Forest Survey report 2021 released

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released the India State of Forest Report-2021.
• It is a biennial report meaning published every two years by the Forest Survey of India.
• It is an assessment of India’s forest and tree cover.

Findings

• The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectares which is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of the country.
• As compared to the assessment of 2019, there is an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country.
• Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 1,540 sq km and that in tree cover is 721 sq km.
• Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest.
• Top three states showing increase in forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).
• Based on Area
  • Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
  • In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (84.53%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33%), Meghalaya (76.00%), Manipur (74.34%) and Nagaland (73.90%).
• States and UTs
  • 17 states/UT’s have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover.
  • Out of these states and UT’s, five states/UTs namely Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have more than 75 percent forest cover while 12 states/UTs namely Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Assam, Odisha, have forest cover between 33 percent to 75 percent.
• Mangrove Cover
  • Total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 sq km. An increase of 17 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2019.
  • Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Odisha (8 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (4 sq km) and Karnataka (3 sq km).
• Carbon Stock
  • Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated to be 7,204 million tonnes and there an increase of 79.4 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2019.
  • The annual increase in the carbon stock is 39.7 million tonnes.
• Every northeastern state reports loss in forest cover with Manipur recording the largest loss in forest cover among the eight states of north east.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, “Purple Revolution” is Jammu & Kashmir’s contribution to "Start-ups India", an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.

Purple Revolution

• Under the purple revolution, the farmers in Doda district had their incomes quadrupled after shifting from maize to lavender cultivation.
• First-time farmers were given free lavender saplings and those who have cultivated lavender before were charged Rs. 5-6 per sapling.
• The farmers will get help from IIIM-Jammu to sell their produce.
• Farmers could reach the four distillation units set up by CSIR-IIIM Jammu in Doda for extraction of lavender oil.
• At present, large-scale lavender cultivation is limited to J&K but governments in Himachal Pradesh, Arunahal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are also encouraging their farmers to take up lavender.

Purple Economy

• Lavender oil sells for at least Rs 10,000 per litre
• Lavender water can be separated from lavender oil. It is used to make incense sticks.
• Hydrosol is formed after distillation from the flowers. It is used to make soaps and room fresheners.

Aroma Mission

• In 2016, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched the Aroma Mission to boost cultivation of plants for essential oils which have aromatic medicinal properties.
• The mission supports domestic aromatic crop based agro economy to move from imported aromatic oils to homegrown varieties.
• Nodal laboratory - CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow.
• Participating laboratories - CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT), Palampur; CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu etc.

Registration of political parties under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Registration of Political Parties

• Registration of Political parties is governed by the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• A party seeking registration under the said Section with the Commission has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days following the date of its formation.
• Guidelines prescribed by the Commission in exercise of the powers are conferred by Article 324 of the Constitution of India and Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Guidelines

• As per existing guidelines, the applicant association is, inter-alia, asked to publish proposed Name of the party in two national daily newspapers and two local daily newspapers, on two days for submitting objections, if any, with regard to the proposed registration of the party before the Commission within 30 days from such publication.
• Notice so published is also displayed on the website of the Commission.

The Khoisans have been protesting near the president’s office for the past three years for recognition of the community and their language among other things.

Khoisan Tribes

• The Khoisans are known to be the first people to inhabit South Africa.
• The tribal group is made up of two different communities who practised similar cultures and spoke the same languages – the Khoikhoi, who were nomadic farmers, and San, who were hunter-gatherers.
• The Khoisans are known to be the first people to come in contact with the Dutch settlers in South Africa in the 17th century.
• As the Dutch began to take over land in the country, Khoisans were enslaved or killed and hence their popular diminished over the years.
• The community was derogated by the European settlers with names like Bushmen and Hottentots.
• According to a research paper by Shula Marks, ‘Khoisan Resistance to the Dutch in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries’, the Khoisans were called uneducated, “of inferior intellect and culture”, “thievish and not to be trusted” and unassimilable.
• In 2009, The Independent reported on a study of “121 distinct populations” of Africans that found that they all descended from only 14 populations.
• The scientists, after studying the genetic variation among the DNA of more than 3,000 Africans for over a decade, found that the San were the most genetically diverse group which means that the San were the oldest population of humans in South Africa and on Earth.

12 Maharashtra BJP MLAs have gone to Supreme Court against their year-long suspension from the Assembly. While hearing the challenge, the court has flagged the statutory requirement to not keep a seat vacant for more than 6 months.

How Long can an MLA be suspended?

• The basic structure of the Constitution would be hit if the constituencies of the suspended MLAs remained unrepresented in the Assembly for a full year, the bench said.
• The bench referred to Article 190 (4) of the Constitution, which says, “If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the Legislature of a State is without permission of the House absent from all meetings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant.”
• Under Section 151 (A) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, “a bye-election for filling any vacancy… [in the House] shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy”.
• This means that barring exceptions specified under this section, no constituency can remain without a representative for more than six months.
• The Supreme Court said that the one-year suspension was prima facie unconstitutional as it went beyond the six-month limit, and amounted to “not punishing the member but punishing the constituency as a whole”.

What are the rules on the length of suspension of a Member of Parliament?

• Rules 373, 374, and 374A of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha provide for the withdrawal of a member whose conduct is “grossly disorderly”, and suspension of one who abuses the rules of the House or willfully obstructs its business.
• The maximum suspension as per these Rules is “for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less”.
• The maximum suspension for Rajya Sabha under Rules 255 and 256 also does not exceed the remainder of the session.
• Similar Rules also are in place for state legislative assemblies and councils which prescribe a maximum suspension not exceeding the remainder of the session.
• The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the question of whether the judiciary can intervene in the proceedings of the House.
• Constitutional experts, however, say that the court has clarified in previous rulings that the judiciary can intervene in case of an unconstitutional act done by the House.