13th & 14th NOV, 2022

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A DECADE OF PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES (POCSO) ACT, 2012

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POCSO Act, 2012 is a comprehensive law enacted with the objective of protecting children from a slew of sexual offences like sexual
assault, sexual harassment and pornography.

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It was amended in 2019 making punishment under the act more stringent, including death penalty for aggravated sexual assault.
Key Features of the Act
Child-friendly mechanism for reporting, recording of evidence, investigation
and speedy trial of offences through special courts.
It is gender neutral and prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the

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gravity of the offence.
Defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years.
Provision to establish Special Fast Track Courts for speedy trial.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and its State

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counterpart monitor implementation of law.
Challenges/Concerns related to POCSO Act, 2012

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High pendency particularly after Covid-19 (approximately 85%) and low
conviction rate (around 14% only).
Lack exclusive Special Courts and Special Public Prosecutors.
Procedural lapses in investigation and lack of victim protection and support

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Several High Courts raising issue of higher age of consent under the act.

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PROPOSED GENERAL NETWORK ACCESS (GNA) REGULATIONS MAY END UP FAVOURING
BIGGER PLAYERS: EXPERTS

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Regulations were released by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to streamline regulatory framework for country’s
power transmission.
This is in keeping with concept of one nation, one grid.
GNA regulations seeks to do away with pre-determined point-to-point transmission access to instead enable both access or
drawal on the entire transmission corridor to generators and procurers.
Users at present have to pay long-term charges under point-to-point connectivity regime and charged for any deviations from
agreed path.
GNA will enable them to supply from any point.
Benefits of GNA
Provides more flexibility and the possibility of open access to the buyers and sellers of power in terms of scheduling.
Encourages investments in the generation and transmission sectors, while moving towards a predominant market-determined
pricing structure.
Ensures reliable transmission access to power utilities irrespective of their power purchase contracts.
Concerns raised
Could potentially favour the bigger players in the sector.
Complexity and uncertainty in demand assessment.
State discoms may find it challenging to assess the number of open access customers that may source power from outside the state.

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19TH INDIA- ASEAN SUMMIT HELD IN CAMBODIA

It also commemorated 30th anniversary of India-ASEAN dialogue. 2022 is
being celebrated as ASEAN-India Friendship Year.
Key highlights of the summit
Both sides elevated ties to comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP) to
focus on specific areas including maritime security, projects in Indo-Pacific,
Cybersecurity and inter-operability of digital financial systems etc.

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CSP will enable cooperation in areas like energy, health, investments in
Make in India, technology, climate change, etc.
India announced an additional outlay of $5 million for ASEAN-India Science
and Technology Fund.

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Expedite review of ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITGA).
India-ASEAN relations About ASEAN

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Political: India began formal engagement with ASEAN in 1992 as a “Sectoral
Dialogue Partner” and agreed to forge a strategic partnership in 2012.
Economic: Both signed AITGA, ASEAN-India Agreement for Trade in Services.
Currently, two-way trade is worth $110 billion.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
was established in 1967 with signing of ASEAN
Declaration (Bangkok Declaration).
It aims to accelerate economic growth, social
progress and cultural development through joint
endeavours among Southeast Asian Nations.

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Cumulative FDIs (dominated by Singaporean investments) from ASEAN to
India, between 2000-2021, was $117.88 billion.
Security cooperation through forums like ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN EXTRA-REGIONAL FISHING
Defence Ministers Meeting+ (ADMM+) etc.
FLEETS PRESENT IN INDIAN
Connectivity through India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the
OCEAN: INDIAN NAVY

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Kaladan Multimodal Project etc.
As many as 392 reported incidents of illegal,
RESEARCHERS LOOK TO NANOPARTICLES FOR

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unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU)
were monitored in 2021 in Indian Ocean
TREATING CANCER Region (IOR), mostly in Northern IOR.
Nanomaterials (particles less than 100nm in length) based cancer treatment help Chinese and European Union countries
alter drug toxicity profile with enhanced surface characteristics to deliver an fishing vessels were observed in IOR.

