Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 November 2020

::NATIONAL::

Haryana Home Minister said that his government is considering a law against forced religious conversions and has sought information about such a law already in force in Himachal Pradesh.
Last year, the Himachal Pradesh assembly passed the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2019.
According to the Act, “no person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage; nor shall any person abet or conspire such conversion”. The Act does not cover a person re-converting to his “parent religion”.
It further says that any marriage done for the sole purpose of religion conversion may be declared null and void by a court on a petition by either party.

What happens if anyone wants to convert to any other religion?

As per the Act, anyone who wishes to convert to any other religion will give a declaration to the district authorities at least one month in advance, specifying that one is doing so as per his/her “own volition or free consent”.
In fact, even the religious priest who performs the conversion ceremony has to inform the authorities at least one month in advance. The district magistrate will then conduct an inquiry regarding the “intention, purpose and cause of proposed conversion”. The conversion will be rendered illegal if the authorities are not informed in advance.
The Act says that the burden of proof as to whether a religious conversion was not effected through force or fraud lies on the person so converted, or the person who has facilitated the conversion.

Provisions for punishment:

All offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable.
The violator can be punished with a prison term ranging from one to five years, along with a fine.
In case the victim is a minor, woman or member of a Scheduled Caste or Tribe, the imprisonment may extend up to seven years. Failure to declare the conversion in advance can also result in an imprisonment of up to two years.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment said, for the beneficiaries of Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has done away with the requirement of submitting the claim on an Affidavit form, in a release.
The decision was taken after reports of many beneficiaries facing problems in submitting the claim on the Affidavit form emerged, the statement added.
The beneficiaries who have from now submitted their claims online under the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana and submitted the scanned copies of their Aadhar card and other bank details will no longer be needed to file the claim on the Affidavit form.
The beneficiaries who have not even submitted the claim online can submit the print out of the claim after duly signing the required documents.

About:

The scheme was started in 2018 as a pilot scheme for a period of two years.
The Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana provides a fraction of the daily wages for a period of up to 90 days as a relief payment to those employees who have lost their jobs.
All the employees who are covered under Section 2(9) of the ESI Act can claim benefits under the scheme.

Vidisha Maitra anIndian diplomat has been elected to the UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).
India has won with 126 UN members supporting her candidature for the only post for the Asia-Pacific group while 64 voted for the opposing candidate who was from Iraq.
India’s permanent representative to the UN, TS Tirumurthy confirmed the news on Twitter.
India has been a member of the committee since its inception in 1946. It is recognised as one of the most covetedcommittee in the United Nations system as it controls the financial and budgetary purse of the UN.
India’s win in this committee comes as India also prepares to take a seat as one of 10 non-permanent members in the UN Security Council for a two-year period starting 1 January 2021.
The ACABQ performs several functions including the examination of the budget submitted by the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly and advising the Assembly on administrative and budgetary matters referred to it.
The ACABQ is a crucial component in ensuring that resources of the Member states are used to good effect and that mandates are properly funded.

The World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated every 10 November.
It highlights the significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues.
It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.
The Day offers the opportunity to mobilize all actors around the topic of science for peace and development – from government officials to the media to school pupils.
UNESCO strongly encourages all to join in celebrating World Science Day for Peace and Development by organizing your own event or activity on the day.
To celebrate the 2020 World Science Day, UNESCO is organizing an online roundtable on the theme of “Science for and with Society in dealing with COVID-19.”

Key highlights:

According to IIT Kharagpur study, a person drinking three cups of tea in them will end up ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastic particles.
The research has confirmed contamination of the hot liquid served in paper cups due to the degradation of microplastics and other hazardous components from the lining material of the cup.
Paper cups are usually lined by a thin layer of hydrophobic film which is made of mostly plastic (polyethylene) and sometimes co-polymers to hold the liquid in the paper cup. Within 15 minutes this microplastic layer degrades as a reaction to hot water.
According to study, 25,000 micron-sized (10 µm to 1000 µm) microplastic particles are released into 100 mL of hot liquid (85 — 90 degrees C) residing in the paper cups for 15 minutes. Thus, an average person drinking 3 regular cups of tea or coffee daily, in a paper cup, would be ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastic particles which are invisible to the human eye.
The researchers followed two different procedures - in the first process, hot ultrapure (MilliQ) water (85—90 degrees C) was poured into the disposable paper cups, and it was allowed to sit for 15 minutes.
The scientists explained that the homogeneously mixed water was then analysed for the presence of microplastics as well as additional ions that may have leached into the liquid from the paper cups. In the second process, paper cups were initially dipped in lukewarm (30—40 degreesC) MilliQ water.