Lok Adalat

Lok Adalat proceedings are not judicial in nature: Karnataka High Court.

• NALSA – The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) along with other Legal Services Institutions conducts Lok Adalats.
• ADR – Lok Adalat is one of the Alternative Dispute Redressal (ADR) mechanisms.
• It is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation stage are settled/compromised amicably.
• Status – Lok Adalats have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• Decree – Under the said Act, the award (decision) made by the Lok Adalats is deemed to be a decree of a civil court and is final and binding on all parties and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law.
• Appeal – If the parties are not satisfied with the award of the Lok Adalat there is no provision for an appeal against such an award.
• However, they are free to initiate litigation by approaching the court of appropriate jurisdiction.
• This can be done by filing a case by following the required procedure, in exercise of their right to litigate.
• Fee – There is no court fee payable when a matter is filed in a Lok Adalat.
• If a matter pending in the court of law is referred to the Lok Adalat and is settled subsequently, the court fee originally paid in the court on the complaints/petition is also refunded back to the parties. 
• Conciliators – The persons deciding the cases in the Lok Adalats are called the Members of the Lok Adalats, they have the role of statutory conciliators only and do not have any judicial role.
• Therefore they can only persuade the parties to come to a conclusion for settling the dispute outside the court in the Lok Adalat and shall not pressurize the parties to compromise matters. 
• Nature of cases to be referred to Lok Adalat –
  1. Any case pending before any court.
  2. Any dispute which has not been brought before any court and is likely to be filed before the court.
  3. Provided that any matter relating to an offence not compoundable under the law shall not be settled in Lok Adalat.

• National Lok Adalat – They are held for at regular intervals where on a single day Lok Adalats are held throughout the country, in all the courts right from the Supreme Court till the Taluk levels.
• Permanent Lok Adalat – It is organised under Section 22-B of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• Permanent Lok Adalats have been set up as permanent bodies with a Chairman and two members.
• The members provide compulsory pre-litigative mechanism for conciliation and settlement of cases relating to Public Utility Services like transport, postal, telegraph etc.
• The Award of the Permanent Lok Adalat is final and binding on all the parties. 
• The jurisdiction of the Permanent Lok Adalats is upto Rs. Ten Lakhs.
• Mobile Lok Adalats – They are organised in various parts of the country which travel from one location to another.

Important IVC Sites

In the latest revisions that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has added the Rakhigarhi findings and dropped the references on Narmada Dam.

Site – Location

1. Banawali - Haryana
2. Dholavira - Gujarat
3. Mohenjo Daro -   Pakistan
4. Ropar -       Punjab
5. Kalibangan -        Rajasthan
6. Chanhudaro -      Pakistan
7. Surkotada   - Gujarat
8. Sutkagan Dor - Iran-Pakistan Border
9. Rangapur - Gujarat
10. Rakhigarhi - Haryana
11. Lothal -       Gujarat
12. Alamgirpur - Uttar Pradesh
13. Harappa -   Pakistan
14. Kot Diji -    Pakistan

Jenu Kuruba Community (Kattunayakkars)

Decades after independence, basic facilities are still distant dream to Jenu Kuruba settlement in Kodagu.

• Jenu – Jenu in Kannada means honey and Kuruba is the caste. 

• As the name suggests, they are a traditional honey gathering tribe.
• Other Name – Kattunayakkars (King of the forest)
• Habitat – They are among the original inhabitants of the forests of the Western Ghats that stretch over three states, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
• Majority of the Jenu Kurubas are from Karnataka and post 1970s, they are relocated around Nagarhole and Bandipur forests to enable tiger conservation project.
• Bidru Kotta, a bamboo percussive instrument is played by the tribe.
• Occupation – The main occupation used to be food gathering in the forests, collection of minor forest produce in the forests, collection of minor forest produce including honey.
• Lifestyle – They live in small settlements called Hadi.
• They practice agriculture as a subsidiary occupation.
• Instead of ploughing the field, they scratch the surface with a sort of bamboo spear.
• In Karnataka, Jenu Kuruba and Koraga stand out as the most vulnerable among the 50 tribal communities.

New Features of UPI

RBI introduces two new UPI Features, from Cash Deposit to PPI Wallet Interoperability.

• UPI is the indigenous digital payment system in India that was conceptualized and operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in 2016.
• It powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
• UPI Lite – UPI Lite will be an on-device wallet functionality that will enable offline transactions of smaller values.
• UPI Lite will work via the wallet system.
• Transaction limit – Funds have to be added in the UPI Lite wallet and which can be used to make small payments under Rs 200.
• Wallet limit – There is an Rs 2,000 limit on the amount of money you can have in this UPI Lite wallet.
• The users will not be required to enter their UPI PIN while confirming UPI Lite payments.

Reversal of Arctic Polar Vortex

Scientists discovered that the Earth’s polar vortex has mysteriously reversed.

• Polar vortex – The polar vortex sits in the stratosphere, which starts at around 6–20 kilometers above the planet's surface and reaches roughly 50 kilometers above.
• The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles.
• It always exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter.
• Vortex – The term vortex refers to the counter-clockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles.
• Many times during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand, sending cold air southward with the jet stream.
• Polar Vortex is not a feature that exists at the Earth’s surface.
• Weather forecasters examine the polar vortex by looking at conditions tens of thousands of feet up in the atmosphere.

• Arctic Polar Vortex – The Arctic polar vortex is a band of strong westerly winds that forms in the stratosphere between about 10 and 30 miles above the North Pole every winter.
• The winds enclose a large pool of extremely cold air.
• There is an even stronger polar vortex in the Southern Hemisphere stratosphere in its winter.
• The stronger the winds, the more the air inside is isolated from warmer latitudes, and the colder it gets.