PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS- 1 DECEMBER-2017
opic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms,
Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Kathakar
Context: 7th edition of three day
‘Kathakar: International Storytellers Festival’ was recently inaugurated at the
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. The partners for
this year’s festival are the IGNCA of Union Ministry of Culture in Delhi,
Heritage Transport Museum in Gurugram and the NCPA in Mumbai.
About Kathakar:
What is it? Kathakar is the only oral
storytelling festival in India and is a part of Ghummakkad Narain- the
Travelling Literature Festival which was started under the aegis of UNESCO in
2010. Kathakar is an attempt to not just preserve the art form but also create
new audiences for the same.
Background:
Kathakar is a special
initiative within the bigger festival, Ghummakkad Narain, to promote the oral
storytelling tradition which has existed across the world. Though performance
storytelling has seen a revival in Europe, in India only few efforts have been
made to contemporize the art form.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes,
Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.
Cyclone Ockhi
Context: The deep depression which
had formed in the Bay of Bengal near Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu,
bordering Kerala, has now intensified into a cyclonic storm named Ockhi.
The name Ockhi was given by
Bangladesh which in Bengali means ‘eye’.
How are cyclones named?
The World Meteorological
Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) started the tropical cyclone naming system in
2000. Tropical cyclones are named to provide ease of communication between
forecasters and the general public regarding forecasts, watches, and warnings.
The Cyclones worldwide are
named by 9 regions — North Atlantic, Eastern North Pacific, Central North
Pacific, Western North Pacific, North Indian Ocean, South West Indian Ocean,
Australian, Southern Pacific, South Atlantic. Cyclones in the North
Indian Ocean basin are named by the Indian Meteorological Department and
the first tropical cyclone was named in 2004 as Onil (given by Bangladesh).
Eight north Indian Ocean
countries — Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Thailand, gave eight names each which was combined into a list of
64 names. One name from each country is picked in an order to name the
cyclones.
The previous storm Mora that
caused severe flooding across Northeast India in May was named by Thailand.
Mora is the name of one of the healing stones and also means star of the sea.
The next cyclone will be named Sagar — a name given by India.
Sources: the hindu.
GS Paper 2:
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Controller General of Accounts
Context: The Controller General of
Accounts, Department of Expenditure has launched the upgraded version of
Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) primarily to cater to the needs of
central civil pensioners and other stakeholders in the Ministries/Departments
and Banks.
The website has been developed
in-house by the NIC Wing of CPAO. The website provides a single window for both
accessing pension related information and facilitating grievance Redressal of
pensioners.
About Controller General of
Accounts:
What is it?
The Controller General of
Accounts is the apex Accounting Authority of the Central Government and
exercises the powers of the President under Article 150 of the constitution for
prescribing the forms of Accounts of the Union and State Governments on the
advice of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.
Functions: It is the Principal
Accounting Adviser to Government of India and is responsible for establishing
and maintaining a technically sound Management Accounting System. The Office of
CGA prepares monthly and annual analysis of expenditure, revenues, borrowings
and various fiscal indicators for the Union Government.
Facts for Prelims:
Under Article 150 of the Constitution, the Annual Appropriation
Accounts (Civil) and Union Finance Accounts are submitted to Parliament on the
advice of Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Small Farmers’ Agri-Business
Consortium (SFAC)
Context: Union Agriculture and
Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh recently chaired the 22nd
meeting of Board of Mangement (BOM) of Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium
(SFAC). Various activities of SFAC were reviewed during the meeting.
About SFAC:
What is it?
Small Farmers Agribusiness
Consortium (SFAC) is an Autonomous Society promoted by Ministry of Agriculture,
Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. It was registered under
Societies Registration Act 1860. The Society is also registered as Non-Banking
Financial Institution by Reserve Bank of India.
Management: The Society is governed
by Board of Management which is chaired, ex-officio, by Hon’ble Union Minister
for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as the President and the Secretary,
Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of
India, is the ex-officio Vice-President.
