10th June 2019

National Strategy for Well being 2031

Context: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cabinet has adopted a National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031.

Aims:

• To make UAE a world leader in quality of life by undertaking various strategic objectives and initiatives.
• To promote an integrated concept of wellbeing, thereby supporting vision of UAE Vision 2021 and UAE Centennial 2071.

Key highlights of the proposed strategy:

• National Wellbeing Observatory: It proposes to establish a National Wellbeing Observatory, which will support policy making process.
• Functions of the observatory: monitoring a number of indicators of wellbeing in UAE, submitting regular reports to UAE Cabinet, proposing training programmes for government employees and will launch Academy of Wellbeing future generations. In addition to this observatory is also charged with formation of a National Wellbeing Council to manage and coordinate national strategy.
• National Wellbeing Strategy is based on a national framework of three main levels- Individuals, Society and the Country.
• It includes 14 key areas and 9 strategic objectives, which includes enhancing people’s wellbeing by promoting healthy & active lifestyles and good mental health and adopting positive thinking.
• Under the strategy 90 new projects will be launched that will target more than 40 priority areas and will improve physical, psychological and digital health of future generations.

Pacific ring of fire

Context: Mount Sinabung volcano recently erupted.

Where is it located? in Sumatra Island, western Indonesia.

It had erupted in 2010 for the first time in past 400 years.

Background: Indonesia sit along the Ring of Fire region, an area where most of the world’s volcanic eruptions occur. The Ring of Fire has seen a large amount of activity in recent days, but Indonesia has been hit hard due to its position on a large grid of tectonic plates.

Vulnerability: Indonesia is at the meeting point of three major continental plates – the Pacific, the Eurasian and the Indo-Australian plates – and the much smaller Philippine plate. As a result, several volcanoes on the Indonesian islands are prone to erupting. Indonesia is home to roughly 400 volcanoes, out of which 127 are currently active, accounting for about a third of the world’s active volcanoes.

What is the Ring of Fire?

The Ring of Fire is a Pacific region home to over 450 volcanoes, including three of the world’s four most active volcanoes – Mount St. Helens in the USA, Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. It is also sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt.

Around 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur in the Ring of Fire, and 80% of the world’s largest earthquakes.

Location:

• It stretches along the Pacific Ocean coastlines, where the Pacific Plate grinds against other, smaller tectonic plates that form the Earth’s crust – such as the Philippine Sea plate and the Cocos and Nazca Plates that line the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
• The 40,0000 kilometre horse-shoe-shaped ring loops from New Zealand to Chile, passing through the coasts of Asia and the Americas on the way.

Risk:

The people most at risk from activity in the Ring of Fire are in the US west coast, Chile, Japan and island nations including the Solomon Islands. These areas are most at risk because they lie on so-called subduction zones – which are boundaries that mark the collision between two of the planet’s tectonic plates.

How was the Ring of Fire formed?

The Ring of Fire is the result from subduction of oceanic tectonic plates beneath lighter continental plates. The area where these tectonic plates meet is called a subduction zone.

Why does the Ring of Fire trigger earthquakes?

• The world’s deepest earthquakes happen in subduction zone areas as tectonic plates scrape against each other – and the Ring of Fire has the world’s biggest concentration of subduction zones.
• As energy is released from the earth’s molten core, it forces tectonic plates to move and they crash up against each other, causing friction. The friction causes a build-up of energy and when this energy is finally released it causes an earthquake. If this happens at sea it can cause devastating tsunamis.
• Tectonic plates usually only move on average a few centimetres each year, but when an earthquake strikes, they speed up massively and can move at several metres per second.

Leader of Opposition

Why in News? Congress, with 52 MPs, has declined to stake claim for the position of Leader of Opposition in Parliament.

Background: Any party that has 55 members can get the post as recognised as such by the speaker/chairman.

 Who is the Leader of Opposition?

The LOP is leader of the largest party that has not less than one-tenth of the total strength of the house.

It is a statutory post defined in the Salaries and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977.

 Significance of the office:

• LoP is referred to as the ‘shadow Prime Minister’.
• She/he is expected to be ready to take over if the government falls.
• The LoP also plays an important role in bringing cohesiveness and effectiveness to the opposition’s functioning in policy and legislative work.
• LoP plays a crucial role in bringing bipartisanship and neutrality to the appointments in institutions of accountability and transparency – CVC, CBI, CIC, Lokpal etc.

 What reforms are needed?

There arises a problem when no party in opposition secures 55 or more seats. In such situations, the numerically largest party in the opposition should have the right to have a leader recognised as leader of the opposition by the speaker.

Besides, the 10% formulation is inconsistent with the law ‘the salary and allowances of leaders of opposition in Parliament Act, 1977’ which only says that the largest opposition party should get the post.

Cabinet secretary

Context: Govt Amends 60-Year-Old Rule to Pave Way for Cabinet Secretary Extension.

With this, the current Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha, has become the longest-serving bureaucrat in the post in the country’s history.

 Key concept- changes made:

A cabinet secretary is appointed for a fixed tenure of two years.

According to All India Services (Death-Cum-Retirement-Benefits) Rules, 1958, the government can give extension in service to a cabinet secretary provided the total tenure does not exceed four years.

As per the modified rules, the central government may give an extension in service for a further period not exceeding three months, beyond the period of four years to a cabinet secretary.

 Role of the cabinet secretary:

The cabinet secretariat is under the direct charge of the prime minister.

The administrative head of the secretariat is the cabinet secretary who is also the ex-officio chairman of the civil services board.

Functions:

• The cabinet secretariat assists in decision-making in government by ensuring inter-ministerial coordination, ironing out differences amongst ministries or departments and evolving consensus through the instrumentality of the standing or ad hoc committees of secretaries.
• Management of major crisis situations in the country and coordinating activities of various ministries in such a situation is also one of the functions of the cabinet secretariat.
• Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 and the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961, facilitating smooth transaction of business in Ministries/ Departments of the Government.