PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 4- NOVEMBER - 2017
Topic: Indian culture will cover
the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to
modern times.
Hindi writer Krishna Sobti chosen for Jnanpith Award
Noted writer of Hindi literature Krishna Sobti will be conferred
with the country’s highest literary honour, Jnanpith Award this year in 2017.
§ Sobti will be awarded with a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a
certificate and a memento as part of the 53rd Jnanpith Award ceremony.
About Jnanpith awards:
§ The Jnanpith Award is one of the prestigious literary honours in
the country. The award was instituted in 1961.
§ Eligibility: Any Indian citizen who
writes in any of the official languages of India is eligible for the honour.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 2:
Topic: Issues relating to
development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health,
Education, Human Resources.
Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana
The government has launched a Pan India scholarship program for
school children called Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana to increase the reach of
Philately.
About the scheme:
What is it? Under the scheme of
SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a
Hobby), it is proposed to award annual scholarships to children of
Standard VI to IX having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a
hobby through a competitive selection process in all postal circles.
Selection: To avail this
scholarship, a child must be a student of a recognized school within India and
the concerned school should have a Philately Club and the candidate should be a
member of the Club.
§ In case the school Philately Club hasn’t been established a student
having his own Philately Deposit Account will also be considered. Every
prospective school, which participates in the competition, would be assigned a
Philately mentor to be chosen from amongst the renowned Philatelists.
§ The Philately mentor would help in formation of the School level
Philately Club, providing guidance to young and aspiring Philatelists on how to
pursue the hobby and also helping the aspiring Philatelists on their Philately
Projects etc.
§ Selections under the scheme would be made based on the evaluation
of Project work on Philately & performance in Philately Quiz conducted by
the Circles.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Bilateral, regional and
global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s
interests.
UNESCO launches Strategic Framework for Education in
Emergencies in the Arab Region
UNESCO has launched a Strategic Framework for Education in
Emergencies in the Arab Region (2018-2021).
About the Strategic framework:
What is it? The Strategic Framework for
Education in Emergencies in the Arab Region (2018-2012) aims to respond to the
Education crisis in the region through supporting Member States in meeting
their educational needs, and helping them meet the commitments set out in SDG4
which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote
lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.
Why Arab region? Education has been deeply
affected by the scale of crisis in the Arab Region, with over 13 million
children and youth not going to school due to conflict.
Goals: The Strategic Framework
consists of four strategic goals anchored in the three pillars of education:
Access, Quality and System Strengthening.
Significance of the framework: The Framework aims to increase access to quality learning
opportunities for children and youth, to empower them with values, knowledge
and skills for life and work, to support teachers and enhance the resilience of
education systems.
Sources: pib.
Paper 3:
Topic: infrastructure.
Coastal Berth Scheme
The Ministry of Shipping has extended the period of the Coastal
Berth scheme of the flagship Sagarmala Programme for three years, upto 31st
March, 2020 and expanded its scope to cover capital dredging at Major Ports and
preparation of DPR for coastal berth project, in Oct 2017.
About the Coastal Berth Scheme:
What is it? The Coastal Berth Scheme
aims to provide financial support to ports or state governments for
creation of infrastructure for movement of cargo and passenger
by sea or national waterways.
Implementation: The projects under the Scheme
are distributed over eight states with the highest number of projects in
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Goa.
Financial assistance: The admissible financial
assistance from Central Government is 50% of the total cost of
the project. The financial assistance will also be provided for the
preparation of DPRs for the projects to be considered under this
scheme. The balance expenditure has to be incurred by the respective Ports/
concerned State Governments (including State Maritime Boards) from their own
resources.
Significance of the scheme: The scheme aims to promote coastal shipping and increase its share
in domestic cargo movement in India. Better infrastructure for coastal shipping
will decongest rail and road network besides ensuring cost competitive and
effective multi-modal transportation solution. The country has high potential
to use coastal shipping for its internal cargo movement given its 7500 kms long
coastline.
What you need to know about Sagarmala?
The Sagarmala project seeks to develop a string of ports
around India’s coast. The objective of this initiative is to promote
“Port-led development” along India’s 7500 km long coastline. It aims to develop
access to new development regions with intermodal solutions and promotion of
the optimum modal split, enhanced connectivity with main economic centres and
beyond through expansion of rail, inland water, coastal and road
services. The Union Ministry of Shipping has
been appointed as the nodal ministry for this initiative.
Sources: pib.
Topic: disaster management.
Unsafe boilers
The recent boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant in Rae
Bareli underscores the importance of inspections and protocols for hazardous
industrial operations.
Regulation of Boilers:
High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are
strictly regulated with special laws. In fact, the basic objective of the Indian
Boilers Act, 1923 is to ensure the safety of life and protection of
property by mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these
units.
Reasons for the accident at Rae Bareli:
§ First of all, the state government failed miserably in meeting the
objective of ensuring the safety of life and protection of property by
mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these units is evident
from the accident at the public sector facility.
§ To enhance the ease of doing business in India, the government has
relaxed crucial safety checks. Self-certification and third-party certification
of facilities has received support from policymakers even in the case of
boilers.
What needs to be done?
§ Regulatory mechanism: The Unchahar accident
shows it is in everyone’s interest to have a transparent regulatory mechanism
for hazardous industrial activity.
§ Reporting: The safety and welfare of
workers and the public at large cannot be compromised. A rigorous approach to
accident reporting must become part of the process if the weak spots in
regulation are to be addressed.
§ The loss suffered by families of workers due to an accident that
could have been averted cannot be compensated just financially. It must be the
Centre’s endeavour to see that measures taken to make it easy to do business do
not translate into lack of regulation, and putting lives at risk.
§ Administrative reform can eliminate the
corruption of inspector raj and achieve transparent regulation, while keeping
the workplace safe.
Way ahead:
The accident was entirely preventable because boilers are designed
to provide warnings as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger
automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic
inspections to ensure that all these features are working and intact. The
incident calls for an inquiry into the quality of the equipment and the fuel
used. Ideally, these aspects should be investigated by an external agency and
not the NTPC.
Sources: the hindu.
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