Functions: SFAC is implementing the
central schemes of Government of India namely VCA, EGCGS for economic inclusion
of small and marginal farmers in agribusiness activities. Society is pioneer in
organising small and marginal farmers as Farmers Interest Groups, Farmers
Producers Organisation and Farmers Producers Company for endowing them with
bargaining power and economies of scale. Recently the Society has been
entrusted with the task of implementation of the critically important Delhi
KisanMandi and National Agriculture Market Scheme on e-platform to
progressively free agricultural trade and offer price discovery to farmers.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Development processes and the development industry the role
of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities,
institutional and other stakeholders.
6th International Tourism Mart
Context: The Ministry of Tourism,
Government of India, in association with the North Eastern States is organising
the “International Tourism Mart” (ITM) in Guwahati, Assam.
Focus areas: The 6th International
Tourism Mart, will put the spotlight on India’s “Act East Policy”, blossoming
ties with ASEAN and the larger East Asia region, home to the world’s rapidly
growing economies and India’s emerging tourism markets.
About International Tourism
Marts:
The International Tourism Marts
are organised in the North Eastern States on rotation basis. The earlier
editions of this mart have been held in Guwahati, Tawang, Shillong, Gangtok and
Imphal.
This is the 6th International
Tourism Mart and an annual event organised in the North Eastern region with the
objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic
and international markets. It brings together the tourism business fraternity
and entrepreneurs from the eight North Eastern States.
Background:
The North East Region of India
comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, is endowed with diverse tourist attractions and
products. The varied topography of the region, its flora and fauna, the ethnic
communities with their rich heritage of ancient traditions and lifestyles, its
festivals, arts and crafts, make it a holiday destination waiting to be
explored.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in
various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Sustainable Action for
Transforming Human capital
Context: NITI Aayog’s prescription
for the State — to bring private sector players in a big way into the
functioning of public hospitals in districts — has been met with strong
opposition in Karnataka. Karnataka, which has been selected for the SATH (Sustainable
Action for Transforming Human capital) programme in the health sector, has
opposed the aayog’s proposal to privatise well-functioning district hospitals
in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities for treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The state has sternly opposed
any terms and conditions for entering into an agreement with McKinsey &
Company, consultants for implementation of the model. It is of the view that
the proposal will have adverse implications for the public healthcare system of
the State.
Background:
The SATH program embodies the
philosophy of co-operative federalism. NITI Aayog selected the three states
through a three stage challenge-process – expression of interest, presentations
by the states and assessment of commitment to health sector reforms. Finally,
three states: Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka were chosen based on objective
assessment criteria affecting the potential for impact and likelihood of
success. A consortium of reputed technical consultants are closely working with
NITI Aayog and the states to conceptualize the initiatives and provide support
in the implementation process.
About SATH programme:
Furthering the agenda for
cooperative federalism, NITI Aayog has launched SATH, a program providing
‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital’ with the State Governments.
The vision of the program is to initiate transformation in the education and
health sectors. The program addresses the need expressed by many states for
technical support from NITI.
SATH aims to identify and build
three future ‘role model’ states for health systems.
NITI will work in close
collaboration with their state machinery to design a robust roadmap of
intervention, develop a program governance structure, set up monitoring and
tracking mechanisms, hand-hold state institutions through the execution stage
and provide support on a range of institutional measures to achieve the end
objectives.
The program will be implemented by NITI along with
McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium, who were selected through a
competitive bidding process.
Sources: the hindu.
GS Paper 3:
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways
etc.
Regional Rapid Transit System
(RRTS)
Context: An indo-spanish technical
cooperation (government to government) agreement has been signed. This
agreement will provide institutional mechanism for mutual cooperation in the
field of urban transport and specially in implementation of RRTS project.
The agreement will enable
availability of technical advice on specific issues, besides providing training
and collaboration in the technical areas of Track, Signalling, Rolling Stock,
Safety, Multi modal integration, station design etc.
About RRTS:
What is it?
RRTS, first of its kind project
in India, with design speed of 180 kmph will use state of the art technologies
for track structure, rolling stock and signalling system. Expertise and
experience in India on these technologies for higher speeds being limited,
International expertise will be tapped for efficient implementation of project,
operation of system and developing capacity in the country.
Significance of RRTS: RRTS will significantly
reduce the travel time between important NCR towns. On completion, RRTS will
emerge as the fastest, comfortable and safe mode of transport in NCR.
RRTS consists of three
corridors viz., Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar and
Delhi-Panipat sections with a total length of 380 kms.
