Growing Tea Over Farmland
The Centre is at loggerheads with the West Bengal over the State government’s one-and-a-half -decade-old notification banning conversion of agricultural land into tea cultivation area.
Stating that the 2001 notification was affecting a large number of small growers – estimated to be around 20,000 – mainly in north Bengal, the Centre recently asked the West Bengal government to lift the ban. The Centre noted that the State government’s revenue authorities were not granting ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) to small growers who have planted tea after the 2001 notification.
However, the State government says the ban – imposed as part of land reforms – was to prevent ‘tea gardeners’ from purchasing (forcibly and through other means such as cheating) land belonging to tribal people. The ban is also to prevent tea gardeners from illegally encroaching upon government-owned land.  Besides, the State government says the prohibition was to maintain “an appropriate environmental balance in life and livelihood†in the area. The State government had said legal action could be taken against those trying to expand tea cultivation in new areas in violation of the notification, which had followed the West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Act, 2000.
Analysis
The tea gardens in the Doaars(areas of Assam and West Bengal) have been facing difficulties owing to changing climate patterns and competition by high end tea.
Recently in  January 2016 the Centre has authorised the Tea Board to take over the management control of seven gardens of the G.P. Goenka-headed Duncan Industries in north Bengal, stepping onto a populist but tricky terrain.
The Union ministry of commerce and industry invoked a rarely used section of the Tea Act of 1953 to take control of the gardens in the Dooars, saying they “are being managed in a manner highly detrimental to the tea industry and to public interest”.
According to the provisions of the Tea Act, the gardens may remain under the new management up to 12 years unless the Centre is convinced that it was no longer necessary and they can be handed back to Duncan.
The Centre can invoke the takeover clause if a tea unit made losses in three out of five immediate preceding years or habitually made defaults on the dues of workers and employees or its production yield was lower than the district average by 25 per cent or more. Industry sources said the seven gardens would qualify on all these counts.
Source: TheHindu, TheTelegraphIndia
Central nodal agency to curb human trafficking
To strengthen the fight against human trafficking, the Union government has decided to set up a central nodal agency.
Speaking on the sidelines of the fifth annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) conclave in Siliguri, Rajnish Kwatra, Under Secretary (Prison Reforms & Anti Trafficking Cell), Ministry of Home Affairs, said the government was also mooting a law for the same.
Analysis
Operation Smile – was launched in 2015 to rescue missing children who were a victim of trafficking. 9,146 children under Operation Smile and 19,742 children under Operation Muskaan were rescued or rehabilitated in 2015 itself.
The area close to tea farms around Siliguri is prone to child trafficking due to distressed tea farms. But poverty is just one factor in such abuses. Even in highly developed economies, there is human trafficking. Material poverty does not mean poverty of values.
Source: TheHindu
Smart Card for unorganised workers
The Unorganised Workers’ Identification Number (U-WIN) scheme, first mooted in September 2014, proposed to provide a smart card to the unorganised workers for entitled to benefits under various schemes such as Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY) as well as the Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.
It has hit a roadblock though for the second time with the Finance Ministry rejecting the latest Labour Ministry proposal to issue one card per family as an impractical idea. The Labour Ministry had originally planned to give smart card directly to all the unorganised workers, but the Finance Ministry had raised objections on the huge costs that would entail.
Keeping those budget constraints in mind, the labour ministry re-drafted the proposal to allocate one smart card to the head of each family instead of all workers in a household. But the Finance Ministry hasn’t approved of this idea either.
Analysis
Unorganized workers in India – There are around 40 crore unorganised workers in the country, which accounts for around 89 per cent of the total workforce, as per government estimates. The portable smart card would have details of bank account, mobile numbers and benefits of social security schemes that can be availed by the workers.
Clash with Aadhar – The IT ministry said that issuing smart cards to unorganised workers may lead to duplication of work as the government is already in discussions to link welfare schemes with the Aadhar card. India is already running parallel schemes like National Population Register which are adding to the exchequer. It would rather be advisable to de-duplicate all such initiatives and link it with Aadhar.
Source: TheHindu
Act against Devadasi system, SC tells States
Condemning the prevalence of the illegal practice of “dedicating†young girls as Devadasis, the Supreme Court on Friday described the practice as an “evil†done to women, who were later even subjected to sexual exploitation and pushed into prostitution.
It said that neither were the police enforcing the law nor were the State governments are properly utilising funds allocated for the rehabilitation of girls who were pushed into the Devadasi system. Additional Solicitor General claimed that State-level legislation such as the Karnataka Devadasis Prohibition of Dedication Act, 1982, and Maharashtra Devadasis Abolition Act, 2006, had completely abolished such practices. The practice of Devadasis system violates Sections 370 and 370 A of the IPC as amended through the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013.
Analysis
What is the Devadasi System? – In South India, a devadasi is a girl “dedicated” to worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication takes place in a Pottukattu ceremony which is similar in some ways to marriage. Originally, in addition to taking care of the temple and performing rituals, these women learned and practiced Sadir (Bharatanatya), Odissi and other classical Indian artistic traditions and enjoyed a high social status as dance and music were essential part of temple worship.
During British rule in the Indian subcontinent, kings who were the patrons of temples and temple arts became powerless. As a result, devadasis were left without their traditional means of support and patronage. During colonial times, reformists worked towards outlawing the devadasi tradition on grounds that it supported prostitution.
The devadasi system was outlawed in all of India in 1988, yet some devadasis still practice illegally.
Source: TheHindu, Wikipedia
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