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TABLE OF CONTENTS
02 POLITY
RULE OF LAW INDEX 2022

04 HISTORY
KONARK SUN TEMPLE

07 GEOGRAPHY
TRIBES IN NEWS

11 ECONOMY
SINGLE NODAL AGENCY (SNA)
DASHBOARD OF PFMS

14 ENVIRONMENT
CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE

18 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

JUICE-JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER
(Juice)

20 CURRENT AFFAIRS
VIBRANT VILLAGE SCHEME

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 POLITY
RULE OF LAW INDEX 2022
Why in news?

India has been ranked77th out of 140 countries in Rule of Law Index2022 by the World
Justice Project (WJP)

About Rule of Law Index

· The World Justice Project defines the rule of law as a durable system of laws,
institutions, norms, and community commitment that delivers:

ü Accountability- The government as well as private actors are accountable

under the law.

ü Just laws- The law is clear, publicized, and stable and is applied evenly. It
ensures human rights as well as property, contract, and procedural rights.

ü open government- The processes by which the law is adopted, administered,

adjudicated, and enforced are accessible, fair, and efficient and

ü Accessible justice- Justice is delivered timely by competent, ethical, and

independent representatives and neutrals who are accessible, have adequate
resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

· It was released by an international civil society organisation, World Justice Project

(WJP).

· The scores and rankings of the WJP Rule of Law Index are organized around eight
primary factors:

ü Constraints on Government Powers,

ü Absence of Corruption,

ü Open Government,

ü Fundamental Rights,

ü Order and Security,

ü Regulatory Enforcement,

ü Civil Justice, and

ü Criminal Justice.

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 · According to the report, the rule of law has declined globally for the fifth consecutive
year.

· It says that the checks on executive power are weakening, and respect for human
rights is falling

· The top-ranked country in the WJP Rule of Law Index 2022 is Denmark, followed by
Norway (2), Finland (3), Sweden (4), and the Netherlands (5).

· The bottom ranked countries are Venezuela (140), Cambodia (139), Afghanistan
(138), the Democratic Republic of Congo (137), and Haiti (136).

About World Justice Project (WJP)

· The World Justice Project (WJP) is an independent, multidisciplinary organization

working create knowledge, build awareness, and stimulate action to advance the
rule of law worldwide.

· It was founded by William H. Neukom in 2006 as a presidential initiative of the

American Bar Association (ABA).

India in Rule of Index

· India has been ranked 77 out of 140 countries with a score of0.50 on the ―rule of law
indexǁ.

· Globally, India ranks

ü 94 out of 140 as far as adherence to fundamental rights are concerned,

ü 111 out of 140 in civil justice,

ü 89 out of 140 in criminal justice and

ü 93 out of 140 in absence of corruption.

India’s Neighbours

· Bangladesh scored 0.39 in the 127th rank, Pakistan settled with a 0.39 score at the
129th rank, and China scored 0.47 in the 95th rank.

· Nepal has performed better than its neighbours, with a 0.52 score and 69th rank.

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 HISTORY
KONARK SUN TEMPLE
Why in News?
Konark will now light up its Sun Temple with solar energy. The solar power
generated from the project will be connected to the state grid from where the power will
be provided for the illumination of Konark city.

Konark Sun Temple

· It is a 13th-century (1250 B.C.E) Sun temple at Konark about 35 kilometers northeast

from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India.

· The temple is attributed to king Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty

about 1250 CE. It is also called the Surya Devalaya, it is a classic illustration of the
Odisha style of Architecture or Kalinga Architecture.

· "Konarka" , the place bears a name composed of two World elements: Kona meaning
corner and ARKA meaning the Sun.

· The main Temple was called by European sailors "The Black Pagoda" as it formed an
important landmark for them in their coastal voyage.

ü It forms part of the golden triangle of Odisha, along with Puri and
Bhubaneswar,and attracts tourists, pilgrims, and history and art lovers

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 · The temple is designed in the shape of a colossal chariot. It is dedicated to the sun
God.

Features of Konark Sun Temple

· The Sun Temple built in the thirteenth century was conceived as a gigantic chariot
of Sun God, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven pairs
of horses.

· The Sun temple belongs to the Kalinga School of Indian Temples with characteristic
curvilinear towers mounted by Cupolas.

· There are two rows of 12 wheels on each side of the Konark sun temple. Some say the
wheels represent the 24 hours in a day and others say the 12 months.

ü The seven horses are said to symbolize the seven days of the week.

· Rabindranath Tagore wrote of Konark: “Here the language of stone surpasses the
language of man.”

