Skill Development in Rural Areas (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha gave detail of skill development in rural areas.
- Skill India Mission aims at Skilling, Re-skilling and Up-skilling to ensure all young Indians are prepared for the large number of opportunities coming up as the economy expands and India moves from the 10th largest economy to 3rd largest economy in the world.
Details:
- SIM is aimed at giving access to all youth in India to get future ready, Industry ready skill.
- Under the SIM, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) provides skill, re-skill and up-skill training to youth across the country through a comprehensive network of skill development centres/institutes under various schemes viz. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jan Sikhshan Sansthan (JSS), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and Craftsman Training Scheme (CTS) through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
Ongoing schemes:
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY):
- PMKVY Scheme is for imparting skill development training through Short-Term Training (STT) and Up-skilling and Re-skilling through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to youth across the country including rural areas.
- Under PMKVY, placement opportunities have been provided to STT certified candidates and since Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) involves the process of certification of already existing skills, it is not linked with placements.
Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) Scheme:
- The main target of the JSS is to impart vocational skills to the non-literates, neo-literates and the persons having rudimentary level of education and school dropouts upto 12th standard in the age group of 15-45 years, with due age relaxation in case of “Divyangjan” and other deserving cases.
- Priority is given to Women, SC, ST, OBC and Minorities in the rural areas and urban low-income areas.
National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS):
- This Scheme is for promoting apprenticeship training and increasing the engagement of apprentices by providing financial support to industrial establishments undertaking apprenticeship programme under the Apprentices Act, 1961.
- Training consists of Basic Training and On-the-Job Training / Practical Training at workplace in the industry.
Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS):
- This scheme is for providing long-term training through Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across the country.
- The ITIs offer a range of vocational/skill training courses covering a large number of economic sectors with an objective to provide skilled workforce to the industry as well as self-employment of youth.
One-third of all 2022 suicides were of daily wage earners, farmers, says NCRB report
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- Recently, the National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) 2022 report and the NCRB’s annual Crime in India (2022) report, was released.
Key Highlights:
- India reported a total of over 1.7 lakh suicides in 2022, nearly one-third of whom were daily wage earners, agricultural labourers, and farmers.
- The latest Crime in India report showed an overall increase in crimes and atrocities committed upon Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana, all seeing an increase in such cases in 2022 compared with the year before.
- Mizoram, which had reported no cases of atrocities against either SCs or STs in 2021, reported five cases of atrocities against SCs and 29 such cases of crimes against STs in 2022.
- Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan continued to figure in the top five States with the highest incidents of crimes and atrocities committed upon SCs and STs.
- Other States, where crimes and atrocities against SC/ST people were the highest are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab.
Increase in UAPA cases:
- The Crime in India report showed that cases of offences against the State had also increased marginally in 2022 compared with the previous year, showing about a 25% increase in cases registered under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
- Cases under the sedition section of the Indian Penal Code saw a dramatic dip on the other hand, possibly owing to the Supreme Court’s May 2022 decision to keep sedition cases in abeyance.
Fake currency notes:
- The government authorities seized fake Indian currency notes (FICN) worth over ₹342 crore in 2022, out of which FICN worth ₹244 crore were copies of the ₹2,000 currency note, followed by seizures of ₹500 currency notes (this included discontinued currency as well), keeping with the trend of FICN seizures from 2021.
Suicide data:
- The suicide data showed that the maximum suicides in the year were reported from Maharashtra (22,746), Tamil Nadu (19,834), Madhya Pradesh (15,386), Karnataka (13,606), Kerala (10,162), and Telangana (9,980).
- Apart from daily wage earners, and agricultural workers and farmers, the ADSI data showed that 9.6% of the suicides in 2022 were of persons who were self-employed or salaried professionals.
- This was followed by unemployed persons, who comprise 9.2% of all suicides reported in India in 2022. Among all suicides reported in the year, over 12,000 were of students.
Categories:
- Among the around 48,000 women who died by suicide in 2022, the ADSI report found that over 52% were home-makers, which brings such women to about 14% of the total suicides reported in the year.
- This was followed by women who were students and daily wage earners respectively.
- The survey also showed that 28 trans-persons were also reported to have died by suicide in 2022.
Causes of suicide:
- The report pointed out that the most common causes for suicides reported in 2022 were “family problems” and “illness”, which together accounted for almost half of all suicides in the year.
- This was followed by “drug abuse”, “alcohol addiction”, “marriage related issues”, etc.
- However, under the cause of “marriage related issues” most number of people were women, specifically citing “dowry related” as one of the causes.
Those arrested for economic offences shouldn’t be handcuffed under new law, says Parliamentary panel
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- A parliamentary panel that has recommended that the use of handcuffs by police for arresting a person accused of ‘economic offences’ should be deleted from Clause 43 (3) of the proposed law.
- This is because the term “economic offences” encompasses a wide range of offences, ranging from petty to serious, and therefore, it may not be suitable for blanket application of handcuffing in all cases falling under this category.
Committee on BNSS:
- The 28-member Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by BJP leader Brij Lal scrutinised the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the law that seeks to replace the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
- The BNSS will replace the CrPC 1973, which regulates the procedure for arrest, investigation, inquiry, and trial of offences under the Indian Penal Code, and under any other law governing criminal offences.
Clause 43 (3) of the BNSS:
- Clause 43 (3) of the BNSS states that “the police officer may, keeping in view the nature and gravity of the offence, use handcuff while effecting the arrest of a person who is a habitual, repeat offender who escaped from custody, who has committed offence of organised crime, offence of terrorist act, drug-related crime, or offence of illegal possession of arms and ammunition, murder, rape, acid attack, counterfeiting of coins and currency notes, human trafficking, sexual offences against children, offences against the State, including acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India or economic offences.”
- The parliamentary panel has said in its report that handcuffing, as outlined in Clause 43(3), is appropriately restricted to select heinous crimes, which is necessary for preventing the escape of individuals accused of serious offences and ensuring the safety of police officers and staff during arrests.
Clause 23:
- It has noted that in its present form Clause 23 of the BNSS does not empower the Court of a Judicial Magistrate of the first class or the second class to impose community service as a punishment.
- With respect to imposition of community service as a form of punishment, the committee believes that this approach highlights that punitive actions can also encompass societal restitution and personal growth said.
- The Committee also feels that it would be necessary and appropriate to award the power to impose this form of punishment, to the Court of a Judicial Magistrate of the first class or the second class.
About BNSS:
- BNSS is one of three laws that the government has mooted as part of its overhaul of India’s three major criminal laws — the Indian Penal Code, 1860; The Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the CrPc.
- While the CrPC has 484 sections, BNSS has 533 clauses. The proposed law has changes in 160 sections from its predecessor, an addition of nine new sections, and the deletion of nine others.
- The BNSS bill proposes community service as one of the punishments for petty offences under Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, like defamation, public servants unlawfully engaging in trade, non-appearance in response to a proclamation, and attempt to commit suicide to compel or restrain the exercise of lawful power.
