National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) recently informed that several states and Union territories (UTs) are yet to implement the Incident Response System (IRS), which is crucial for disaster response.

About Incident Response System (IRS):

IRS is a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedure and communications operating within a common organizational structure, with responsibility for the management of assigned resources to effectively accomplish stated objectives pertaining to an incident.

Functions of IRS:

In line with administrative structure and DM Act 2005, Responsible Officer (RO) is designated at the State and District level as overall in charge of the incident response management.

RO may delegate responsibilities to the Incident Commander (IC), who in turn will lead/manage the incident through Incident Response Teams (IRTs).

IRS functions through Incident Response Teams (IRTs) in the field. An IRT is a team comprising all positions of IRS organization; headed by Incident Commander (IC).

On receipt of Early Warning, RO activates IRTs.

In case of a disaster without any warning, local IRT will respond and contact RO for further support, if required.

IRTs pre-designated at all levels, i.e. State, District, Sub-Division and Tehsil/Block.

IRT’s lowest administrative unit (Sub-Division / Tehsil / Block) will be the ‘first responder’.

If the incident becomes complex and beyond the control of local IRT, higher level IRT will be informed / take over the response management.

In such cases the lower level IRT will merge with the higher level IRT.

When lower level of IRT merges with a higher level, IC of lower level may play the role of Deputy IC or Operations Sections Chief (OSC) or any other duty that the IC of higher authority assigns.

Committee of Parliament on Official Language

Recently, the Union Home Minister chaired the 38th meeting of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language.

About Committee of Parliament on Official Language:

The Committee of Parliament on Official Language was set up in 1976 under Section 4 of the Official Languages Act, 1963.

With the active promotion of Hindi being mandated by Article 351 of the Constitution, the Official Language Committee was set up to review and promote the use of Hindi in official communications.

The first Report of the Committee was submitted in 1987.

The Committee is constituted and chaired by the union home minister, and has, in accordance with the provisions of the 1963 Act, 30 members (20 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 MPs from Rajya Sabha).

Unlike the other Parliamentary, panels submit its report to Parliament, this panel submits its report to the President, who “shall [then] cause the report to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to all the State Governments”.

The purpose of the Committee is

To review the progress made in the use of Hindi for official purposes, and

To make recommendations to increase the use of Hindi in official communications.

Constitutional Status of Hindi and other languages:

Schedule 8 of the Indian Constitution has 22 Official Languages, including Hindi as well. ( UPSC CSE: Languages of India)

Article 351 states that, it is the duty of the Union to encourage the spread of the Hindi language to make it lingua franca (a shared language of communication used by people who are speakers of different languages) in India without interfering with its genius, style and expressions.

Article 348 (2) provides that the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose of the State, in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that State provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.

As per Article 343(1) of the Constitution of India, Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the official language of the Union.

The Official Language Act, 1963 provides under Section 7 that the use of Hindi or official language of a State in addition to the English language may be authorized, with the consent of the President of India, by the Governor of the State for the purpose of judgments, decrees etc. made by the High Court for that State.

International Chess Federation (FIDE)

The Grandmaster D. Gukesh has recently overtook Chess legend Viswanathan Anand as the highest-rated Indian player in International Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings.

About the International Chess Federation (FIDE):

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the governing body of the sport of chess, and it regulates all international chess competitions. Constituted as a non-governmental institution, it was recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a Global Sporting Organization in 1999.

FIDE currently has its headquarters in Lausanne, but it was initially founded in 1924 in Paris under the motto “Gens unaSumus” (Latin for “We are one Family”).

It was one of the very first International Sports Federations, alongside the governing bodies of the sports of Football, Cricket, Swimming, and Auto Racing.

It is now one of the largest, encompassing 199 countries as affiliate members, in the form of National Chess Federations.

Chess is nowadays a truly global sport, with dozens of millions of players in all the continents, and more than 60 million games on average played every day.

Each month, FIDE publishes the lists such as-

Top 100 Players

Top 100 Women

Top 100 Juniors

Top 100 Girls

It also publishes rankings of countries according to the average rating of their top 10 players and top 10 female players.

It uses the Elo rating system for ranking purpose.

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess.

Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has sought permission to inspect the inner chamber of the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.

Background:

About 1.2 quintal of gold jewellery is stocked in the Ratna Bhandar

The previous inventory of the jewellery in the Ratna Bhandar was carried out in 1978.

About Puro Jagannath Temple:

The Shree Jagannath Temple of Puri is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath, a form of Vishnu,in Puri in the state of Odisha on the eastern coast of India.

The present temple was rebuilt from the 10th century onwards, on the site of an earlier temple, by King AnantavarmanChodaganga Deva, first of the Eastern Ganga dynasty.

The Jagannath Temple in Puri is called the “White Pagoda”.

The temple is a part of Char Dham (Badrinath, Dwaraka, Puri, Rameswaram) pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one’s lifetime.

