APSC Assam Yearbook 2021 : Latest Current Affairs

Assam State Child Scientist Award for class VIII student Raj Sharma
  • A project on an alternative source of fibre, developed from the snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) by Hiranya Raj Sharma, a class VIII student of Dhekiajuli town of Sonitpur district, was awarded the Khagendra Nath Brahma State Child Scientist Award in the lower age group at the 27th State-level National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC) 2019.
  • Hiranya Raj, a student of Polestar Academy of Singri area in Dhekiajuli town conducted research under the guidance of an assistant teacher of Dhekiajuli High School, Sailendra Sharma to understand that the plant which is locally popular as ‘khoru gumoni gos’ has enough utility.
  • The snake plant is a wild evergreen perennial plant locally available and spreads by way of its creeping rhizomes. It is a common weed of the roadsides, abandoned gardens and waste areas. Its leaves are thick and the mature leaves are dark green in colour, usually ranging from 60-160 centimetres in length and 6-10 centimetres in width.
  • The student undertook the project to study the snake plant and to explore its potential to be used as a substitute/supplement to the conventional fibres and also to protect and preserve the traditional knowledge and to scientifically test these ideas.
  • The lack of proper knowledge on possible benefits from the snake plant, has led to a situation where it is uprooted from fields.
  • A survey was conducted about the plant among the farmers where it was found that nearly 97.64 % had no knowledge about its usefulness. But if awareness is created, the snake plant could be used for producing an eco-friendly fibre from which goods of daily use can be made.

      Highlights of the India Justice Report 2019

  • Tata Trusts in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has prepared the India Justice Report (2019).
  • This is the first-ever ranking of Indian states on justice delivery.
  • The India Justice Report 2019 is based on publicly available data of different government entities on the four pillars of justice delivery — police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid.
  • The report has divided states on the basis of the population into two parts: (1) The large-medium states (Population 1 crore and above) and (2) The small states and Union Territories (Population less than 1 crore)
  • Maharashtra has topped the list among large-medium States in delivering justice to people followed by Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Haryana. In this category, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are at the bottom.
  • Among the small states (where the population is less than one crore each), Goa has topped the list followed by Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh.
  • On average, the police have a vacancy of 23% (2017), and the judiciary between 20%-40% across the high court’s and lowers judiciary.
  • No State/ UT are able to meet all its diversity quotas (ST, SC, and OBC). Karnataka comes closest to achieve diversity quotas (missed its SC reservation target by 4%).
  • Women are poorly represented across the Justice system. They account for 7% of the Police, 10 % of Prison staff and about 26.5 % of all judges in the High Court and subordinate courts.
India expresses commitment to fully implement FATF standards
  • India expressed its commitment to fully implement the standards of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and establish Anti-Money Laundering as well as Countering Financing of Terrorism regimes to dismantle the terror financing networks.
  • Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy Presenting India”s concern over terror financing issues on the second day of the second ”No Money For Terror” conference being attended by 65 countries.
  • FATF is an inter-governmental “policy-making body” which works to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
  • The FATF has developed a series of recommendations that are recognised as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
  • The FATF recommendations form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field.
  • A First issued in 1990, the FATF recommendations were revised in 1996, 2001, 2003 and most recently in 2012 to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant, and they are intended to be of universal application.

      The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF)

  • The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
  • In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing. It monitors progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations through “peer reviews” of member countries.
  • The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
  • Since 2000, to fight money laundering and terror financing the FATF maintains the current list of nations: FATF blacklist (formally called the “Call for action”) and the “FATF grey list”.
  • As of 2019 FATF consists of thirty-seven member jurisdictions and two regional organisations.
  • Regional organizations: European Commission & Gulf Cooperation Council

Member Nations:

  1. Argentina
  2. Australia
  3. Austria
  4. Belgium
  5. Brazil
  6. Canada
  7. China
  8. Denmark
  9. Finland
  10. France
  11. Germany
  12. Greece
  13. Hong Kong, China
  14. Iceland
  15. India
  16. Ireland
  17. Israel
  18. Italy
  19. Japan
  20. South Korea
  21. Kingdom of the Netherlands
  22. Luxembourg
  23. Malaysia
  24. Mexico
  25. New Zealand
  26. Norway
  27. Portugal
  28. Russian Federation
  29. Saudi Arabia[25]
  30. Singapore
  31. South Africa
  32. Spain
  33. Sweden
  34. Switzerland
  35. Turkey
  36. United Kingdom
  37. United States

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