Essential Facts (Prelims): 15th Feb, 2019


Minimum wages

Category: Social sector

  • An expert panel has recommended that a need-based national minimum wage for workers across the country be set at ₹375 per day, or ₹9,750 per month.
  • The Committee has also recommended different national minimum wages for different geographical regions of the country to suit the local realities and as per socio-economic and labour market contexts.
  • These regional wage recommendations range from ₹342 per day in some States including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal to ₹447/day for States such as Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
  • While the Minimum Wages Act was enacted in 1948, it stipulates different wages according to occupation and State; there is no national minimum wage.
  • In 2016, govt hiked minimum wages for unskilled non-agricultural workers by 42% to ₹350 per day.

Waste

Category: Environment

  • Nearly half of India’s waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, meant to convert non-biodegradable waste, are defunct.
  • Further, the country’s inability to segregate waste has resulted in even the existing plants working below capacity.
  • Since 1987, 15 WTE plants have been set up across the country. However, seven of these plants have shut down.
  • The key reasons for closure are the plants’ inability to handle mixed solid waste and the high cost of electricity generated by them that renders it unattractive to power companies.
  • The fundamental reason for the inefficiency of these plants is the quality and composition of waste.
  • MSW (municipal solid waste) in India has low calorific value and high moisture content.
  • As most wastes sent to the WTE plants are unsegregated, they also have high inert content.
  • These wastes are just not suitable for burning in these plants. To burn them, additional fuel is required which makes these plants expensive to run.
  • The NITI Aayog, as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, envisages 800 megawatt from WTE plants by 2018-19, which is 10 times the capacity of all the existing WTE plants put together.

Defence pacts

Category: Defence & Security

  • India concluded defence cooperation and security protection agreements with Germany and Sweden.
  • The agreement will enable both the countries to share classified information with each other.

Houthi rebels

Category: International

  • The Houthi insurgency in Yemen also known as the Houthi rebellion, was a military rebellion pitting Zaidi Shia Houthis (though the movement also includes Sunnis) against the Yemeni military that began in Northern Yemen and has since escalated into a full-scale civil war.
  • The U.S., while not directly involved in combat in Yemen, has, since 2015, provided the Saudi-led coalition with support and intelligence for its war against Houthi rebels, who have some backing from Iran.

Rainfed farming

Category: Agriculture

  • Rainfed agriculture contributes to 60 per cent of the value of agriculture GDP of India.
  • However, there is a clear-cut bias towards irrigated areas when it comes to public investment in agriculture in the country.
  • This neglect, together with unsuitable programme design, has ensured that potential of rain-fed areas remains unrealised.
  • While farmers in irrigated areas earn 60 per cent of their income from agriculture, their counterparts in rainfed areas earn only 20-30 per cent from farm-related activities.
  • While the average yield in rainfed areas is about 1.1 tonnes per hectare, that in irrigated areas is about 2.8 tonnes per hectare.
  • About 61 per cent of India’s farmers rely on rainfed agriculture and 55 per cent of the gross cropped area is under rainfed farming.
  • While the government spent ₹5,40,000 crore on procuring rice and wheat at MSP (Minimum Support Price) between 2003-04 and 2012-13, its expenditure on procurement of major rainfed crops such as coarse cereals, millets and pulses during the same period was merely ₹3,200 crore.

Leprosy

Category: General Science/Social sector

  • Parliament passed a bill removing leprosy as a ground for divorce under five personal laws including the Hindu Marriage Act.
  • Leprosy is a chronic, progressive bacterial infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae.
  • It primarily affects the nerves of the extremities, the skin, the lining of the nose, and the upper respiratory tract.
  • Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s disease

 

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