Current Affairs – 19 November 2021

Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme

Indian Express

GS 2: Government policies and interventions

Context:

• Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has recently inaugurated ‘Bhumi Samvaad’ – Digital India Land Record Modernization Programme (DILRMP).
• The Ministry also launched the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) portal and Dashboard.

About:

• The DILRMP was previously known as the National Land Record Modernization Programme (NLRMP).
• It was launched in 2008 with the purpose to digitize and modernizing land records and developing a centralized land record management system.
• The DILRMP is the amalgamation of two projects:
  1. Computerization of Land Records (CLR)
  2. Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR)
• The district will be taken as the unit of implementation, where all activities under the programme will converge.
• It is a Central Sector scheme that has been extended to 2023-24, to complete its original targets as well as expand its ambit with a slew of new schemes.
• It attempts to build upon the commonalities that exist in the arena of land records in various States to develop an appropriate Integrated Land Information Management System (ILIMS) across the country, on which different States can also add State-specific needs as they may deem relevant and appropriate.
• It is being implemented by the Department of Land Resources (Ministry of Rural Development).

Components of DILRMP:

1. Computerization of land record
2. Survey/re-survey
3. Computerization of Registration
4. Modern record rooms/land records management centres at tehsil/taluk/circle/block level
5. Training & capacity building.

Benefits:

• Real-time land ownership records will be available to the citizen
• Property owners will have free access to their records without any compromise in regard to the confidentiality of the information
• Abolition of stamp papers and payment of stamp duty and registration fees through banks, etc. will also reduce interface with the Registration machinery
• These records will be tamper-proof
• This method will permit e-linkages to credit facilities
• The single-window service or the web-enabled “anytime-anywhere” access will save the citizen time and effort in obtaining RoRs (Record of Rights), etc.
• Automatic and automated mutations will significantly reduce the scope of fraudulent property deals.

Unique Land Parcel Identification Numbers ·        It is just like the Aadhar Number of land parcels. ·        A unique ID based on Geo-coordinates of the parcels is generated and assigned to the plots.

 

IONS Conclave

PIB

GS 2: India and its neighbourhood

Context:

• The 7^thedition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) Conclave of Chiefs is being hosted by the French Navy at Paris from 15^th-16^th Nov 21.
• The 7th edition of IONS Symposium was held at Le-Reunion from 28 Jun – 01 Jul 21 in hybrid format due to COVID protocols. During the Symposium, it was agreed upon to conduct the extant Conclave of Chiefs at Paris.

About:

• The Conclave of Chiefs is being attended by Chiefs of Navies/ Heads of Lead Maritime Agencies of IONS nations.
• It also serves to develop an effective response mechanism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) against natural disasters.
• The chairmanship of IONS has been held by:
  1. India (2008-10),
  2. UAE (2010-12),
  3. South Africa (2012-14),
  4. Australia (2014-16),
  5. Bangladesh (2016-18) and
  6. Islamic Republic of Iran (2018-21).
  7. France (2021-….)
• IONS is a forum which seeks to enhance maritime co-operation among Navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) by providing an open and inclusive platform for discussions on regionally relevant maritime issues.
• IONS includes 24 member nations that touch or lie within the IOR, and 8 observer nations.
• The members have been geographically grouped into the following four sub-regions:
  1. South Asian Littorals: Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and United Kingdom (British Indian Ocean Territory)
  2. West Asian Littorals: Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates
  3. East African Littorals: France (Reunion), Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania.
  4. South East Asian and Australian Littorals: Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

 

Global Bribery Risk Rankings

Indian Express

GS 2: Transparency and Accountability

Context:

• Recently, TRACE released a global list (2021 Bribery Risk Matrix) that measures business bribery risks.

Highlights:

• India and its neighbourhood: India has slipped to 82nd position in 2021, five places down from 77th rank last year.
• In 2020, India ranked 77 with a score of 45 while this year, the country stood at 82nd position with a score of 44.
• India fared better than its neighbours – Pakistan, China, Nepal and Bangladesh. Bhutan, meanwhile, secured 62nd rank.
• Global: North Korea, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Eritrea pose the highest commercial bribery risk, while Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand present the lowest.
• Over the past 10 years, the business bribery risk environment worsened significantly in countries that also experienced democratic backsliding: Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, Poland and Hungary.
• Over the past five years, the business bribery risk environment in the United States worsened significantly when compared with global trends.
• From 2020 to 2021, all of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) countries saw an increase in commercial bribery risk.
• Over the past five years, the countries that have shown the greatest trend toward improvement in the factors underlying commercial bribery risk are Uzbekistan, the Gambia, Armenia, Malaysia and Angola.
• Vanuatu, Peru, Northare Macedonia and Montenegro also scored 44, the same as that of India, in the matrix.

About:

• TRACE is an anti-bribery standard setting organisation, measures business bribery risk in 194 countries, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.
• This score is based on four factors — business interactions with the government, anti-bribery deterrence and enforcement, government and civil service transparency, and capacity for civil society oversight which includes the role of the media.
• The TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix measures the likelihood of bribe demands in 194 jurisdictions.
• It was originally published in 2014 to meet a need in the business community for more reliable and nuanced information about the risks of commercial bribery worldwide.
• The TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix aggregates relevant data obtained from leading public interest and international organisations, including the United Nations, World Bank, V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg and World Economic Forum.
• This data helps companies to assess the likely risk of bribe demands in each country and to design compliance and due diligence programs tailored to that risk.

 

Puri Heritage Corridor

Indian Express

Prelims Fact

Context:

• Odisha government is expected to soon lay the foundation stone of the much-awaited Puri heritage corridor, which is being developed at a cost of Rs 800 crore.

What is the Puri heritage corridor project?

• Conceived in 2016, the Puri Heritage Corridor Project was unveiled in December 2019 to transform the holy town of Puri into an international place of heritage.
• The project includes redeveloping major portions of the holy town and in the vicinity of the temple for visitors and tourists.
• A total of 22 different projects will be executed in a phased manner.
• The project will include Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) building redevelopment, a 600-capacity Srimandir reception centre, Jagannath cultural centre including Raghunandan library, integrated command, and control centre, Badadanda heritage streetscape, Srimandir amenities improvement, Sri Setu, Jagannath Ballav pilgrim centre, multilevel car parking, municipal market development, Swargadwar development, Pramod Udyan, Gurukulam, Mahodadhi market, beachfront development, Puri lake, Musa river revival plan, Atharnala and housing for sevayats.

Jagannath Temple:

• Odisha is known as the land of Lord Jagannath (literally meaning the Lord of the Universe).
• The temple built in the 12th Century CE has been the epicenter of Jagannath cult.
• The temple saw new additions to its structure till about the 16th Century CE.
• Unlike other temples of the region, the carvings on the temples are predominantly of gods and goddesses.
• The entire temple complex is enclosed within two concentric walls, the Kuruma Bheda (Inner wall) and the Meghnad Pachira (Wall).
• The main entrance to the temple is through Singhadwara located on the Eastern front of the temple with three other entrances along the four cardinal directions.
• However these are not architecturally aligned indicating that the other entrances might have been created for security purposes since the temple was at the eye of the storm during the tumultuous period between 16th and 18th century.
• The main temple is constructed in such a way that no shadow of the temple falls on the ground at any time of the day.
• Jagannath Puri temple is called ‘Yamanika Tirtha’ where, according to the Hindu beliefs, the power of ‘Yama’, the god of death, has been nullified due to the presence of Lord Jagannath.
• Festival: The World famous Rath Yatra (Car Festival) & Bahuda Yatra.