1. International Criminal Court (ICC)

Why in News?

• ICC is all set to initiate a probe on ‘War Crimes’ in Palestinian territories by Israel.

Background Info:

• ICC’s chief prosecutor has said that she wanted to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
• She had launched a preliminary probe in January 2015 into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and the Palestinian territories, in the wake of the 2014 Gaza war.
• A full ICC investigation could possibly lead to charges against individuals.
• States cannot be charged by the ICC.
• Both US and Israel have opposed this move of ICC.

About International Criminal Court:

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.
• The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
• The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force.
• The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC’s foundational and governing document.
• States which become party to the Rome Statute, for example by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC.
• India is not a party to ICC along with US and China.

2. Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

Why in News?

• OIC has recently expressed its “concern” over Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and Supreme Court verdict on Babri Masjid.

About OIC:

• It is the second largest inter-governmental organisation after the United Nations.
• It is the collective voice of the Muslim world to ensure and safeguard their interest on economic socio and political areas.
• Its Headquarters is in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was established by 24 member states in 1969.

Objectives and Role:

• It aims to preserve Islamic values, safeguard and defend the national sovereignty and independence of member states and to contribute to international peace and security.

Members of OIC:

• It has 57 member states from four continents, with a collective population reaching over 1.8 billion.
• Its member states are Muslim-majority countries, while others have significant Muslim populations, including several African and South American countries.
• While the 22 members of the Arab League are also part of the OIC, the organisation has several significant non-Arab member states, including Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.
• It has five observer member States
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina (1994)
  • Central African Republic (1996)
  • Kingdom of Thailand (1998)
  • The Russian Federation (2005)
  • Turkish Cypriot State (1979)
  • The organisation has permanent delegations to the UN and the European Union and its official languages are Arabic, English and French.

3. Peregrine Falcon

Why in News?

• Recently the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the peregrine falcon has the fastest vision in the animal kingdom, registering 129 Hz (blinks per second).

About Peregrine Falcon:

• Its Scientific name is Falco peregrinus.
• Its Common name is Peregrine Falcon, peregrine.
• Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
• It is a widespread bird of prey (raptor) in the family Falconidae.
• It is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest bird in the world and the fastest member of the animal kingdom.
• It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests. This makes it one of the most widely found bird species.

4. Teachers’ Transfer & Posting Policy, 2020

Why in News?

• Recently, Arunachal Pradesh initiated to mark schools as ‘hard’, ‘soft’ and ‘medium’.

About:

• Chief Minister Pema Khandu, approved the Arunachal PradeshTeachers’ Transfer & Posting Policy, 2020
• The government schools will be divided into three categories hard, medium and soft.
• It is based on topography, accessibility and degrees of difficulty in staying at the place of posting.
• Hard Schools: It includes areas with difficult accessibility and topography. All new recruits will be given a hard posting for a mandatory three years, inclusive of their probation period.
• Medium Schools: It includes areas with medium accessibility, connectivity and topography. After completing hard schools phase the new teachers will be spending the next five years in schools with levels of medium difficulty.
• Soft Schools: It includes areas with easy accessibility and connectivity majorly urban areas. After completing hard and medium schools phase the teachers will be allotted soft schools.Geographically the lack of infrastructure and reluctance of teachers to work beyond their comfort zones are the reasons for this categorisation
• The student teacher ratio has consequently been skewed in favour of urban center’s with better connectivity. The policy also entails transfer of teachers in through online requests.

5. National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE)

Why in News?

• The Vice President of India releases a book on Health and Wellbeing of the elderly and addressed the gathering.
• He stated that strengthening the family system is the need of the hour.
• The Vice President appreciated the government of India for implementing the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE).

Highlights:

• The National Programme for the Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE) is an articulation of the International and national commitments of the Government as envisaged under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Objectives:

• To provide easy access to promotional, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to the elderly through community based primary health care approach
• To identify health problems in the elderly and provide appropriate health interventions in the community with strong referral backup support.
• To build the capacity of the medical and paramedical professionals as well as the care-takers within the family for providing health care to the elderly.
• To provide referral services to elderly patients through district hospitals, regional medical institutions
• Convergence with National Rural Health Mission, AYUSH and other line departments like Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

6. ‘Nagpur Resolution: A Holistic Approach for Empowering Citizens

Why in News?

• The ‘Nagpur Resolution – A holistic approach for empowering citizens’ was adopted during the valedictory session of the two-day Regional Conference on ‘Improving Public Service Delivery – Role of Governments’, in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Highlights:

• The conference was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Public Services.
• On earlier occasions, the Shillong Declaration and the Jammu Resolution have been adopted for good governance.
• The Resolution adopted states that the GOI, the Government of Maharashtra and other participating States shall collaborate to:
• To empower the citizens by policy interventions for better service delivery through timely updation of citizens charters, implementation of enactments and benchmarking standards for continuous improvement;
• To empower citizens by adopting a bottom-up approach to bring massive improvements in quality of grievance redressal and reduction in timelines of grievance redressal;
• To adopt a holistic approach of systemic public grievance reforms through improved mapping, formulation of monitoring matrix, data collection and evaluation in quality of grievance redressal;
• To provide an enabling environment for States and Ministries/Departments of the Government of India for creating web portals and to adopt a holistic approach for improved service delivery through digital platforms;
• To focus on dynamic policy-making and strategic decisions, monitoring of implementation, appointment of key personnel, coordination and evaluation;
• To achieve a sense of common identity by exchange of technical expertise in the areas of Improved Service Delivery between the paired States under the Ek Bharat – Shreshth Bharat Program;
• To work towards long-term engagements in the areas of Improved Service Delivery for Empowering Citizens through greater cooperation between the DARPG and the participating States and
• To ensure timely publication of Good Governance Index to identify the quality of governance in 10 sectors especially those pertaining to welfare and infrastructure at the Union, State and District levels.

7. EChO Network

Why in News?

• EChO network to catalyze cross-disciplinary leadership in India has been recently launched.

EChO Network:

• It is a national program to provide a template for cross-disciplinary leadership in India with the specific focus of increasing research, knowledge, and awareness of Indian ecology and the environment has been launched.
• The purpose of this Network is to bring all those together to share knowledge and synergize efforts under the umbrella of science.
• It aims to train a new generation of educators and students who can identify and solve problems in an interdisciplinary manner to tackle real-world problems in medicine, agriculture, ecology, and technology.
• The initiative has drawn in partners from Government, industry and academia, with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India steering the program under the guidance of Prof. Shannon Olsson, Director, EChO Network.

Significance:

• India faces unprecedented threats to its human environmental and ecosystems, solving which requires a confluence of India’s strong technological expertise and knowledge of the natural world itself.
• EChO Network would develop a national network to catalyse a new generation of Indians who can synthesize interdisciplinary concepts and tackle real-world problems in medicine, agriculture, ecology, and technology.
• With no precedent for such a network anywhere in the world, EChO Network establishes a new platform to change how science is embedded in our modern society.