Prelim Bits 07-08-2023 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs

Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS)

Union Home Minister launched the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS).

The Portal

• The Ministry of Cooperation has taken several initiatives to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
• In this direction, the office of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies is being computerized to promote ease of doing business in the cooperative sector.
• The main objectives of computerization of the Central Registrar's Office are:
  1. Completely paperless application and processing
  2. Automatic compliance with Multi State Co-operative Societies Act (MSCS Act) and Rules through software
  3. Enhancing Ease of Doing Business, Digital communication, Transparent processing
  4. Improved Analytics and MIS (Management Information Systems)
• The following modules will be included in the Central Registrar Portal:
  • Registration; Amendment of Bye Laws, Annual Return Filing, Appeal, Audit, Inspection, Inquiry, Arbitration, Winding Up & Liquidation, Ombudsman, Election
• The new portal will also incorporate the recently passed amendments to the MSCS Act, 2002 and its rules.

CRCS

• As per the Constitution, the Cooperative societies with objects confined to one State only are governed by the Cooperative laws of the respective State Government.
• The cooperative societies with objects confined to more than one State are governed by the central law, namely, ‘the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act 2002 (Act 39 of 2002).
• It is a statutory body responsible for registration and other processes of the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS).

References

1. PIB – Digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS)
2. Cooperation.gov – CRCS  

Justice Rohini Panel

The Justice G. Rohini-led Commission on the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes groups, submitted its report to the President of India.

• It was formed in October 2017 and was initially asked to finish its report in 12 weeks.
• The commission was formed by the President to examine the question of sub-categorizing the over 2600 caste groups listed in the Central OBC list.
• The Commission was tasked with first examining how much of 27% reservation & other government benefits meant for OBCs was dominated by which caste groups.
• The Commission had arrived at the conclusion that a small number of caste groups among all OBC groups, were dominating reservation and other government benefits.
• The Commission went on to explore ways of sub-categorizing these existing OBC groups in order to make sure benefits can be redistributed equitably.
• This involved breaking up all OBC caste groups into further categories based on how dominant the communities have been in availing government benefits meant for OBCs.

Findings

• The findings are expected to throw up exact numbers on OBC communities that have availed benefits since reservation for them began in 1992.

• This data set will for the first time show the changes, if any, in the socio-economic status of OBC communities that have historically been able to avail benefits.

References

1. The Hindu – Why are Justice Rohini panel’s findings important?
2. The Hindu – Justice Rohini panel on OBC sub-categorization submits report

Kohelet Policy Forum

Israelis are out on the streets over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plans.

• It is a Jerusalem-based, non-partisan think-tank founded in 2012.
• It is dedicated to promoting the values of individual liberty and free-markets, Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and representative democracy.
• Moshe shifted from New York to the West Bank.
• Objective – To secure Israel’s future as the nation-state of the Jewish people and to broaden individual liberty and free market principles in Israel.
• Kohelet was the key driver behind the Nation-State law passed in 2018, which, for the first time, specifies Israel to be a nation-state of the Jewish people where Jews alone have the right to self-determination.

References

1. The Hindu – Kohelet Policy Forum
2. Kohelet – Kohelet Policy Forum

Superconducting materials

A team of scientists claimed to develop a material (LK-99) that could act as a superconductor at room temperature.

Superconductors

• A superconductor is a material that attains superconductivity, a state of matter with no electrical resistance.
• In a superconductor, an electric current can persist indefinitely.
• Unlike regular conductors whose resistance gradually reduces, the superconductor’s resistance drops to zero below a fixed temperature, which is the critical temperature.
• At this temperature, a superconductor can conduct electricity with no resistance, which means no heat, sound, or other forms of energy would be discharged from the material when it reaches the critical temperature (Tc).

Superconducting materials

• Superconducting materials can conduct electricity without losing energy in the form of heat, which happens as electrons move through a material and interact with atoms.
• Superconductors like the magnets used in MRI machines, require ultra-cold temperatures to operate.
• A superconducting material will repel magnetic fields and a telltale sign of one is it will float above a magnet and stay suspended in place, even when it is rotated.
• When a material becomes a superconductor, the superconducting state will induce four changes in the material.
• Electronic effect – The material will transport an electric current with zero resistance.
• This is hard to check when the sample of the material is very small, and requires sophisticated equipment.
• Magnetic effect – A type I superconductor will expel a magnetic field from its body as long as the field strength is below a critical value.

Type I Superconductor is a material that, in the right conditions, becomes a superconductor throughout its bulk.

• Thermodynamic effect – The electronic specific heat changes drastically at the superconducting transition temperature.
• The specific heat is the heat required to increase the temperature of the electrons in the material by 1 degree Celsius.
• Spectroscopic effect – The electrons in the material are forbidden from attaining certain energy levels, even if they could when the material was not a superconductor.

References

1. The Hindu – How to check if a material is a superconductor?
2. The Hindu Business Line – Hope, skepticism around LK-99

Shaligrams

Shaligrams, worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists for over 2,000 years, are becoming rarer because of climate change.

• For more than 2,000 years, Hinduism, Buddhism and the shamanic Himalayan religion of Bon have venerated Shaligrams.
• They are ancient fossils of ammonites, a class of extinct sea creatures related to modern squids.
• Originating from a single remote region in northern Nepal in the Kali Gandaki River Valley of Mustang.
• Shaligram stones are viewed primarily as manifestations of the Hindu god Vishnu.
• Because they are not human-made, but created by the landscape, they are believed to have an intrinsic consciousness of their own.
• As a result, Shaligrams are kept in homes and in temples, where they are treated as both living gods and active community members.

Climate change and Shaligrams

• Climate change, faster glacial melting, and gravel mining in the Kali Gandaki are changing the course of the river, which means fewer Shaligrams are appearing each year.
• This is mainly because the Kali Gandaki is fed by meltwater from the Southern Tibetan Plateau.
• However, with the glacier disappearing, the river is becoming smaller and shifting away from the fossil beds that contain the ammonites needed to become Shaligrams.

References

1. Down To Earth – Shaligrams are becoming rarer because of climate change
2. The Conservation – Shaligrams are becoming rarer because of climate change