TOPIC: GS 2 Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
Centre mulls unique ID for all plots of land by March 2022
What is the news?
ULPIN database to be linked with revenue court records
- The Centre plans to issue a 14- digit identification number to every plot of a land in the country within a year
- It will be subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue record and bank records as well as Aadhaar number on a voluntary basis
- The unique land parcel identification number ( ULPIN) scheme has been launched in 10 states this year and will be rolled out across the country 2022
- A number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in rural India , where land records are outdated and the dispute .
- The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude of the land parcel and is dependent on detailed survey and geo reference cadastral maps
- This is the next step in the Digital India Land records modernization programme , which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew
- The department has taken new initiatives under the programme like NGDRS ( or the national generic document registration system ) , ULPIN , linking of court to land records integration of consent based Aadhaar number with land records
- The department presentation to the parliamentary panel listed the proposed cost for some of the new initiative: Linking Aadhaar with land records through ULPIN would cost Rs3 per record, while seeding and authentication of land owner Aadhaar data would cost Rs5 each
- It added that Aadhaar number with the land record database would be done on a voluntary basis
- Its benefits are to ensure uniqueness in all transactions and keep the land records always up-to-date, link of all property transactions gets established, delivery of citizen services of land records through a single window, sharing of land records data across departments, financial institutions and all stakeholders, standardization at data and application level would bring in effective integration and interoperability across departments.
Linkage
- Creating a modern land record room in every district would cost 50 lakh per district, while the integration of land records with the integration of land records with Revenue court management system would cost Rs 270 crores
Service deliveries
- These components will enhance the service deliveries to the citizen of the country and will also function as inputs to the schemes of the other sectors like “Agriculture , finance disaster management ”
National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS) –
‘One Nation One Software’ for registration of documents & properties to ‘empower citizens’ launched / under implementation in 10 States / Union Territories namely Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram and Punjab, benefiting 10.47 Crore population.
Way forward
It helps in reduction in land disputes, check on fraudulent transactions, SMS and email enabled alerts related to transactions on property, external system integrations can be provided as required (i.e. e-Sign, e-KYC, Payment Gateways, PAN Verification, ROR to fetch party names for data standardization) and is expected to improve ranking of the country in Ease of Doing Business at world level forum and provide ease of living to the people.
Mains question
ULPIN is next step in the Digital India Land Records modernization programme. Critically examine
https://thewire.in/government/centre-to-launch-unique-id-number-for-all-plots-of-land-by-2022-report
TOPIC : GS 2 Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure.
The needless resurrection of a buried issue
What is the news?
The apex court order issuing notice on a petition challenging the places of worship Act is disturbing
The Supreme Court has asked the central government to respond to a plea challenging
a special law enacted in1991.,which freezes the status of places of worship as it was on August 15, 1947. According to the Petitioners, the 1991 Legislation is “arbitrary, irrational and retrospective”. The cut-off date of 15th August, 1947 bars Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from approaching courts to “re-claim” their places of worship which were “invaded” and “encroached” upon by “fundamentalist barbaric invaders”.
Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991
- The law was passed in 1991 by the P V Narasimha Rao-led government, the law
Seeks to maintain the “religious character” of places of worship as it was in 1947 —
Except in the case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, which was already in court.
Important Provisions
- The clause declaring the objective of the law describes it as “an Act to prohibit conversion
of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of
any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August, 1947, and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
- Sections 3 and 4 of the Act declare that the religious character of a place of worship shall
continue to be the same as it was on August 15, 1947 and that no person shall convert
any place of worship of any religious denomination into one of a different denomination
or section.
- Section 4(2) says that all suits, appeals or other proceedings regarding converting the
character of a place of worship, that were pending on August 15, 1947, will stand abated
when the Act commences and no fresh proceedings can be filed.
- However, legal proceedings can be initiated with respect to the conversion of the
religious character of any place of worship after the commencement of the Act if the
change of status took place after the cut-off date of August 15, 1947.
Criticism of the Legislation
- Against Secularism
- Cut-off date of 15th August 1947 is arbitrary and irrational and also confirms status quo
determined by the British.
- Pilgrimage and Burial Grounds are under State List – Centre has no powers to legislate.
Constitution of India ensures that:
- Article 25 – Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of
religion
- Article 26 – Freedom to manage religious affairs
- Article 27 – Freedom as to payment of taxes for promotion of any particular religion
- Article 28 – Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in
certain educational institutions
- One religious community does not dominate another
- Some members do not dominate other members of the same religious community.
- State does not enforce any particular religion nor take away the religious freedom
Of individuals.
Way forward
Historical wrongs cannot be reminded by the people taking the law in their own hands .In preserving the character of the places of public worship , parliament has mandated in no certain terms history and its wrong shall not to be used as instruments to oppress the present and future .
Mains question
The place of worship act is intrinsically related to the obligation of a secular state. Discuss
PRELIMS PUNCHERS
- Pong Dam Wildlife sanctuary
Maharana Pratap Sagar in India, also known as Pong Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake was created in 1975, by building the highest earth fill dam in India on the Beas River in the wetland zone of the Siwalik Hills of the Dehra Gopipur Division Kangra district of the state of Himachal Pradesh. Town of Gopipur is submerged in the reservoir, many families were displaced while flooding of reservoir. Named in the honour of Maharana Pratap (1540–1597), the reservoir or the lake is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the 27 international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention.
