PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 18-OCTOBER-2017
Topic: Role of women and women’s organization,
population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues,
urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Campaign on ‘women for women’:
#IamThatWoman
In an attempt to end Gender bias in women
against women, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is undertaking an
online campaign #IamThatWoman.
Key facts:
§ Through the campaign, the Ministry seeks to
highlight the various aspects of women standing ‘by’ and ‘for’ women.
§ Ministry of WCD has urged people to shun
stereotypes associated with women harming other women.
§ Twitter and Facebook users have been
encouraged to tag and share stories of women helping women with a photograph
and post online with the hashtag #IamThatWoman.
Significance of this campaign:
When a woman has the support of her
womanhood, she can be unstoppable. Through this campaign, the government aims
to shed light on the enormous contributions made by women for women.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Role of women and women’s organization,
population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues,
urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Call Swachh Bharat toilets ‘Izzat
Ghar’: Centre to states
Every toilet constructed across the country
under the Swachh Bharat Mission could now be called ‘Izzat Ghar’, or something equivalent in a local language
that means house of dignity, following a directive from the Centre to the
states.
§ The Centre has written to all states in this
regard, advising Hindi-speaking states to call a toilet an ‘Izzat Ghar’ while
urging other states to come up with other terms in the regional languages with
the same meaning.
§ This move aims to instils a sense of dignity and
pride in the entire family for their toilet, and will also have a positive
impact on usage.
About SBM:
Swachh Bharat Mission was officially launched
on 2 October 2014 and is India’s biggest ever cleanliness drive. It aims to
eliminate open defecation by 2019. The goal also includes the elimination of
open defecation, conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets,
eradicating of manual scavenging and Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM).
The components of the programme are:
§ Construction of individual sanitary latrines
for households below the poverty line with subsidy (80%) where demand exists.
§ Conversion of dry latrines into low-cost
sanitary latrines.
§ Construction of exclusive village sanitary
complexes for women providing facilities for hand pumping, bathing, sanitation
and washing on a selective basis where there is not adequate land or space
within houses and where village panchayats are willing to maintain the
facilities.
§ Setting up of sanitary marts.
§ Total sanitation of villages through the
construction of drains, soakage pits, solid and liquid waste disposal.
§ Intensive campaign for awareness generation
and health education to create a felt need for personal, household and
environmental sanitation facilities.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 2:
Topic: Issues relating to development and
management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human
Resources.
IISc & IIT Bombay among world’s top
200 for engineering
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in
Bangalore and IIT Bombay are among the world’s top 200 institutions for
engineering and computer science, the
Times Higher Education subject-wise rankings have found.
Background:
TIMES rankings scored 500 institutions
worldwide, as opposed to 100 last year, on performance parameters such as
industry income, international outlook, teaching and research. It highlights
the educational institutions that are leading in electrical, mechanical, civil,
chemical and general engineering courses.
Performance of various institutions:
§ While IISc occupied the 89th spot, IIT Bombay
was pegged in the 126- 150 category, globally.
§ IITs in Delhi, Kanpur and Kharagpur were
placed in the 201-250 band, in that order, and IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee in
the 251 – 300 category.
§ IIT Guwahati was among institutes in the 301
– 400 ranks and Jadavpur University, NIT Rourkela and Tezpur University were
pegged in the 401 to 500 band.
§ Overall, Stanford University is number one,
followed by California institute of Technology, Oxford University,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cambridge University.
§ While India has a total of eleven
institutions in the rankings, China has 35 institutions, which is more than any
other country in Asia. China’s Peking University and National University of
Singapore are among the top ten and top performers from Asia.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 3:
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to
planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Against job reservation in private
sector, says Niti VC
Joining the debate on job reservations, Niti
Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar has said he is against extending the policy to
the private sector, while admitting that more efforts are needed to generate
more employment.
Background:
60 lakh young people join the labour force
every year. Many of them do not find any job. Many people used to find
some kinds of jobs in informal sector but that has reached a point of
saturation. However, the government is able to provide employment to 10 -12
lakh youths. Therefore, several political leaders are advocating job
reservation for SC/ST in private sector.
However, several industry associations have
maintained over the years that introducing reservations could create hurdles in
growth due to dearth in skilled labour and hurt chances of attracting
investments in the state.
Why reservation in private sector is not a
good move?
§ Impacts innovation and performance: The private sector is known for its innovation
and performance and bringing the quota system in this sector would impede upon
the progress of nation which is reliant on this sector for generation of new
ideas and building a competitive advantage.
§ In conflict with international
standards: Reservation of such kind will create a
workforce incapable of meeting international standards resulting in loss in
competitiveness of industries and promotion inclusion at the cost of growth.
§ Existing gaps: While there is reservation in
government jobs, employment by government has fallen from 18.2 million in 2006
to 17.6 million in 2012. In contrast, private sector jobs have increased more
than a third, from 8.77 million to 11.9 million over the period. While there
has been 27% reservation for OBCs in government jobs since 1992, only around
12% got jobs. Hence, it is first necessary to fill this gap.
Way ahead:
Quotas are no silver bullet that deliver
social justice. The only way to ensure that is to level the playing field,
through better education and training, and a constant vigil that would ensure
action against those who undermine the equality for all promised by the
Constitution.
Sources: et.
Topic: conservation.
Sawfish more threatened than tigers,
say scientists
World Sawfish day was observed on
October 17th. The sawfish have been sighted off the
Indian coast less than 10 times in over a decade and they appear to be more
threatened than tigers and elephants, as per the scientists.
§ The sawfish today may be the most endangered
fish species in India. Anecdotal evidence suggested they were once common along
the Indian coast.
Key facts:
§ The sawfish has been included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife
(Protection) Act 1972 enacted
to save them from exploitation.
§ There are only five species of the sawfish
ever identified — dwarf sawfish, knifetooth sawfish, smalltooth sawfish,
largetooth sawfish and green sawfish.
§ Sawfish are elasmobranchs, meaning their skeleton is made of
cartilage. They are closely related to sharks and have shark-shaped bodies and,
hence, are also called flat sharks.
§ The sawfish family has been assessed either
‘Endangered’ or ‘Critically Endangered’ in the International Union for
Conservation of Nature Global Red List, considering their threatened status,
high extinction risk and observed population decline.
Sources: the hindu.
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