Current Affairs 7th June 2023 for UPSC Prelims Exam

Commission of Railway Safety (CRS)

Context: The Commissioner of Railway Safety, part of Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), will investigate the train accident in Odisha.

About Commission of Railway Safety (CRS)

CRS is a government body that acts as the railway safety authority in the country. Its headquarters is in Lucknow.
Functions: It deals with matters related to safety of rail travel and operations, apart from inspectorial, investigatory, and advisory functions.
- These functions of CRS are laid down in the Railways Act, 1989. Investigation of serious train accidents is one of the key responsibilities of the CRS.
Administrative control: CRS comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). It does not report to the Ministry of Railways of the Railway Board.
- The reason for its inclusion under Ministry of Civil Aviation is to keep it insulated from the influence of the country’s railway establishment and prevent conflicts of interest.

Evolution of CRS:

The Government of India Act, 1935 had recommended that functions for securing the safety of railway operations should be performed by an authority that was independent of the federal railway authority or the Railway Board.
A 1939 report also was in favour of separation of the Railway Inspectorate from the Railway Board to prevent conflict of interests.
The Central Legislature also endorsed the idea, and the authority (Railway Inspectorate) was separated from the Railway Board and put under the administrative control of the then Department of Posts and Air.
The Railway Inspectorate was re-designated as the CRS in 1961 and has been placed under the control of the Ministry of civil aviation in India.

Current Affairs 6th June 2023 for UPSC Prelims Exam

POCSO ACT

Context: Recently, Karnataka High Court said that doctors must strictly comply with law on reporting POCSO offences.

About Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act

Aim: To protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography and provide for establishment of Special Courts for trial of such offences and related matters and incidents.
The Act was amended in 2019, to make provisions for enhancement of punishments for various offences so as to deter the perpetrators and ensure safety, security and dignified childhood for a child.

Salient features of the Act and its amendment

The Act is gender neutral and regards the best interests and welfare of the child as a matter of paramount importance at every stage so as to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.
The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age, and regards the best interests and well-being of the child as being of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.
It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis-à-vis the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor.
People who traffic children for sexual purposes are also punishable under the provisions relating to abetment in the Act.
- The Act prescribes stringent punishment graded as per the gravity of the offence, with a maximum term of rigorous imprisonment for life, and fine.
It defines “child pornography” as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child which include photograph, video, digital or computer-generated image indistinguishable from an actual child, and image created, adapted, or modified, but appear to depict a child.
No time limit for reporting abuse: A victim can report an offence at any time, even several years after the abuse has been committed.
- Therefore, organizations dealing with children in India cannot deny child sexual abuse complaints filed against their employees on the pretext of lapse of time.
Confidentiality of victim’s identity: Section 23 of the POCSO Act prohibits disclosure of the victim’s identity in any form of media, except when permitted by the special courts established under the act.

Punishment under the Act

It prescribes rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and also fine as punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
It also makes provisions for avoiding the re-victimization of the child at the hands of the judicial system.
The Act also makes it mandatory to report such cases. It makes it the legal duty of a person aware of the offence to report the sexual abuse. In case he fails to do so, the person can be punished with six months’ imprisonment or a fine.
Under POCSO, the consent of a person under the age of 18 is irrelevant, regardless of the nature and circumstance of the sexual interaction, or the particulars of the person with whom it takes place. This means that any sex with a minor is rape.

KAKHOVKA DAM

Context: Recently, Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has collapsed.

About Kakhovka Dam

It was built in 1956 on the Dnipro River as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
The dam, 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long and holds an 18 km3 reservoir – a volume about equal to the Great Salt Lake in the U.S. state of Utah.
It supplies water to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia claims to have annexed in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.
- Dam was captured by Russian forces at the beginning of their February 2022 invasion.
The dam is a strategic water source for southern Ukraine’s Kherson region and the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, and flooding could potentially block Ukrainian forces seeking to regain lost territory.

Impact of Collapse of Dam

Human and Environment
- Flooding: 22,000 people living across 14 settlements in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region are at risk of flooding.
- Ukraine warned of a potential “ecocide” after 150 tons of engine oil spilled into the river because of the attack.
- The Nova Kakhovka Zoo, which housed some 260 animals, was one of the first areas to flood.
On CRIMEA
- The Russian-backed governor of Crimea said that there is a risk that water levels in the North Crimea Canal, which carries fresh water to the peninsula from the Dnipro River, could fall after rupture of the dam.
- The Crimean Peninsula is dependent for fresh water on the canal.
On Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
- Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, gets its cooling water from the reservoir.
- International Atomic Energy Agency said that there was no immediate nuclear safety risk at (the) plant.

Operation Blue Star

Context: Recently, Punjab is observing 39^th anniversary of Operation Blue Star on June 6.

About Operation Blue Star

It was a military operation, carried out in June 3 to June 8, 1984 to eliminate armed militants who were holed up in the Golden Temple.
It was launched on the orders of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to eliminate Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers who had sought cover in the Amritsar Harmandir Sahib Complex.
The operation had to be carried out to get back the control of the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) from the militants.
Operation Bluestar was a two-fold operation.
- Operation Metal: It was restricted to eliminating the armed militants holed up in the Golden Temple complex.
- Operation Shop: It was carried out across Punjab to ensure that all suspects were captured or killed.
However, operation caused a furore among some members of the Sikh community, who saw the operation carried out in their shrine as an attack on their faith.

About Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

He was a leader of the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal and a key figure in the growing separatist Khalistan movement at the time.
He wanted the Indian government to pass a resolution which would allow India to be divided, thereby creating a new country for Sikhs called ‘Khalistan’.

Project P75I

Context: Recently, India and Germany discussed the progress of a deal for the procurement of six advanced conventional submarines by the Indian Navy under Project-75I.

About the Project P75I

In June 1999, the Cabinet Committee on Security had approved a plan for the Indian Navy to induct indigenously build and induct submarines by 2030. It was broken down in two phases — the P-75 and P-75I.
Under the first phase of P-75, signed in 2005, India and France signed a $3.75 billion contract for building six Scorpene class submarines.
- The executing company on the Indian side was Mazgaon Docks Ltd, and on the French side, it was DCNS, which is now called Naval Group.
- The first submarine under the project was commissioned in December 2017.
- Subsequently, the other five have been built and on 20 April, INS Vagsheer was launched and would be commissioned by 2023.
The P-75I phase envisages the construction of six conventional submarines with better sensors and weapons and the Air Independent Propulsion System (AIP).
- The project is the largest under the new strategic partnership model which will see an international Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partner with an Indian company to manufacture submarines in India and share the technology.
Under P75I submarines are expected to include advanced capabilities such as-
- Air-independent propulsion (AIP), Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Special operations forces (SOF), Anti-ship warfare (AShW), Anti-submarine warfare (ASW), Anti-surface warfare (ASuW), Land-attack capabilities, and other features.