PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 13-NOVEMBER -2017
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and
various quasi-judicial bodies.
International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI)
Context:
A ‘rice field laboratory’ named
after Prime Minister Modi was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister himself at IRRI in
Los Banos in Philippines.
About IRRI:
What is it?
The International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training
organization known for its work in developing rice varieties that contributed
to the Green Revolution in the 1960s.
Aim:
The Institute, established in
1960 aims to reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice farmers and
consumers, and ensure environmental sustainability of rice farming.
CGIAR:
IRRI is one of 15 agricultural
research centers in the world that form the CGIAR Consortium of International
Agricultural Research centres, a global partnership of organizations engaged in
research on food security. It is also the largest non-profit agricultural
research centres in Asia.
India and the IRRI:
IRRI has successfully
collaborated with Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)
to introduce drought- tolerant, flood-tolerant and salt-tolerant varieties of
rice in India. The Indian government is also setting up a regional centre of
the IRRI in Varanasi, the Prime Minister’s constituency, to develop
high-yielding rice varieties. The Varanasi Centre would help increase farmers’
income by enhancing and supporting rice productivity, reducing cost of
production, value addition, diversification and enhancement of farmers’ skills.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social
Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Project Saksham
What is it?
It is the country’s largest
time-bound “upskilling” exercise for government employees launched by the
Indian Railways.
What it does?
It aims to upgrade the
skillsets of its 13 lakh-strong workforce with a single drive spanning nine
months. The nature of the short-duration training will range from refresher
courses, with an eye on evolved global practices in the respective areas, to
skills in the existing lining of functioning.
Who will be trained?
Employees from the rank of a
peon to the Railway Board Members and everyone in between will undergo the
training.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social
Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Hausala 2017
What is it?
It is the Child Rights Week
celebrated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development from 16th to 20th
November, 2017.
Background:
The country celebrates the
Children’s Day on 14th November and the International Child Rights Day is
celebrated on 20th November every year. The period between the two important
events will be celebrated as Child Rights Week by WCD Ministry by hosting an Inter
CCI Festival for the children who reside in Child Care Institutions (CCIs).
Significance of this event:
§ The commemoration of the
festival “Hausala 2017” will provide an occasion to showcase the talents of
children from CCIs from various child care institutions across the country and
provide them with a space to express their dreams and aspiration.
§ Children will be participating
in various events like Bal Sansad, painting competition, athletics meet,
football, chess competition and speech writing.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social
Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Measles & Rubella
Context:
The India Expert Advisory Group
on Measles & Rubella (IEAG-MR) has commended India on the progress of the
measles and rubella vaccination campaign. The expert member group concluded
that ‘the country is on the right track’. The group has advised for the MR
vaccination campaign to cover the whole country by 2018. Presently, 13 states
have been covered by the vaccination campaign.
About MR campaign:
What is it?
The MR campaign targets around
41 crore children across the country, the largest ever in any campaign. Under
the campaign, children will be given a single shot of Measles-Rubella (MR)
vaccination irrespective of their previous measles/rubella vaccination status
or measles/rubella disease status. MR vaccine will be provided free- of- cost
across the states from session sites at schools as well as health facilities
and outreach session sites.
Target group: All children aged between
9 months and less than 15 years will be covered.
About Measles and Rubella:
Measles is a deadly disease and
one of the important causes of death in children. It is highly contagious and
spreads through coughing and sneezing of an infected person. Measles can make a
child vulnerable to life threatening complications such as pneumonia, diarrhoea
and brain infection. Globally, in 2015, measles killed an estimated 1, 34,200
children—mostly under-5 years. In India, it killed an estimated 49,200
children.
Rubella is generally a mild
infection, but has serious consequences if infection occurs in pregnant women,
causing congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), which is a cause of public health
concern. CRS is characterized by congenital anomalies in the foetus and newborns
affecting the eyes (glaucoma, cataract), ears (hearing loss), brain
(microcephaly, mental retardation) and heart defects, causing a huge
socio-economic burden on the families in particular and society in general.
Way ahead:
Measles kills an estimated 49,000
children in India each year, which is about 37% of the global deaths due to
this disease. India has set an ambitious goal to eliminate measles from the
country. Measles Rubella vaccine has been introduced in 13 states. It is
planned to expand across the country, covering 41 crore children by the end of
2018.
Sources: pib.
Topic: India and its neighbourhood- relations.
South China sea dispute
Context:
Southeast Asian leaders are
planning to start negotiations with China on a so- called “Code of Conduct” in
the disputed South China Sea in what they regard as a milestone. However, China
has been opposed to a legally binding code.
About the dispute over south
China sea:
Where is the South China Sea? The South China Sea is
located at the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, to Asia’s southeast. It
encompasses an area of about 1.4 million square miles and contains a collection
of reefs, islands and atolls, including the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands
and Scarborough Shoal.
China’s claims:
Beijing claims 90% of the South
China Sea, a maritime region believed to hold a wealth of untapped oil and gas
reserves and through which roughly $4.5tn of ship-borne trade passes every
year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also contest China’s claims to
islands and reef systems closer to their territory than Beijing’s.
China says it follows a
historical precedent set by the “nine-dash line” that Beijing drew in 1947
following the surrender of Japan. The line has been included in subsequent maps
issued under Communist rule.
Importance of South China Sea:
§ It is a 3.5m sq km waterway.
