Supreme Court  ask to take immediate action against hate speech

 About Hate Speech

• According to the 267^thReport of the Law Commission of India, Hate Speech is stated as an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, and the like.
  • Thus, hate speech is any word written or spoken, signs, visible representations within the hearing or sight of a person with the intention to cause fear or alarm, or incitement to violence.

Pakistan is out of FATF ‘grey list’ on terror funding

• Four years after it was placed on the ‘grey list’ and penalised with severe financial strictures by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan won a major reprieve on Friday, as the international watchdog on terror financing and money laundering agreed to remove Pakistan’s name from the list of countries under ‘increased monitoring’.

About Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

• Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental organization established to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• It was formed in 1989 by the G7Summit which was held in Paris.
• The FATF is really a policy-making body that works with governments to bring about national legislation and regulatory reforms in these areas

FATF Activities

• The organization monitors its member countries on the progress they have made in implementing reform measures and reviews their counter-measures to money laundering and terror financing.
• The decision-making body of FATF is called the FATF Plenary. It meets three times annually.
• The organization has included even combating terror financing among its objectives after the September 11 terror attacks on the USA in 2001.

FATF Grey List

Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put on the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.

FATF Blacklist

Officially called the “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs), the FATF Blacklist is a list of countries that the FATF considers to be non-cooperative in the international fight against terrorist financing and money laundering. This list is regularly updated, with countries being either deleted off the list or new countries being added to the list. It is to be noted that some names are on the list not because of their non-cooperative stance towards fighting this menace, but because they lack the necessary infrastructure and mechanisms to engage in this fight.

FATF Countries (FATF Members)

• As of January 2021, there are 39 member countries in the FATF. India is a member of the organization since June 2010. It had earlier acquired ‘Observer’ status at FATF in 2006.
• FATF Observer – Indonesia. There are many other Observer organizations and Associate Members.
• Headquarters – Paris, France
• Training Institute –  Busan, Korea
• No other regional offices.

FATF and India

• India plans to share more evidence with the key FATF members on the narco-terror cases linked to Pakistan-based syndicates, through which funds are allegedly being supplied to the terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Enforcement Directorate and the National Investigation Agency have been probing several such cases.

Sighting of three Great Indian Bustards (GIBs) deep in Pakistan’s  Cholistan desert

 About Great Indian Bustards

• The Great Indian Bustard (GIB),the State bird of Rajasthan, is considered India’s most critically endangered bird.
• It is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
• Its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small populations occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• The bird is under constant threats due to collision/electrocution with power transmission lines, hunting (still prevalent in Pakistan), habitat loss and alteration as a result of widespread agricultural expansion, etc.

Protection Status:

• International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List: Critically Endangered
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Appendix1
• Convention on Migratory Species (CMS): Appendix I
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule 1

Air quality worsening in Delhi, CPWD to ramp up Antipollution measures

About Air Quality Index

The Air Quality Index is acquired by measuring emissions of eight major pollutants present in the air:

1. Particulate matter (PM2. 5),
2. Particulate matter (PM10),
3. Ozone (O3),
4. Carbon Monoxide (CO),
5. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2),
6. Sulphur Dioxide (SO2),
7. Lead (Pb)
8. Ammonia (NH3) emissions

India tests medium range ballistic missile Agni Prime

• India on Friday successfully test fired Indigenously developed new generation medium range ballistic missile Agni Prime from the Odisha coast
• The sleek missile was test fired from a mobile launcher from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island around 9:45 a.m,
• The solid fuelled missile met all mission parameter during the test,
• All its navigation was tracked and monitored by radars and telemetry equipment positioned along various points.
• The missile’s strike range is between 1,000 km and 2,000 km.
• The last trial of the missile was conducted on December 18 last year from the same base, which was also successful.

Tamil Nadu has received 5 awards under PM Awas Yojana

 About the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin (PMAY-G)

• Launch: To achieve the objective of “Housing for All” by 2022, the erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) was restructured to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) e.f 1^st April, 2016.
• Ministry Involved: Ministry of Rural development.
• Aim: To provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural families, who are homeless or living in kutcha or dilapidated houses by the end of March 2022.
  • To help rural people Below the Poverty Line (BPL) in construction of dwelling units and upgradation of existing unserviceable kutcha houses by providing assistance in the form of a full grant.
• Beneficiaries: People belonging to SCs/STs, freed bonded labourers and non-SC/ST categories, widows or next-of-kin of defence personnel killed in action, ex servicemen and retired members of the paramilitary forces, disabled persons and minorities.
• Selection of Beneficiaries: Through a three stage validation – Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, Gram Sabha, and geo-tagging.
• Cost Sharing: The cost of unit assistance is shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio 60:40 in plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and hilly states.

 PM Modi launch the recruitment drive, ‘Rozgar Mela’ on October 22

 e-Sevai Centres digital platform has been unveiled by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

Lulu, Abu Dhabi-based developer real estate developer will be building a mall in Greater Noida

Source : THE HINDU