December 1

Recently India launched an International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the CoP21 Climate Conference in Paris. Examine the  significance and objectives this Alliance. (200 Words)International Solar Alliance was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at CoP21 in Paris. The new body has invited all countries located partly or fully between the tropics of Cancer and tropics of Capricon to join. ISA is to function from the National Institute of Solar Energy in India, Gurgaon.
Significance of ISA
India set the target for Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 33-35 percent by 2030 below its 2005 level. To achieve this, the government has launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission for the generation of 20 GW solar power by 2022. India is the third highest greenhouse gas emitter after China(29 percent of global GHG emission) and US(15 percent of global GHG emission). ISA will help India to meet its commitment of 40 percent of non-fossil fuel energy to be adopted by 2030.
Objectives of ISA
The objective of ISA is to reduce the cost of finance and technology that is needed to deploy solar power widely. However, generation and storage technology would be adapted to the individual countries' need. The task that alliance will pursue are, cooperation in training, building institutions, regulatory issues, common standards, and investment including joint ventures. India can also get upper hand over the WTO dispute with US solar panel industries, because with ISA India will have cheaper technology available with her.

UPSC CAPF Interview

BSF to enter its 50th year in 1 December, 2014
Border Security Force (BSF) will enter its 50th year of distinguished service to the nation and commence its ‘Golden Jubilee Celebrations’ on December 1, 2014. A unique force with both ‘peace time’ and ‘war time’ roles, the BSF has over the last five decades grown to be one of the most complex and well managed border forces in the world, with multiple accolades and achievements to its name.
Kicking off the BSF’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations, Director General, D K Pathak, said, “I would like to congratulate and acknowledge all BSF personnel, both past and present, for their contribution in making the force what it is today. Over the years the BSF, has grown in to a sizeable organization that is always moving ahead and constantly reinventing itself to be better prepared.
The BSF over the last year has had to face some of its toughest challenges with the heaviest cross border firing. In Odisha & Chhattisgarh there are presently 15 battalions deployed to curb the growing threat of Left Wing Extremism. In the East, the Coordinated Border Management Plan signed between India & Bangladesh, is helping to resolve minor differences and improve relationships.
“Effective border management entails the optimum use of manpower, resources, equipment and armament. Key to this is the all important aspect of befriending the border population and therefore there is a lot of emphasis on implementation of local civic action programmes, including organizing health and cultural related events”, added BSF, Director General, D K Pathak.
With the government having approved a five year Modernization Plan – II (2012 – 2017), providing a financial outlay of INR 4,570 crore, the force is committed to complete modernization of its capabilities. Specific emphasis is being made to provide the most technologically advanced gear that goes a long way in protecting the life of a Jawan and driving operational efficiencies. Investment into training of personnel is also paramount with basic fundamental & in-service professional training across the many BSF institutions and special training schools.
In order to protect the border where fencing is yet to come up or the terrain is challenging, the BSF is considering Motion Sensor Alarms and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance and early warning. The air units will see the introduction of 8 Mi-17 V5 helicopters to assistborder management including anti-naxal operations. While the water wing will see the induction of 3 new floating Border Out Posts (BOPs) and 4 fast attack crafts that will assist in maritime capabilities in the Creek and Sunderban areas.
The BSF over the years has always displayed the highest standards of professionalism, valour and loyalty to the Nation while defending borders, countering internal unrest, assisting in natural disasters as well as any other duty assigned to it by the Govt. of India.

Border guarding forces
http://defencesecurityindia.com/border-guarding-forces/

Cyber strategy
http://defencesecurityindia.com/cyber-strategy/ (China's advanced cyber warfare capabilities; GhostNet; Operation Shady RAT(Remote Access Tool); 
China’s Tianhe-2 is the world’s fastest super computer with a theoretical speed of 54.9 petaflops. Such High Performance Computers have provided China with the capabilities for design, development, manufacturing, simulation, performance monitoring and testing of weapons and weapons platforms; cryptography and crypt analysis, weather forecast; production and testing of cyber weapons, networks and electromagnetic spectrum management and so on.;
National Cyber Security Policy in July 2013 - Unfortunately, not only its implementation has been rather tardy, it does not cover cyber warfare capability building. While it has made significant investments in creating organisations and their supporting structures such as national & regional Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), Defence Intelligence and Research Agency (DIARA), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and so on, the nation has yet to appreciate the gravity, threat, importance and urgent necessity of ensuring cyber security both in terms of National Security and Human security. There is a general lack of awareness and concern amongst the national leadership and the people of threats in the cyber domain and the absolute necessity of securing our networks,)

UPSC CAPF Interview

NDRF gets 2 more battalions, from SSB(a total of 12 now)
The government on April 29, 2015 decided to sanction two more battalions for the National Disaster Response Force, which was possibly the first foreign rescue team to reach Nepal following last weekend’s earthquake.

To speed up matters, two battalions of the Sashastra Seema Bal, the border guarding force set up in 1963, would be converted into NDRF units. One of these battalions would be based at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Arunachal Pradesh.

The decision was cleared at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The NDRF, which has been deployed in Nepal and some Indian states bordering it that were affected by the earthquake, currently has 10 battalions adding up to around 10,000 men.

”The objective of the conversion of these two additional battalions of SSB into NDRF battalions is to provide response to the area of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh during any natural and man-made disaster and to enhance the capability of the existing NDRF battalions,” according to an official release.

”The placement of two NDRF Battalions at Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh will fill up the vast gap of deployment of the NDRF,” an official release said.

The NDRF, a force raised by bringing on deputation personnel from various paramilitary forces, is the first responder in case of any natural or man-made disasters and its units are deployed in various parts of the country for such emergencies.

Each NDRF battalion has 1,149 personnel and is equipped to rescue people affected by disasters.

At present, the NDRF battalions are based in Guwahati (Assam), Calcutta (West Bengal), Cuttack (Odisha), Vellore (Tamil Nadu), Pune (Maharashtra), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Bathinda (Punjab), Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Patna (Bihar) and Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh).

Earlier, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol, Border Security Force and Central Industrial Security Force had earmarked two battalions each for the NDRF. The SSB now joins their ranks. 

