WESTERN DISTURBANCES

• The extended and intense cold and dry weather, not so good for agricultural point of view, has been because of feeble and fewer western disturbances (WDs) and their changed pattern this season.
• Currently, almost 40 per cent of the country (primarily Punjab, Haryana and western UP, eastern Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) is experiencing scanty rain this Rabi due to wayward WDs.

 WESTERN DISTURBANCES:

• Western disturbance is a weather phenomenon associated with clouds and rain
• Causes winter rain and snow; also linked to cloudy skies, higher night temperatures
• A rise in temperature is followed by rainfall or snow
• Temperatures rise is because of change in wind direction from cold north-westerly to warm south-westerly winds
• This brings down temperatures while the cloud cover in the nights does not allow the heat to escape

NEW CRITERIA FOR URBAN POOR IDENTIFICATION

• The urban poor will now be identified on the basis of social, economic and occupational vulnerabilities as the housing and poverty alleviation ministry has decided to junk the Planning Commission's income benchmark. 

 OLD CRITERIA:

• Families earning below Rs 4,824 a month are put in the bracket of urban poor.

 PROBLEM:

• Income certificates are forged or are being procured after bribing officials.
• Difficult to identify beneficiaries in metropolises and other cities, where few families earn below the BPL cutoff while many of them live in vulnerable conditions

 NEW MECHANISM:

• Urban poor will be defined according to people's vulnerabilities.
• The identification of urban poor will be based on the recommendations of the Hashim committee.
• Under the mechanism, families will be divided into two groups -- those automatically included the other automatically excluded -- in the poverty bracket. 
• Those automatically included in the poverty bracket will be the homeless and jobless. Those included will be graded by the ministry on the basis of economic, social, occupational and housing vulnerabilities. Based on data from the caste census, families will be graded and assigned points according to their needs. 
• Automatically excluded will be families with a pakka house, motor vehicle or electronic appliances such as air-conditioner or refrigerator. 

GOVT SETS UP 14th FINANCE COMMISSION

• The government has constituted the 14th Finance Commission under the chairmanship of former RBI governor Y V Reddy, which among other things, will suggest steps for pricing of public utilities like electricity and water in an independent manner.
• Besides, it would suggest the level of subsidies that would be essential for sustainable and inclusive growth and sharing of burden between the Centre and states.
• Among other things, the Commission has also been asked to review the non-salary expenditure of states and recommend steps for upkeep of capital asset.

OTHER MEMBERS:

• Former finance secretary Sushma Nath, NIPFP director M Govinda Rao, Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen and former acting chairman of National Statistical Commission Sudipto Mundle. 

 FINANCE COMMISSION:

• Finance Commission is set up every five years to suggest principles governing the distribution of tax proceeds among Centre, States and local bodies.
• The recommendations of the Commission, set up under the provisions of the Constitution on sharing of tax proceeds between the Union and States, will apply for the period beginning April 1, 2015.

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System

• CCTNS: Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System
• To be launched at 5,000 locations, including 3,000 police stations, across the country on January 4.
• The project is based on the principle of “centralized planning and decentralized implementation”. 
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)-backed project will provide a national databank of crime and criminals and their biometric profiles.
• This database will be connected with databases of other agencies of the criminal justice system like courts, jails, immigration and passport authorities.

 APPLICATIONS:

• The system will have a wide-ranging application. It will automate police functioning; make it transparent, accountable, effective and efficient.
•  Nationwide data will be available at 15,000 police stations and offices of middle and senior rank officials.
• It will also help in knowing progress of investigation in criminal cases and status of court proceedings

NO SPECIAL STATUS FOR BIHAR

• The Planning Commission has ruled out special category status for Bihar, arguing that doing so would require changes in guidelines.
• Bihar demanded special category status saying it was subject to floods.

 CHARACTERSTICS OF SPECIAL CATEGORY STATES:

• Special category states have some distinct characteristics. They have international boundaries, hilly terrain and have distinctly different socio-economic developmental parameters, according to a study undertaken for the 13th Finance Commission. The study said these states also have geographical disadvantages in their effort for infrastructural development. 
• Public expenditure plays a significant role in the gross State Domestic Product of the states

• The Centre sanctions 90% in the form of grants in plan assistance to states in special category. 

 SPECIAL CATEGORY STATES:

• Special category states are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. 

13th ANNUAL INDIA-RUSSIA SUMMIT

Venue: New Delhi

• The Indian side was led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while the Russian delegation was led by the visiting President Vladimir V. Putin
• Setting aside their differences over civil nuclear cooperation and Russian telecom giant Sistema’s investment, India and Russia have signed two key defence deals worth about Rs 25,000 crore for the supply of 42 new Su-30 MKI combat aircraft and 71 Mi-17V5 helicopters to India.
• The two countries also inked other agreements in fields, such as space, trade and investment, science and technology, education and culture, reinforcing the strong dynamics of their time-tested friendship.

 NEW ACCORD ON CIVIL NUCLEAR ENERGY:

• Under the new accord, Russia has committed that it would build another nuclear power plant in Koodankulam (Tamil Nadu) where it has already set up two plants for generating nuclear energy.
• The new plant will have a capacity of producing 1000 mw of nuclear energy every year. As a result, India’s nuclear energy generating capacity will go up to over 20,000 mw.