Architecture

· The deul, or sanctum, which houses the deity and is covered by a shikhara, and the
jagana-mohana, or assembly hall, are the two main characteristics of the Orissa
style.

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 · The latter has a pyramidal roof made up of pidhas, which are a series of receding
platforms. Internally, both structures are squares and share a platform.

· The exterior is variegated into projections known as rathas or pagas in this style,
which create light and shade effects.

· Konarak, like many other temples built in this style, has its own unique variations. The
alignment of the Sun Temple is in the east-west direction.

Protection

· The Sun Temple, Konârak is protected under the National Framework of India by the
Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act (1958) and
its Rules (1959).

· It was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984, which remains a major
pilgrimage site for Hindus, who gather here every year for the Chandrabhaga Mela
around the month of February.

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 GEOGRAPHY
TRIBES IN NEWS
Context:

Cabinet approves addition of four tribes in Himachal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh to

Scheduled Tribes (ST) list of India.

New tribes in theST list

1) The Hatti tribe in the Trans-Giri area of Sirmour district in Himachal Pradesh,

2) The Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran hill tribes of Tamil Nadu,

3) Binjhia tribe in Chhattisgarh. The tribe was listed as ST in Jharkhand and Odisha but
not in Chhattisgarh.

About the newly added tribes:

Hatti Tribe (Himachal Pradesh):

· The Hattisare a close-knit community

who got their name from their tradition of
selling homegrown vegetables, crops,
meat and wool etc. at small markets
called ―haat in towns.

· The community has been making the

demand since 1967, when tribal status
was accorded to people living in the
JaunsarBawar area of Uttarakhand,
which shares a border with Sirmaur
district.

· Their demand for tribal status gained

strength because of resolutions passed
at various mahaKhumblis over the years.

· Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, which prohibits polyandry, the Hatti
community on the other hand still follows polyandry under the name of
"Jodidaripratha", "Draupadi vivah" or "Ghotlupratha".

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Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran (Tamil Nadu):

· Nomadic tribes like the Narikuravas and Kuruvikaras (jackal catchers and bird
eaters) pride themselves on their traditional occupations of hunting and gathering.

Binjhia (Chhattisgarh):

· The Binjhia in Chhattisgarh were listed as ST in Jharkhand and Odisha but not in
Chhattisgarh.The Binjhia are non-vegetarians and agriculture is the mainstay of
their economy.

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Gond Community (Uttar Pradesh):

· The Cabinet approved a proposal to move the Gond community, which lives in 13
districts of Uttar Pradesh, from the Scheduled Caste list to the ST list. This includes the
five subcategories of the Gond community (Dhuria, Nayak, Ojha, Pathari, and
Rajgond).

‘Betta-Kuruba’ (Karnataka):

· The ST status granted to the Betta-Kuruba community as a synonym of Kadu Kuruba

of Karnataka.Betta-Kuruba community has been demanding to include in the ST
category for the last 30 years.

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Scheduled Tribes in India:
The Constitution of India in Article 366 (25) prescribe that the Scheduled Tribes means such
tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 of the Constitution to be
Scheduled Tribes.

The provisions under Article 342 read as follows:

Ø 342(1) Scheduled Tribes — the President may with respect to any State or Union
Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by a
public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within
tribes or tribal communities as Scheduled Tribe in relation to that State or Union
Territory as the case may be.

Ø 342(2) - Parliament may be law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes
specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any tribe or tribal community or part
of or group within any tribe or tribal community, but save as aforesaid a notification
issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.

Ø The list of Scheduled Tribes in State / UT specific and a community declared as a

Scheduled Tribe in a State need not be so in another State.

Inclusion of tribe in the ST list

Criteria for inclusion in ST List

· The criteria presently followed for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe

are:

ü indications of primitive traits; distinctive culture; geographical isolation; shyness

of contact with the community at large; and backwardness.

ü However, these criteria are not spelt out in the Constitution.

Process of inclusion
· The process to include tribes in the ST list begins with the recommendation from the
respective State governments.

· These recommendations are then sent to the Tribal Affairs Ministry, which reviews
and sends them to the Registrar General of India for approval.

· This is followed by the approval of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
before the list is sent to the Cabinet for a final decision.

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 ECONOMY
SINGLE NODAL AGENCY (SNA) DASHBOARD
OF PFMS
Why in the news?

· Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman launched the
Single Nodal Agency (SNA) Dashboard of PFMS (Public Financial Management
System) as a part of the AzadikaAmritMahotsav (AKAM) celebrations by Ministry of
Finance.