Fighting without equipment
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/fighting-without-equipment/article7307353.ece

The MoD is also believed to be considering the alternative proposal of abandoning the import of both the carbine and assault rifle and manufacturing them locally under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ enterprise. But this will also entail time-consuming procedures, necessitating a private or public sector-led joint venture with an overseas original equipment manufacturer, again selected after extensive trials. Such an enterprise would, doubtless, necessitate the import of a certain number of weapon systems before their licensed production by the JV begins much later.

Army officers have warned that such delays severely compromise the operational efficiency of infantry units, especially those deployed in counter-insurgency operations, as they are forced to employ INSAS rifles against the superior weaponry of militants in Kashmir and the Northeast. Meanwhile, even the sniper rifles used in the paramilitary forces are more contemporary and advanced than the Army’s Soviet-era Dragunov SVD gas-operated, semi-automatic models acquired in the 80s.

Compare and contrast the structure, mandate, role and abilities of India’s armed forces with that of paramilitary forces
The basic aim of having well equipped armed forces is protection of the sovereignty
of the country from external (foreign) and internal aggression. Indian armed
forces include Indian Army, IAF and Indian Navy. The armed forces are supported by paramilitary forces which include Assam rifles, Special Frontier Force and
Indian Coast guards.

Indian armed forces come under Ministry of Defence while the
paramilitary forces come under Ministry of Home Affairs(except Indian Coastal Guards). The military forces play active lead roles while country fights external wars.

As per International Mandate Indian Armed forces being the federal cannot be deputed on the recognized international borders so other forces such as BSF ITBP etc protects the international borders(IBs), while Indian Army can be deputed on disputed borders (as these are not recognized IBs) such as LOC and LAC.

Apart from importing the various state of art weapons, vehicles and artilleries,
Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence is responsible for
the indigenous production of equipment used by the Indian Armed Forces. It
comprises Indian Ordnance Factories and some Public Sector Undertakings like
BEL, HAL etc.

Paramilitary forces under Home Ministry mostly buy their equipment from the domestic and international markets. The organizational differences are reflected in procedures of procurement of weapons, and paramilitary forces are said to have more modern weapons than Indian Army.


There is need for bringing in organizational transparency in the procurement of the weapons systems so that the operational efficiency of the armed forces are not compromised.

Paramilitary Force and CAPF definition
In 2011, Government of India made the formal definition: Paramilitary force =headed by Military officer (and not an IPS officer).
CRPF, BSF, ITPB etc are all headed by “Director Generals” but these director generals are actually IPS officers (and not military officers.) Hence going by that definition, we are left with only three “real” paramilitary forces
Assam Rifles
Special Frontier Force
Coast Guard
Ok then
what are CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB? =these are “Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).”
Then what are RAW and IB = they are intelligence gathering agencies (internal and external)
Then what are CBI and NIA= they are law enforcement agencies.

Organizations

Critically comment on the existing disaster response mechanism in India and critically examine the  role, objectives, structure and performance of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
The existing disaster response mechanism in India are as follows:

1.The new mechanism through National Disaster Management Act, 2005 has led to establishment of disaster management institutions at the national, state and district levels as National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) headed by the Prime Minister, State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by Chief Ministers, and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) headed by district collectors/magistrates 
2.A specialist response force called NDRF to tackle all types of disaster, including nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.
3. National Crisis Management Committee that includes cabinet secretary and secretaries of other departments that are in charge of dealing with crises and giving directions to the Crisis Management Group.

However,there are certain issues related to disaster response that have come out recently :
1. There are no provisions to make guidelines issued by the NDMA binding on state .
2. The National Disaster Mitigation Fund has not yet been established. 
3. Communication systems for DM are not developed. Critical equipments have not been procured and the satellite based communication network has not been developed.

NDRF : It is a disaster response agency under National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) created by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in 2009

Structure : It works at state and central-level under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) based in Delhi.At present, National Disaster Response Force consists of twelve battalions, three each from the BSF, CRPF and two each from CISF, ITBP and SSB(recently inducted). Each battalion will provide 18 self-contained specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel each including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads and medical/paramedics.

Role and objectives:
1. to combat all natural disasters including radiological, nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.
2. to conduct search and rescue operations in the event of any natural catastrophe .

Critical issue : 

The effectiveness of the National Disaster Response Force has been hampered because of shortage of trained manpower and absence of appropriate training facilities, infrastructure and equipment. The Standard Operating Procedures for deployment of the NDRF have not been finalised .

Water Management

Syllabus:
3.1 Ground Water and Watershed management
3.2 Water usage and efficient irrigation systems
3.3 Drinking Water: supply, factors of impurity of water and quality management

Ground Water and Watershed management
Water is a cyclic resources with abundant supplies on the globe. Approximately, 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with it, but the fresh water constitutes only about 3% of the total water. In fact, a very small proportion of fresh water is effectively available for human use. 
India accounts for about 2.45% of world's surface area, 4% of world's water resources and about 16% of world's population. The total water available from precipitation in the country in a year about 4000 cubic km. The availability from surface water and replenishable(replenish meaning - to refill; to renew) groundwater is 1869 cubic km. Out of this only 60% can be put to beneficial uses. Thus, the total utilisable water resources in the country is only 1122 cubic km.

Ground Water Resources
The total replenishable groundwater in the country is are about 432 cubic km that the Ganga and Brahamputra basins, have about 46% of the total replenishable groundwater resources. The level of groundwater utilisation is very high in the river basins lying in North-Western region and parts of South India. The groundwater utilisation is very high in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. However, there are states like Chhatisgarh, Odisha, Kerala etc which utilise only a small proportion of their groundwater potentials.

Deterioration of Water Quality
Water Quality refers to purity of water or water without unwanted foreign substances. Water gets polluted by foreign matters such as micro organisms, chemical, industrial and other wastes. Such matters deteriorate the quality of water and render it unfit for human use.
Monitoring of ground water quality is an effort to obtain information on chemical quality through representative sampling in different hydrogeological units. The chemical quality is being monitored by Central Ground Water Board once in a year through a network of about 15000 observation wells located all over the country, in regular monitoring programme.
The natural chemical content of ground water is influenced by depth of the soils and sub-surface geological formations through which ground water remains in contact.  In general, greater part of the country, ground water is of good quality and suitable for drinking, agricultural or industrial purposes. Ground water in shallow aquifers is generally suitable for use for different purposes and is mainly of Calcium Bicarbonate and Mixed type. However, other types of water are also available including Sodium-Chloride water. The quality in deeper aquifers also varies from place to place and is generally found suitable for common uses. There is salinity problem in the coastal tracts and high incidence of Fluoride, Arsenic, Iron &  heavy metals etc in isolated pockets have also been reported. The distributions of various constituents present in ground water in different parts of the country have been discussed in following paragraphs.