The Puri temple is famous for its Annual Ratha yatra, or chariot festival, in which the three principal deities are pulled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars.

These gave their name to the English term Juggernaut.

Unlike the stone and metal icons found in most Hindu temples, the image of Jagannath is made of wood and is ceremoniously replaced every twelve or nineteen years by an exact replica.

Architecture of Jagannath temple:

The temple is built in the Kalinga style of architecture, with the Pancharatha (Five chariots) type consisting of two anurathas, two konakas and one ratha.

Jagannath temple is a pancharatha with well-developed pagas.

‘Gajasimhas’ (elephant lions)carved in recesses of the pagas, the ‘Jhampasimhas’ (Jumping lions) are also placed properly.

The perfect pancharatha temple developed into a Nagara-rekha temple.

The temple is built on an elevated platform, as compared to Lingaraja temple and other temples belonging to this type.

This is the first temple in the history of Kalingaan temple architecturewhere all the chambers like Jagamohana, Bhogamandapa and Natyamandapa were built along with the main temple.

There are miniature shrines on the three outer sides of the main temple.

Archaeological Survey of India:

The ASI is the premier organization for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the country.

The prime objection of ASI is to maintain the archaeological sites, ancient monuments, and remains of national importance.

Headquarters: New Delhi.

Established: 1861 by Alexander Cunningham.

It regulates all archaeological activities as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.

It functions under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture.

It also regulates Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972.

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) System by SEBI

A new online dispute resolution (ODR) system involving institutions, conciliators and arbitrators for the capital market is on its way.

It will harness online conciliation and online arbitration for the resolution of disputes arising in the securities market.

The Dispute Resolution Process

At the initial stage, an investor would be required to lodge a complaint with the market participant directly.

In this regard, listed companies, regulated entities and specified intermediaries in the securities market are referred to as market participants collectively.

In case the grievance is not satisfactorily redressed, they have the option to raise it to the SEBI Complaints Redress System (SCORES) online portal.

However, if an investor is dissatisfied with the outcome at this level, they will have the option to go in for dispute resolution via the ODR portal.

The conditions in this regard are:

The complaint is not under consideration by the market participants and the SCORES platform.

The matter should not be pending before a court, consumer forum, or tribunal.

The New System

Markets Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs), which include stock exchanges, and clearing corporation’s depositories, will be required to identify and empanel one or more ODR institutions.

A common ODR portal will be established and operated by MIIs in consultation with their empaneled ODR institutions.

The ODR institution that gets the reference of the complaint will be responsible for appointing qualified conciliators and arbitrators.

Coverage: ODR will cover a wide array of intermediaries, including

Alternate investment funds (AIFs), investment advisors, mutual funds, portfolio managers, research analysts, and more.)

Disputes arising from different types of cases involving investors or clients, along with listed companies, including their registrar and share transfer agents, could involve the implementation of ODR.

Applicable to disputes that involve specified intermediaries or regulated entities in the securities market.

About SEBI (The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) :

The Securities and Exchange Board of India was established as a statutory body in the year 1992.

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Ministry: Ministry of Finance

Chairperson: Madhabi Puri Buch

The chairman is nominated by the Union Government of India.

Appointment of other members:

Two members, i.e., Officers from the Union Finance Ministry.

One member from the Reserve Bank of India.

The remaining five members are nominated by the Union Government of India, out of them at least three shall be whole-time members.

Tata Play starts beaming from its GSAT-24 satellite

Direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Tata Play has started beaming of television channels from its dedicated GSAT-24 satellite which it has leased from Indian space agency ISRO.

GSAT-24 satellite –  Ushering in a new era of satellite television for India

GSAT-24 is a 4-tonne 24-Ku band communication satellite built by ISRO only to cater to the requirement of Tata Play’s DTH application needs.

It is the first demand-driven communication satellite mission undertaken by NSIL post space sector reforms.

As a testament to the success of the Make In India initiative, this satellite would support domestic broadcasting services with advanced digital TV transmission capabilities

Working of a Communication satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunications signals through a transponder. It basically creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on earth.

Communications satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications. There are currently 2,134 communications satellites in the earth’s orbit and these comprise both private and government organizations. Several are in geostationary orbit 22,236 miles (35,785 km) above the equator, so that the satellite appears stationary at the same point in the sky.

The orbital period of these satellites is the same as the rotation rate of the Earth, which in turn allows the satellite dish antennas of ground stations to be aimed permanently at that spot; they do not have to move along and track it.

Since the high-frequency radio waves used for telecommunications links travel by line of sight, they get obstructed by the curve of the earth. What these communications satellites do is they relay the signal around the curve of the earth thus making possible communication between widely removed geographical points.

Communications satellites use a wide range of radio and microwave frequencies. To avoid signal interference, international organizations have regulations stating which frequency ranges (or bands) certain organizations are permitted to use. This allocation of bands reduces the chances of signal interference.