United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - UNFCCC

(unfccc website)

Background-
  In 1992 , countries joined an international treaty, UNFCCC, to cooperatively consider what they could do to limit average global temperature increases and resulting climate change , and to cope with whatever impacts were, by then , inevitable.
  By 1995 , countries realised that emission reductions provisions in the convention were inadequate. They launched negotiations to strenghten the global response to climate chnage , nad two years later, adopted Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed countries to emission reduction targets. The Protocols first commitment period started in 2008 and ends in 2012.

Durban Conference-
   The 17th UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) was held in Durban, South Africa during 28 Nov- 11 Dec 2011.

• new treaty in place of Kyoto Protocol to be prepared till 2015.
• In Kyoto Protocol only developing countries were legally bound to emission reduction targets, whereas in the new treaty all the countries will be bound.
• new proposed treaty will be formed under the process - "Durban Platform for Enhanced Action".
• new treaty will be enacted by 2020.
• 100 arab dollars to be collected for Green Climate Fund till 2020.
• next global summit will be held in Qatar in the end of year 2012.

 

Issues concerning National Identificatio Authority of India 2010

• The UIDAI was set up under Planning Commission by an executive order on january 28, 2009. The scheme involves the collection of demographic and biometric information to issue ID numbers to individuals.
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance finds the UID project to "conceptualised with no clarity" and "directionless".

 Issues -

• Initially , the scheme was meant for individuals who come under below poverty line but later it included all the indian citizens , which shows lack of vision.
• the scheme is in violation with the Citizenship Act 1955  and the Citizenship Act 2003 since neither of the acts authorizes collection of biometric data.
• the ministry of finance (department of expenditure) has been concerned about the duplication of effort and expenditure among atleast six agencies that collect information- the National Population Register, the MNREGS, the BPL  Census, the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and bank smart cards.
• the ministry of home affairs , has raised security concerns about the involvement of private agencies and also that the fee could be imposed due the involvement of private agencies.
• concerns are raised about the future of the highly ambitious project if the parliament rejects the bill.

 
 

Fundamental Duties

A close scrutiny of the clauses of Article 51A indicates that a number of these clauses basically refer to such values as have been a part of Indian tradition, mythology, religion and practices. Duties of a citizen were not included in the original Constitution. These have been added by the 42nd amendment in 1976 as a new part to the Constiitution.
The authors of the constitution did not feel the need of enacting of Fundamental Duties in the Constitution due to the following reasons:
-the framers of the Indian Constitution were such visionaries as had practiced values in life, discharging their societal and national obligations and had followed noble ideals which had inspired our national struggle for freedom and the need to defend the country, promote harmony, secularism and preserve the rich heritage of the composite Indian culture. To the framers these were basic and inherent values which were being practiced by each and everyone. These were integral part of the way of life in India and it was taken for granted that aberrations in the practice of these will not be acceptable to the society. As such no need was felt to incorporate the Fundamental Duties specifically in the Constitution.
-the duties were spelt out by the preamble of the Constitution which contains the ideals and aspirations of the people of India and the dedication of the Constitution for fulfilling such ideals and aspirations. We have solemnly resolved to secure to all the citizens of India justice, equality, fraternity and liberty. Whatever is needed to achieve these goals, is obvious duty to perform- is a dictate of the preamble.
- all rights enshrined in Part Three on Fundamental Rights have inbuilt obligation therein.
However, with the lapse of time, degradation of values, particularly values in public life became blatantly evident and the naton felt the need to amend the Constitution and incorporate these values specifically as Fundamental Duties of every citizen.

Comments are most welcomed so please do... 

Gandhi and Ambedkar - different ideologies..far from being complementary.

We have Gandhi..'the father of the nation' on one side and on the other side, Ambedkar..'the father of indian constitution'. Both have contributed immensely to the nation especially in the case of upliftment of dalits and yet both have different ideologies fot the same issue.There has always been debates on gandhian idea of a human society and ambedkar's revolutionary idea of social justice at all cost.
Among those who contributed to the social advancements of harijans, Gandhi and Ambedkar were the most important. Gandhi, who came from a cast of vaishya status,approached the problem from the standpoint of an uppercaste hindu who wanted to eliminate untouchability from the society , while Ambedkar identified himself with the struggle against the exploitation of supposed lowercaste. He was convinced that the problem was a part of hinduism and was enshrined in its sacred scriptures. Gandhi may be seen as coming from the dominant section of hindu society, believed that a change of heart on the part of the caste hindus could revitalise hinduism and permit the development of a varna system where all sections would be equal while Ambedkar mainly represented mahars and for him untouchability and hinduism were inextricably interwoven.
Through calling untouchables Harijan (children of God) Gandhi attempted to give them a new self-res[pect. For Ambedkar, equality did not stop with all varnas bieng equal. When he advocated equality, he referred to equality in the economic, political, and social spheres. He was largely responsible for creating reservations for untouchables in the civil society, legislature and higher education. But more importantly his major contribution was to have emphasised action from below : that political organisation was indispensible to securing justice and basic human rights. While  Ambedkar sought legal remedies along with political power for upliftment of dalits, Gandhi wished to eradicate the problem by pricking the conscience of the upper castes. He felt that law imposed from the top woud invite backlash dividing tthe caste-ridden society even more. He advocated uppercastes cleaning their own toilets. He believed that no government can provide emplyment to every citizen, considering the huge population of India. Hence caste based vocations such as weaving and shoemaking should continue as they provided self-employment.
Ambedkar was clear that, as hindus , the untouchables could not hope to be treated as equals with the rest. He therefore advocated another identity through conversion to Buddhism.