The main ground water quality problems in India are as follows.

Salinity:- Salinity in ground water can be of broadly categorised into two types, i.e. Inland Salinity and Coastal salinity

Inland Salinity
Inland salinity in ground water is prevalent mainly in the arid and semi arid regions of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. There are several places in Rajasthan and southern Haryana where EC values of ground water is greater than 10000 mS /cm at 25o C making water non-potable. In some areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat, ground water salinity is so high that the well water is directly used for salt manufacturing by solar evaporation.

Inland salinity is also caused due to practice of surface water irrigation without consideration of ground water status. The gradual rise of ground water levels with time has resulted in water logging and heavy evaporation in semi arid regions lead to salinity problem in command areas. 

Coastal Salinity

The Indian subcontinent has a dynamic coastline of about 7500 km length. It stretches from Rann of Kutch in Gujarat to Konkan and Malabar coast to Kanyakumari in the south to northwards along the Coromandal coast to Sunderbans in West Bengal .The western coast is characterized by wide continental shelf and is marked by backwaters and mud flats while the eastern coast has a narrow continental shelf and is characterized by deltaic and estuarine land forms. Ground water in coastal areas occurs under unconfined to confined conditions in a wide range of unconsolidated and consolidated formations.

Normally, saline water bodies owe their origin to entrapped sea water (connate water), sea water ingress, leachates from navigation canals constructed along the coast, leachates from salt pans etc. In general, the following situations are encountered in coastal areas

• Saline water overlying fresh water aquifer
• Fresh water overlying saline water
• Alternating sequence of fresh water and saline water aquifers

In India, salinity problems have been observed in a number of places in most of the coastal states of the country. Problem of salinity ingress has been conspicuously noticed in Minjur area of Tamil Nadu and Mangrol – Chorwad- Porbander belt along the Saurashtra coast. 

Fluoride

85 % of rural population of the country uses ground water for drinking and domestic purposes. High concentration of fluoride in ground water beyond the permissible limit of 1.5 mg/l poses the health problem. 

19 districts of Madhya Pradesh are effected by fluoride contamiation, they are:

Madhya Pradesh

19

Bhind, Chhatarpur, Chhindwara, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Guna, Gwalior, Harda, Jabalpur, Jhabua, Khargone, Mandsaur, Rajgarh, Satna, Seoni, Shajapur, Sheopur, Sidhi.

Arsenic

Arsenic as a contaminant is significant in terms of its toxic nature with exceedingly diverse manifestations of poisoning. Drinking water is the major pathway for ingestion of arsenic in human system. As per BIS 2012 (IS 10500:2012), the acceptable limit of Arsenic is 0.01 mg/l and the permissible limit in absence of alternate source is 0.05 mg/l.Elevated concentrations of arsenic in ground water are reported from various parts of India but particularly  affecting the large parts of the Ganga- Brahmaputra Plains.

Iron

High concentration of Iron (>1.0 mg/l) in ground water has been observed in more than 1.1 lakh habitations in the country. Ground water contaminated by iron has been reported from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal & UT of Andaman & Nicobar. 

Nitrate

Nitrate is a very common constituent in the ground water, especially in shallow aquifers. The source is mainly from anthropogenic activities. High concentration of Nitrate in water beyond the permissible limit of 45 mg/l causes health problems. High Nitrate concentration in ground water in India has been found in almost all hydrogeological formations. 

Water Conservation and Management 

Since there is a declining availability of fresh water and increasing demand, the need has arisen to conserve and efficiently manage this precious life giving resources for sustainable development. Given that water availability from sea/ocean, due to high cost of desalinisation, is considered negligible, India has to take quick steps and make effective policies and laws and adopt effective measures for its conservation. Besides developing water saving technologies and methods, attempts are also to be made to prevent the pollution. There is need to encourage the watershed development, rainwater harvesting, water recycling and reuse and conjunctive use of water for sustaining water in the long-run.

Watershed Management

Watershed management basically refers to efficient management and conservation of surface and groundwater resources. It involves prevention of runoff and storage and recharge of groundwater through various methods like percolation tanks, recharge wells, etc. However, in broad sense watershed management includes conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all resources - nature( like land, water, plants and animals) and human within watershed. Watershed management aims at bringing about balance between natural resources on the one hand and society on the other. The success of watershed development largely depends uupon community participation.

The Center and State Government have initiated many watershed development and management programmes in the country. Some of these are being development by non-governmental organisations also. Haryali is a watershed development project sponsored by the Central Government which aims at enabling the rural population to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation. The main objectives are: Objectives Harvesting every drop of rainwater for purposes of irrigation, plantations including horticulture and floriculture, pasture development, fisheries etc. to create sustainable sources of income for the village community as well as for drinking water supplies. The project is executed by Gram Panchayats with people's participation. Neeru-Meeru (Water and you) programme in Andhra Pradesh and Arary Pani Sansad(in Alwar, Rajasthan) have taken up constructions of various water harvesting structures such as percolation tanks, dug out ponds(johad), check dams, etc through people's participation. Tamil Nadu has made water harvesting structures in the house compulsory. No building can be constructed without making structure for water harvesting. 

Integrated Watershed Management Programme(2009-10) 

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is a modified programme of erstwhile Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), Desert Development Programme (DDP) and Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP) of the Department of Land Resources. This consolidation is for optimum use of resources, sustainable outcomes and integrated planning. The scheme was launched during 2009-10. The programme is being implemented as per Common Guidelines for Watershed Development Projects 2008. The main objectives of the IWMP are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water. The outcomes are prevention of soil erosion, regeneration of natural vegetation, rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water table. This enables multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed area.

Water harvesting structures for dry hilly areas

Water harvesting is a prominent and technically feasible technology in arid hilly areas. It helps in runoff harvesting and ground water recharging. Water harvesting structures such as community tanks, inter-terrace runoff harvesting, hill spring outflow harvesting and rooftop harvesting structures. Runoff utilisation is increasingly becoming a common practice in dryland conservation agriculture.

