GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Micro tremors have been helping release tectonic stress and protecting India from a devastating event, experts said and asserted that the country has seen a paradigm shift towards effective response and mitigation. 

Should India be concerned?

•  India is witnessing micro tremors regularly which, in turn, is helping release tectonic stress and offering protection from the possibility of a devastating event.
• The triple junction on India's western side near the border with Pakistan is continuously releasing stress due to the occurrence of micro-level earthquakes. 
• There are a few earthquakes of magnitude 4 and 5 as well.

How prone is India to earthquakes?

• India is located in a seismically active region. India is divided into four seismic zones based on the potential for earthquake activity in each region.
• According to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 59 per cent of India's land mass is prone to earthquakes. 
• Zone V is seismically the most active region, while Zone II is the least. 
• Around 11 per cent of the country's area falls in Zone V, 18 per cent in Zone IV and 30 per cent in Zone III and the remaining in Zone II.
• The zones are used to guide building codes and construction practices.

Is India ready?

• India is well-prepared to deal with the fallout of large-scale earthquakes as it has a dedicated, well-equipped and trained force in the form of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

The Supreme Court dismissed a petition which challenged the delimitation exercise carried out for redrawing the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

Key points highlighted  by the Supreme Court

• Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution enable the Parliament to create new States and Union territories. Accordingly, the two new Union territories were created. 
• The J&K Reorganisation Act which created the two new Union territories assigns the role of readjustment of constituencies to the Delimitation Commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002.
• It is a law made under Article 3  and can always provide for the readjustment of the Constituencies in the newly constituted States or Union territories through the Delimitation Commission. 
• Hence, there is no illegality associated with the establishment of the Delimitation Commission under the order of March 6, 2020.

The petition

• The petition (by Srinagar residents) challenged the notification issued by the Centre in March 2020 establishing the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission and a second one in March 2021 extending its term for the purpose of conducting delimitation only for Jammu and Kashmir.
• Arguments:
• Under Section 60 of the 2019 Act, only the Election Commission of India was empowered to conduct the delimitation exercise. 
• Article 170 of the Constitution barred delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2011 census. It has to either happen on the basis of the 2001 census or await “the first census after the year 2026”.

The Supreme Court sought the Centre's response to a PIL that questioned the non-election of a deputy speaker in Lok Sabha and several state assemblies, and observed that the issue is "very important".

How are the Speaker and Deputy Speaker elected?

• The Constitution specifies offices like those of the President, Vice President, Chief Justice of India, and Comptroller and Auditor General of India, as well as Speakers and Deputy Speakers. 
• Article 93 for Lok Sabha and Article 178 for state Assemblies state that these Houses “shall, as soon as may be”, choose two of its members to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
• In Lok Sabha and state legislatures, the President/Governor sets a date for the election of the Speaker, and it is the Speaker who decides the date for the election of the Deputy Speaker. 
• The legislators of the respective Houses vote to elect one among themselves to these offices.

The roles of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker

• The Speaker is “the principal spokesman of the House, he represents its collective voice and is its sole representative to the outside world”. 
• The Speaker presides over the House proceedings and joint sittings of the two Houses of Parliament. 
• It is the Speaker’s decision that determines whether a Bill is a Money Bill and therefore outside of the purview of the other House.
• The Deputy Speaker is independent of the Speaker, not subordinate to him, as both are elected from among the members of the House.
• Continuity of the Speakers office: The Deputy Speaker ensures the continuity of the Speakers office by acting as the Speaker when the office becomes vacant. 

Increasing domain: Since Independence, the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker’s position has grown in importance. In addition to presiding over the House in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker chaired committees both inside and outside of Parliament.

A draft Bill (Geo-heritage Sites and Geo-relics (Preservation and Maintenance) Bill, 2022, ), aimed at protecting India’s geological heritage that includes fossils, sedimentary rocks, and natural structures, has raised alarm in India’s geo-sciences and palaeontology community.

What does the Bill entail?

• The bill vests powers entirely in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), a 170-year-old organisation that comes under the Ministry of Mines.
• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has made a list of 32 geo heritage sites in the country, among them volcanogenic minerals in Andhra Pradesh and wood fossils in Tamil Nadu.
• The proposed bill makes it possible for the Union government to declare a geological site as being of national importance, which would bring it within the ambit of the law.
• Construction, reconstruction, and repair work of private property and buildings falling within the prohibited area are not allowed unless explicit permission from the director general of GSI is secured.
• The bill also proposes to impose a penalty of up to five lakhs and/or a six-month jail term in case sites are destroyed, removed or defaced.

Concerns highlighted by Experts

• Just placing these sites on a list hasn’t assured them protection.
• The new proposed bill gives the Union government power to denotify geo heritage sites if it believes they have “ceased to be of national importance”, without public consultation.
• According to experts, the GSI is not equipped to handle the task of geo heritage conservation, as it is primarily a research body that works on various missions.
• The bill doesn’t make provisions for monuments in areas under the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which gives these regions special governance mechanisms and special rights over land.

What are Geo-heritage Sites?

• Geo-heritage refers to the geological features which are inherently or culturally significant offering insight into earth’s evolution or history to earth science or that can be utilized for education.
• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is the parent body that is making efforts towards the identification and protection of geo-heritage sites/national geological monuments in the country.

Examples of India’s geo heritage 

• Himalayas: The subcontinent’s collision with Eurasia over 50 million years ago, which birthed the Himalayas, is considered among the most significant geological phenomena in its history. 
• Fossil reserves: India also has one of the largest dinosaur fossil reserves in the world, found in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, as well as remnants of the oldest life forms, called stromatolites, in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. 
• Caves and Sculptures: Caves and natural rock sculptures — found across states — are also geo relics of value.