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optimal concentration of drugs at tumour sites. IUU monitoring is done by Information
Conventional therapies face challenges in delivery of drugs and also cause Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC),

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unwanted side effects due to toxic nature and higher doses of medicines. nodal agency for maritime data fusion set up
after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Nanomaterials hold significant promise to improve disease diagnosis and
IUU fishing violates both national and
treatment based on their unique features, such as their:
international fishing regulations and
Higher surface to mass ratio to other particles. undermines global efforts to achieve

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Quantum properties. sustainable fisheries.
According to FAO, IUU is responsible for loss
Ability to adsorb and carry other compounds.
of 11–26 million tonnes of fish each year.
Advantages of nanomaterials in drug delivery Initiatives taken against IUU
Allow targeted and efficient delivery as nanostructures are able to penetrate WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
tissues and are easily taken up by cells. prohibits harmful fisheries subsidies.
Enables delivery of drugs that are poorly water soluble. Cape Town Agreement and Agreement on
Remain in blood Ports State Measures (India is not a
circulation for a long signatory to both).
time, releasing Regional fisheries management such as
incorporated drug in a Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, Southern
controlled fashion. Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement under
United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea
Concerns related to use
(UNCLOS).
of Nanomaterials:
difficult to distinguish As per UNCLOS, coastal nations are
toxicity of drug from that responsible for addressing IUU within
of the nanoparticle, their respective EEZ.
nanoparticle-based drugs Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness
may increase toxicity in (IPMDA) of Quad (India, Australia, Japan and
other organs etc. U.S).

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 8468022022 www.visionias.in

ALSO IN NEWS
Ministry of Home Affairs will be organising the 3rd Ministerial NMFT Conference.
Conference aims to progress the discussions on combating terrorist financing held by the
international community in the previous two Conferences in Paris (2018) and Melbourne (2019).
It intends to include discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all
No Money for Terror
facets of terrorism financing.
(NMFT) Conference

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Amendments were proposed to Competition Act, 2002 to reduce the time limit for approval of
combinations to 150 days from the current 210 days.
Generally, mergers and acquisitions are referred to as combinations in Competition Act
parlance.

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Competition Act, 2002 was enacted to promote and sustain competition in markets, protect the
interest of consumers, and ensure freedom of trade for market participants.

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Competition Act, 2002 It established Competition Commission of India to eliminate practices having adverse effect on
market competition.
Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy launched Green Energy Open Access
Portal.
Portal will allow consumers to access green power easily through transparent and streamlined

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procedure.
Any consumer with a connected load of 100 kW or above can get Renewable Energy (RE)
through open access from any RE generating plant.
Green Energy Open Access
portal Open access means non-discriminatory access to electricity transmission and distribution

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system to eligible consumers, generators and state distribution companies (DISCOMS).
Tamil Nadu government has notified the sanctuary as state’s 17th wildlife sanctuary.

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It was notified under Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
It will connect Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary of Tamil Nadu with Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary
in neighbouring Karnataka.
It is an important elephant habitat comprising of two elephant corridors:

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Nandimangalam-Ulibanda Corridor and Kovaipallam-Anebiddahalla Corridor.
Cauvery South Wildlife
Sanctuary is declared for protecting, propagating or developing wildlife or its environment.
Sanctuary

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Certain rights of people living inside the Sanctuary could be permitted.
It can be declared by both Centre and State.
For the first time, Marwari horses have been exported from Jodhpur to Bangladesh.
Marwari is the original desert horse breed of Marwar region of Rajasthan.