There are other approaches which can be adopted for conservations of dryland ecosystems are: Sustainable farming practices, Integrated watershed approach and role of agroforestry in soil and water conservation in dryland ecosystems.

MP Special

Hariyali Mahotsav
http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/madhya-pradesh-to-start-hariyali-mahotsav-to-augment-forest-cover-114073001184_1.html

Jal Abhishek Campaign
http://www.watermissionmp.org/Jal_Abhishek.htm 

Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Management
http://www.watermissionmp.org/Org.htm 

Bhagirath Krishak Abhiyan
http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20120416/1966342.html

Water usage and efficient irrigation systems

Water usage

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/97fuaF2aQkO9IjPiPAjMyL/Six-charts-that-explain-Indias-water-crisis.html

https://ih-igcse-geography.wikispaces.com/1.7.+Water+Use 

Efficient irrigation systems

Kurukshetra Magazine(July, 2014; New Irrigation Technologies)

Efficient use of water resource is basic to survival of the ever increasing population of a country, this is especially very crucial for India, where we are having less than 5% of the world's water resources and more than 18% world's population.   

 

Social & Some Important Legislation:

Social & Some Important Legislation:
Syllabus:

3.1 Indian society, Social Legislation as an instrument of Social Change.
3.2 The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993
3.3 Protection to Women Women & Criminal Law [Under Indian
Constitution Law & criminal Procedure code]
3.4 Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act-2005
3.5 The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955,
3.6 The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,
3.7 Right to Information Act, 2005,
3.8 Environment (Protection) Act, 1986,
3.9 The Consumer Protection Act, 1986,
3.10 Information Technology Act, 2000,
3.11 The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
3.12 The Madhya Pradesh Lok Sewaon ke Pradan ki Guarantee Adhiniyam-  2010

The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993
The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.
National Human Rights Commission constituted on 12 October, 1993.
http://nhrc.nic.in/documents/Publications/TheProtectionofHumanRightsAct1993_Eng.pdf

Complains can be register online to Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission.

Cases investigated by MPHRC:
1. Children working in Brick kiln factory.

Protection to Women Women & Criminal Law [Under Indian Constitution Law & criminal Procedure code]
Constitutional Laws:

1. THE COMMISSION OF SATI (PREVENTION) ACT, 1987
Any attempt to commit sati or abetment of sati is punishable offence under the act. 
whoever attempts to commit sati and does any act towards such commission shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.
if any person commits sati, whoever abets(abets meaning - encourage) the commission of such sati, either directly or indirectly, shall be punishable with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine.

2. THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2013
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/new-tough-antirape-law-comes-into-force/article4576706.ece

Against the backdrop of the nation-wide outrage over the tragic Delhi gang-rape,

Nirbhaya (Fearless) incident of December 16,2012, propelled the Government of India (GOI)to drive the issue of violence against women (VAW) to the centre-stage of political discourse.Consequently, on December 22, 2012, GOIappointed a three-member judicial committeeheaded by the former Chief Justice of India,Justice J.S. Verma, who passed away on April22, 2013, Justice Leila Seth and GopalSubramanium requesting them to submit areport within 30 days. The key objective of the Commission was to review for possible amendments to the criminal law and suggest measures for faster trials and harsher penalties for vicious offences related to VAW. Takingfurther cognizance of the strident storm of public protests in general and a tribute to Nirbhaya (Fearless) in particular, on January 23,2013, the commission submitted its recommendations by identifying ‘lack of good governance’ as the central cause of VAW. Thecommission goes on to criticise thegovernment, the abysmal and old-fashionedpolice system alongside public apathy intackling VAW, and thereby, recommendsdramatic transformation in legislations.

Punishment for offences under the act:

• Disobedience of law by a public servant (definition - Failure to record information in sexual offences cases;knowingly disobeying laws on investigation) - Punishable with rigorous imprisonment for six months to 2 years and fine.
• Rape resulting in death or vegetative state(meaning of vegetative state - A coma-like state characterized by open eyes and the appearance of wakefulness is defined as vegetative) - Specific offence.Punishment 20 years to life imprisonment(rigorous imprisonment) or death.
• Punishment for gang rape - 20 years to life imprisonment (rigorous imprisonment) and fine payable to the victim,that is reasonable to meet medical expenses
• Rape by armed personnel - Specific offence. Shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than seven years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life.
• Responsibility of Hospital - Punishable with 1 year and/or fine.;all hospitals(public and private) shall immediately provide first aid and/or medical treatment free of cost to the victims of acid attack or rape and immediately inform the police, and failure to do so will attract punishment; 
• Acid Attacks - Specific offence.Punishable with 10 years or life imprisonment and reasonable fine amount to meet medical expenses
• Punishment for repeat offenders - Specific offence. Life imprisonment (rigorous imprisonment) or death.
• The law, for the first time, defines stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable offences if repeated for a second time. 
• Stalking definition - Following a woman,attempting to foster personal interaction despite indication of victim’s disinterest,spying, monitoring electronic communications.
• Voyeurism definition - Watching a woman when she is engaging in a private act including sexual acts,use of lavatory, or when private parts are exposed.
• Age of consent - 18 years
• Marital rape - Is not an offence if the wife is over 16 years of age.
• Recording of information by woman officer - In case of acid attack,sexual harassment,disrobing, voyeurism,outraging a woman’s modesty, rape (of all kinds) information would be recorded by woman officer.
• Forcibly showing pornography - Punishable with rigorous imprisonment for up to 3 years imprisonment and/or fine.
• Identification of accused - Judicial magistrate to undertake special procedures to assist differently abled persons in identification of the accused. Identification process to be video graphed.
• Judicial Magistrate to record statement - Judicial Magistrate to record statement of the victim immediately after the police is informed in case of acid attack, rape, sexual harassment, disrobing,voyeurism etc. In case the victim is differently abled, the assistance of interpreters has to betaken and has to be video graphed.
• Requirement to fast track - Trial to be held on day-to-day basis. In case of rape cases, trial to be completed in 2 months of filing of charge sheet.
• Compensation - Compensation awarded by the State is in addition to what is payable by the accused.

3. THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL OFFENCES (POCSO) ACT, 2012

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Analyzing-the-POSCO-Act-2012/articleshow/19718160.cms

4. THE DOWRY PROHIBITION ACT, 1961
In this Act, “dowry” means any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly by one party to a marriage to the other party to the marriage.

