General Studies-I
Art & Culture
India to celebrate Falung Gong
Falun Gong / Falun Dafa
Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (literally, “Dharma Wheel Practice” or “Law Wheel Practice”) is a Chinese spiritual practice that combines meditation and qigong exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The practice emphasizes morality and the cultivation of virtue, and identifies as a qigong practice of the Buddhist school, though its teachings also incorporate elements drawn from Taoist traditions. Through moral rectitude and the practice of meditation, practitioners of Falun Gong aspire to eliminate attachments, and ultimately to achieve spiritual enlightenment.
Falun Gong was first taught publicly in Northeast China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. It differs from other qigong schools in its absence of fees or formal membership, lack of daily rituals of worship, its greater emphasis on morality, and the theological nature of its teachings. Western academics have described Falun Gong as a qigong discipline, a “spiritual movement”, a “cultivation system” in the tradition of Chinese antiquity, or as a form of Chinese religion.
Although the practice initially enjoyed considerable support from Chinese officialdom, by the mid- to late 1990s, the Communist Party and public security organizations increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence from the state, and spiritual teachings. By 1999, government estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners at 70 million. Tensions culminated in April 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered peacefully near the central government compound in Beijing to request legal recognition and freedom from state interference. This demonstration is widely seen as catalyzing the persecution that followed.
On 20 July 1999, the Communist Party leadership initiated a nationwide crackdown and multifaceted propaganda campaign intended to eradicate the practice. It blocked Internet access to websites that mention Falun Gong, and in October 1999 it declared Falun Gong a “heretical organization” that threatened social stability. Falun Gong practitioners in China are reportedly subject to a wide range of human rights abuses: hundreds of thousands are estimated to have been imprisoned extrajudicially, and practitioners in detention are subject to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of thought reform at the hands of Chinese authorities. As of 2009, human rights groups estimated that at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had died as a result of abuse in custody. Some observers put the number much higher, and report that tens of thousands may have been killed to supply China’s organ transplant industry. In the years since the persecution began, Falun Gong practitioners have become active in advocating for greater human rights in China.
Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi has lived in the United States since 1996, and Falun Gong has a sizable global constituency. Inside China, estimates suggest that tens of millions continued to practice Falun Gong in spite of the persecution. Hundreds of thousands are estimated to practice Falun Gong outside China in over 70 countries worldwide.
General Studies-II
Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
New family planning initiatives launched on World Population Day (Jul 11)
Mission Parivar Vikas : It is a new Information Education & Communication (IEC) campaign which will focus on 146 high fertility districts in 7 states with high Total
Fertility Rate (TFR). Under this, specific targeted initiatives shall be taken for population stabilisation through better services delivery. Mission Parivar Vikas is a new initiative conceived by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare with a strategic focus on improving access through provision of services, promotional schemes, commodity security, capacity building, enabling environment and intensive monitoring.
A new injectable contraceptive has been introduced in the public health system under the “Antara” program and a new software – Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS) has also been launched, which is designed to provide robust information on the demand and distribution of contraceptives to health facilities and ASHAs to strengthen supply chain management.
Population dynamics have a significant influence on sustainable development. The changes in population growth rates and age structures are closely linked to national and global developmental challenges and their solutions. The issue of population stabilization is so gigantic in its proportion that the government alone cannot address the issue and thus the collective involvement of NGOs, private sector and corporate sector shall play a pivotal role.
Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health (RMNCH+A)
RMNCH+A approach has been launched in 2013 and it essentially looks to address the major causes of mortality among women and children as well as the delays in accessing and utilizing health care and services. The RMNCH+A strategic approach has been developed to provide an understanding of ‘continuum of care’ to ensure equal focus on various life stages. Priority interventions for each thematic area have been included in this to ensure that the linkages between them are contextualized to the same and consecutive life stage. It also introduces new initiatives like the use of Score Card to track the performance, National Iron + Initiative to address the issue of anemia across all age groups and the Comprehensive Screening and Early interventions for defects at birth , diseases and deficiencies among children and adolescents. The RMNCH+A appropriately directs the States to focus their efforts on the most vulnerable population and disadvantaged groups in the country. It also emphasizes on the need to reinforce efforts in those poor performing districts that have already been identified as the high focus districts.
Further Ref.: http://nhm.gov.in/images/pdf/RMNCH+A/RMNCH+A_Strategy.pdf
Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) (National Population Stabilisation Fund)
The “Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh” (JSK) (National Population Stabilisation Fund) has been registered as an autonomous Society established under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. JSK has to promote and undertake activities aimed at achieving population stabilisation at a level consistent with the needs of sustainable economic growth, social development and environment protection, by 2045.
General Studies-III
Bio diversity, Environment
Earth facing sixth mass extinction
Scientists have warned that the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is unfolding more quickly than feared. More than 30% of animals with a backbone — fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals — are declining in both range and population, according to the first comprehensive analysis of these trends.
Around a decade ago, experts feared that a new planetary wipeout of species was looming. Today, most agree that it is under way — but the new study suggests that the die-out is already ratcheting up a gear. It provides much-needed data about the threat to wildlife, mapping the dwindling ranges and population of 27,600 species.
For 177 mammals, researchers combed through data covering the period 1900 to 2015. The mammal species that were monitored have lost at least a third of their original habitat. Forty per cent of them — including rhinos, orangutans, gorillas and many big cats — are surviving on 20% or less of the land they once roamed.
The loss of biodiversity has recently accelerated.
Several species of mammals that were relatively safe one or two decades ago are now endangered, including cheetahs, lions and giraffes. There are as few as 20,000 lions left in the wild, less than 7,000 cheetahs, 500 to 1,000 giant pandas, and about 250 Sumatran rhinoceros.
Globally, the mass die-off — deemed to be the sixth in the last half-billion years — is the worst since three-quarters of life on the Earth, including the non-avian dinosaurs, were wiped out 66 million years ago by a giant meteor impact.
On an average, two vertebrate species disappear every year. Tropical regions have seen the highest number of declining species. In South and Southeast Asia, large-bodied species of mammals have lost more than four-fifths of their historical ranges. While fewer species are disappearing in temperate zones, the percentage is just as high or higher.
As many as half of the number of animals that once shared our planet are no longer here, a loss which can be described as a massive erosion of the greatest biological diversity in the history of Earth. The massive loss of populations and species reflects our lack of empathy to all the wild species that have been our companions since our origins.
The main drivers of wildlife decline are habitat loss, overconsumption, pollution, invasive species, disease, as well as poaching in the case of tigers, elephants, rhinos and other large animals prized for their body parts. Climate change is poised to become a major threat in the coming decades.