PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 5-JANUARY-2018
GS
Paper 1:
Topic: Indian
culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and
Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Jal Mahotsav
Context: India’s
biggest water carnival through ‘Jal Mahotsav’ is organised every year in
Hanuwantiya Island in Madhya Pradesh. The third such ‘Jal Mahotsav’
concluded this year on January 2.
About Jal Mahotsav:
What
is it? The festival, held between October and January, is a
celebration of Madhya Pradesh’s natural beauty and its culture. It is also a
great place to try out a variety of adventure sports like parasailing,
paramotoring, water zorbing, and many others. The festival also represents the
culture of Madhya Pradesh – a culture that stands for rich skill set of its
artisans and rich heritage.
Where
is it held? Hanuwantiya island,
located on the banks of the Indira Sagar dam in Madhya Pradesh, plays host to
India’s largest water carnival – Jal Mahotsav.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic: Indian
culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and
Architecture from ancient to modern times.
26th World Book Fair
Context: The
26th edition of the annual book fair will be held in New Delhi.
Theme: ‘Environment
and Climate Change’.
Guest
of honour country: This year’s book fair
will host European Union as the Guest of Honour Country.
Organizers: Organised
by National Book Trust, in association with ITPO.
About
the fair: New Delhi World Book Fair
is not just an opportunity for a reader but it also provides a huge platform to
the publishers who exhibit their numerous books at the event. Starting from 200
participants in 1972 the number of participants has gone up to 886 by 2016. The
theme of the 2017 edition was -“Writings on Women by Women”.
Sources:
toi.
Topic: Role
of women and women’s organization.
Iceland becomes first country
to legalise equal pay
A
new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in
Iceland. The legislation makes Iceland the first country in the world
to legalise equal pay between men and women.
Key
facts:
§ Under
the new rules, companies and government agencies employing at least 25 people
will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies. Those
that fail to prove pay parity will face fines.
§ The
move is part of a bid to eradicate the gender pay gap by 2022 in the Nordic
nation where 38% of parliamentarians are female – above the global average –
including Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.
Background:
Iceland,
an island country in the North Atlantic Ocean that is home to approximately
323,000 people, has a strong economy, based on tourism and fisheries. For the
past nine years, it has been ranked by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the
world’s most gender-equal country.
Facts
for Prelims:
The
WEF Global Gender Gap Report uses markers such as economic opportunity,
political empowerment, and health and survival to gauge the state of gender
equality in a country.
§ According
to the latest WEF report, the top five best performers in the global gender gap
are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Rwanda and Sweden. Yemen, on the other hand, is
currently the lowest-ranked of the 144 countries measured in the report. India
is ranked 108.
§ Fifty-two
countries fell below the global average in 2017, including China, Liberia and
the United Arab Emirates, while 60 saw their overall gender gap decrease.
Hungary was the only European country to be ranked lower than the global
average, having scored poorly on political empowerment.
Sources:
the hindu.
GS
Paper 2:
Topic: Issues
relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to
Health, Education, Human Resources.
Global Entrepreneurship Summit
2017 (GES-2017)
Context: The
Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) signed between India and the USA for co-hosting the Global
Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 in India. The MoU delineated the
responsibilities, areas of co-operation including logistics and venue related
requirements between the parties for smooth conduct of the Summit.
About
GES 2017:
What
is it? The summit organised annually since 2010, is the preeminent
annual entrepreneurship gathering that convenes over one thousand emerging
entrepreneurs, investors, and supporters from around the world. GES 2017 marks
the first GES held in South Asia.
Key
facts: The 8th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship summit (GES)
was recently held in Hyderabad. It was hosted by NITI Aayog in partnership with
US government. The summit was attended by 1,500 entrepreneurs from 170
countries.
GES
2017 Theme: “Women First, Prosperity
for All”.
Outcomes
of the summit: The Summit provided
opportunities for meeting with global industry leaders, networking of
international entrepreneurs, innovators, investors. The summit also provided
forum for pitching competition, strategic workshops and sector-programmes to
help in creating new collaborations amongst entrepreneurs and Investors. The
Summit provided for significantly increased economic opportunities for young
entrepreneurs, especially, women entrepreneurs and start-ups.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: Effect
of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s
interests.
US puts Pakistan on Special
Watch List
The
US has placed Pakistan on a ‘Special Watch List’ for “severe violations” of
religious freedom, making it the only country to be put under the newly-formed
list.
What
is Special Watch List?