• Penalty for giving and taking dowry -  If any person, after the commencement of this Act, gives or takes or abets the giving or taking of dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years, and with fine which shall not be less than fifteen thousand rupees or the amount of the value of such dowry, whichever is more.
• Penalty for demanding dowry - If any person demands, directly or indirectly, from the parents or other relatives or guardian of a bride or bridegroom, as the case may be, any dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months, but which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.
• Ban on advertisement - If any person offers through any advertisement in any newspaper, periodical, journal or through any other media, any share in his property or of any money or both as a share in any business or other interest as consideration fore the marriage of his son or daughter or any other relatives, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months, but which may extend to five years, or with fine which may extend to fifteen thousand rupees.
• Dowry to be for the benefit of the wife or her heirs - Where any dowry is received by any person other than the woman in connection with whose marriage it is given, that person shall transfer it to the woman- if the dowry was received before marriage, within [three months] after the date of marriage.
• Offence to be cognizable for certain purpose and to be non bailable under the act.

5. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
Punishment under the act:

• Punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel.
• Punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution.
• Procuring, including or taking person for the sake of prostitution.
• Detaining a person in premises where prostitution is carried on.
• Both a person who carries on prostitution and a person with whom prostitution is carried on, in any premises within the notified areas or in the vicinity of public places, shall be punishable with imprisonment upto 3 months.
• Seducing or soliciting for purpose of prostitution. - Whoever, in any public place or within sight of, and in such manner as to be seen or heard from, any public place, whether from within any building or house or not.
• Search without warrant.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/immoral-traffic-act-comes-under-critical-scrutiny/article6579277.ece

6. The National Commission for Women Act, 1990

http://wcd.nic.in/ncwact.pdf

7. THE PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE

BILL, 2010

http://ncw.nic.in/PDFFiles/sexualharassmentatworkplacebill2005_Revised.pdf

At any workplace, no woman, shall be subjected to sexual harassment including unwelcome sexually determined behavior, physical contact, advances, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, sexual demand, request for sexual favours or any other unwelcome conduct of sexual nature whether verbal, textual, physical, graphic or electronic or by any other actions, which may include, but is not limited to -

 (i) implied or overt promise of preferential treatment in employment; or

(ii) implied or overt threat of detrimental treatment in employment; or 

(iii) implied or overt threat about the present or future employment status;

(iv) conduct which interferes with work or creates an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment; or

(iv) Humiliating conduct constituting health and safety problems.

• Constitution of Internal Complaints Committee - For the purpose of this Act, every employer of a work place shall constitute, by an Office Order in writing, an Internal Complaints Committee. Provided that where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places, the Committee shall as far as practicable be constituted at all administrative units or offices.
• The Committee shall consist of the following members namely:- (a) a Chairperson, from amongst employees, who shall be a senior level woman, committed to the cause of women. In case a senior level woman employee is not available, the Chairperson shall be appointed from a sister organization or a non-governmental organization; (b) not less than two members from amongst employees committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work; and (c) one member from amongst such non governmental organisations or associations or other interests committed to the cause of women, as may be specified: Provided that atleast fifty per cent of the members so nominated shall be women.
• The appropriate Government may appoint a District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate or the Collector or Additional Collector as a District Officer for every District to carry out the functions under this Act. 
• Constitution of Local Complaint Committee - Where at a workplace, constitution of the Committee is not possible or practicable, or where the Committee has not been constituted by the employer of any work place, or where the complaint is against the employer himself, the District Officer may, constitute one or more than one Local Complaints Committee as may be required.

8. MATERNITY BENEFIT ACT, 1961

http://pblabour.gov.in/pdf/acts_rules/maternity_benefit_act_1961.pdf

• No employer shall knowingly employ a woman in any establishment during the six weeks immediately following the day of her delivery or her miscarriage.
• No woman shall work in any establishment during the six weeks immediately following the day of her delivery of her miscarriage. 
• every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage for the period of her actual absence immediately preceding and including the day of her delivery and for the six weeks immediately following that day. 
• The maximum period for which any woman shall be entitled to maternity benefit shall be twelve weeks, that is to say, six weeks up to and including the day of her delivery and six weeks immediately following that day.

Code of Criminal Procedure Act, 1973

124A - Sedition - Imprisonment for life and fine, or imprisonment for 3 years and

fine, or fine.

147 - Rioting - Imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both

148 - Rioting armed with a deadly weapon - Imprisonment for 3 years, or fine, or both.

302 - Murder - Death, or imprisonment for life, and fine.

304 B - Dowry death - Imprisonment of not less than seven years but which may extend to impri- sonment for life.

313 Causing miscarriage without woman's consent - Imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for 10 years and fine.

363  - Kidnapping - Imprisonment for 7 years and fine.

366 - Kidnapping or abducting a woman  to compel her marriage or to cause her defilement, etc. -  Imprisonment for 10 years and fine.

366A - Procuration of minor girl - Imprisonment for 10 years and fine.

366B - Importation of girl from foreign country - Imprisonment for 10 years and fine.

370 - Buying or disposing of any person as a slave - Imprisonment for 7 years and fine.

372 - Selling or letting to hire a minor for purposes of prostitution etc. - Imprisonment for 10 years , and fine.

376 - Rape - Imprisonment for life or imprisonment for ten years and fine.

376A - Intercourse by a man with his wife  during separation - Imprisonment for two years and fine.

376B - Intercourse by public servant with woman in his custody - Imprisonment for five years and fine.

376C - Intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home, etc. - Imprisonment for five years and fine.

376D - Intercourse by manager, etc., of a hospital with any woman in that hospital - Imprisonment for five years and fine.

377 - Unnatural offences - Imprisonment for five years and fine.

416 - Postponement of capital sentence pregnant woman - If a woman sentenced to death is found to be pregnant, the High Court shall order the execution of the sentence to be postponed, and may, if it thinks fit, commute the sentence to imprisonment for life.

494 - Marrying again during the lifetime of a husband or wife. - Imprisonment for 7 years and fine.

497 - Adultery (voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse) - Imprisonment for 5 years, or fine, or both.

498A  - a woman being subjected to cruelty by her husband or his relatives

509 - Uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the  modesty of a woman, etc. - Simple imprisonment for 1 year, or fine, or both.

Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act-2005

Definition of Domestic violence -  
(a) harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well‑being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse.
(b) harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security.

Duties of shelter homes— If an aggrieved person or on her behalf a Protection Officer or a service provider requests the person in charge of a shelter home to provide shelter to her, such person in charge of the shelter home shall provide shelter to the aggrieved person in the shelter home.

Duties of medical facilities — If an aggrieved person or, on her behalf a Protection Officer or a service provider requests the person in charge of a medical facility to provide any medical aid to her, such person in charge of the medical facility shall provide medical aid to the aggrieved person in the medical facility.

Appointment of Protection Officers —
(1) The State Government shall, by notification, appoint such number of Protection Officers in each district as it may consider necessary and shall also notify the area or areas within which a Protection Officer shall exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred on him by or under this Act.
(2) The Protection Officers shall as far as possible be women and shall possess such qualifications and experience as may be prescribed.

Duties and functions of Protection Officers —

(1) It shall be the duty of the Protection Officer—

(a) to assist the Magistrate in the discharge of his functions under this Act;

(b) to make a domestic incident report to the Magistrate

(c) to ensure that the aggrieved person is provided legal aid 

(d) to maintain a list of all service providers providing legal aid or counselling, shelter homes and medical facilities in a local area within the jurisdiction of the Magistrate

Right to reside in a shared household —

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, every woman in a domestic relationship shall have the right to reside in the shared household, whether or not she has any right, title or beneficial interest in the same.

(2) The aggrieved person shall not be evicted or excluded from the shared household or any part of it by the respondent(meaning of respondent - a defendant in a lawsuit, especially one in an appeals or divorce case) save in accordance with the procedure established by law.

Monetary reliefs —

While disposing of an application under sub-section (1) of section 12, the Magistrate may direct the respondent to pay monetary relief to meet the expenses incurred and losses suffered by the aggrieved person and any child of the aggrieved person as a result of the domestic violence and such relief may include but is not limited to—

(a) the loss of earnings;

(b) the medical expenses;

(c) the loss caused due to the destruction, damage or removal of any property from the control of the aggrieved person; and

(d) the maintenance for the aggrieved person as well as her children, if any, including an order under or in addition to an order of maintenance under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

The monetary relief granted under this section shall be adequate, fair and reasonable and consistent with the standard of living to which the aggrieved person is accustomed.

The Magistrate shall have the power to order an appropriate lump sum payment or monthly payments of maintenance, as the nature and circumstances of the case may require.

The respondent shall pay the monetary relief granted to the aggrieved person within the period specified in the order under sub‑section.

Upon the failure on the part of the respondent to make payment in terms of the order under sub‑section (1), the Magistrate may direct the employer or a debtor of the respondent, to directly pay to the aggrieved person or to deposit with the court a portion of the wages or salaries or debt due to or accrued to the credit of the respondent, which amount may be adjusted towards the monetary relief payable by the respondent

Compensation orders — In addition to other reliefs as may be granted under this Act, the Magistrate may on an application being made by the aggrieved person, pass an order directing the respondent to pay compensation and damages for the injuries, including mental torture and emotional distress, caused by the acts of domestic violence committed by that respondent.

Penalty for breach of protection order by respondent —

(1) A breach of protection order, or of an interim protection order, by the respondent shall be an offence under this Act and shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees, or with both.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), the offence under sub-section (1) of section 31 shall be cognizable and non-bailable.

Penalty for not discharging duty by Protection Officer — If any Protection Officer fails or refuses to discharges his duties as directed by the Magistrate in the protection order without any sufficient cause, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees, or with both.

The Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955

An Act to prescribe punishment for the ¹[preaching and practice of - “Untouchability” for the enforcement of any disability arising therefrom for matters connected therewith.

Punishment for enforcing religious disabilities. Whoever on the ground of" untouchability" prevents any person-

(a) from entering any place of public worship which is open to other persons professing the same religion or any section thereof, as such person; or

(b) from worshipping or offering prayers or performing any religious service in any place of public worship, or bathing in, or using the waters of, any sacred tank, well, spring or

water- course, river or lake or bathing at any ghat of such tank, water- course, river or lake] in the same manner and to the same extent as is permissible to other persons professing or any section thereof, as such the same religion, or any section there of, as such person; shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than one month and not more than six months and also with fine which shall be rot less than one hundred rupees and not more than five hundred rupees.

Punishment for enforcing social disabilities. Whoever on the ground of" untouchability" enforces against any person any disability with regard to-

(i) access to any shop, public restaurant, hotel or place of public entertainment; or

(ii) the use of any utensils, and other articles kept in any public restaurant, hotel, dharmshala, sarai or musafirkhana for the use of the general public or of 4 any section thereof]; or

(iii) the practice of any profession or the carrying on of any occupation, trade or business or employment in any job]; or

(iv) the use of, or access to, any river, stream, spring, well, tank, cistern, water- tap or other watering place, or any bathing ghat, burial or cremation ground, any sanitary convenience, any road, or passage, or any other place of public resort which other members of the public, or, have a right to use or have access to; or

(v) the use of, or access to, any place used for a charitable or a public purpose maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public; or

(vi) the enjoyment of any benefit under a charitable trust created for the benefit of the general public; or

(vii) the use of, or access to, any public conveyance; or

(viii) the construction, acquisition, or occupation of any residential premises in any locality, whatsoever; or

(ix) the use of any dharmshala, sarai or musafirkhana which is open to the general public, or to 1 any section thereof]; or

(x) the observance of any social or religious custom, usage or ceremony or 2 [ taking part in, or taking out, any religious social or cultural procession]; or

(xi) the use of jewellery and finery; 

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than one month and not more than six months and also with fine which shall be not less than one hundred rupees and not more than five hundred rupees.

Punishment for refusing to admit persons to hospitals etc. Whoever on the round of" untouchability" shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than one month and not more than six months and also with fine which shall be not less than one hundred rupees and not more than five hundred rupees.

Punishment for refusing to sell goods to render services. Whoever on the ground of" untouchability" refuses to sell any goods or refuses to render any- service to any person at. the same time and place and on the same terms and conditions at or on which such goods are sold or services are rendered to other persons in the ordinary course of business shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than one month and not more than six months and also with fine which shall be not less than one hundred rupees and not more than five hundred rupees.

