smart Cities Mission etc.
An Apex Committee at the MoEF&CC at the national level, and at the Chief Secretary level in the States will be
constituted to oversee implementation.

It is being implemented on a city scale. Cities are selected based upon reports by WHO and the air quality data
obtained. 102 cities from 23 States and UTs have been chosen as non-attainment cities. With the exception of Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, most of those chosen are tier two cities.
Maharashtra tops the list and UP comes second in list. No cities from Manipur, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram,
Tripura, Kerala, Goa and Haryana figure in the list.

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Dated: 16.June.2019 DNS Notes

Title 4. Maharashtra stares at severe water crisis (The Hindu, Page-09)

Syllabus Mains : GS Paper III: Environment
Theme Water Crisis
Highlights Problem:
Maharashtra’s dams are left with only 6.61% of the total capacity of water, which is further depleting due to delay in
monsoon rains.

Solution being undertaken:

Short term: Supply of water through tankers
Long term: Dams would be interconnected with pipelines and a supply network would be created across the region.
The plan, under consideration for the last few years, will be implemented with the help of the newly formed Jal Shakti
Ministry at the Centre.

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Dated: 16.June.2019 DNS Notes

Title 5. Eastern Himalayas, a treasure trove of Balsams (The Hindu, Page-09)

Syllabus Prelims: Environment & Biodiversity
Theme About Balsams
Highlights Why in News
Researchers working with Botanical Survey of India have published about the endemic species of
Balsams found in India. The book describes 83 species, 45 of which are from Arunachal Pradesh, 24
from Sikkim, 16 species common to both. Of these 23 are newly discovered species.

About Balsams:
They are a group of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the
tropics in Africa, Eurasia and North America. Most Impatiens species occur in the tropical and
subtropical mountain forests in Africa, Madagascar, Himalayas, Western Ghats and South east Asia.
They are both annual and perennial herbs.
They are succulent plants with high endemism.
These plants have bright beautiful flowers, thus are of a prized horticultural significance.
It is also considered as a Invasive Species and tends to dominate riparian vegetation along polluted
rivers and nitrogen-rich spots.

Ecology:
Species of Impatiens cannot endure persistent drought or extended exposure to direct sunlight. As a
result Impatiens species are typically confined to stream margins, moist roadsides, waterside
boulders, near waterfalls and wet forests.Impatiens are highly sensitive to climate change.
They have high endemism to the Eastern Himalayan region.
Dated: 16.June.2019 DNS Notes

Title 6. Stubble Burning (The Hindu, Page-05)

Syllabus Prelims: Environment & Biodiversity
Theme About Stubble Burning
Highlights

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