Bamboo ceases to be a tree, freed of Forest Act

• After 90 years, the bamboo has legally ceased to be a tree.
• The government amended the Indian Forest Act and removed the bamboo — taxonomically a grass — from a list of plants that also included palms, skumps, brush-wood and canes.
• In doing so, the government hoped to promote cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve the “twin objectives” of increasing the income of farmers and also increasing the green cover of the country.
• Bamboo grown in the forest areas would continue to be governed by the 222provisions of the Indian Forest Act.
• The amendment was cleared as an ordinance and is therefore yet to get parliamentary backing.
• India has the largest area under bamboo cultivation and is the second richest in terms of bamboo genetic resources after China.

• Commerce and industry minister to fight an uphill battle in December at ministerial meeting of WTO as US is opposing the use of “development” in the initial draft declaration.
• It will come as a setback given India’s thrust on putting the Doha Development Round at the forefront of talks and efforts to get developed countries to reduce subsidies.

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade.
• The WTO officially commenced on 1 January 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, signed by 123 nations on 15 April 1994, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
• It is the largest international economic organization in the world.
• The WTO has 164 members and 22 observer governments.
• The highest decision-making body of the WTO is the Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years.
• Uruguay Round-eighth GATT round- It was the biggest negotiating mandate on trade ever agreed. The talks were going to extend the trading system into several new areas.
• Marrakesh Agreement- The Final Act concluding the Uruguay Round and officially establishing the WTO regime was signed 15 April 1994, during the ministerial meeting at Marrakesh, Morocco, and hence is known as the Marrakesh Agreement.
• Doha Round- launched at the fourth ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. This was to be an ambitious effort to make globalization more inclusive and help the world's poor, particularly by slashing barriers and subsidies in farming.

• Scientists studying the seismic activity triggered at the Koyna-Warna reservoirs- have observed that the epicentre of earthquakes recorded in the recent decades are shifting towards the southern direction, and are concentrated around the Warna reservoir.
• It is located near Karad in Maharashtra.
• Six decades ago, a powerful earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale had struck the area near the Koyna reservoir, causing massive damage in the locality.
• Apart from Koyna reservoir, there are only three other seismically-active reservoirs in the world — located in China, Zimbabwe and Greece — which have recorded earthquakes stronger than 5 on the Richter Scale.

• The Koyna River is a tributary of the Krishna River which originates in Mahableshwar, Satara district, western Maharashtra, India.

• It is right bank tributary of the Krishna River.

• The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has classified different regions in the country into zones II to V, taking into consideration earthquake records, tectonic activities and damage caused.
• Zone II is considered the least seismically active, while Zone V is the most active. Zone IV and V fall under “severe” to “very severe” categories respectively.
• Zone V includes the entire northeastern region, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, parts of north Bihar and the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

• It is a point of origin of an earthquake inside the earth.

• It is Point on the earth’s surface which is vertically above the focus.

• The Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) is an initiative under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
• It is a special clean-up initiative focused on select iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural places in the country.
• The initiative is being coordinated by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in association with the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and the concerned State governments.
• Under Phase 1 of this initiative, the following iconic places were being covered for an intensive clean-up-
  Ajmer Sharif Dargah 
  2. CST Mumbai  
  3. Golden Temple,
  4. Kamakhya Temple
  5. Maikarnika Ghat 
  6. Meenakshi Temple
  7. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi
  8. Shree Jagannath Temple
  9. The Taj Mahal and 
  10. Tirupati Temple.

• 10 New Iconic sites identified under Phase II of Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) project under Swachh Bharat Mission are: 
  1.Gangotri
  2. Yamunotri
  3. Mahakaleshwar Temple
  4. Charminar
  5. Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assissi
  6. Kalady
  7. Gomateshwar
  8. Baijnath Dham
  9. Gaya Tirth and 
  10. Somnath temple.

• The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2 October 2014 at the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
• The mission was divided into two parts — urban and rural.
• The Swachh Bharat Mission Urban is managed by the Ministry of Urban Development, while the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (Rural) is led by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

• A certificate of residency issued by a gram panchayat is not a document of citizenship and is “meaningless” unless supported by some other valid record to make a claim for inclusion in the National Register of Citizenship (NRC), the Supreme Court said recently.
• Out of a total of 3.29 crore claims made so far for inclusion in the NRC which is being prepared in Assam to identify illegal migrants.
• The draft NRC is required to be published on or before December 31.

• The unique scheme under the title “North East Rural Livelihood Project” is being supported by the World Bank and will primarily benefit the tribal and the lower socioeconomic groups, including women, in the North-Eastern Region (NER).
• To begin with, four states, - Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, will be taken up for helping the tribal and even the non-tribal lower groups living in remote areas.
• The project is aimed at assisting over 10,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) and benefit about three lakh poor households.

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• After the President assent to an ordinance to amend the bankruptcy code now, wilful defaulters and entities whose accounts have been classified as NPAs will be barred from bidding for assets.
• The amendments aim to keep out such persons who have either wilfully defaulted or have associated with non-performing assets (NPAs).
• Those who have their accounts classified as non- performing assets for one year or more and are unable to settle their overdue amounts would also be ineligible.