Whoever commits any offence against the person or property of any individual as a repraisal or revenge for his having exercised any right accruing to him by reason of the abolition of" untouchability" under article 17 of the Constitution, shall, where the offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding two years, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than two years and also with fine.

Unlawful compulsory labour when to be deemed to be a practice of untouchability.

(1) Whoever compels any person, on the ground of" untouchability", to do any scavenging or sweeping or to remove any carcass or to flay any animal or to remove the umbilical cord or to do any other job of a similar nature, shall be deemed to have enforced a disability arising out of" untouchability".

(2) Whoever is deemed under sub- section to have enforced a disability arising out of" untouchability" shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months and not more than six months and also with fine which shall not be less than one hundred rupees and not more than five hundred rupees.

Cancellation or suspension of licences in certain cases. When a person who is convicted of an offence under section 6 holds any licence under any law for the time being in force in respect of any profession, trade, calling or employment in relation to which the offence is committed, the court trying the offence may, without prejudice to any other penalty to which such person may be liable under that section, direct that the licence shall stand cancelled or be suspended for such period as the court may deem fit, and every order of the court so cancelling or suspending a licence shall have effect as if it had been passed by the authority competent to cancel or suspend the licence under any such law.

Enhanced penalty on subsequent conviction. Whoever having already been convicted of an offence under this Act or of an abetment of such offence is again convicted of any such offence or abetment, 1 shall, on convection, be punishable-

(a) for the second offence, with imprisonment for a term of not less than six months and not more than one year, and also

(b) for the third offence or any offence subsequent to the third offence, with imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than two years, and also with fine which shall be not less than five hundred rupees and not more than one thousand rupees.

Offences by companies.

(1) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Protection of action taken in good faith.

(1) No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government or a State Government for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989

Punishments for offences of atrocities. —

(1) Whoever, not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe,—

(i) forces a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to drink or eat any inedible or obnoxious substance;

(ii) acts with intent to cause injury, insult or annoyance to any member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe by dumping excreta, waste matter, carcasses or any other obnoxious substance in his premises or neighbourhood;

(iii) forcibly removes clothes from the person of a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or parades him naked or with painted face or body or commits any similar act which is derogatory to human dignity;

(iv) wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or allotted to, or notified by any competent authority to be allotted to, a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or gets the land allotted to him transferred;

(v) wrongfully dispossesses a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe from his land or premises or interferes with the enjoyment of his rights over any land, premises or water;

(vi) compels or entices a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to do ‘begar’ or other similar forms of forced or bonded labour other than any compulsory service for public purposes imposed by Government;

(vii) forces or intimidates a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe not to vote or to vote to a particular candidate or to vote in a manner other than that provided by law;

(viii) institutes false, malicious or vexatious suit or criminal or other legal proceedings against a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;

(ix) gives, any false or frivolous information to any public servant and thereby causes such public servant to use his lawful power to the injury or annoyance of a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;

(x) intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view;

(xi) assaults or uses force to any woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe with intent to dishonour or outrage her modesty;

(xii) being in a position to dominate the will of a woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe and uses that position to exploit her sexually to which she would not have otherwise agreed;

(xiii) corrupts or fouls the water of any spring, reservoir or any other source ordinarily used by members of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used;

(xiv) denies a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe any customary right of passage to a place of public resort or obstructs such member so as to prevent him from using or having access to a place of public resort to which other members of public or any section thereof have a right to use or access to;

(xv) forces or causes a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe to leave his house, village or other place of residence, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine.

Punishment for neglect of duties. — Whoever, being a public servant but not being a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, wilfully neglects his duties required to be performed by him under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year.

Enhanced punishment for subsequent conviction. — Whoever, having already been convicted of an offence under this Chapter is convicted for the second offence or any offence subsequent to the second offence, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to the punishment provided for that offence.

Forfeiture of property of certain persons. —

(1) Where a person has been convicted of any offence punishable under this Chapter, the Special Court may, in addition to awarding any punishment, by order in writing, declare that any property, movable or immovable or both, belonging to the person, which has been used for the commission of that offence, shall stand forfeited to Government.

(2) Where any person is accused of any offence under this Chapter, it shall be open to the Special Court trying him to pass an order that all or any of the properties, movable or immovable or both, belonging to him, shall, during the period of such trial, be attached, and where such trial ends in conviction, the property so attached shall be liable to forfeiture to the extent it is required for the purpose of realisation of any fine imposed under this Chapter.

section 10 - Removal of person likely to commit offence. —

(1) Where the Special Court is satisfied, upon a complaint or a police report that a person is likely to commit an offence under Chapter II of this Act in any area included in ‘Scheduled Areas’ or ‘Tribal Areas’ as referred to in article 244 of the Constitution, it may, by order in writing, direct such person to remove himself beyond the limits of such area, by such route and within such time as may be specified in the order, and not to return to that area from which he was directed to remove himself for such period, not exceeding two years, as may be specified in the order.

Taking measurements and photographs, etc., of persons against whom order under section 10 is made.—

(1) Every person against whom an order has been made under section 10 shall, if so required by the Special Court, allow his measurements and photographs to be taken by a police officer.

Penalty for non-compliance of order under section 10.— Any person contravening an order of the Special Court made under section 10 shall be publishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and with fine.

Special Court.— For the purpose of providing for speedy trial, the State Government shall, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify for each district a Court of Session to be a Special Court to try the offences under this Act.

Special Public Prosecutor.— For every Special Court, the State Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify a Public Prosecutor or appoint an advocate who has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years, as a Special Public Prosecutor for the purpose of conducting cases in that court.

Power of State Government to impose collective fine. — The provisions of section 10A of the Protection of Civil Right Act, 1955 (22 of 1955) shall, so far as may be, apply for the purposes of imposition and realisation of collective fine and for all other matters connected therewith under this Act.

Preventive action to be taken by the law and order machinery —

(1) A District Magistrate or a Sub-divisional Magistrate or any other Executive Magistrate or any police officer not below the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police may, on receiving information and after such inquiry as he may thinks necessary, has reason to believe that a person or a group of persons not belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes, residing in or frequenting any place within the local limits of his jurisdiction is likely to commit an offence or has threatened to commit any offence under this Act and is of the opinion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding, declare such an area to be an area prone to atrocities and take necessary action for keeping the peace and good behaviour and maintenance of public order and tranquillity and may take preventive action.

