Prelim Bits 14-12-2018

Noney Bridge

• The bridge is going to be constructed by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) across the river Ijai in the state of Manipur.
• It is set to get the World's tallest railway bridge and it is expected to be over 142 meters tall.
• It will connect Manipur with the rest of the Country.
• It will be twice the height of Qutub Minar which is the tallest minaret made up of brick in the world.
• Mala-Rijeka viaduct bridge (139 meters) in Europe currently holds the tallest railway bridge record.

National Security Guard (NSG)

• A parliamentary panel has recently recommended that the Centre should take steps to equip NSG with its own dedicated air wing.
• NSG was raised in the year 1986 following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Operation Blue Star.
• It is a force specially equipped to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestations.
• It doesn’t have a cadre of its own or direct recruitment and is instead dependent on personnel sent on deputation from the army and the central armed police forces (CAPF).
• It has Special Action Group (SAG) comprising Army Personnel and the Special Ranger Groups (SRG) comprising personnel drawn from the CAPF/State Police forces.
• NSG’s delay in reaching Mumbai during 2008 terrorist attack with the non-availability of dedicated aircraft came under severe criticism.

Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE)

• RISE report is published by World Bank.
• It rates 133 countries on electricity access, renewable energy, energy efficiency and access to clean cooking.
• It is to provide useful data to policymakers and help the private sector make informed decisions about investing in energy projects.
• It charts global progress on sustainable energy policies.
• The 2018 report finds that the world has seen a huge uptake in sustainable energy policies.

Lingayat Community

• Lingayats are distinct Shaivite religious tradition founded by Basaveshwara, a 12th-century social reformer, Kannada poet, and philosopher.
• They are strict monotheists and instruct the worship of only one God, namely, Linga (Shiva).
• They constitute 17% of Karnataka’s state population.
• They are currently classified as a Hindu sub-caste called “Veerashaiva Lingayats”.
• Veerashaivism is a Shaiva sect within Hinduism and is predominantly located in Karnataka.
• Veerashaivas claim that Basavanna was not the founder of the Lingayat tradition, but rather a reformer of an already existing religious tradition which they call Veerashaivism.
• The demand for separate religion tag and minority status is a long pending demand of the Lingayat community.

Minority Status to Lingayats

• The Central Government has rejected the Karnataka Government’s proposal seeking a separate minority religion status for the Lingayat community.
• The Centre gave two reasons for rejecting the proposal,

1. Lingayat has always been classified under Hindus ever since the first official census in India - 1871
2. If Lingayats are treated as a separate religion by providing separate code other than Hindu, all members of the Scheduled Caste professing Lingayat would lose their status as SC along with the consequential benefits.

Ground Water Extraction Guidelines

• India is the largest user of ground water in the world, extracting about 25% of the global ground water extraction.
• Ground water extraction in India is regulated by Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.
• Ground water is primarily extracted for irrigation in agricultural activities, accounting for 90% of the annual ground water extraction and remaining 10% is for drinking & domestic as well as industrial uses.
• Central Government has recently notified the revised ground water extraction guidelines which will be effective from June, 2019.
• The most important feature of the revised guideline is the introduction of the concept of Water Conservation Fee (WCF).
• The WCF payable varies with the category of the area, type of industry and the quantum of ground water extraction.
• WCF is designed to progressively increase from safe to over-exploited areas and from low to high water consuming industries as well as with increasing quantum of ground water extraction.
• The high rates of WCF is to discourage packaged drinking water units in over-exploited areas and a deterrent to large scale ground water extraction.
• The guideline also encourages use of recycled and treated sewage water by industries.
• It exempted the requirement of No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for various following fields,

1. Agricultural users,
2. Users employing non-energised means to extract water,
3. Individual households (using less than 1 inch diameter delivery pipe)
4. Armed Forces Establishments during operational deployment or during mobilization in forward locations.
5. Strategic and operational infrastructure projects for Armed Forces, Defence and Paramilitary Forces Establishments and
6. Government water supply agencies.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, The New Indian Express