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) is the regulator for overseeing insolvency proceedings and entities like Insolvency Professional Agencies (IPA), Insolvency Professionals (IP) and Information Utilities (IU) in India.
• It covers Individuals, Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships and Partnership firms.
• It handles the cases using two tribunals like NCLT (National company law tribunal) and Debt recovery tribunal.

• Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or other entity that cannot repay the debts it owes to creditors.

• An ordinance is an executive order issued by the President of India/Governor of State that holds the same force and effect as an Act passed by the Parliament/state legislature.

• The President has the power to issue ordinances under Article 123of the Constitution.
• If at any time, except when both Houses of Parliament are in session, the President is satisfied that circumstances exist, he may promulgate Ordinances.
• The maximum validity of an ordinance is 6 months and 6 weeks.
• It shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of Parliament, or, of before the expiration of that period resolutions disapproving it are passed by both Houses.

• The Constitution (123 Amendment) Bill, 2017 to bring National commission for backward classes (NCBC), set up in 1993, on a par with National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), was passed by the Lok Sabha.
• When the Bill was brought before the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition managed to pass a crucial amendment to Clause III.
• The amendment expanded the three-member commission to five so as to give representation to a woman and a person from minority community and mandated that all five members should necessarily be from Other Backward Classes (OBC).
• Another amendment sought to protect the federal structure by giving states a significant role in making recommendations to the list.
• After amendment bill was passed in Rajya Sabha, it will now have to be passed once again in Lok Sabha.

• National Commission for Backward Classes is under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment established on 14 August 1993.
• It was constituted pursuant to the provisions of the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
• The NCBC currently plays a recommendatory role to the government on inclusion or exclusion of a community in the Central list of OBC.
• The proposed legislation will allow the NCBC to look at grievance redressal and safeguarding the interest of OBCs, powers that until now vested with the SC Commission.

• The deadly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — human form of the ‘mad cow’ disease — may spread through touch.
• Scientists found that an abnormal protein (prion protein) linked to the fatal infection can be detected from the skin of patients.

• It is a universally fatal brain disorder.
• Early symptoms include memory problems, behavioural changes, poor coordination, and visual disturbances.
• CJD is believed to be caused by a protein known as a
• Infectious prions are misfolded proteins that can cause normally folded proteins to become misfolded.

• It was reported recently that this year’s Winter Session is likely to be held from December 15 to January 5, 2018 — much later than usual.
• Union Minister Arun Jaitley has said the government would ensure a regular Winter Session but would not like it to clash with the December 9-18 Gujarat Assembly elections.
• The Congress has, on the other hand, alleged that the government is avoiding Parliament.

• By convention, Parliament meets for three sessions in a year.
  (a) The longest, the Budget Session, is held towards the beginning of the year, 
  (b) A three-week Monsoon Session follows from July to August
  (c) Winter Session, also three weeks long, in November-December.
• The dates for each session are announced at least 15 days in advance, so Members have time to submit their questions and give notice for Parliamentary interventions.

• Law-making is dependent on when Parliament meets.
• Also, a thorough scrutiny of the government’s functioning and deliberation on national issues can only take place when the two Houses are in session.
• Predictability in the functioning of Parliament is key to a well-functioning democracy.

• In 1955, Lok Sabha recommended a calendar of sittings for each session, the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to the recommendation, but it was not implemented.
• The Constitution does not specify when or for how many days Parliament should meet.
• Article 85 only requires that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sessions of Parliament.
  Article 85- the President can summon a session of Parliament “at such time and place as he thinks fit”. Thus, a session can be called on the recommendation of the government, which decides its date and duration.

• The Government of India Act, 1935, contained a provision relating to the summoning of the legislature in India.
• It specified that the central legislature had to be summoned to meet at least once a year, and that not more than 12 months could elapse between two sessions.

• The Constitution that came into force in 1950 required Parliament to be summoned twice in a year, with a gap of no more than six months between its sessions.
• The First Amendment changed this in 1951, and Article 85 got its present form.

• There is no minimum number of days that Parliament is required to meet in a year

• There are three main advantages-

• A Bill pending before the Parliament is to encourage both the public and private sectors to participate in the space programme.
• The new Bill encourages the participation of non-governmental/private sector agencies in space activities in India under the guidance and authorisation of the government through the Department of Space.
• The provisions of this Act shall apply to every citizen of India and to all sectors engaged in any space activity in India or outside India
• A non-transferable licence shall be provided by the Central Government to any person carrying out commercial space activity.

• World's first Sanskrit 3D film 'Anurakthi’ is among the main attraction in 3D category at the ongoing International Film Festival of India in Panaji in Goa.
• The movie narrates the story of 'Vasudha', a Punjabi danseuse, who comes to Kerala to learn Koodiyattam from a practitioner called Paramesharwan Chakkiar.

• The Union cabinet approved the setting up of the 15th Finance Commission, which will decide on the distribution of tax proceeds among centre, states and local bodies in the post-goods and services tax (GST) era.
• The recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, chaired by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Y.V. Reddy, are valid from 2015 to 2020.
• The 14th Finance Commission is considered to have fundamentally reset the centre-state fiscal relationship by raising the untied share of states in net central taxes to 42% from 32%.
• The recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission will be implemented in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2025.

• Russia's meteorological service had measured pollution of a radioactive isotope at nearly 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural Mountains.
• Extremely high pollution of ruthenium 106 found in samples from two meteorological stations in the southern Ural Mountains region.