The Hindu 19th August Explanation

Dishevel: make (a person’s hair or clothes) untidy.

An intifada (Arabic: انتفاضة intifāḍah) is a rebellion or uprising

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 made it a punishable offence for any person to send ‘grossly offensive’ or ‘menacing’ information using a computer resource or communication device

Shiite: relating to Shia.

Endosulfan is a pesticide developed in 1954. People extensively used it in farming with high consumption in the 1980s and 1990s. Later, it was highly toxic to human health and the environment. It poisoned entire populations of useful and necessary insects. The Endosulfan tragedy also caused many ailments. These ailments included skin irritations, destruction of nerve tissues and reproductive and developmental damage in human beings and animals.

In Kasargod’s Padre Village, residents reported that aerial spraying of Endosulfan in the cashew plantations began as early as 1976. A few years later, there were reports of calves being born with deformed limbs. Frogs, fishes, bee colonies, fireflies and jackals vanished from these areas. Many local children and a large number of people below the age of 25 were suffering from severe disorders. Families who lived along the Kodenkiri stream and its smaller tributaries endured the most. Protests and efforts mobilized by residents helped throw light on these troubles. However, it took many years for officials to fully address the dangers of the pesticide.

• The Kerala Government banned the use of Endosulfan in 2005. However, neighboring States still used them. In 2011, the seventh meeting of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s) placed a global ban on the manufacture and use of Endosulfan. In the same year, the Supreme Court of India banned the use, manufacture and distribution of the pesticide. A Supreme Court-appointed panel recommended phasing out the use of Endosulfan across a period of two years to avoid the high cost of incinerating.

The government constituted panel to draft National Sports Development Code initially.

• In this former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, legendary badminton player Prakash Padukone and athlete Anju Bobby George were the part of a nine-member government panel formed to make recommendations for bringing out a comprehensive National Sports Development Code across all disciplines.
• The committee will be headed by Sports Secretary and will study issues related to sports governance, including court judgments and best international practices.

Role of the Committee: Identify basic universal principles of ethics and good governance based on the – IOC Charter international best practices – Draft National Sports Development Bill – National Sports Development Code, 2011, – Supreme Court and High Court judgments, etc. To identify issues pertaining to good governance in administration of sports in the country. To make specific recommendations for bringing out a comprehensive Sports Code to address the issues of governance pertaining to the National Olympic Committee.

Analysis

What is the Sports Code?

• It is a set of regulations passed by the government in 2011, which enunciated the ‘basic universal principles of good governance, ethics and fair play.’
• The Sports Code seeks to put restrictions on the age and tenure of the office-bearers of federations apart from envisaging transparent functioning along with free and fair elections.

What is the legal status of the Code?

• The Code was notified by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India (Government) in 2011, with an aim of bringing together all notifications and instructions pertaining to good governance of National Sports Federations.
• Various High Courts and the Supreme Court have upheld the binding nature of the provisions of the Code.

What entities are covered by the Code? 

• The Code largely governs the functioning of national level sports governing bodies, officially termed as “National Sports Federations” (NSF).
• Under the Code, NSFs are fully accountable for the management, direction, promotion, and sponsorship of the discipline for which they are recognized by the relevant International Federation.