Puisne Judge

• According to the dictionary, the word puisne has French origins, which means later born or younger.
• Puisne is almost always used in the context of judges, and essentially denotes seniority of rank.
• The term puisne judge is used in common law countries to refer to judges who are ranked lower in seniority, i.e., any judge other than the Chief Justice of that court.
• Common law is the body of law that is created by judges through their written opinions, rather than through statutes or constitutions (statutory law).
• Common law, which is used interchangeably with ‘case law’, is based on judicial precedent.
• The United Kingdom (UK) and the Commonwealth countries, including India, are common law countries.

Puisne Judge in India and the UK

• In the UK, puisne judges are judges other than those holding distinct titles.
• The Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1877 defined a puisne judge as any judge of the High Court besides the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of England, and the Master of the Rolls.
• In India, all judges have the same judicial powers.
• As the senior most judge of a court, the Chief Justice has an additional administrative role.
• In India, there is a reference to a puisne judge only while considering the order of seniority for appointments, elevations to High Courts, etc., but it does not have a bearing on the exercise of a judge’s judicial power.
• In the Third Judges Case ruling in 1998, one of the two cases that led to the evolution of the collegium system, the Supreme Court clarified that:
  • The Chief Justice of India must make a recommendation to appoint a Judge of the Supreme Court and to transfer a Chief Justice or puisne Judge of a High Court in consultation with the four senior most puisne Judges of the Supreme Court.

Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI)

• MISHTI is a new programme that will facilitate mangrove plantation along India’s coastline and on salt pan lands.
• The programme will operate through convergence between MGNREGS, Campa Fund and other sources.
• This new programme will aim at intensive afforestation of coastal mangrove forests.
• India has such forests on both its Eastern and Western coasts with the Sundarbans in Bengal being one of the largest mangrove forests on the planet.

Importance of the programme

• Mangroves are not just some of the most bio-diverse locations in India, they also protect the coastlines from the vagaries of inclement weather.
• As climate change increases the incidence of extreme weather events across the world, mangrove plantations have shown to make coastal lands resilient, preventing flooding, land erosion and acting as a buffer for cyclones.
• Furthermore, they are also excellent carbon sinks.
• Mangrove trees can grow in saline waters, and can sequester up to four times more carbon than tropical rainforests.

Pradhan Mantri Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PMPRANAM)

• This programme will seek to incentivise states and union territories promoting alternative fertilisers and the balanced use of chemical fertilisers.
• The programme aims to ultimately bring down the government’s subsidy burden, which is estimated to reach Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-23: 39 per cent higher than last year’s figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.
• The idea of the PM PRANAM was mooted by the Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers.
• The officials had shared the details of the proposed scheme with the state government officials during the National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign-2022.
• However, at that time the full form of the PM PRANAM was mentioned as ‘PM Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana.’

Amrit Dharohar

• This is a scheme that will be implemented over the next three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and enhance bio-diversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities.
• Amrit Dharohar will emphasise on the importance of wetlands and their preservation, with an outlook that is inclusive of local communities as caretakers of the ecosystem.
• Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance that have been designated under the criteria of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971) for containing representative, rare or unique wetland types or for their importance in conserving biological diversity.
• These sites sustain a diverse variety of flora and fauna, from endangered aquatic life to migratory birds.
• India’s 75 Ramsar sites are spread across the country, covering 1326678 hectares, according to a PIB press release.
• As many as 49 new sites have been added to the list since 2019, with 19 being added in 2022.
• The government will promote their unique conservation values through Amrit Dharohar.
• The scheme was required since India now has the largest number of Ramsar Sites in Asia.

Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PMPVTG) Development Mission

PVTG

• Of the total population of India, 8.6% belongs to the Scheduled Tribes (ST).
• During the Fourth Five Year Plan, a sub-category was created within Scheduled Tribes to identify the most vulnerable groups which were considered to be at the lowest levels of development.
• Consequently, on the basis of the Dhebar Commission report, a criterion for identifying Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups was established as:
  1. Pre-agricultural level of technology,
  2. Low level of literacy,
  3. Economic backwardness,
  4. A declining or stagnant population
• PVTGs were formerly known as primitive tribal groups.
• The categorization is done by the Ministry of Home Affairs and not by the Ministry of Tribal affairs.

The PMPVGT Scheme

• The Pradhan Mantri PVTG Mission will be launched as part of ‘Reaching The Last Mile’, one of the seven Saptarishi priorities enlisted in this year’s Budget.
• This mission aims to provide basic necessities such as housing, water, roads, telecom, education, and health in areas inhabited by PVTGs, who are the most vulnerable and backward tribes among the Scheduled Tribes.
• A Budget of Rs. 15,000 crore will be dedicated to this mission in the next three years.
• Out of the 705 Scheduled Tribes in India, 75 have been identified as PVTGs and are spread across 17 states and one Union Territory, with the highest number being found in Odisha.