§ One of the world’s most
strategically vital maritime spaces.
§ More oil passes through here
than the Suez Canal.
§ More than $5 trillion in trade
flows through its waters each year. That is a third of all global maritime
commerce.
§ The Strait of Malacca that
links Indian and Pacific Oceans handles four times as much oil as Suez Canal.
Sources: the hindu.
GS Paper 3:
Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
Not to pursue Islamic banking:
RBI
The Reserve Bank of India has
decided not to pursue a proposal for introduction of Islamic banking in the
country. The central bank said the decision was taken after considering “the
wider and equal opportunities” available to all citizens to access banking and
financial services.
About Islamic banking:
What is it? Islamic or Sharia banking
is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is
prohibited under Islam.
What exactly is Sharia/Islamic
banking?
Sharia banking refers to
banking activity that conforms to Islamic law or Sharia. The fundamental
principle of Islamic finance is the rejection of usury, along with the
requirement that there must be no engagement in immoral businesses. Usury is
seen as the levying of unreasonably high interest rates while lending money.
Interest is Riba, which in its current interpretation, covers all interest —
not just excessive interest. Under Islamic law, a Muslim is prohibited from
both paying and accepting interest. Thus, Sharia banking means money can only
be parked in a bank without interest — and this money cannot be used for
speculative trading, gambling, or trading in prohibited commodities such as
alcohol or pork.
Need for Islamic Banking:
Certain faiths prohibit the use
of financial instruments that pay interest. The non- availability of
interest-free banking products results in some Indians, including those in the
economically disadvantaged strata of society, not being able to access banking
products and services due to reasons of faith. This non-availability also
denies the country access to substantial sources of savings from other
countries in the region.
Therefore, introduction of
Sharia or Islamic banking could bring more Muslims into the banking system, and
help in the inflow of institutional wealth from entities operating in the
Islamic world to the Indian economy. Sharia banking is not restricted to
Muslims alone, and other communities who are interested in other forms of
banking like ethical banking could be allowed to participate.
How does India benefit from
Islamic banking?
Introduction of Islamic Banking
was mooted by Raghuram Rajan in his report on the Financial Sector in the year
2008 where he recommended that interest-free banking techniques should be
operated on a larger scale so as to give access to those who are unable to
access banking services, including those belong to economically disadvantaged
section of the society.
§ There are many advantages in
introducing an Islamic window in the banks. For instance, majority of companies
in the Stock Exchange are shariat compliant (this number is more than the
shariat complaint companies on the Stock Exchange in Malaysia), thus this would
result in attracting huge funds in the domestic market alone.
§ An Islamic Banking window will
encourage many from the Muslim community to come forward and invest in projects
thereby mobilising huge amount of capital which they may not be willing to put
in the banks. This also means that India will be able to attract huge
investments from West Asia and from those who invest only in shariat compliant
projects.
Sharia banking globally:
A 2015 World Bank report
estimated Sharia-compliant financial assets to be in the range of US $ 2
trillion, covering bank and non-bank financial institutions, capital markets,
money markets and insurance. The Islamic Finance Industry has been expanding at
a rate of 10%-12% annually. According to the World Bank, in many Muslim
countries, Islamic banking assets have been growing faster than conventional
banking assets. There has also been a surge of interest in Islamic finance in
non-Muslim countries such as the UK, Luxembourg, South Africa, and Hong Kong.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics,
nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property
rights.
Cobots
Small, collaborative robots, or
cobots, are gaining currency across the world, as also in India. Several firms,
be it Bajaj Auto or Aurolab, have benefited from the adoption of cobots and are
planning to add more to their shop floors.
About Cobots:
What is a cobot?
A cobot is intended to work
hand-in-hand with humans in a shared workspace. This is in contrast with
full-fledged robots that are designed to operate autonomously or with limited
guidance. They support and relieve the human operator of his excess work.
How they operate? examples
In an auto factory, while the
the cobot tightens the bolts, the human worker places the tools in front of the
cobot. In a biscuit factory, the cobot would package the biscuits while the
worker segregates burnt ones not fit for consumption. In a small-scale
industry, the cobot is placed on the drilling job while the worker performs a
quality check.
Benefits of Cobots:
Cobots are easy to use,
flexible and safe. Unlike industrial robots, cobots don’t need fencing for the
protection of workers in the shop floor.
Sources: the hindu.
Facts for Prelims:
§ Urdu as second official
language of Telangana:
Context:
Telangana government has
declared Urdu as the state’s second official language. The state government
will appoint Urdu officers in all the offices over the next 60 days to receive
petitions from public and reply them in Urdu.
What the constitution says?
The Indian constitution does
not specify the official languages to be used by the states for the conduct of
their official functions, and leaves each state free to, through its
legislature, adopt Hindi or any language used in its territory as its official language
or languages. The language need not be one of those listed in the Eighth
Schedule, and several states have adopted official languages which are not so
listed.
§ Former French Culture
Minister Audrey Azoulay was appointed as Director General of
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO:
UNESCO is UN organization that
helps preserve historical and cultural sites worldwide. It is special
multi-country agency, formed in 1945 and based in France.
UNESCO pursues its objectives
through five major programs: education, natural
sciences, social/human sciences, culture and communication/information. It
is also known for recognizing world heritage sites and work to preserve
cultural and heritage sites such as ancient ruins, villages and temples, and
historic sites.
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