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It is capable of covering long distances with good speed by virtue of its strong limbs and
hooves.
It can withstand intense heat and cold and adverse climatic conditions.
It is genetically similar to the Kathiawari breed of Kathiawad (Gujarat).
Marwari horses
Spiti, Bhutia, Manipuri, Zanskari, Bhimthadi, Chummarti, and Sikang are other Indian breeds of
horses.
Indian skimmer is seen in huge flocks during winter at the Coringa wildlife sanctuary (Kakinada,
Andhra Pradesh).
Distribution: Found in the coastal estuaries of western and eastern India.
Chambal river is an important nesting site for Indian Skimmer.
IUCN status: Endangered
Indian Skimmer (Rynchops
Major Threats: Habitat degradation, Excessive and widespread increases in disturbance, Predation
albicollis)
by corvids like House crows etc.
Tata Steel Foundation partnered with Odisha state government to implement Jaga Mission.
It is a unique land titling project of Government of Odisha to assign land rights to eligible
residents and upgrade the physical infrastructure with roads, drains, streetlights, sanitation and
clean water supply.
Jaga Mission or Odisha
Liveable Habitat Mission It aims at transforming slums into liveable habitat.

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Ministry of Tribal Affairs intends to build new EMRS as per criteria announced in union budget
2018-19.
It was decided that every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal
persons will have an EMRS.
EMRS aim to provide quality upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level education
to ST students (Class 6th to 12th) to:
Eklavya Model Residential
School (EMRS) Enable them to access best opportunities in education.
Bring them at par with the general population.

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Dashboard is a joint effort by UN Development Programme, World Health Organization and
University of Oxford.
It combines the latest data on the global roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and provide insights for
policy makers on implications of vaccine inequity for socio-economic recovery, jobs and welfare.

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Key data
Global Dashboard for

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Accessibility: Only around 26.62% people in Low Income Countries (LICs) have been
Vaccine Equity
vaccinated with at least one dose against 72.8% in High Income Countries (HICs).
An IIT Madras team developed a new technology that can produce a new-generation of
superabrasive tools for advanced grinding applications.
Superabrasive are a class of tools used in precision grinding for many industries.

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Such tools contain natural diamond, manmade diamond, cubic boron nitride etc.
Team used advanced chemical bonding technology to meet high productivity and
Superabrasive tools
energy-efficient material removal requirements of such tools.
A new easier technique of manufacturing LCDs which can reduce the cost of devices has been
developed.

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LCD technology working principle is based on light obstruction. Typically, LCDs are made of two
pieces of polarised glass (or substrate) and a backlight.

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Light created by a backlight passes through a substrate while electric currents also
simultaneously align the liquid crystal molecules.
Liquid Crystal Displays This way, a varying degree of light can pass through another substrate, consequently creating
(LCDs) visible colors and images.

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It’s commonly used across a range of TVs, monitors, tablet and phone screens.
Megalithic burial site of Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) are in a state of neglect.

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Structure ‘pillared dolmen’ locally referred as ‘Pandava Gullu’ or ‘Pandavula Banda’ in memory of
Pandavas are around 2,500 years old.
About Megaliths
Constructed either as burial sites (such as dolmenoid, cairn circles) or commemorative

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(non-sepulchral) memorials (such as menhirs).
Megalithic Burial Sites of In India, megaliths are seen in Peninsular South, Deccan plateau, Vindhyas and North West
Tirupati region.
Megalithic sites in India are dated to period ranging from 1300 BCE to 12 century CE.
Bahrain (Capital: Manama)
Bahrain held parliament polls.
Historic link with India: Region (Dilmun civilization) served as a trading center between
Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
Political features
An island nation in the Middle East, situated in an inlet of the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf ) known
as Gulf of Bahrain.
Boundaries: Situated east of Saudi Arabia and north of Qatar.
Shares maritime borders with Iran, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
Places in News Form of Government: Constitutional monarchy.
Geographical features
Terrain: Relatively flat topography consisting of a desert plain
Highest point: Jabal ad Dukhan (Mountain of Smoke)
Lowest Point: Persian Gulf

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