Protection of action taken in good faith. — No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the Central Government or against the State Government or any officer or authority of Government or any other person for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act.

Human Resource Development

Human Resource Development

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/pmkvy.html  (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY))

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/nationalskilldevelopmentcorporation.html (National Skill Development Corporation)

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/nationalskilldevelopmentagency.html (National Skill Development Agency (NSDA))

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/nationalskilldevelopmentfund.html (National Skill Development Fund)

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/assets/images/NationalSkillDevelopmentPolicyMar09.pdf (National Skill Development Policy)

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/udaan.html (UDAAN)

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/star.html (Standard Training Assessment and Reward (STAR) Scheme)

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/school-education.html (School Education)

http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/higher-education.html (Higher Education)

http://www.dget.nic.in/content/innerpage/apprenticeship-training-scheme-ats.php (ATS -  Apprentice Training Scheme, CTS - Craftsmen Training Scheme)

Technology

Applications of Science and Technology in Social and Economic development, Indigenous technology, Transfer of technology and developing new Technologies

India : From Technology deprived nation to the world leader in Science
The years immediate after independence from 1950 to 1960s saw many scientific changes in the country from agriculture to industrialisation. When the independence came, one of the first and foremost measure taken were the establishment of new R&D organisation and revamping of existing institutes to meet country's need.
One of the primary concern that arose in early 1950s were the defence of our border from the hostile neighbouring countries. In order to address this Defence Research Development Organisation(DRDO) was established in 1958. The organisation played a major role in strengthening India's defence technologies and today India is missile super-power with the most modern nuclear powered ballistic missile and submarine INS Arihant on board nuclear reactor.
Another major challenge was to ensure food security in the country with frequent famine and low agriculture productivity. 'Food for everyone' was a distant dream and starvation was common. With high demand and low supply, India's foreign reserve largely went into importing food to feed the people. The situation changed with the advancement in the field of Bio-Technology which led to the Green Revolution in India. To be precise Green Revolution refers to the period starting from 1953 ad lasting through late 60s. During which agriculture yield increase in India, due to which improved agro-economic technology in India and help the country to become self-reliable in terms of food. Development of superior yielding, disease resistant crop varieties particularly Wheat. Introduction of chemical fertilizers and indigenous innovations in farming practices and irrigation made it possible.
The technological changes resulted in quadrupling of food grains production in the country. Today India is hub of Bio-Tech parks dedicated to research and development in agriculture and food production.
Organisations like Indian Council of Agricultural Research who led the research leading to Green Revolution in India have played a major role in this. In the year immediately post-independence, India practically had to import almost everything related to the basic need of the people. This was when India's premium research and development organisation - Council of Scientific and Industrial Research stepped in. The organisation having national laboratory across the country started with research in attaining self sufficiency in basic needs such as vegetables, oils, fertilisers, drugs, plastics, scientific instruments, graphite-carbon, molassses, glass, fuel & etc; and today provide support to some of the important industries in the world realising that basic and fundamental research was necessary to develope indigenouslies. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was established in 1945 which along with Indian Institute of Sciences contributed to the fundamental research for the betterment of the nation. Then within trees industries and noble method in farming and irrigation and of-course with the increase in population, India also realised the need for a Clean & Renewable energy, so 60s was the time when the country started establishing itself as a nuclear power nation. The early seed was sown by the great visionaries like Homi Bhabha with the establishment of Atomic Energy Commission in 1948. During the 1960s India started the first stage of its nuclear energy programme based on Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor and using natural uranium as fuel. The first nuclear power plant in the country was set-up at Tarapore, Maharashtra in October, 1969. It is interesting to note that in 1969, India was the first country in Asia and among the few countries in the world that had operating nuclear power reactor. India quickly set-up reactors like Apsara, Purnima, and Zerlina and today have 21 functioning nuclear reactor in 7 power plants producing a total of 13,292.91 GW per hour of electricity. During 60s the nuclear programme faced many criticism. Many thought that India should focus on developing basic amenities but there is no doubt that



In our last episode we saw how during our 50s to 70s, Science & technology stepped in lavatate

Global satellite to be named after Abdul Kalam
A global satellite for earth observation and disaster risk reduction -- GlobalSat for DRR -- proposed under the UN framework will be dedicated to APJ Abdul Kalam as a tribute to the vision of the celebrated rocket scientist and former Indian President who died July 27.
This has been stated by Milind Pimprikar, chairman of CANEUS (CANada-EUrope-US-ASia) Organization on Space Technologies for Societal Applications headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Founded in 1999, CANEUS serves to develop a common platform for space technology solutions for natural and man-made disaster management. The "GlobalSat for DRR" is a UN-driven global initiative on sharing space technology for disaster risk reduction, Pimprikar said.

Launch of this satellite was mooted at the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held at Sendai in Japan this March.

Comet probe Philae wakes up
Europe’s tiny robot lab Philae, hurtling through space on the back of a comet, has sent home its first message in nearly seven months. Scientists have said that Philae may soon resume science work, opening up a new chapter in its exhilarating voyage.

Europe recently announced that its comet-chasing mission Rosetta would be extended until September 2016 and may end with the dying mothership touching down on the comet.

Rosetta:

Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004 on an Ariane 5 rocket and reached the comet on 6 August 2014, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. Rosetta took off from Earth 10 years ago carrying Philae and traveled 6.4 billion miles before arriving at the comet.

Philae:

Philae ’​s mission was to land successfully on the surface of a comet, attach itself, and transmit data from the surface about the comet’s composition. It is a robotic European Space Agency lander.

It landed on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, more than ten years after departing Earth.
The mission seeks to unlock the long-held secrets of comets — primordial clusters of ice and dust that scientists believe may reveal how the Solar System was formed.
The scientific goals of the mission focus on “elemental, isotopic, molecular and mineralogical composition of the cometary material, the characterization of physical properties of the surface and subsurface material, the large-scale structure and the magnetic and plasma environment of the nucleus.”
Sensors on the lander will measure the density and thermal properties of the surface, gas analyzers will help detect and identify any complex organic chemicals that might be present, while other tests will measure the magnetic field and interaction between the comet and solar wind.

Philae is equipped with an array of experiments to photograph and test the surface of Comet 67P as well as to find out what happens when the roasting effect of the sun drives off gas and dust.