· The Ministry of Finance is observing the ―Iconic Week celebrations fromth6June to

12th June 2022 to celebrate AKAM.

About SNA Dashboard

· The SNA Dashboard is a major reform initiated in 2021 with regards to the manner
in which funds for Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) are released, disbursed
and monitored.

· This revised procedure, now referred to as the SNA model, requires each State to
identify and designate a SNA for every scheme.

· All funds for that State in a particular scheme are now credited in this bank
account, and all expenses by all other Implementing Agencies involved are effected
from this account.

· The SNA model, therefore, ensures that allocation of funds to States for the CSS are
made in a timely manner and after meeting various stipulations.

· Effective implementation of this Model has brought about greater efficiency in CSS
fund utilization, tracking of funds, pragmatic and just-in-time release of funds to
the States; ultimately all contributing to better Cash Management of the
Government.

· In order to give the stakeholders of SNA model the necessary feedback and
monitoring tools in the operation of the schemes, PFMS has developed the SNA
Dashboard.

· The Dashboard depicts releases made to different States by Ministries, further

releases made by State Treasuries to the SNA accounts, expenditure reported by
the agencies, interest paid by banks to SNA accounts etc. in intelligible, informative
and visually appealing graphics.

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About PFMS

· The Public Financial Management System (PFMS) is a web-based online software

application developed and implemented by the Controller General of Accounts
(CGA), Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

· PFMS started during 2009 with the objective of tracking funds released under all
Plan schemes of Government of India, and real time reporting of expenditure at all
levels of Programme implementation.

· Subsequently, the scope was enlarged to cover direct payment to beneficiaries

under all Schemes.

· Gradually, it has been envisaged that digitization of accounts shall be achieved

through PFMS and beginning with Pay & Accounts Offices payments, the O/o CGA
did further value addition by bringing in more financial activities of the
Government of India in the ambit of PFMS.

· The outputs / deliverables for the various modes / functions of PFMS include (but
are not limited to):

ü Payment & Exchequer Control

ü Accounting of Receipts (Tax & Non-Tax)

ü Compilation of Accounts and Preparation of Fiscal Reports

ü Integration with Financial Management Systems of States

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· The primary function of PFMS today is to facilitate sound Public Financial
Management System for Government of India by establishing an efficient fund flow
system as well as a payment cum accounting network.

· PFMS provides various stakeholders with a real time, reliable and meaningful
management information system and an effective decision support system, as
part of the Digital India initiative of Government of India.

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 ENVIRONMENT
CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE
Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a farming system that can prevent losses of arable land
while regenerating degraded lands.

It promotes maintenance of a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, and

diversification of plant species.

It enhances biodiversity and natural biological processes above and below the ground
surface, which contribute to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved
and sustained crop production.

Conservation Agriculture is based on three main principles adapted to reflect local

conditions and needs:

Minimum mechanical soil disturbance:

Minimum soil disturbance refers to low disturbance no-tillage and direct seeding. The
disturbed area must be less than 15 cm wide or less than 25% of the cropped area
(whichever is lower). There should be no periodic tillage that disturbs a greater area than
the aforementioned limits. Strip tillage is allowed if the disturbed area is less than the set
limits.

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Permanent soil organic cover:

Three categories are distinguished: 30-60%, >60-90% and >90% ground cover, measured
immediately after the direct seeding operation. Area with less than 30% cover is not
considered as CA.

Species diversification:

Rotation/association should involve at least 3 different crop species.

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Conservation Agriculture provides a number of advantages on global, regional, local and
farm level:

· Sustainability. It provides a truly sustainable production system, not only conserving

but also enhancing the natural resources and increasing the variety of soil biota,
fauna and flora (including wild life) in agricultural production systems without
sacrificing yields on high production levels.

· Enhanced biodiversity. CA depends on biological processes to work; it enhances the

biodiversity in an agricultural production system on a micro- as well as macro level.

· Carbon sequestration. No till fields act as a sink for CO2 and conservation farming
applied on a global scale could provide a major contribution to control air pollution
in general and global warming in particular. Farmers applying this practice could
eventually be rewarded with carbon credits.

· Labour savings. Soil tillage is among all farming operations the single most energy
consuming and thus, in mechanized agriculture, air-polluting, operation. By not tilling
the soil, farmers can save between 30 and 40% of time, labour and, in mechanized
agriculture, fossil fuels as compared to conventional cropping.

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· Healthier soils. Soils under CA have very high water infiltration capacities reducing
surface runoff and thus soil erosion significantly. This improves the quality of surface
water reducing pollution from soil erosion, and enhances groundwater resources.