The
Special Watch List is for countries that engage in or tolerate severe
violations of religious freedom but may not rise to the level of the ‘Countries
of Particular Concern’ (CPC). The Special Watch List designation is being seen
as a step below designating it as Country of Particular Concern, which would
have automatically kicked in economic and political sanctions.
Background:
Special
watch list is a new category created by the Frank R Wolf International
Religious Freedom Act of 2016. The 2016 Frank R Wolf International Religious
Freedom Act amended the IRF Act to require the President to designate a
‘Special Watch List’ of countries deemed not to meet all of the CPC criteria
but who engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom. IRF stands
for International Religious Freedom.
Why
was Pakistan placed in this list?
As
per the US, Pakistan was placed in this list because the country continues to
harass its religious minorities, has state-sanctioned discrimination against
groups such as the Ahmadis, and tolerates extra-judicial violence in the guise
of opposing blasphemy.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic: Effect
of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s
interests.
“Countries of Particular
Concern” (CPC)
The
US State Department has unveiled its list of countries designated as the worst
offenders against religious liberty. These countries are labeled as “Countries
of Particular Concern” (CPC).
The
list includes Burma, China, Eritrea,
Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and
Uzbekistan.
About
CPC:
What
is it? A country is labeled as a CPC after it engages in “systemic, ongoing,
[and] egregious” violations of religious liberty. This declaration is in
accordance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
Implications:
The governments that have been designated as CPCs are subject to ‘Presidential
Actions’, such as sanctions, which may include economic or political measures
directed against a government to encourage it to improve the state of religious
freedom in its country.
Significance
of this move: The designation of these countries is a key step in ensuring
continued U.S. engagement in support of international religious freedom. Also,
these designations are aimed at improving the respect for religious freedom in
these countries.
Sources:
the hindu.
GS
Paper 3:
Topic: Infrastructure:
Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
National Waterway-1
Context:
The
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for implementation
of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of navigation on
National Waterway-1 (NW-1) at a cost of Rs 5369.18 crore with the technical
assistance and investment support of the World Bank. The Project is
expected to be completed by March, 2023.
About
Jal Marg Vikas Project:
What
is it?
The
Jal Marg Vikas Project seeks to facilitate plying of vessels with capacity of
1,500-2,000 tonnes in the Haldia- Varanasi stretch of the River Ganga. The
major works being taken up under JMVP are development of fairway, Multi-Modal
Terminals, strengthening of river navigation system, conservancy works, modern
River Information System (RIS), Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night
navigation facilities, modern methods of channel marking etc.
NW
1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system from Allahabad to Haldia was declared
as National Waterway No.1.
States
covered under NW-1: States: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal.
Benefits
of this project:
Alternative
mode of transport that will be environment friendly and cost effective. The
project will contribute in bringing down the logistics cost in the country.
Mammoth Infrastructure development like multi-modal and inter-modal terminals,
Roll on – Roll off (Ro-Ro) facilities, ferry services, navigation aids.
Socio-economic impetus; huge employment generation.
Topic: Awareness
in the fields of IT, Space.
NASA launches 2 missions to
explore nearest space
U.S.
space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is all set to
launch two missions to explore a little-understood area 60 miles (96 KM) above
Earth’s surface. The missions are named GOLD and ICON.
The
Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission will be launched
aboard a commercial communications satellite in January 2018, and the designed
spacecraft Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will be launched later this
year.
About
the missions:
What
are they? GOLD and ICON will team
up to explore the ionosphere, a boundary area between Earth and the space where
particles have been cooked into a sea of electrically-charged electrons and
ions by the Sun’s radiation. These layers of near-Earth space are increasingly
becoming a part of human domain as it is home to radio signals used to guide
airplanes, ships and Global Positioning System satellites.
Goals: Among
others, the missions’ goals is to measure how upper atmosphere changes in
response to hurricanes and geomagnetic storms. GOLD will also explore how the
upper atmosphere reacts to geomagnetic storms, which are temporary disturbances
of Earth’s magnetic field set off by solar activity. The agency is hoping to
find evidences for a theoretical model about El Nino’s repercussions on the
ionosphere.
Orbits: The
two missions are complementary. ICON in low-Earth orbit, at 350 miles (560 km)
above Earth, flies through and just above the ionosphere, like a close-up
camera. GOLD runs in geostationary orbit over the Western Hemisphere, 22,000
miles (about 35,398 km) above the planet’s surface. It will build up a
full-disk view of the ionosphere and the upper atmosphere beneath it every half
hour.
Sources:
toi.
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