Implementation: National Capital Region
Transport Corporation, a Joint Venture of Government of India and State
Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, is mandated to
design, construct, operate & maintain rail based Regional Rapid Transit
System (RRTS).
Sources: pib.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,
environmental impact assessment.
Strategy on Resource Efficiency
(RE)
Context: NITI Aayog in
collaboration with the European Union delegation to India have released the
Strategy on Resource Efficiency. The strategy aims to promote resource
efficiency in India.
§ This strategy is the first
policy document to emphasize resource productivity in the country. The Strategy
emphasizes on Sustainable Public Procurement (SSP) as an action agenda which
will be the market transformation tool to transform to a resource efficient
economy.
§ The document is developed with
the recommendations from the Indian Resource Efficiency Programme (IREP),
launched by the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
(MoEFCC) and Indian Resource Panel (InRP) in April 2017.
What is Resource Efficiency and
why do we need it?
Resource efficiency very simply
put is making more with fewer materials. In practice, through a life-cycle
approach, it leads to minimizing impact on environment & the associated
societal burdens, transforming ‘waste’ into ‘resources’ fostering circular
economy, and strengthening resource security.
Resource Efficiency and
Circular Economy are important goals and central principles for achieving
sustainable development. Sustainability is a global priority and SDGs
commitment and 11th Five year plan also clearly enunciate importance of
Resource efficiency (RE).
Way ahead:
India’s large population, rapid
urbanization and expanding industrial production have led to exploitation of
available limited natural resources with concerns regarding resource depletion
and future availability becoming more pronounced. Ensuring resource security
requires and integrated, concerted and collaborative approach in order to
fulfill the needs of a vast and growing population. Also, the environmental
burdens emanating due to resource extraction, utilization and disposal,
including land degradation, biodiversity loss, as well as air and water
pollution remain of great concern, Enhancing resource efficiency (RE) and
promoting the use of secondary raw materials (SRM) is a pertinent strategy to
address these challenges and reduce dependence on primary resource.
Facts for Prelims:
About InRP: The new Indian Resource Panel
(InRP) was officially unveiled in 2016, making India one of the first emerging
economies to set up a national advisory body on resource efficiency. The InRP
was created with support from the International Climate Initiative as part of
the project ‘Resource efficiency and secondary raw materials management as a
contribution to climate change mitigation’. The InRP will issue recommendations
to Indian businesses and policy-makers on improving the general conditions for
resource efficiency.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,
environmental impact assessment.
Clean Sea-2017
Context: The Regional Level Marine
Oil Pollution Response Exercise titled ‘Clean Sea – 2017’, was recently
conducted at sea off Port Blair.
The objective of the exercise was to ascertain
preparedness of the Indian Coast Guard, resource agencies and other
stakeholders in responding to a major oil spill in line with the provisions of
NOS-DCP (National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan).
Background:
Indian Coast Guard is
responsible for marine environment protection in the maritime zones of India
and is the coordinating authority for response to oil spills in Indian waters.
The Force has drawn up a National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP)
and has established three pollution response centres at Mumbai, Chennai and
Port Blair.
National Oil Spill Disaster
Contingency Plan:
India promulgated National oil
spill Disaster contingency plan (NOS-DCP) in the year 1996. Coast guard was
designated as central coordination authority.
The objectives of the plan are:
§ To develop appropriate and
effective systems for the detection and reporting of spillage of oil.
§ To ensure prompt response to
prevent, control, and combat oil pollution.
§ To ensure that adequate
protection is provided to the public health and welfare, and the marine
environment.
§ To ensure that appropriate
response techniques are employed to prevent, control, and combat oil pollution,
and dispose off recovered material in an environmentally accepted manner.
§ To ensure that complete and
accurate records are maintained of all expenditure to facilitate cost of
recovery.
Sources: the hindu.
Facts for Prelims:
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant:
Context: Bangladesh Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina recently inaugurated construction work on the
much-awaited Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Ishwardi, located in the western
part of the country. The plant is expected to add 2,400 MW of electricity to
the national grid by 2024, helping the country meet its increasing demand for
electricity.
Implementation of the project:
The mega project is being implemented by state-run Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Commission with financial and technological support from Russia through its
state nuclear agency, Rosatom.
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