1st November Daily Current Affairs

Published November 1, 2020 · Updated November 1, 2020

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) –The Indian Express

Why in News:

In Jharkhand it is found that Direct Benefit Transfer is direct siphoning of school scholarship
In several districts of Jharkhand, minority students are being duped of a centrally funded scholarship by a nexus of bank staff, middlemen, schools and govt. employees.

Direct Benefit Transfer

It is a government delivery system of welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds.
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013.
DBT is a part of the Indian government’s anti-poverty programme under this subsidies are transferred to the people directly through their bank accounts.
Aadhaar is not mandatory in DBT schemes. Since Aadhaar provides unique identity and is useful in targeting the intended beneficiaries, Aadhaar is preferred and beneficiaries are encouraged to have Aadhaar.
The following programmes are part of the DBT initiative:
National Child Labour Project
Student Scholarship
LPG subsidy

Super Typhoon Goni

Context:

The world’s strongest storm this year made landfall in the eastern part of the Philippines on Sunday, bringing “catastrophic violent winds”.

Key Points:

it will be given local name “Rolly” (GONI).
The information is provided by Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
Nearly 800,000 people have fled their homes in Albay province in the main Luzon island,
An average of 20 cyclones pass through disaster-prone Philippines every year,so it’s a high disaster prone area.
Goni is the world’s strongest typhoon this year with sustained winds of 285 kilometers per hour

Naming Of Tropical Cyclones

In general, tropical cyclones are named according to the rules at regional level. In the Atlantic and in the Southern hemisphere (Indian ocean and South Pacific), tropical cyclones receive names in alphabetical order, and women and men's names are alternated. Nations in the Northern Indian ocean began using a new system for naming tropical cyclones in 2000; the names are listed alphabetically country wise, and are neutral gender wise.
The common rule is that the name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO Members of a specific region, and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/biennual sessions.
Regional names of cyclone

Typhoons– China Sea
Tropical Cyclones- Indian Ocean
Hurricanes-Caribbean Sea
Tornadoes-USA
Wily Willies- Northern Australia
Baguio- Philippines
Taifu- Japan

J&K government declares Roshni Act ‘null and void – The Hindu

Key Points:

The Roshni Act is another name for the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001.
The J&K government decided to declare all the actions taken under Roshni Act under which 20 lakh kanals of land was to be transferred to existing occupants, as “null and void”, and has decided to retrieve the land within six months.
The J&K government has decided to implement the High Court order, where it declared the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001 as amended from time to time as unconstitutional, contrary to law and unsustainable
In an order issued by the J&K Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor.
According to the order, complete identities of all influential persons, including Ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, government officials, police officers, businessmen, etc., and their relatives or persons holding benami for them, who have derived benefit under the Act, will be made public.

Tobacco control: Voluntary groups seek focus on health by civic bodies

Why in news:

Recently Voluntary groups working for tobacco control in Rajasthan have sought a renewed focus on public health by the civic bodies through a licensing mechanism for retail sellers.

Key Points:

Voluntary group demanded that to achieve the objective of ‘Nirogi Rajasthan’ measure should take to control tobacco for improving health.
Activists have been pressing for enforcement of a vendor licensing system with the framing of rules under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003.

Why this is hard to regulate tobacco vendor?

If regulation is made to tobacco vendor then the unaccounted sale of tobacco products worth lakhs of rupees through unauthorised vendors was causing a heavy revenue loss to the exchequer.
as an estimated 2.50 lakh vendors can generate a revenue between ₹50 crore and ₹100 crore, in rajasthan.

Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003: Replaced the Cigarettes Act of 1975 (largely limited to statutory warnings- ‘Cigarette Smoking is Injurious to Health’ to be displayed on cigarette packs and advertisements. It did not include non-cigarettes). The 2003 Act also included cigars, bidis, cheroots, pipe tobacco, hookah, chewing tobacco, pan masala, and gutka.Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Amendment Rules, 2020:

It was mandated that the specified health warning shall cover at least 85% of the principal display area of the package.
In this, 60% shall cover pictorial health warning and 25% shall cover textual health warning.
This shall be positioned on the top edge of the package and in the same direction as the information on the principal display area.

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