· Increased yields. Conservation agriculture is by no means a low output agriculture

and allows yields comparable with modern intensive agriculture but in a sustainable
way. Yields tend to increase over the years with yield variations decreasing.

· Reduced costs. For the farmer, CA is mostly attractive because it allows a reduction
of the production costs, reduction of time and labour, particularly at times of peak
demand such as land preparation and planting and in mechanized systems it
reduces the costs of investment and maintenance of machinery in the long term.

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 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
JUICE-JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER
(JUICE)

· ESA s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will make detailed observations of the giant
gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and
Europa

· The mission will characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible
habitats, explore Jupiter s complex environment in depth, and study the wider
Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.

· Although the mission will examine all three moons, the main focus will be on
Ganymede, as it is the largest moon in the Solar System — larger than Pluto and
Mercury — and the only one to generate its own magnetic field. Juice, which will
move into Ganymede s orbit after approximately four of arriving at Jupiter, will “use
its suite of ten sophisticated instruments to measure how Ganymede rotates, its
gravity, its shape and interior structure, its magnetic field, its composition, and to
penetrate its icy crust using radar down to a depth of about nine km.

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· Ganymede is the only moon known to have its own magnetic field – a discovery
made by NASA s Galileo spacecraft in 1996.

· The magnetic field causes auroras, which are ribbons of glowing, hot, electrified gas,
in regions circling the north and south poles of the moon. Because Ganymede is
close to Jupiter, its magnetic field is embedded in, or lies within, Jupiterǁs magnetic
field.

· Juice will also analyse the chemistry, structure, dynamics, weather, and climate of
Jupiter and its ever-changing atmosphere.

· The three moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, are believed to hold immense
amounts of water, which could be around six times more than the volume of water in
Earthǁs oceans, there is a possibility that life is present on them.

· Juice isn t equipped to detect life. What it is capable of is finding out whether there
could be places around Jupiter, inside the icy moons, where the necessary
conditions, such as water, biological essential elements, energy, and stability, to
sustain life are present.

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 CURRENT AFFAIRS
VIBRANT VILLAGE SCHEME
Why in news?

● Recently Ministry of Home affairs launched India s ambitious ―Vibrant Village

Programmeǁ (VVP) at Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh s eastern Anjaw district

Background

● Comprehensive development of villages of blocks on northern border thus

improving the quality of life of people living in identified border villages. This will help
in encouraging people
to stay in their native
locations in border
areas and reversing the
outmigration from these
villages adding to
improved security of the
border.

About Vibrant Villages

Programme

● It is a Centrally
sponsored scheme,
announced in the Union
Budget 2022-23 (to
2025-26) for
development of villages
on the northern border,
thus improving the
quality of life of people
living in identified border
villages

● The Vibrant Villages

Programme will aid in
raising the standard of
living for residents of designated border communities and encouraging them to
remain there, reversing the outmigration from these villages and enhancing border
security.

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 ● Action plans for identified villages would be prepared by the district administration
with assistance from the proper mechanisms at the block and panchayat levels, in
order to guarantee complete saturation of federal and state programmes.

● Highest priority for village development: Road connectivity, drinking water, power
(including solar and wind energy), mobile and internet access, tourist attractions,
multipurpose facilities, healthcare infrastructure, and wellness centres are the
intervention areas .

● The Vibrant Villages Programme has identified 2967 villages in 46 blocks of 19

districts bordering on the north, including Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand,
and Himachal Pradesh, and the UT of Ladakh, for complete development.

Features of the scheme

● The scheme aids to identify and develop the economic drivers based on local,
natural, human and other resources of the border villages on the northern border;

● Development of growth centres on ―hub and spoke modelǁ through promotion of

social entrepreneurship, empowerment of youth and women through skill
development and entrepreneurship;

● Leveraging the tourism potential through promotion of local, cultural, traditional

knowledge and heritage;

● Development of sustainable eco-agri businesses on the concept of ―one village

-one
productǁ through community-based organisations, cooperatives, NGOs.

● There will not be overlap with Border Area Development Programme

● Vibrant Village Action Plans will be created by the district administration with the
help of Gram Panchayats.

● 100 % saturation of Central and state schemes will be ensured.

Implementation Agency
● Ministry of Home affairs is the
implementation Agency

About
● Kibithu is a remote village located at
an altitude of 9,000 feet above sea
level, near the India-China border.

● It is the easternmost village of India

and is considered as the gateway to
the Land of the Rising Sun, Arunachal
Pradesh.

Related Topics

1) Border area development programme

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