Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. Operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Organisation structure

• The CBI is headed by a Director, an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer with a rank of Director General of Police.
• The director is selected based on the CVC Act 2003 and has a two-year term.
• Other ranks in the CBI which may be staffed by the IRS(Indian Revenue Service) officer

Selection committee

The amended Delhi Special Police Establishment Act empowers a committee to appoint the director of CBI. The committee consists the following people:

• Prime Minister – chairperson
• Leader of Opposition – member
• Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judge recommended by the Chief Justice – member

When making recommendations, the committee considers the views of the outgoing director.Above Selection committee was constituted under The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. Before this central vigilance commissioner, under CVC act, had this power.

Jurisdiction w.r.t to state police

Maintaining law and order is a state responsibility as "police" is a State subject, and the jurisdiction to investigate crime lies with the state police exclusively.

The CBI being a Union subject may investigate:

• Offences against central-government employees, or concerning affairs of the central government and employees of central public-sector undertakings and public-sector banks
• Cases involving the financial interests of the central government
• Breaches of central laws enforceable by the Government of India
• Major fraud or embezzlement; multi-state organized crime
• Multi-agency or international cases

The High Courts and the Supreme Court have the jurisdiction to order a CBI investigation into an offence alleged to have been committed in a state without the state's consent, according to a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court

Right to Information (RTI) and CBI

• CBI is exempted from the provisions of the Right to Information Act.
• This exemption was granted by the government on 9 June 2011 (with similar exemptions to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), the Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation and the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid)) based on national security.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

About

• Under this programme, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land upto 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
• This income support will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.
• This programme will be funded by Government of India. Around 12 crore small and marginal farmer families are expected to benefit from this.
• The programme would be made effective from 1st December 2018 and the first installment for the period upto 31st March 2019 would be paid during this year itself.
• PM-KISAN would not only provide assured supplemental income to the most vulnerable farmer families but would also meet their emergent needs especially before the harvest season.
• PM-KISAN would pave the way for the farmers to earn and live a respectable living.

Super food and eat smart strategy Kerala

About

• Under the Millet Village scheme, the department had harvested ragi (finger millet), thina (foxtail millet), cholam (sorghum) and kuthiravaali (barnyard millet) in 1,200 acres.
• Additionally, a pilot scheme for cultivating Chia, a Central American plant, which is gaining popularity in India as yet another superfood has also been initiated.
• A happy combination of factors such as high protein content, short growing season, climate change resilience and low water requirement make millets an ideal crop.

Millets

• Millet is combination of jowar, bajra, ragi and others.
• Millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food.
• Millets are important crops in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially in India, Mali, Nigeria, and Niger), with 97% of millet production in developing countries.
• The crop is favored due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions.

Ashtadhatu idols

About:

• Ashtadhatu (literally eight metals), also called octo-alloy is an alloy often used for casting metallic idols in Jain and Hindu temples in India.
• The composition is laid down in the Shilpa shastras, a collection of ancient texts that describe arts, crafts, and their design rules, principles and standards.
• Ashtadhatu is used because it is considered extremely pure, sattvic of Sattva, in Hinduism, and does not decay, as also being restricted to those of Gods Kubera, Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, and goddesses, Durga and Lakshmi.
• Its traditional composition is gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tin, iron and antimony or mercury. However sometimes an alloy idol is termed ashtadhatu, even when its exact composition is not known.
• The metals were mixed in equal proportions and the finished idol was very rough to be thoroughly polished later on. Due to their sacredness and rarity, these pure idols are very susceptible to thefts.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

About

• The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
• The treaty marked the first time the superpowers had agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons, and utilize extensive on-site inspections for verification.

Pink Revolution

About

• Pink Revolution is a term used to denote the technological revolutions in the meat and poultry processing sector.
• India has already seen the ‘green’ and ‘white’ revolutions in its food industry – related to agriculture and milk respectively, now thrust is upon meat and poultry sector.
• India being a country of huge cattle and poultry population, has high potential for growth if this sector is modernized.

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

About

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), formerly known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative and Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), is an international organisation consisting of coastal states bordering the Indian Ocean.
• The IORA is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, bringing together representatives of Government, Business and Academia, for promoting co-operation and closer interaction among them.
• It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.
• Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) has identified six priority areas, namely:
  • Maritime security,
  • Trade and investment facilitation,
  • Fisheries management,
  • Disaster risk reduction,
  • Academic and scientific cooperation and
  • Tourism promotion and cultural exchanges.
• The Coordinating Secretariat of IORA is located at Ebene, Mauritius.

Suraksha Yatra

About

• The rally will travel through places historically associated with Gandhiji, both in India, as well as in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and will pass through Sabarmati, Porbandar, Dandi, Yerwada, Sewagram, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, ChauriChaura, Champaran, Shantiniketan and Kolkata in India before travelling to Dhaka in Bangladesh.
• It will conclude at Yangon in Myanmar on the 24th of February, covering a total distance of 7250 km.
• The rally is part of the year-long celebrations to commemorate the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi in India and across the globe, initiated by Government of India on 2nd October last year.
• It will take up advocacy on Road Safety concerns along the route.
• The objective of the rally is to spread Gandhji’s message of Satya and Ahimsa among people.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)

• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) is amalgamation of various schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), PMKSY –Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP) including Command Area Development (CAD), Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) and Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies Implemented by MoWR, RD & GR]
• PMKSY - Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) [Implemented by Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare] and PMKSY - Watershed Development (WD) [Implemented by Department of Land Resources].

About

• The major objective of PMKSY is to
  • Achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level.
  • Expand cultivable area under assured irrigation
  • Improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water
  • Enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop)
  • Enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system.

SLSC , NEC & NSC

• State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) chaired by the Chief Secretary of the respective States are authorized to sanction projects, oversee its implementation and monitoring.
• National Executive Committee (NEC) under the Chairmanship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog will oversee programme implementation, allocation of resources, inter-ministerial coordination, monitoring & performance assessment, addressing administrative issues.
• At National level, programme is to be supervised and monitored by an Inter-Ministerial National Steering Committee (NSC) under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister with Union Ministers concerned Ministries as a members.