The Pong Reservoir and Gobindsagar Reservoir are the two most important fishing reservoirs in the Himalayan foothills of Himachal Pradesh. These reservoirs are the leading sources of fish within the Himalayan states. The reservoir is also used for water sports at Dehra which lies on National Highway enroute Jwalamukhi Temple and Dharamshala, though nothing much is done by governments in the past. People can undertake boating at Dehra. But there’s scarcity of boats for tourism in the dearth of berthing facilities
- Bar Headed goose
The bar-headed goose is a goose that breeds in Central Asia in colonies of thousands near mountain lakes and winters in South Asia, as far south as peninsular India. It lays three to eight eggs at a time in a ground nest. It is known for the extreme altitudes it reaches when migrating across the Himalayas.
The bar-headed goose migrates over the Himalayas to spend the winter in parts of South Asia (from Assam to as far south as Tamil Nadu. The modern winter habitat of the species is cultivated fields, where it feeds on barley, rice and wheat, and may damage crops. Birds from Kyrgyzstan have been seen to stopover in western Tibet and southern Tajikistan for 20 to 30 days before migrating farther south. Some birds may show high wintering site fidelity
IUCN status: Least concerned
- Whitsun Reef
It is a reef at the northeast extreme limit of the Union Banks in the Spratly Islands of the West Philippine Sea. It is the largest reef of the Union Banks. The reef is V-shaped with an area of about 10 km . Until at least 1990s it was submerged most of the time and was visible above the water only during the low tide, at other times the reef could be detected due to the pattern of breaking waves. At the end of the 20th century small sand dunes had developed on the reef making a territorial claim possible (an International Court of Justice judgment in 2012 stated that “low-tide elevations cannot be appropriated”). The development of the dunes could have occurred naturally, but the rumors had it that the island was being built up by Vietnam and China
- Spratly island
They are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed of islands, islets and cays and more than 100 reefs, sometimes grouped in submerged old atolls, the archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam.
The Spratly Islands are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea which complicate governance and economics in this part of Southeast Asia due to their location in strategic shipping lanes. The islands have no indigenous inhabitants, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves, and as such are important to the claimants in their attempts to establish international boundaries. Some of the islands have civilian settlements, but of the approximately 45 islands, cays, reefs and shoals that are occupied, all contain structures that are occupied by military forces from Malaysia, Taiwan (ROC), China (PRC), the Philippines or Vietnam. Additionally, Brunei has claimed an exclusive economic zone in the southeastern part of the Spratly Islands, which includes the uninhabited Louisa Reef
PRELIMS QUESTIONS
Qn 1. Consider the following statement regarding The unique land parcel identification number (ULPIN)
- The Centre plans to issue a 12- digit identification number to every plot of a land in the country within a year
- The unique land parcel identification number ( ULPIN) scheme has been launched in 18 states this year and will be rolled out across the country 2022
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only (b) 2 only
(c).Both (d). None of above
Answer:D
The Centre plans to issue a 14- digit identification number to every plot of a land in the country within a year . It will be subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue record and bank records as well as Aadhaar number on a voluntary basis .The unique land parcel identification number ( ULPIN) scheme has been launched in 10 states this year and will be rolled out across the country 2022 . A number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in rural India, where land records are outdated and the dispute .The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude of the land parcel and is dependent on detailed survey and geo reference cadastral maps. This is the next step in the Digital India Land records modernization programme , which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew. The department has taken new initiatives under the programme like NGDRS ( or the national generic document registration system ) , ULPIN , linking of court to land records integration of consent based Aadhaar number with land records
Qn 2 Consider the following statement regarding
- The highest earth fill dam in India on the Sutlej River in the wetland zone of the Siwalik Hills
- The reservoir or the lake is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the 27 international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention.
Select the correct statement using code given below.
(a). 1only (b) 2 only
(c).Both (d). None of above
Answer: B
Maharana Pratap Sagar in India, also known as Pong Reservoir or Pong Dam Lake was created in 1975, by building the highest earth fill dam in India on the Beas River in the wetland zone of the Siwalik Hills of the Dehra Gopipur Division Kangra district of the state of Himachal Pradesh. Town of Gopipur is submerged in the reservoir, many families were displaced while flooding of reservoir. Named in the honour of Maharana Pratap (1540–1597), the reservoir or the lake is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the 27 international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention.
The Pong Reservoir and Gobindsagar Reservoir are the two most important fishing reservoirs in the Himalayan foothills of Himachal Pradesh. These reservoirs are the leading sources of fish within the Himalayan states. The reservoir is also used for water sports at Dehra which lies on National Highway enroute Jwalamukhi Temple and Dharamshala, though nothing much is done by governments in the past. People can undertake boating at Dehra. But there’s scarcity of boats for tourism in the dearth of berthing facilities