Honour killing:-
- Honour killing is defined as the killing of a person who is perceived to have brought dishonour to their family.
- Honour killings have been reported in northern regions of India such Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as a result of people marrying without their family’s acceptance and sometimes for marrying outside their caste or religion.
- Honour killings are also widespread in South India and the western India of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Trade unions:-
- A trade union can be defined as an organised association of workers in a trade or profession, formed to further their rights and interests.
- In India, Trade Unions are registered under the Trade Union Act (1926).
- Trade unions are interested in the economic and social welfare of the workers. It may also have political interests in the larger society.
- Though the origin of labour movements was traced to the 1860s, first labour agitation in the history of India occurred in Bombay (1875).
-It was organised under the leadership of S.S Bengalee.
-It concentrated on the plight of workers, especially women and children.
-This led to the appointment of the first Factory commission, 1875. Consequently, the first factories act was passed in 1881.
-In 1890, M.N Lokhande established Bombay Mill Hands Association. This was the first organised labour union in India.
SAARC:-
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
- The idea of regional cooperation in South Asia was first raised in November 1980.
- After consultations with the foreign secretaries of the seven founding countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
- Afghanistan became the newest member of SAARC at the 13th annual summit in 2005.
- The Headquarters and Secretariat of the Association are at Kathmandu, Nepal.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA):-
- MGNREGA is one of the largest work guarantee programmes in the world.
- In 1991, the P.V Narashima Rao government proposed a pilot scheme for generating employment in rural areas with the following goals:
-Employment Generation for agricultural labour during the lean season.
-Infrastructure Development
-Enhanced Food Security
- his scheme was called the Employment Assurance Scheme which later evolved into the MGNREGA after the merger with the Food for Work Programme in the early 2000s.
- The primary objective of the scheme is to guarantee 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work.
- At least one-third of beneficiaries have to be women.
- Wages must be paid according to the statutory minimum wages specified for agricultural labourers in the state under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
- The act mandates Gram sabhas to recommend the works that are to be undertaken and at least 50% of the works must be executed by them.
ENVIRONMENT POLLUTION (PREVENTION AND CONTROL) AUTHORITY (EPCA):-
- EPCA is Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).
- It was notified in 1998 by the Environment Ministry under Environment Protection Act, 1986.
- Its mandate is to protect and improve the quality of the environment and prevent and control environmental pollution in the NCR.
- It is also mandated to enforce Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in NCR that defines specific measures to tackle different levels of air pollution throughout the year.
- It has 14 members including environment secretary of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council, transport commissioner of the NCT, the commissioners of various municipal corporations of Delhi and professors at IIT Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University.
- The EPCA has been empowered to take Suo motu action as well as on the basis of complaints made by any individual, representative body or organisation functioning in the environmental issues sector.
Stubble burning:-
- Stubble burning is the act of setting fire to crop residue to remove them from the field to sow the next crop.
- It is the cheapest and fastest way to get rid of the stubble.
- If Stubble is left in the field, pests like termites may attack the upcoming crop.
- The due to lack of economic conditions of farmer don’t allow them to use expensive mechanised methods to remove stubble.